2012 3500HD Shaking at Highway Speeds

[ChevyTech77]

I met with the engineer today at 900am as scheduled. He was is very nice guy, very knowledgeable and appeared to have a genuine concern for my issue. He connected an ultrasonic diagnostic tool to the truck with a microphone on the drivers seat frame rail. We test drove at highway speeds and sure enough, he was able to verify the vibration. He said the frequencies well exceeded what he felt was acceptable. He immediately felt it was a tire concern. He took the tires to a neighboring dealer with a good road force balancing machine and rebalanced them. He determined that two of the tires are bad and would not balance to meet spec. For what it is worth, the vibration is now worse since they were rebalanced today.

 

He explained it like this:

The new frames/suspension on the 11+ HD's are so tight, that they are ultra sensitive to tire/wheel issues. He said that some trucks have the problems, some don't; being a luck of the draw on what tires are installed at the factory and how well they were balanced. Also, said that the dealer network as a whole does not have the correct tire balancing machines that can dial in the tires to the tolerances needed on these trucks. He denied that there was any engineering problem with the truck itself. One good point he made was that if 100 trucks have this problem, maybe only 10% of the these trucks owners would be bothered or even notice the shaking; noting that we are dealing with an HD truck. Some people just expect an HD truck to ride like that. I guess I fall into the 10% group.

 

Bottom line, he is ordering 8 new tires (same Michelins that I have now), and will replace mine with 4 new ones (he ordering additional ones in case any of them are out of round). He is coming back to the dealership in two weeks to oversee the balancing and installation. The tires will be balanced at a site nearby TBD. He said he needs to locate a certain brand of machine that uses some kind of laser technology or something like that.

 

Anyway, i have agreed to try this approach and see what happens.

Steve

 

Care to share said engineers name? Just curious.

[therink]

I met with the engineer today at 900am as scheduled. He was is very nice guy, very knowledgeable and appeared to have a genuine concern for my issue. He connected an ultrasonic diagnostic tool to the truck with a microphone on the drivers seat frame rail. We test drove at highway speeds and sure enough, he was able to verify the vibration. He said the frequencies well exceeded what he felt was acceptable. He immediately felt it was a tire concern. He took the tires to a neighboring dealer with a good road force balancing machine and rebalanced them. He determined that two of the tires are bad and would not balance to meet spec. For what it is worth, the vibration is now worse since they were rebalanced today.

He explained it like this:

The new frames/suspension on the 11+ HD's are so tight, that they are ultra sensitive to tire/wheel issues. He said that some trucks have the problems, some don't; being a luck of the draw on what tires are installed at the factory and how well they were balanced. Also, said that the dealer network as a whole does not have the correct tire balancing machines that can dial in the tires to the tolerances needed on these trucks. He denied that there was any engineering problem with the truck itself. One good point he made was that if 100 trucks have this problem, maybe only 10% of the these trucks owners would be bothered or even notice the shaking; noting that we are dealing with an HD truck. Some people just expect an HD truck to ride like that. I guess I fall into the 10% group.

Bottom line, he is ordering 8 new tires (same Michelins that I have now), and will replace mine with 4 new ones (he ordering additional ones in case any of them are out of round). He is coming back to the dealership in two weeks to oversee the balancing and installation. The tires will be balanced at a site nearby TBD. He said he needs to locate a certain brand of machine that uses some kind of laser technology or something like that.

Anyway, i have agreed to try this approach and see what happens.

Steve

Care to share said engineers name? Just curious.

 

 

 

His name is Dave Luka. He works out of Buffalo, New York.

[77StepSide]

Hi All,

 

I'm new to the post and couldn't resist providing another data point. After leaving the dealership on 9/18/12 in a new 2012 2500 HD Duramax extended cab running 265 70 20 Goodyear tires I noticed a significant shake at 72mph through 76mph. I turned around and headed back to the dealer. They said the tires needed to be rebalanced using their road force machine. They rebalance the tires and the shake was better but still there. They then called the local GM Rep and he said the magic number needed to be below "23". They ordered 8 new tires and balanced them with values of 8, 11, 11, and 18. They continued by taking it on the road for 30 min to heat up the tires. Upon returing, the rebalanced and found one tire at 26. They put another tire on and went through the same sequence and got it down to 16. The shaking at 75mph is gone.

[ChevyTech77]

Hi All,

 

I'm new to the post and couldn't resist providing another data point. After leaving the dealership on 9/18/12 in a new 2012 2500 HD Duramax extended cab running 265 70 20 Goodyear tires I noticed a significant shake at 72mph through 76mph. I turned around and headed back to the dealer. They said the tires needed to be rebalanced using their road force machine. They rebalance the tires and the shake was better but still there. They then called the local GM Rep and he said the magic number needed to be below "23". They ordered 8 new tires and balanced them with values of 8, 11, 11, and 18. They continued by taking it on the road for 30 min to heat up the tires. Upon returing, the rebalanced and found one tire at 26. They put another tire on and went through the same sequence and got it down to 16. The shaking at 75mph is gone.

 

Sounds like your dealer didn't drive the vehicle the mandatory 10 or more miles that it takes to warm the tires prior to performing the radial force balance check/adjustment the first time. If they had, they would have nailed it on the first try. That is just one of many common mistakes technicians do when performing a radial force tire balance.

 

Another HUGE step missed is not using all of the tools available to them to accurately diagnose the concern.

[elcamino]

A lot of times the shake is acceptable to the tech so its good as far as he is concerned and thats the end of what he will do.

[Kcauto]

I have a 2012 2500HD 4x4 with 18's! Built in May. It vibrates at the same speeds. I have had it at the dealer several times for this vibration and still no luck! The just installed Michlen tires today and still no change! My seat shakes all over from 65 to 75. My daughter gets sick when riding in it. The dealer said that GM said its a heavy truck and may vibrate! This answer is not acceptable! I will be calling GM myself! I had 2004 2500 with 180000 miles! No vibration at all! For a 53000 dollar truck I'd expect a better ride! Looking into all other options if it can't be resolved!

[therink]

I have a 2012 2500HD 4x4 with 18's! Built in May. It vibrates at the same speeds. I have had it at the dealer several times for this vibration and still no luck! The just installed Michlen tires today and still no change! My seat shakes all over from 65 to 75. My daughter gets sick when riding in it. The dealer said that GM said its a heavy truck and may vibrate! This answer is not acceptable! I will be calling GM myself! I had 2004 2500 with 180000 miles! No vibration at all! For a 53000 dollar truck I'd expect a better ride! Looking into all other options if it can't be resolved!

 

 

This is a common issue. If you have read my history in this thread, you will see I have been heavily pursuing a resolution with Gm. So far no answers. A gm engineer is trying new tires for the third time next week. This is gms last chance to make this right or it will be lawyer time.

Keep me posted on your progress.

Steve

[Kcauto]

I keep you informed! I'm not happy at all!

[therink]

Update :

Finally, no more shaking/vibration at highway speeds.

GM engineer installed new set of Michelins. He road force balanced them himself to within 15lbs. I am not sure what that means, but he said that this is a very low tolerance/spec that is very hard to achieve on most balancing machines. He actually took my wheels with newly mounted tires to a Honda dealership down the road from my Chevy dealer. Apparently, the balancing machine at my dealer wasn't up to the task.

Anyway, it now rides like it should. Unfortunately it took one year, 20,000 miles, three sets of new Michelins, countless attempts at rebalincing, loaner cars, my time and energy, numerous phone calls with GM customer service, etc. My perseverance paid off plus I have a fresh set of tires.

For anyone having this problem, your tires likely need to be road force balanced to within 15lbs. If your dealer can't do this, then contact customer service like I did.

Kudos to the GM field engineer and O'Conner Chevrolet in Rochester, New York. GM needs to issue a TSB on this issue with proper instruction on balancing tires on the HD trucks.

Steve

[Portdriver]

Good to hear you got it resolved! I don't know what "within 15 lbs" means either but it sounds like you're gonna be getting your tires balanced a lot! I'm glad I didn't have this issue with my truck. Or maybe I have a bad case of numbass?

[rotti]

Wow......glad the problem has been solved.

 

Since I have just about the same truck, I am now wondering/dreading getting new tires when the time comes. Is the truck that sensitive to tires or are the Michelins that poor (three sets you said)?

[SouthCo]

Wow. So what happens when you need new tires? Hope it doesn't take as long to get another set balanced "to spec".

 

 

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[therink]

I agree to the above. All I can say is that the engineer said the 11+ HD frames and suspension are so tight that a slight imbalance in wheels/tires will be felt more than previous years. He also said that tires aren't as good as they once were (run out). OK, I'm not sure if I buy this, but I will give my new tires a chance. The ride is night and day from the previous 20k miles. If it returns, I have enough documentation (starting at 500 miles on the odometer), that GM will be replacing the truck, period.

Steve

[ChevyTech77]

Update :

Finally, no more shaking/vibration at highway speeds.

GM engineer installed new set of Michelins. He road force balanced them himself to within 15lbs. I am not sure what that means, but he said that this is a very low tolerance/spec that is very hard to achieve on most balancing machines. He actually took my wheels with newly mounted tires to a Honda dealership down the road from my Chevy dealer. Apparently, the balancing machine at my dealer wasn't up to the task.

Anyway, it now rides like it should. Unfortunately it took one year, 20,000 miles, three sets of new Michelins, countless attempts at rebalincing, loaner cars, my time and energy, numerous phone calls with GM customer service, etc. My perseverance paid off plus I have a fresh set of tires.

For anyone having this problem, your tires likely need to be road force balanced to within 15lbs. If your dealer can't do this, then contact customer service like I did.

Kudos to the GM field engineer and O'Conner Chevrolet in Rochester, New York. GM needs to issue a TSB on this issue with proper instruction on balancing tires on the HD trucks.

Steve

 

There is a TSB for this. It all comes down to proper equipment and the use of said equipment.

[SouthCo]

Steve, I'm glad it's sorted out though. Your thread should help many others. I've been thinking about upgrading to a 2500 and will keep this info in the back of my head if I do.

 

 

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