gadget Posted March 15, 2016 Share Posted March 15, 2016 Hello everyone, My Discovery is starting to show its age. ACE is leaking quite a bit and the water pump is joining in too. Easy enough to fix at some point but it has developed another problem that is more worrisome and has me stumped at the moment. I have quite a severe shimmy when i brake hard at certain speeds. Braking hard at 70MPH everything feels fine. Stops quick enough in a straight line with no shimmy. Brake lightly at any speed and again, comes to a halt with no obvious problem. If i brake hard at about 15-25MPH i get a severe shimmy. It's quite pronounced and feels as if the front brakes are alternating at about 15Hz. No pulsing from the brake pedal just steering wheel wobble. The steering ball joints all feel fine, no obvious play in them. Panhard rod bushes and radius arm bushes have no obvious play either. Steering box has a little play but nothing excessive. Wheel bearings and steering knuckles have no obvious play. Anyone have any ideas what is causing my wobble? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bear Posted March 17, 2016 Share Posted March 17, 2016 Hi, Sounds like disc runout. Remove wheels and pads and spin hub watching the disc against a fixed object like the caliper carrier for run out. If you have a dial guage even better. Griff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gadget Posted March 18, 2016 Author Share Posted March 18, 2016 I'd initially discounted brakes because i'd expect to feel the shimmy through the pedal in time with the steering wheel, but there's not a hint of it in the pedal. I'd also expect the shimmy to be there at all speeds but with severity varying with applied brake pressure. I'll take a look at the discs - just to be certain. Thanks for the suggestion Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qwakers Posted March 18, 2016 Share Posted March 18, 2016 no, warped disks can often only be felt at very low speed and only throught the steering, or as pulsing in the feel of the speed as you come to a stop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gadget Posted March 20, 2016 Author Share Posted March 20, 2016 I've had the wheels off and spun the discs today. There's no obvious run out on either disc. The discs seem to be in decent shape. Pads look to be evenly worn on both sides too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gadget Posted March 6, 2018 Author Share Posted March 6, 2018 Resurrecting an old post in case someone with the same symptoms find this thread in a search. I've had my shimmy for a while and have periodically checked things to try and locate the problem without success. I swapped my front pads out today and the shimmy has gone. Put the old pads back in and the shimmy is there. Put new pads in and it's gone again. There's nothing visibly wrong with my pads, they're just old and moderately worn. A nice simple and cheap fix Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bear Posted March 7, 2018 Share Posted March 7, 2018 That's interesting. Were the original pads cheap ones? Griff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gadget Posted March 8, 2018 Author Share Posted March 8, 2018 Original pads are mintex, new pads are delphi. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnnoK Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 I had bad shimmy when I first bought my Td5 and it was down to the rod end of the drag link being worn. I recently fitted new front discs and pads and it's back, albeit very mild, along with "pulsating" when slowing down, so it is going to be wheels off and discs checked this weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bear Posted March 17, 2018 Share Posted March 17, 2018 22 hours ago, JohnnoK said: I had bad shimmy when I first bought my Td5 and it was down to the rod end of the drag link being worn. I recently fitted new front discs and pads and it's back, albeit very mild, along with "pulsating" when slowing down, so it is going to be wheels off and discs checked this weekend. In your case I've seen suggested that you can remove the disc and rotate it 90 degrees in case there's slight uneveness on the hub mating surface. Griff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnnoK Posted April 22, 2018 Share Posted April 22, 2018 Thanks, bear! I will give it a go, but right now the old girl is down with a blown head gasket. Seeing as I fitted a new head last time it happened, I am going to bite the bullet and do a rebuild of the head with liners, new bearings etc. At 350k mileage, I think it's done well and maybe it will do something for the blowby and oil leaks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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