Vibration at Highway Speeds

[Filbert]

Took delivery of a new GV60 late last week and noticed right away there is a vibration at highway speeds which feels like it might be a defective tire or out of balance tire. It's certainly not severe, but it's definitely noticeable. I'm going to bring it back to the dealer who is unfortunately 1.5 hours away. Anyone else experience this, and what was the fix? TIA

 

[fredf]

Does sound like alignment. No way to know without taking it in

 

[Looney100]

It definitely sounds like an out of balance wheel. Depending on how you value your time, you might consider going to your nearest tire shop and saving the 3 hour drive. Wheel balancing is fairly cheap.

 

[Filbert]

It definitely sounds like an out of balance tire. Depending on how you value your time, you might consider going to your nearest tire shop and saving the 3 hour drive. Wheel balancing is fairly cheap.

Thanks. I did think of that. But if it turns out to be something else I'm reluctant to give the dealer an opportunity to start finger pointing because someone else touched the car.

Was just curious if anyone else had seen the same issue and how it was resolved. Some cars have wheels and tires that are notoriously difficult to balance. For example I owned a Nissan Pathfinder, and there was a couple of model years where it was often impossible to get a good balance without one of the Hunter road force balancing machines and a special procedure outlined in a TSB Nissan published.

And one other thing I thought of. When I took delivery on the car on Thursday I had to wait an extra 2 hours after signing all the paperwork because they said they were having trouble prepping the car. The way they described it was that there was a bunch of steps they needed to go through to complete the procedure, and some issue with the TPMS was preventing them from proceeding. I don't know any more details, and it sounded like a software issue, so I'm guessing maybe what they were doing was taking the car out of "shipping mode" as I know Porsche dealers need to do before delivery. Or perhaps they had to replace one or more of the TPMS sensors and did not correctly balance the tire after re-mounting.

 

[Lexigen]

Same thing on my car. The vibration was felt in the seats and maybe the floor, but not so much on the steering wheel. It was kind of like the roads everywhere was a bit bumpy. It went away after like 300 miles, IIRC. The same exact thing happened on my Tucson PHEV that I bought back in end of March this year. Same thing, it went away after some miles was put on the car. Both cars are buttery smooth since.

I picked up both my GV60 and the Tucson PHEV the day after they were delivered to the dealership. Perhaps the tires were a bit out of round from sitting during transit from Korea. Just a guess. I think they fill the tires to like 50 or 60 PSI from the factory to prep for transit to prevent flat spots from the car sitting for the duration of the transit. Maybe they forget to do that sometimes, who knows.

 

[GenesisJohn]

Mine is doing the same - steering wheel wobble at 60mph plus. My dealer is going to balance the tires for me on Friday. I will report back once I know if that solved it.
John

 

[Acpantera]

Ck the lug nuts to be safe.

 

[Starflyer]

Ck the lug nuts to be safe.

For sure on that one. Lugs not torqued correctly can vibrate loose and then BAD things happen.

 

[Filbert]

Dealer said they road force balanced all 4 tires and wheels yesterday. No significant improvement. Like with what Lexigen said above, you feel the vibration more with the seats and floor versus the steering wheel. Leads me to think it's something with the rear axle versus the front. Very disappointing.

 

[Lexigen]

Speaking of properly torquing the lug nuts, my car came with the factory wheel locks which is an accessory installed either at the port or by the dealer. When I checked mine, I was able to get at least a 1/2 a turn on my torque wrench on all four wheel locks, set to 110 pounds which is the spec per the manual. If you car came with wheel locks you may want to check. All the other lug nuts just clicked at 110 pounds.

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[Lexigen]

Dealer said they road force balanced all 4 tires and wheels yesterday. No significant improvement. Like with what Lexigen said above, you feel the vibration more with the seats and floor versus the steering wheel. Leads me to think it's something with the rear axle versus the front. Very disappointing.

IIRC the vibration in my car started around 60MPH or so. Same with my Tucson PHEV. The vibration was very slight. It wasn't like it was shaking, more like the roads were bumpy when it wasn't, and again wasn't felt through the steering wheel. After some miles were put on the cars, it completely went away and have been buttery smooth since.

How many miles have you put on your car so far? Give it some time and miles to see if it settles down like my car did.

 

[Filbert]

I think they fill the tires to like 50 or 60 PSI from the factory to prep for transit to prevent flat spots from the car sitting for the duration of the transit. Maybe they forget to do that sometimes, who knows.

Overfilling the tires at the factory seems to be common with Asian manufacturers, no doubt for the reason you stated. And unfortunately dealer techs often try to take shortcuts when prepping the cars for delivery, such as not bothering to do things as basic as checking the tire pressure. Over the years I've had a Nissan, and Honda, and a Mazda each delivered with wildly overinflated tires.

 

[Filbert]

IIRC the vibration in my car started around 60MPH or so. Same with my Tucson PHEV. The vibration was very slight. It wasn't like it was shaking, more like the roads were bumpy when it wasn't, and again wasn't felt through the steering wheel. After some miles were put on the cars, it completely went away and have been buttery smooth since.

How many miles have you put on your car so far? Give it some time and miles to see if it settles down like my car did.

Yes, the vibration on mine starts about 60 mph too. Not severe, but definitely noticeable. I'm at about 500 miles now.

 

[GenesisJohn]

Speaking of properly torquing the lug nuts, my car came with the factory wheel locks which is an accessory installed either at the port or by the dealer. When I checked mine, I was able to get at least a 1/2 a turn on my torque wrench on all four wheel locks, set to 110 pounds which is the spec per the manual. If you car came with wheel locks you may want to check. All the other lug nuts just clicked at 110 pounds.

I will report back on Friday since my dealer installed these locks too.

 

[Looney100]

Dealer said they road force balanced all 4 tires and wheels yesterday. No significant improvement. Like with what Lexigen said above, you feel the vibration more with the seats and floor versus the steering wheel. Leads me to think it's something with the rear axle versus the front. Very disappointing.

Does the vibration stay as you continue to accelerate, or does it go away once you reach a certain speed?
Years ago, I had a car that had a poorly-balanced driveshaft that caused things to shake. I'm not sure what the equivalent would be in an EV - perhaps an out-of-balance axle-shaft?

Speaking of properly torquing the lug nuts, my car came with the factory wheel locks which is an accessory installed either at the port or by the dealer. When I checked mine, I was able to get at least a 1/2 a turn on my torque wrench on all four wheel locks, set to 110 pounds which is the spec per the manual. If you car came with wheel locks you may want to check. All the other lug nuts just clicked at 110 pounds.

Strange. My experience has been that dealerships tend to horrendously over-torque wheel nuts. They tend to use impact wrenches rather than torque wrenches to tighten.

 

[Filbert]

Does the vibration stay as you continue to accelerate, or does it go away once you reach a certain speed?
Years ago, I had a car that had a poorly-balanced driveshaft that caused things to shake. I'm not sure what the equivalent would be in an EV - perhaps an out-of-balance axle-shaft?

I've experienced both out of balance drive shafts and bad U-joints on other cars. Does not feel like that. The vibration does not seem to change at all whether accelerating, cruising at a constant speed, or deaccelerating. I also took it up close to 90 mph on a smooth expressway. Vibration did not get any stronger. But the vibration frequency increased, and does seem to be directly related to vehicle speed.

 

[Lexigen]

Strange. My experience has been that dealerships tend to horrendously over-torque wheel nuts. They tend to use impact wrenches rather than torque wrenches to tighten.

You are definitely correct on that. One time on another car I had, I nearly could not remove the lug nuts after a shop touched the car. The torque spec on that car was 80 pounds. I struggled to pop them loose with a 2' breaker bar with my entire body weight on it. I seriously thought I was going to break something. I had a Mach-E which is spec'ed at 150 pounds on the lug nuts which is easy to get off with that same 2' breaker bar.

Thinking back, how did that not just pull the wheel studs right off the hub when whoever surely used a high powered impact wrench on it, given that the torque spec was 80 pounds..

 

[fika]

Just an FYI for everyone talking about lug nuts on the GV60, they are actually lug bolts, and there are no studs.

 

[Looney100]

Just an FYI for everyone talking about lug nuts on the GV60, they are actually lug bolts, and there are no studs.

Well, if you want to be pedantic, yes, they are lug bolts.

The last vehicle I've owned that had nuts was a 2009 Acura MDX. All bolts since. Has the industry moved to bolts now, or is it a price-point thing with more expensive vehicles using bolts?

Anyone changing their own wheels on a bolted vehicle should have a wheel hanger in their toolbox. Makes things MUCH easier.

 

[smartino]

Well, if you want to be pedantic, yes, they are lug bolts.

The last vehicle I've owned that had nuts was a 2009 Acura MDX. All bolts since. Has the industry moved to bolts now, or is it a price-point thing with more expensive vehicles using bolts?

Anyone changing their own wheels on a bolted vehicle should have a wheel hanger in their toolbox. Makes things MUCH easier.

One wheel hanger comes with the GV60 it’s in the tire mobility kit.