I’m not sure how to diagnose the condition on my ’70. When I hit bumps at speeds above 25 mph, the whole car shimmies and shakes a little bit. After a few iterations, it settles down. It used to be worse, I would hit a bump and the steering wheel would bounce around in my hand. I replaced the tie rod ends, steering coupler (Delrin from CFR), sway bar bushings (Weltmeister on stock 15mm bar), newer Boge inserts, and rebalanced the wheels. The Ball Joints tested ok. The front is now solid around the turns and in town but at speeds around 70 mph, it gets unstable. Is it the Boge’s? Aerodynamics?

The backend seems a little loose as well at any speed, as in wanders around. It has older yellow Bilstein shocks. I got them used and they look it but when I push down on the car and let go, it comes right up to the starting position and stays there. No rear sway bar. Are the shocks bad? Bushings?

Am I being oversensitive to feel? I drove my 911 today and it’s rock solid. I want my 914 to drive like that. No reason it shouldn’t. Any suggestions?

Rav...my '74 does pretty much exactly the same thing. I'm going to get the wheels balanced first then shocks probably. Everything else seems tight. I'll be watching this post for sure...
Mike

Seems like a lot of front end work was done and I did not see any mention about an alignment after you were finished? If none was done that would be the 1st thing to do. Next swap wheels and tires front to back to see if the issue changes or goes away. If possible try another set of wheels and tires from a friend to see if the issue changes. Next check all 4 wheel bearings to see if they are shot and finally check the lug bolts to make sure they are the correct ones for the wheels as there are taper seated bolts that were used on racing wheels and the conical ones for Fuchs. Good luck.

Alignment...I've been holding off on that. Should probably think about getting it done.

Lug nuts are correct. In fact I installed 85mm studs with 'Porsche' nuts. Front bearings were cleaned, inspected, re-greased, and tightened to specs when I did the tie rod ends.

How old are the tires?

Adjust the slack in the front wheel bearings.

Balance tires, on car if possible.

Get four wheel alignment at a shop with experience on Porsches, and have them check out the front end components while on the rack.

So how old are those tires? Mine did this, and I finally got new tires. The old ones had great tread, but turns out the plys were starting to separate. They were about 15 years old. Low miles, good tread, but the ozone messes them up over time.

Tires are only a couple of years old with <10,000 mi. Sounds more and more like an alignment is warranted.

Tim Kornaki in Seattle was recommended to me by Jon Bovey and he did a great job. Made sure he understood how I drive the car so he could set it up accordingly. Very knowledgeable and reasonably priced.

..............YOU can work on the alignment,or suspension untill your nads fall off, and get nowhere............THE FIRST THING TO DO IS ; MAKE CERTAIN THE TIRE RUNOUT IS ...(near)-ZERO-...AND THE RIM IS NOT BENT.....even brand new tires can have lousy runout., deflate them, and rotate 90 degrees, on the rim, if thats the case............with 10,000 miles on the tires, you may just want to have them -SHAVED- round.(a tire shop with the equipment can "true" the tire on the mounted rim).

Yea, I forgot to mention tires, that's a biggie. Even if they have low miles, they can be trash. If the car has sat for long periods of time they can get flat spots. There can be a huge difference in the quality of tires too. One case where paying more can get you more.

have you adjusted (lowered) the ride height in the front? you might need to install a bump steer kit. you'll want to install before the alignment.

That causes shimmy????

Look for something loose first. Hold front tire at 3 and 9 and see if you can feel any play. If so, wheel bearings, tie rods, steering rack, ball joints, or loose shocks. Hold front tire at 12 and 6. If any play, wheel bearings, ball joints, or loose shocks.

Rotate tires from front to rear and see if the vibration gets better or worse. If it changes, it could be tires or balance.

I have never seen an alignment cause a shake. It will pull one way or another, wear tires uneven, and/or handle weird, but I have never seen it cause a shimmy or shake.