Actually, A bad Alignment WILL NOT cause your vehicle to shake at certain speeds. if your vibration comes in at a certain speed and goes away; that is most often a tire or wheeel problem. Most comonly an out of balance problem. Because of the way our HHR's wheels have to be balanced, the balance does not last as long as a traditional (Dynamic) balance. I have 22K on my HHR and have balanced every 4K. Hope this helps. You should take your HHR to your nearest Discount Tire Co. and have the problem corrected.

 

I agree with him also ^^^^^^^

Althought, because of the mounting and balance problems I had with Discount Tire, I wouldn't recommend them. Might be different where you live, however.

 

The aluminum wheels on the HHR (1LT at least) use stick on weights. If you hit a pothole or something hard enough it could have knocked a weight off. Look through the wheel spoke and see if you see any tape residue.

 

Oh yeah, the roads around here are horrible. There are potholes big enough to lose a car plus, there are hugh ripples along road section joints.

 

I have 20's on mine and use the same weights. With my stocks and the stick-on weights I hit some pretty big bumps/dips/potholes and you would be hard-pressed to get one of those weights to come loose without prying on it with a screwdriver or a knife. The adhesive on those I have had REALLY good luck with :knocks on wood: and haven't ever had one fall off.

 

FINALLY!!!!Someone ELSE who's experienced shake (or "shimmy") at 60mph!!!
It's been quite some time since I've beat this horse... Please, Please, PLEASE (!!!) search for my previous threads on this!
I've noticed this on my ride since it was new. It ONLY happens at 60mph, not when stopping, nor turning, nor in cold, heat, or rain... It HAS been to the dealer (twice) to fix the problem (but remains unsolved).
Trust you me.... I've had wheels rotated, tires balanced (multiple times), a new rim (dealer scratched one of mine) put on, half shafts spun, engine mounts 'reworked'!>!>!... all just so I could hear the service manager say "we can't feel a shake at 60mph".
Sorry to say I don't have a cure, but it's comforting to know (in a bad way ) someone else has experienced the same issue...

"Static" mounting (wheel weights) weren't the culprit, nor was anything else (no bubbles in tires from potholes, etc...). I actually delayed lowering the vehicle (GL's) for fear the dealer would blame the lowering. After repeated attempts with no success, I lowered it anyway (AND USED CAMBER BOLTS + HAD IT ALIGNED). Still 'shimmys'...
Sorry to hear the bad news.
"Welcome" to the club! (poor joke)

 

Scoot and Airbourne Beachbum......

If the "ususal" kinds of things do not repair the shimmy at 60 mph, that you speak of, you might try talking with the dealer about this.....

I have an Aurora in the family, and it had the same shimmy (I think) that you 2 are speaking of. After arguing with a Buick dealer (Olds is gone, remember) I took it to a Cadillac dealer and asked them to look at it. They placed connectors to an electronic device on the framework of the seat and WE went for a ride. At 65-70 MPH the shimmy became very noticable (the one the Buick dealer said was acceptable). The tech. that went with me, said it was about 1.5 "points" out of ride spec. And because there was a TSB in regard to this (for the Aurora), the repair was free, but extensive.

A couple of "things"...

I believe the equipment mentioned is inherent to the dealers who have warranty authority for the Aurora. You can problem find who that is in your area by looking at Oldsmobile.com. The Cadillac dealer I mentioned above was the authorized Aurora repair center for warranty items. You might try a Cadillac dealer.....However,I also suspect the electronic device is exclusively for the Aurora.

I'm not sure you have the same problem, as the platforms are much different.

You'll probbaly need to do some convincing.

I can't give you any specific info from the Service Order. As usual, the dealer has "investigate vibration/shimmy at 65 mph"....'repaired per warranty".

If you think of something that I may be able to help with.....PM me.

LUCK TO YOU...

 

Well I just rotated my tires this morning and afterwards I noticed a small shake or vibration in steering wheel at 60 or just a little under. I decided to come here to see if anyone else experienced it, now I know. I am going to take mine tomorrow to have the tires balanced since this only happened after tire rotation.

 

The Best Tire Balancing I have ever had done was on a "Road-Force" machine.. No close enough there !!!!! It's Right-on.....

 

SSguy.....

I'm not sure but, doesn't all GM dealers NOW do "road force" balancing? At least the 3 different GM dealers I do business with ALL have that system and specs from GM.

Also just wondering, I used to have the tires on my cars balanced on the car. But before they balanced they would "vector" the tire and reinstall on the car. This would provide a ride that was unbelieveable.

If you remember the Lexus TV commercial from about 10 years ago. Had the car driving down the road with wine glasses, filled with water, on the hood. The water in the glasses hardly moved. Someone told me they started the vectoring idea.

Hard to find places that do that because the vector machine is so expensive.....last I remember it was in the neighborhood of $200K. And, regular tire shops couldn't justify that expense.

I had all my cars done, when I worked for The General.