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Originally Posted by texwayne
i caught some bad weather driving home from new orleans. it was raining pretty hard with a significant crosswind. my car started doing a wicked shimmy that made me slow down to about 60 mph. i'm used to feeling all the dips and groves and other road imperfections. the boxster S has pretty decent suspension, so i expect it to communicate those things. and, I10 in west louisiana and east texas has a pretty crappy road surface. but this was different. it really scared the heck out of me. i'm rolling OEM bridgestone tires with about 7K miles on them and pretty good tread left.
what suspension parts do i tighten, tweak, replace or add to make it stop?
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Are you still experiencing a similar "wicked shimmy" - or maybe a less wicked shimmy on good, dry roads now? I ask because the Boxster I just purchased had a strange shimmy/shake/wobble/whatever that was most noticeable around 65 mph whenever I would lift off the throttle. Braking and cornering seemed to dampen it but in a straight line on freeways above about 55 it was a pretty serious wobble that seemed to come from the rear of the car. It turned out to be a worn balljoint on the drivers side rear lower control arm. I replaced the control arm and the problem is gone. Now I need to get a proper alignment. I imagined how really bad it would be if the weather and roads were treacherous.
You might consider jacking up the rear end, grabbing the rear tires with a hand on each side of the tire and give them a good twist (and of course make sure your car is secure on the jack or jackstands) and if there is any motion, wiggle, or play you might have a worn ball joint. Have someone watch the wheel while you try to move it - they may be able to notice the movement easier than you would be while you're trying to move it. I was able to see the excessive play in the ball joint by looking at it under the car while someone else was wiggling the tire.
You didn't say if the wiggle seemed to come from the rear of the car - so it could be an issue with your front end. I would try the same tests to the front end as well if it's not obvious where the shimmy/shake/wiggle is coming from.
I should have taken pictures and posted a thread on this replacement procedure on the DIY section but I forgot. If you suspect something like this let me know and I can go into more detail if necessary.
Then again as mentioned in other posts it could just be a case of adjusting driving style to bad roads and bad weather.
Ken