flutter @ 25-30mph

[okcguy]

I've experienced the same noise issue off/on starting about a month ago. I'm at 35k now. At first j thought it was maybe an underbody panel loose and rattling with the wind. My noise happens about 26-29mph for the first couple of miles. I tried driving at different gears, neutral, neutral and revving but it's consistent with wheel speed. Likely a bearing or ujoint clicking until it all gets moving. Why this didn't happen earlier, I have no idea.

If folks are getting driveline parts replaced with no change, it's likely somewhere else. This obviously didn't happen off the lot for ours new so different (new) components should alleviate the noise until those wear out. It would be great to get this on a lift when cold to check the source of the noise, although removing the load from the driveshaft could hide the source.

 

[Kraig Wilkinson]

UPDATE. Picked up the car (finally!) and doing some testing. They appear to have replaced rims and tires, I will have more details tomorrow if they re-used my rims since the service adviser was not sure, but the tires are definitely new. The vibration is still there, although much less noticeable. It also vibrates in Neutral which effectively excludes the transmission issues. Next step for me is to work with the tire shop owner (who I have known for 25 years) to confirm that the rims and tires are good. He may have some ideas.... While I don't believe this vibration is tires related, the questions I now have, after driveshafts and transfer case having been replaced, are:
1) What makes the car vibrate in Neutral AND gear at 30 Mph
2) Why swapping the tires made it much less noticeable

Has anyone checked the axle shafts ,each one has two cv joints if I am not mistaken?

 

[DeBlackman]

UPDATE. Picked up the car (finally!) and doing some testing. They appear to have replaced rims and tires, I will have more details tomorrow if they re-used my rims since the service adviser was not sure, but the tires are definitely new. The vibration is still there, although much less noticeable. It also vibrates in Neutral which effectively excludes the transmission issues. Next step for me is to work with the tire shop owner (who I have known for 25 years) to confirm that the rims and tires are good. He may have some ideas.... While I don't believe this vibration is tires related, the questions I now have, after driveshafts and transfer case having been replaced, are:
1) What makes the car vibrate in Neutral AND gear at 30 Mph
2) Why swapping the tires made it much less noticeable

I've had my rims and tires checked already by a friend of mines and they checked out fine. Plus my tires are new as well

 

[osnv]

Has anyone checked the axle shafts ,each one has two cv joints if I am not mistaken?

I would hope so since the car was sitting at the dealership for the total of 45 days for this problem and the field engineer spent half of the day with the car and used some vibration analyzer device

 

[osnv]

Well, as improbable as it sounds, but a vibration in my case was indeed caused by the tires. I have no clue why a 50K+ car would be so sensitive to slight imperfections in the tires or why I would feel it in the driver's seat back, instead of a steering wheel, at precisely 30 Mph, but after balancing all tires and most importantly, shaving the 2 of them to remove practically unnoticeable humps, the vibration disappeared. A dealer would never do this shaving for you, you would need a really good tire shop that knows what they are doing. It's just completely insane that both sets of Michelin Primacy I had on this car were not perfectly round, I always disliked Michelin due to them becoming too hard after a while, but now I swear that I would never put any Michelin tires on any of my cars. They are just overpriced junk. For everyone who is experiencing driver seat vibration (stronger when the car/tires are cold), take a close look at your tires - this may be the reason for the annoying vibrations. Still, not acceptable to me that this "luxury" car can't handle minor tire imperfections...

 

[kocyk123]

I had problems with my Michelin tires too. I am never going back to that overpriced junk (talking about Primacy model. I can't say anything about other models). I am happy that you were able to fix your vibration problem. I had the slight seat vibration problem and it turned out that 2 of my rims were slightly bent. Got them straighten up for $100 each and now I feel like my Genny rides like real Genny should

 

[Kraig Wilkinson]

I had problems with my Michelin tires too. I am never going back to that overpriced junk (talking about Primacy model. I can't say anything about other models). I am happy that you were able to fix your vibration problem. I had the slight seat vibration problem and it turned out that 2 of my rims were slightly bent. Got them straighten up for $100 each and now I feel like my Genny rides like real Genny should

Had the same problem, 2 bent rims on pass side. Took the car to the dealer 3 days after purchase. Purchased car in Chicago, I live in SD. They said found nothing wrong. They did balance and alignment. Still did not feel right. Took the tires off and had tire place check and rebalance. They said they are good? Still felt like something was wrong! Took them off car again , paid local shop for five minutes alone with their tire balancing machine. Found both pass side rims bent !!# WTF I have been doing my own work on my vehicles forever and now I remember why! I am happy you got your problems fixed. Theses cars ride AWESOME when things are 100%!

 

[micahp20]

Hey guys I posted on another thread yesterday that my dealer located the problem. Replacing the entire driveshaft assembly(which includes the propeller shaft). Used electronic device to locate origin of noise. Noise coming from propeller shaft unit. This unit is directly located underneath the console. That's why when you open up the console the fluttering/clicking noise is more pronounced. Scheduled to install driveshaft assembly this Monday. Will keep ya posted.

what electric device did they use? my dealership is giving me a hard time telling me if they cant replicate they cant fix it so frustrating! and any chance I could get the dealership info to discuss?

 

[micahp20]

what electric device did they use? my dealership is giving me a hard time telling me if they cant replicate they cant fix it so frustrating! and any chance I could get the dealership info to discuss?

 

[Gennadiy]

what electric device did they use? my dealership is giving me a hard time telling me if they cant replicate they cant fix it so frustrating! and any chance I could get the dealership info to discuss?

He is probably referring to chassis ears. They run wires to possible problem areas and listen for the noise while driving.

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[UseAsDirected]

Well, as improbable as it sounds, but a vibration in my case was indeed caused by the tires. I have no clue why a 50K+ car would be so sensitive to slight imperfections in the tires or why I would feel it in the driver's seat back, instead of a steering wheel, at precisely 30 Mph, but after balancing all tires and most importantly, shaving the 2 of them to remove practically unnoticeable humps, the vibration disappeared. A dealer would never do this shaving for you, you would need a really good tire shop that knows what they are doing. It's just completely insane that both sets of Michelin Primacy I had on this car were not perfectly round, I always disliked Michelin due to them becoming too hard after a while, but now I swear that I would never put any Michelin tires on any of my cars. They are just overpriced junk. For everyone who is experiencing driver seat vibration (stronger when the car/tires are cold), take a close look at your tires - this may be the reason for the annoying vibrations. Still, not acceptable to me that this "luxury" car can't handle minor tire imperfections...

Michelin Primacy MX-5 are perhaps the worst tires on which I have ever driven. They are not well reviewed on TireRack.com. Because of them I hit a curb -- twice -- first time at 3 mph on light snow, cracking the bumper, and second time at 9 mph on snow, needing a wheel alignment. Once 22,000 miles elapsed I tossed them out and purchased a set of Vredestein Quatrac-5 all-season tires, and a separate set of Michelin X-Ice winter tires. What a night/day difference to get into Vredestein all-season tires from the Primacy MX-5.

 

[Topspin]

Exactly what i have too!

The exact same noise during the first 10 minutes in the morning between 25-30mph; more prominent when braking.

My car is a 2015 3.8 with 29K miles. Went to the dealer today and they ordered a new drive shaft so I will update once it is replaced.

 

[kocyk123]

Michelin Primacy MX-5 are perhaps the worst tires on which I have ever driven. They are not well reviewed on TireRack.com. Because of them I hit a curb -- twice -- first time at 3 mph on light snow, cracking the bumper, and second time at 9 mph on snow, needing a wheel alignment. Once 22,000 miles elapsed I tossed them out and purchased a set of Vredestein Quatrac-5 all-season tires, and a separate set of Michelin X-Ice winter tires. What a night/day difference to get into Vredestein all-season tires from the Primacy MX-5.

The exact same noise during the first 10 minutes in the morning between 25-30mph; more prominent when braking.

My car is a 2015 3.8 with 29K miles. Went to the dealer today and they ordered a new drive shaft so I will update once it is replaced.

I had Verdestein tired order but then cancelled the order because I found awesome deal on Pirelli P7 Cinturato All Season Plus. They were replacing garbage Michelin tires. Verdestein seem to have better ratings than Pirellis. How is the ride and can you take a picture of the wheel, please? I want to see how the side of the tire looks like on our rims. Thank you!

 

[UseAsDirected]

I had Verdestein tired order but then cancelled the order because I found awesome deal on Pirelli P7 Cinturato All Season Plus. They were replacing garbage Michelin tires. Verdestein seem to have better ratings than Pirellis. How is the ride and can you take a picture of the wheel, please? I want to see how the side of the tire looks like on our rims. Thank you!

Sure. The ride is very nice and attached to this response is the car with the Vredestein Quatrac-5 mounted. I purchased a separate set of Genesis G80 Sport 3.3 "Y-Spoke" wheels and tires so when the spring comes I will use the 3.3T wheels & Continental tires for warm weather and Michelin X-Ice mounted on the 18-inch wheels you see below for cold weather. I will sell the Vredestein Quatrac-5 on Craigslist because I will not be able to use them. Only have 10,293 miles on them.

 

[PotatomanMD]

I have this same issue with fluttering sound at 28 to 33 mph on my 2015 Geneais sedan 3.8 RWD. It was very subtle and started around 8k miles. At that time it was so subtle it didn't bother me but at 33k miles now it's really loud on cold start. Dealer was able to replicate and replaced the rear differential which didn't fix the problem. I took it back 4 more times now they don't know a fix the issue and have been working with tech line with no solution. I will have to show them this thread. It sounds like the majority of people fixed it with a driveshaft replacement. Some people had the driveshaft replaced with no improvement. I hope mine will be fixed. It's really unacceptable.

 

[glennk]

I thought it was the Propeller Shaft was the issue.

 

[UseAsDirected]

I have this same issue with fluttering sound at 28 to 33 mph on my 2015 Geneais sedan 3.8 RWD. It was very subtle and started around 8k miles. At that time it was so subtle it didn't bother me but at 33k miles now it's really loud on cold start. Dealer was able to replicate and replaced the rear differential which didn't fix the problem. I took it back 4 more times now they don't know a fix the issue and have been working with tech line with no solution. I will have to show them this thread. It sounds like the majority of people fixed it with a driveshaft replacement. Some people had the driveshaft replaced with no improvement. I hope mine will be fixed. It's really unacceptable.

Mate, it's a known drive-shaft/propeller-shaft assembly. Attached to this note is the work order. They can look up the UPC.

 

[MAM]

Hey guys I posted on another thread yesterday that my dealer located the problem. Replacing the entire driveshaft assembly(which includes the propeller shaft). Used electronic device to locate origin of noise. Noise coming from propeller shaft unit. This unit is directly located underneath the console. That's why when you open up the console the fluttering/clicking noise is more pronounced. Scheduled to install driveshaft assembly this Monday. Will keep ya posted.

Dec 29, 2019 - I had the same problem, they replaced the drive shaft But the issue did not go away. The noise stopped but I still get a vibration at exactly 28 mph at cold start. Goes away after about 10 minutes. They tell me it is the tires, they recommend putting on the original spec Michelin’s. I am dubious but have seen posts on other blogs that this can work.

 

[MAM]

I have been through this thread several times and noticed that most of the post do not mention what year their car is. I know it should be a 2015 or 2016. Their is either no year mentioned or it is a 2015. Only one post that said he had a 2016 but the description was a little different from all the others (RyanB #31).
Does anyone with a 2016 have this problem? Could it have been taken care of with the 2016?

Thanks

I have a 2016 3.8 AWD. Had the driveshaft replaced and the noise is gone but strong vibration at 28 mph; goes away after a few minutes.

 

[MAM]

This is covered under the 10 year 100,000 mile powertrain warranty is that correct?

I'm looking at buying a 2015 3.8L V6 (AWD) and this thread is a bit concerning.
The car has 55k miles on it so is well within warranty.



JIMMY! Did you go for a third driveshaft or what? Did they not replace the propeller assembly? I would be fuming if it came back

The 100K Powertrain warranty only conveys on a used car if it is “certified “.