I drove ~400 miles today, and just as I was pulling into where I was heading I got a really bad shimmy/shake in the frontend. It pulls the wheel a good 10°, and shakes the whole car if I hold the wheel. I rotated the tires (front to back, backs to opposite side front) and that made no difference. It pulls to the passenger side, and the shake isn't as bad at speed. When I slow down to a stop light it feels like the wheel is bent a few inches out.

 

When i had it jacked up, I didn't have anyone to run it drive so I could see the wheels moving, but there is no play in the wheels. Also I spun them by hand and there isn't a major wobble. All 4 axle boots are fine.

 

Maybe tomarrow I can get someone to run the car with the wheels off the ground.

Edited April 16, 201510 yr by Ionstorm66

A couple things I've dealt with:

 

I had a really bad outer CVJ failing that caused that kind of shake.  It did it intermittently.  Loading [acceleration / deceleration] mattered.  The boot had been torn for a long time though.

 

I also had a tire where the tread de-laminated from the steel belts that would make a pronounced shake in the wheel at low speeds, but would smooth out on the highway.  The cause of this turned out to be alignment out of specification.  To see the problem, I had to look at the tread and turn the tire, rolling toward me [as opposed to a side view] , then I could see the bubbled up area.

Both of the above happened to me. Bad shake due to a tire defect, and a bad CV the other time. Make sure the tires are OK, then I'd start looking at the axle.

might be way off, but since it seems to be when your slowing down rather than at higher speeds, could it be warped rotors?

I've only felt warped rotors while applying brakes.  And no where near the shimmy that the tire or really bad CVJ caused.

too much Elvis while driving.