2012 3500HD Shaking at Highway Speeds

Heineken022 · October 8, 2012

ChevyTech77 is correct. The most important part is knowing how to operate the equipment. I recently had a problem with my car that was very similar to this. I went to a local tire place where they had the Hunter GSP9700 and it took them 3x to get one of the tires properly mounted and balanced. If you can watch the guys us the machine I recommend doing so. They shouldn't just add weights to the wheels to get them balanced properly. They have to break the bead and rotate the tire on the rim. The equipment will tell them how much to rotate the tire for optimum balancing. 15 is a good number, 25 is considered the maximum that won't be felt when driving. I read somewhere that 30 was ok on an LT tire.

I knew my right-rear tire was hosed on my car and it showed a 35 on the unit. Simply rotating the tire on the rim 180 degrees dropped it to 20 and it is perfect now. They also need to put soapy water on the tire before inflation. This will allow the bead to sit properly on the rim. Some of the run out issues are caused by skipping this step. You can actually see the tire go up and down on the rim unless this is done.

I went to a guy who has been doing this for years and just bought the adapters for the new bolt pattern. If you are looking for someone to do this locally, Hunter has a list of companies with the correct balancing machine: http://www.gsp9700.com/search/findgsp9700.cfm. They charge a bit more to do it this way but it is worth every penny. My 2010 2500 HD doesn't have this issue so I haven't had it done on it.

Poleman · October 9, 2012

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.

Would it be possible for you to post the TSB or at least the TSB# ?

ChevyTech77 · October 10, 2012

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.

Would it be possible for you to post the TSB or at least the TSB# ?

Unless you have a Hunter GSP9700 and the knowledge to use it, the tsb would be worthless. It's basically nothing more that helpful diagnostic and repair tips and guidelines for rfv balancing tires on all GM vehicles.

Poleman · October 12, 2012

Back for another visit to dealer with the shaking/vibration. Rebalanced all 4 tires twice and said vibration gone. I'll advise after I get it out on the highway.

Jkeinick · October 18, 2012

So went back to the tire shop. I had toyo open country a/t tires on. Tried 4 sets of tires. All shook. I got new set of cooper a/t3 tires. Truck is like new. Smooth.

ChevyTech77 · October 19, 2012

So went back to the tire shop. I had toyo open country a/t tires on. Tried 4 sets of tires. All shook. I got new set of cooper a/t3 tires. Truck is like new. Smooth.

It for sure is an inherent design flaw in the truck though.

Poleman · October 25, 2012

Back for another visit to dealer with the shaking/vibration. Rebalanced all 4 tires twice and said vibration gone. I'll advise after I get it out on the highway.

Well shockingly after two trips to the dealer and multiple rebalancing including rotating tires on the rims the shake/vibration is gone!