88 Accord steering shimmy

I have an 88 Accord, 195K on it, got it with 170K 2 years ago. It has always
had a steering wheel shake up around 75mph but recently it has become
noticeable at all speeds. The speed of the shimmy is directly related to the
speed I am traveling. When I am rolling in 1st gear, the wheel jerks left like
a second hand 'ticking' counterclockwise. If I don't touch the wheel, the
pulsating jerk eventually rotates all the way to the left. At higher speeds
the jerk isn't as harsh, it becomes more of a shimmy and up around 55+ it
shakes the entire car.
I am sure I could use new tires so I will probably do this regardless, but what
should I ask of the mechanic once I get my new tires put on?
I am fairly new to self-diagnosis so I have searched the web and found a few
different general answers to this common problem, but if anyone has
honda-specific advice, please let me know. Thanks,
Alan

 

You most likely have one bad tire. You can sometimes spot the irregularity
by running your hand over the tire tread. Rotate front tires to rear to
prove it to yourself. When in the rear, you will feel the tire with the
broken belt "wiggle" the rear of the car..Its just not as noticable in the
rear. A tire with a broken belt is not safe at any but slow speeds.

 

I believe your tires are out of balance, or worn down like the
previous post was saying, it could also be your cv shaft i have two 88
accords and the one actually busted the inner part of the cv shaft
that goes into the tranny causing the same issue vibrating. If it
pulls hard to left in first gear, that also sounds like you might have
an alignment problem with your front end. If you let go of the
steering will on the highway and it likes to pull hard in any
direction then I would say you also need a front end alignment. Hard
to really say what it exactly is untill you get it in a garage and
really see what your lookin at.
Die hard cars thats all I'll say


KC

88 2dr Accord EXi 348K issueshad to replace the tranny)
88 2dr Accord Exi 395k no issues: (regular maintenance)

 

Well I rotated my tires front to back and the steering wheel shake is
absolutely gone at all speeds. A couple things though: the car still slightly
shakes above 65 or so (this has been regular since I got it two years ago), my
neutral roll is slower (is this cause there are actually tread on my front
tires?). My (now rear) tires' treads are really bad, so I will get new tires
to replace those. But now knowing what the culprit was, is it possible that I
need anything else done to fix what damage my have been done riding with those
bogus tires? balence, alignment etc
Thanks for the helpful advice.
Alan

 

If your shocks have over 60 K mi, I'd replace them, despite the expense.
Their job is to damp suspension oscillations, and new ones really add to
your comfort.

 

The remaining shake is probably still from the bad tires, especially if you
are not feeling it in the steering wheel. I would get rid of the bad ones
and have the balance checked on the other two (and of course any new tires
you put on have to be balanced).

If it has any shake after you get the bad tires completely off and
everything else balanced, then start looking at ball joints and other front
suspension components for wear.