Shake or Vibration Issues

GMCSierra4x4 · April 1, 2016

Well, my days as a GM owner are officially done. I was shaking my head on the way to the dealership or maybe it was just the vibration . I traded my truck for a 2016 Ford F150 Lariat 4WD Crew Cab with 6.5' box. I tried, but no more GM's in my lifetime.

-1995 Chevrolet Silverado 2WD - It started bucking and jerky randomly when warm. The mechanics could not find anything wrong after 6-10 visits. I was already outside the 3/36 and 5 year period (73,000 miles). Service manager told me to trade it on a good day which I did the next week.

-2001 Chevrolet Silverado 2500HD 4WD 6.0L gas - Lemon lawed at the 3 year point. I started the process at about 2 1/2 years.

-2015 GMC Sierra 1500 4WD - Traded

I will check back on a more infrequent basis, but wanted to get ahead of the AutoGuide article assuming it affects resale values.

jpcons · April 1, 2016

point blank the problem is frame/body intensifies all the little imperfection. I am a GM employee and they warned us before the trucks even hit the road about the vibration. I should have listened but thought it couldn't be that bad. Boy was I wrong.

wsk3 · April 1, 2016

I thought I was lucky when, last year, the dealer balance my tires and my 2014 Sierra SLT stopped shaking. Recently it began again but in the 75-80mph range (18k on the odo). The dealer's mechanic says he cannot reproduce my concern and the dealer says they won't operate the vehicle at that speed. Take any Turnpike or Parkway in New Jersey and 70-75mph is the speed traffic is moving (65 mph speed limit). So unless you want to be the obstruction, you match traffic's speed. Do you think a call to GM customer care would even help?

6sigma · April 1, 2016

My 70-80MPH vibration is eliminated now, after I tightened the factory U bolts on the leaf springs to 80 ft-lbs and the dealer did a road force balance. The U bolts made about 75% improvement and the rebalance took care of the remainder. Now it is smooth and vibration free. I've put about 500 miles on it and it seems to be holding up. Fingers crossed it doesn't come back.

Jesse Davidson · April 1, 2016

Went to my new servicing dealer today and took the shop foreman for a ride and discussed all of the issues with the truck... Guess What... HE AGREED WITH ME!!!!!

He even admitted that they currently have a few other pick-ups there for the exact same problems and that he has personally helped a good number of other people fight to get a buy back. He and I discussed all of the different scenarios make the vibration worse such as going around a curve, up a hill, temperature differences etc. We also discussed different parts and what we believe the root cause to be, he actually said that he believes that the frames on the trucks are not 100% true, and that the truck is fighting the frame while driving, in addition to the stiffer frame and changed material for the mounts causing all of the resonances to be transferred into the vehicle, he actually called the truck a "tuning fork" lol.

According to him, I definitely have the T1 Vibe, possibly a T3 and Prop... hopefully I am remembering this right... I was also able to get him to listen to the issues I have with my radio as well, again he agreed that the radio definitely has problems. However he said hes NEVER seen, let alone heard of the problem I have, where it will randomly lose all of the highs in the audio and fade, the only issue he has seen was with the reception and HD Tuning, and my truck doesn't have HD.

Anyway, they are going to call me when they get a loaner vehicle back, to so they can schedule it for me, they will be taking my truck in either this Monday, or next Monday, I am also going to bring my 18" wheels with me so they can run the Picoscope on those aswell, even though I have had every intention of switching the tire to something that is better for A/T... yes I am still arguing with them about paying for and not receiving A/T tires...

Now the kicker for anyone with a '14... The foreman told me that when GM ordered the rear ends from American Axle, it was a late order, so AA started just cranking them with little quality control, he then went on to say that they never changed the tool kits when manufacturing them... the tolerances turned to sh*t, and the more they produced, the worse they got... So anyone with a '14.... that could be part of your problem, he was telling me about one truck they had , it registered 56 on the Pico, GM somehow determined that 22 was the threshold. they overhauled the original rear end, then ended up replacing the entire assembly. They obviously did not fix that truck and it was one of the buy backs that he helped with.

I asked him if he knew how GM came up with the 22 spec for the reading on the Pico, because that is still a felt vibration, and quite honestly for the amount that we pay for these trucks, any vibration like this is bullsh*t. he said he didn't know where GM came up with that spec, but agreed that if he was a consumer and had purchased one, he'd feel the same way.

Edited April 2, 2016 by Jesse D

The Zip · April 2, 2016

Went to my new servicing dealer today (xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx) and took the shop foreman for a ride and discussed all of the issues with the truck... Guess What... HE AGREED WITH ME!!!!!

With all the negative talk about GM your dealer agreed to, his business sounds pretty tight so stick with him. But you may want to go back to your post and delete his dealership name, GM might just give him a call.

Jesse Davidson · April 2, 2016

With all the negative talk about GM your dealer agreed to, his business sounds pretty tight so stick with him. But you may want to go back to your post and delete his dealership name, GM might just give him a call.

good call, thank you

paxtonman · April 3, 2016

Well, my days as a GM owner are officially done. I was shaking my head on the way to the dealership or maybe it was just the vibration . I traded my truck for a 2016 Ford F150 Lariat 4WD Crew Cab with 6.5' box. I tried, but no more GM's in my lifetime.

-1995 Chevrolet Silverado 2WD - It started bucking and jerky randomly when warm. The mechanics could not find anything wrong after 6-10 visits. I was already outside the 3/36 and 5 year period (73,000 miles). Service manager told me to trade it on a good day which I did the next week.

-2001 Chevrolet Silverado 2500HD 4WD 6.0L gas - Lemon lawed at the 3 year point. I started the process at about 2 1/2 years.

-2015 GMC Sierra 1500 4WD - Traded

I will check back on a more infrequent basis, but wanted to get ahead of the AutoGuide article assuming it affects resale values.

How bad of a beating did you take? My second buy back truck is ordered and I'm thinking of driving it straight to the Ford dealer as soon as it comes in. I had one Ford dealer tell me he really wasn't interested in my first buy back.

Ron.s · April 3, 2016

How bad of a beating did you take? My second buy back truck is ordered and I'm thinking of driving it straight to the Ford dealer as soon as it comes in. I had one Ford dealer tell me he really wasn't interested in my first buy back]

I went from a 2014 taken back by GM to a 2016 and can't believe the improvement. Almost everything works better on the 16. The engine is much more responsive, no clunk, home link has longer range, seats tight, paint great.... I could go on but it's just much better including fit and finish.

My only issues are minor except-I had a scare when I noticed rough roads at about 80 gave my truck the shakes. Turned out it was from the spring U bolts not torqued to spec, 40 vs 78. My Android Auto was acting up but has been solid since the recent phone update of AA. I'm down to one minor issue-some wind noise from driver side. I can see that the door is slightly out from the body so maybe just need to move the door latch in a tad. I'll let the dealer take that one.

If your new truck is anything like mine you won't want to trade.

SierraMyst · April 3, 2016

Any experiencing the vibrations on 2016s? Can't imagine they changed much on that model year?

paxtonman · April 3, 2016

My 14 was flawless, zero issues, traded it last may for a 15 Sil. vib in it was bad, put tires on it in Sept, balances, rotated driveshaft, no change. In Dec they buy backed me into a 15 Sierra, same vib but not as bad as the Sil. In Jan I ordered a 16 Sierra which I'm waiting for. People are still getting the vib with 16's and after a year of this I'm about at the point of washing my hands of GM and moving on. I've known my dealer my whole life and he has really stepped up for me, that's the problem for me.

SierraMyst · April 3, 2016

My 14 was flawless, zero issues, traded it last may for a 15 Sil. vib in it was bad, put tires on it in Sept, balances, rotated driveshaft, no change. In Dec they buy backed me into a 15 Sierra, same vib but not as bad as the Sil. In Jan I ordered a 16 Sierra which I'm waiting for. People are still getting the vib with 16's and after a year of this I'm about at the point of washing my hands of GM and moving on. I've known my dealer my whole life and he has really stepped up for me, that's the problem for me.

Yeah..my 16 shakes from 72-75 and up. Pretty unhappy about it. Under 70 it is super smooth. Wheels have been balanced twice. I don't think it's a wheel thing because it seems to change in intensity and location every time I drive.

Sometimes it's in the steering wheel at 74 mph. Sometimes the seats are shaking at 75. Sometime it's the whole truck. Really odd. It seems to have gotten worse. Just hit 3k miles.

I'm going to ask for a road force balance and hopefully it'll be better.

Pretty sure the GY SRA'S are crap. But then again, I'm pretty sure it's in the drive line.

Man...38 years buying Japanese vehicles with little or no issues.

Really shot myself in the foot here buying American. Between the clunky transmission, the shuttery shifts, the tin can exhaust, the whining tires, and high speed vibrations, this is not a pleasurable vehicle to own.

This may be my worst ownership experience. Too bad it's such a great looking truck. I thought the Tundra was butt ugly. I guess I'll take ugly and smooth over pretty and shitty.

GMCSierra4x4 · April 4, 2016

paxtonman, on 02 Apr 2016 - 5:29 PM, said:

How bad of a beating did you take? My second buy back truck is ordered and I'm thinking of driving it straight to the Ford dealer as soon as it comes in. I had one Ford dealer tell me he really wasn't interested in my first buy back.

Not as bad as I expected.... my GMC truck stickered by 54800, purchased for 43800 through a military buying program, traded for 38500 after a year and 9400 miles. The new Ford stickered for 61200, bought for 52500, but it has every possible bell and whistle that the GMC was missing despite having every package option installed.

38500 trade was the high end per KBB for my truck, so I couldn't have expected more. The most important thing is that Washington state has a 9.2% sales tax on new vehicles. I needed to sell the truck for 42042 just to break even on the sales tax savings gained by trading. It is almost always better to trade a well kept newer vehicle in Washington versus selling it privately just due to sales tax. A $50000 truck without a trade is an additional $4600 in sales tax.

I can at least write off the sales tax on my federal tax return next year since Washington does not an income tax.

Edited April 4, 2016 by GMCSierra4x4