I have a 1993 945 with about 140K on the clock. I got it about a year and half ago to replace my '93 945 that was totaled in a rear end collision :( That car had about 250K on it and I was going to drive it for 250K more, but...

Anyway, this "new" car needed a few things when I got it, but it had 125K on it and only one owner family. It is a really good car. I replaced the ball joints, control arm bushings, sway bar links, rear rotors and pads, exhaust from cat down and some interior odds and ends. This brought the car up to almost new. Most times it drives better than my '98 S70 and is rock solid on the road. However, every now and then it develops a pretty strong shimmy felt through the steering wheel. This will happen on and off and is mostly off. It seems at hard stops sometimes there will be a slight clunk in the front end somewhere and then the shimmy will change state. If it was happening, it would stop or if it was not happening it would start. The clunk is always a slow speed event and usually under braking at the very end before car comes to a stop. I am not talking panic stops here, just normal stopping. I have hard time duplicating a problem under control. It just comes and goes as it pleases and I do not like it.

Any ideas on what to check would be great. I have very little history on this car other than the last year and a half of my ownership. On my watch the car has been wonderful. Usual things like water pump gasket leaks, etc., but nothing big beyond what I saw when I first test drove the car (above listed front end repairs and rear brakes, exhaust). I am really liking this one as I loved my previous one, but this shimmy is disturbing. It is my wife's grocery and kid hauler, so I am very concerned that the car is safe.

I read about wheel balancing creating strange symptoms, but my symptom is intermittent and wheel balancing could not be intermittent, could it?

My next thing to check is perhaps the struts? I am not familiar with that part of this car as much as the lower suspension. I know strut bushings, bearings, etc. can fail. Also, if the strut cartridges are not original they can sometimes wobble inside the tube, but I am not sure if mine are original. Will go and have a look around that area now...

Any help would be much appreciated.
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Vladimir. '98 S70 base, 5-speed manual - his, '93 945 - hers