Shake or Vibration Issues

GMCJOE17 · October 30, 2018

4 hours ago, Olvim said:

Hey Guys,

Longtime viewer (since purchasing), first time poster. Bought a new 2018 Chevy Silverado LT Z71 Crew Cab Short Box 5.3L V8 6-Speed 3.42 in May, 2018. Pretty much since purchase it has had vibration issues. Wanted to give you guys a bit of what I've experienced, which might be a little different than some of the other complaints, though definitely has severe similarities.

My vibrations, specifically, are in the steering wheel only at any speeds 70mph or greater - outside of this range, the truck is smooth as glass (though I can feel literally every road disturbance resonate through the wheel). I was rather convinced starting out that it was simply an unbalanced or out of round tire. I have never experienced any seat, floor, pedal, or cabin vibes, nor have I had issues with the phasing boom. My center console (bench seat) does shake a little at around 42-45 mph and a little on the highway, but it doesn't bother me much and it is the only thing (other than the steering wheel) that shakes. I've tightened the bolts holding it down and it's significantly reduced the vibes (though also obviously made it harder to move up and down, though not a big deal at this time since I rarely utilize that seat).

My truck's been to the dealer six times for this issue for a total of 32 days combined. I was initially told, when I finally convinced the dealership to perform a PICO, that I had a T3 vibe in the low 30hz range in the steering wheel. The initial set of tires on my truck were loaded with flat spots, and I've gone through three sets of Goodyear Wrangler SRAs on the 18in Z71 rims to date. Each time I brought the truck in, the vibes got better. First it was a bad dynamic balance, then it was a bad road force, then it was replacement of tires. As I continued to complain, since I was not satisfied with the truck I paid $39,000 for that drove worse than the 2005 Jeep Wrangler I traded in for it, a DMA was finally called in to drive my truck. He felt the vibration, and went around and around trying to identify the problem. He finally called in the engineers and I was informed that the PICO scope was installed incorrectly on the previous test and I actually had a T2 vibe in the mid 20s range with an amplitude of about 20mg. Afterward, all the tires on my truck were replaced until the wheels road forced out to 10lbs or less. It is my understanding from my dealer, though I've never seen it in writing, that the tire spec is 15lbs, but I was informed the engineers prefer to see it under 10lbs. They also did an engine mount procedure at the same time, unbolting them and moving the truck to be sure none were binding. When I got my truck back last month, I noticed that is about 90% vibration free, though it still occurs (with a MUCH lower amplitude, never spiking over 12mg - I was told by my dealer that 14mg is the "GM Spec").

The vibration I'm still getting happens only at times in which "something" comes into/out of phase. It's harmonic, happens typically in 2-3 second intervals every 2-3 seconds alternating until I make a turn that causes my wheels to spin at different speeds and move the harmony out of/into phase. I've noticed that if I drive for longer periods rather than short, it seems to diminish. I've also noticed it appears worse on blacktop than concrete, and that temperature or humidity seem to affect it (the hotter/more humid it is, the more likely I am to feel the vibe in the steering wheel).

Of course, all of my service tickets state that the truck is operating within normal tolerances and that GM TAC has no further instructions to work on the truck. They state that the mechanic at the dealer "inspected" the driveshaft, drivetrain, and suspension and that all appeared normal. Now, the interesting part in all of this, and what also appears in writing on my most recent service ticket, is that during the diagnoses of my vibes, the dealership test drove another 2018 Silverado, observed no vibrations, and then took those 4 wheels and put them on my truck. Those wheel configurations were 20" rims with Continentals. After driving my truck with the wheels/tires from the other truck, the vibrations in my truck GOT WORSE. When I brought this up to the DMA I've been working with, he told me he still felt it was just a tire issue since "the Z71 suspension is more stiff". To be frank, I'm simply not accepting this as an answer. While the truck's vibes are "currently" 90% gone, I find it hard to believe that I can walk into a tire shop when it comes time and demand I get four new tires that road force out to 10lbs or less. Since GM sells Z71 configurations with 20" rims, I'm going to continue complaining until they 1.) check and provide me a printout of runout measurements of literally every driveline component, 2) check and provide me a printout of the driveshaft's balance numbers, 3) check and provide me a printout of the runout of the driveshaft itself, and 4) check and provide me a printout of the camber and castor of all the axles. While I have no intention of ever getting 20" rims on my truck, it seems fishy to me that GM would simply "mask" this problem with PRISTINE wheel road forces, send customers on their way, and not have a care in the world when 3-4 years go by and they have to buy tires and suddenly encounter a vibration again. I've obviously read a lot of this topic and freely admit that I think my Goodyear SRAs are an utterly shit tire and flat spot damn near over night, however, it seems odd to me that such nightly flat spots would last more than 5-10 miles. I've had issues with Wranglers before (on my old Wrangler, in fact) and have ALWAYS been much more satisfied with the quality of Coopers and Michelins.

I'm not sure if sole steering wheel vibrations is classified as part of the "Chevy Shake", but I can tell you guys its annoying as hell. I drove 200 miles on Saturday in my truck and I felt the slight harmonic vibration for literally all of 12 seconds during the entire trip, but its enough for me to believe something still isn't right, knowing that the vibes in my truck got worse on well balanced 20" rims during the previous diagnoses.

I'm not necessarily looking to file a lemon law case with this, but I'm also not ruling it out completely. I consider myself lucky to have found a 5.3L V8 and 6 Speed tranny that seem to be mating well together. I've had ZERO hard shifts, ZERO stutters, and ZERO lifter ticks thus far. While I don't consider myself to be fiercely brand loyal, my father was a GM employee for 31 years and I try to keep that in the family and support fellow American workers. My family has purchased 10+ GM vehicles in the past 20 years and this is the first problem I've ever encountered. I can tell my dealership is absolutely fed up with me and my truck, but I'm going to continue this until I get some real numbers and ideas as to what the hell is going on. I don't think my issue is in the rear end like some of the other shakers since I experience only vibes in the steering wheel, but I want to be sure I can take the runout measurements to a good mechanic and get some opinions as to what might be going on. As a side note, I've driven 5 loaner 2018 Silverados during this whole process. 2 of the 5 shook, but none in the steering wheel like mine - they all had visible cabin vibes in the seats, the floor, or the whole cabin. One had 20" wheels, the other had 18".

Anyway, I've currently got an open case with GM Corporate, and I've called my dealer and advised what I want them to do. I'm waiting to hear back from the DMA. I've been MOSTLY patient and kind through this process, but will continue to push until its resolved. I know my case may seem minor to some of you, but I was hoping that by sharing you'd get a little more info. Please feel free to reply if you want further details from me.

The service manager at my dealer told me the same thing about the road force balance numbers. He put new tires on my truck and kept sending the new ones back until he got all 4 road forced to 7lbs each. It didn't fix the vibration, they replaced the ring and pinion and that didn't fix the vibration, its at a driveshaft shop now getting balanced and I am crossing my fingers that will be the fix but time will tell.

GM is really hush hush about the vibration issues and I have to believe that they not only know about it, they are handling each one case by case blaming it on tires when in fact I would guess that 95% are not a tire issue. Customers are really at the mercy of finding a good dealer that will take on the vibration trouble and run with it. A perfect example is when I took mine to the dealer the first time they told me it was my tires and to come get my truck.. was said pretty rude. I complained on line on their site trashing them as a poor service dealership on social media. I then took it to another dealership who had it for a total of an hour and said they couldn't find a problem. (they wanted nothing to do with it knowing it was the vibration issue) Funny part is as I was leaving the 2nd crap dealership the service manager of the first one called me and apologized and asked me to give him another chance at repairing the truck. I agreed and here we are 5 weeks later and they are on the driveshaft as the main problem. I have to give it to this service manager as he has really been trying to get it corrected going head to head with GM engineers and tech dept.

Good luck with your truck Olvim

Edited October 30, 2018 by GMCJOE17

Barak · October 30, 2018

Appreciate the update GMCJoe17. It’s interesting how GM knows it’s driveshaft issues and they just wouldn’t go ahead with a recall. Instead they try to circumvent the obvious and make it sounds like it’s all others parts like tires, axels etc. My dealership finally admitted that there was one other customer of theirs who had similar concern as we all do and they had to replace all of his axels. So like others commented, it may be a combination of components and/or one component depending on a truck model trim etc. But I still do believe it’s a driveshaft for many of us out here. Interesting enough I no longer feel the vibration at any speed whatsoever, however, I am in agreement with someone who said something about aluminum shaft and heat absorbing fact in warm weather vs cold. I reside in CNY and currently our weather conditions are in upper 30s to low 40s and have to say it has something to do with driveshaft but at this point whatever it may be it’s helping and I am happy. Will have to see what driving dynamics summer 2019 brings, probably vibration LoL!

dogtracks · October 30, 2018

16 hours ago, Olvim said:

Hey Guys,

Longtime viewer (since purchasing), first time poster. Bought a new 2018 Chevy Silverado LT Z71 Crew Cab Short Box 5.3L V8 6-Speed 3.42 in May, 2018. Pretty much since purchase it has had vibration issues. Wanted to give you guys a bit of what I've experienced, which might be a little different than some of the other complaints, though definitely has severe similarities.

My vibrations, specifically, are in the steering wheel only at any speeds 70mph or greater - outside of this range, the truck is smooth as glass (though I can feel literally every road disturbance resonate through the wheel). I was rather convinced starting out that it was simply an unbalanced or out of round tire. I have never experienced any seat, floor, pedal, or cabin vibes, nor have I had issues with the phasing boom. My center console (bench seat) does shake a little at around 42-45 mph and a little on the highway, but it doesn't bother me much and it is the only thing (other than the steering wheel) that shakes. I've tightened the bolts holding it down and it's significantly reduced the vibes (though also obviously made it harder to move up and down, though not a big deal at this time since I rarely utilize that seat).

My truck's been to the dealer six times for this issue for a total of 32 days combined. I was initially told, when I finally convinced the dealership to perform a PICO, that I had a T3 vibe in the low 30hz range in the steering wheel. The initial set of tires on my truck were loaded with flat spots, and I've gone through three sets of Goodyear Wrangler SRAs on the 18in Z71 rims to date. Each time I brought the truck in, the vibes got better. First it was a bad dynamic balance, then it was a bad road force, then it was replacement of tires. As I continued to complain, since I was not satisfied with the truck I paid $39,000 for that drove worse than the 2005 Jeep Wrangler I traded in for it, a DMA was finally called in to drive my truck. He felt the vibration, and went around and around trying to identify the problem. He finally called in the engineers and I was informed that the PICO scope was installed incorrectly on the previous test and I actually had a T2 vibe in the mid 20s range with an amplitude of about 20mg. Afterward, all the tires on my truck were replaced until the wheels road forced out to 10lbs or less. It is my understanding from my dealer, though I've never seen it in writing, that the tire spec is 15lbs, but I was informed the engineers prefer to see it under 10lbs. They also did an engine mount procedure at the same time, unbolting them and moving the truck to be sure none were binding. When I got my truck back last month, I noticed that is about 90% vibration free, though it still occurs (with a MUCH lower amplitude, never spiking over 12mg - I was told by my dealer that 14mg is the "GM Spec").

The vibration I'm still getting happens only at times in which "something" comes into/out of phase. It's harmonic, happens typically in 2-3 second intervals every 2-3 seconds alternating until I make a turn that causes my wheels to spin at different speeds and move the harmony out of/into phase. I've noticed that if I drive for longer periods rather than short, it seems to diminish. I've also noticed it appears worse on blacktop than concrete, and that temperature or humidity seem to affect it (the hotter/more humid it is, the more likely I am to feel the vibe in the steering wheel).

Of course, all of my service tickets state that the truck is operating within normal tolerances and that GM TAC has no further instructions to work on the truck. They state that the mechanic at the dealer "inspected" the driveshaft, drivetrain, and suspension and that all appeared normal. Now, the interesting part in all of this, and what also appears in writing on my most recent service ticket, is that during the diagnoses of my vibes, the dealership test drove another 2018 Silverado, observed no vibrations, and then took those 4 wheels and put them on my truck. Those wheel configurations were 20" rims with Continentals. After driving my truck with the wheels/tires from the other truck, the vibrations in my truck GOT WORSE. When I brought this up to the DMA I've been working with, he told me he still felt it was just a tire issue since "the Z71 suspension is more stiff". To be frank, I'm simply not accepting this as an answer. While the truck's vibes are "currently" 90% gone, I find it hard to believe that I can walk into a tire shop when it comes time and demand I get four new tires that road force out to 10lbs or less. Since GM sells Z71 configurations with 20" rims, I'm going to continue complaining until they 1.) check and provide me a printout of runout measurements of literally every driveline component, 2) check and provide me a printout of the driveshaft's balance numbers, 3) check and provide me a printout of the runout of the driveshaft itself, and 4) check and provide me a printout of the camber and castor of all the axles. While I have no intention of ever getting 20" rims on my truck, it seems fishy to me that GM would simply "mask" this problem with PRISTINE wheel road forces, send customers on their way, and not have a care in the world when 3-4 years go by and they have to buy tires and suddenly encounter a vibration again. I've obviously read a lot of this topic and freely admit that I think my Goodyear SRAs are an utterly shit tire and flat spot damn near over night, however, it seems odd to me that such nightly flat spots would last more than 5-10 miles. I've had issues with Wranglers before (on my old Wrangler, in fact) and have ALWAYS been much more satisfied with the quality of Coopers and Michelins.

I'm not sure if sole steering wheel vibrations is classified as part of the "Chevy Shake", but I can tell you guys its annoying as hell. I drove 200 miles on Saturday in my truck and I felt the slight harmonic vibration for literally all of 12 seconds during the entire trip, but its enough for me to believe something still isn't right, knowing that the vibes in my truck got worse on well balanced 20" rims during the previous diagnoses.

I'm not necessarily looking to file a lemon law case with this, but I'm also not ruling it out completely. I consider myself lucky to have found a 5.3L V8 and 6 Speed tranny that seem to be mating well together. I've had ZERO hard shifts, ZERO stutters, and ZERO lifter ticks thus far. While I don't consider myself to be fiercely brand loyal, my father was a GM employee for 31 years and I try to keep that in the family and support fellow American workers. My family has purchased 10+ GM vehicles in the past 20 years and this is the first problem I've ever encountered. I can tell my dealership is absolutely fed up with me and my truck, but I'm going to continue this until I get some real numbers and ideas as to what the hell is going on. I don't think my issue is in the rear end like some of the other shakers since I experience only vibes in the steering wheel, but I want to be sure I can take the runout measurements to a good mechanic and get some opinions as to what might be going on. As a side note, I've driven 5 loaner 2018 Silverados during this whole process. 2 of the 5 shook, but none in the steering wheel like mine - they all had visible cabin vibes in the seats, the floor, or the whole cabin. One had 20" wheels, the other had 18".

Anyway, I've currently got an open case with GM Corporate, and I've called my dealer and advised what I want them to do. I'm waiting to hear back from the DMA. I've been MOSTLY patient and kind through this process, but will continue to push until its resolved. I know my case may seem minor to some of you, but I was hoping that by sharing you'd get a little more info. Please feel free to reply if you want further details from me.

Dealer replaced motor mounts on my 2016 Burb, harmonic vibe, feels like ruff idle too, there is a bulletin on it.

dogtracks · October 30, 2018

4 hours ago, Barak said:

Appreciate the update GMCJoe17. It’s interesting how GM knows it’s driveshaft issues and they just wouldn’t go ahead with a recall. Instead they try to circumvent the obvious and make it sounds like it’s all others parts like tires, axels etc. My dealership finally admitted that there was one other customer of theirs who had similar concern as we all do and they had to replace all of his axels. So like others commented, it may be a combination of components and/or one component depending on a truck model trim etc. But I still do believe it’s a driveshaft for many of us out here. Interesting enough I no longer feel the vibration at any speed whatsoever, however, I am in agreement with someone who said something about aluminum shaft and heat absorbing fact in warm weather vs cold. I reside in CNY and currently our weather conditions are in upper 30s to low 40s and have to say it has something to do with driveshaft but at this point whatever it may be it’s helping and I am happy. Will have to see what driving dynamics summer 2019 brings, probably vibration LoL!

Want to have some fun, go out on twitter or FB and make some comments or complaints and copy a link to these posts. You can tweet to @chevrolet your issues and watch what happens next. They first they will tell you is how sorry they are you're having issues and then tell you to DM (direct mail) them so they can discuss your issues. Look at @chevrolet on twitter, they do this to everyone who's got a complaint. Their PR department wants to keep this buried, they did this a couple times to me and I called them on it, no transparency, the last thing they want is this to go public or viral...#ChevyShake

dogtracks · October 30, 2018

On 10/29/2018 at 8:58 AM, Dearmosd said:

no recall, but a $60k+ mistake trusting GM to do the right thing. I avoided the Ford Expedition due to it being the first year back on production and never trusted the first gen of anything but I am regretting not looking at Ford before pulling the trigger on the 2018 Suburban.

I am just stumped that all the test drives of 2016-2017 used suburbans and 2018 Yukon I never left what I am feeling in my suburban.

My 16 Burb only does it when towing, I towed lawn mower in hot weather and my wife said "drop me off at the bus station, I can't take this for 4 hours". Towed my tractor back in colder weather and no shake ?

Dearmosd · October 30, 2018

How many people had their axles inspected?

Olvim · October 31, 2018

20 hours ago, Dearmosd said:

How many people had their axles inspected?

This is what I’ve most recently demanded from my dealer. They told me they “inspected” them on my last visit, but when I asked what the runout measurements were they couldn’t tell me, so I think someone just looked at it and stated, “yup, that’s an axle. It looks fine.”

A senior advisor from GM Customer care called me yesterday. Told her my whole story. She flat out told me there wasn’t much she could do for me because my dealer is “trying to address the problem” and that her job just pertains to pushing the dealer to address it, getting a DMA involved, and sending notices to GM TAC, all of which have already been done in my case. She also freely told me that GM is aware of the vibe issues with the K2 platform (Silverados, Sierras, Suburbans, Tahoes, and Yukons) and that some vibes are to be expected (lol).

Sounds petty, but I’ve been less than impressed with the GM service I’ve received. The dude that worked on my tires and wheels got them all mixed up and the sensors were matched to the wrong tire.

To what someone else said about wearher and temperature affecting the vibes (steering wheel only for me), I fully agree. It’s 30-50 degrees here in Michigan and I am not feeling nearly as many vibes as I did during the summer.

Anyway, I’ll keep you guys updated. Dropped my tuck off at the dealer again yesterday. It has 4,583 miles on it. No estimate on how long it’ll be this time (25 days last visit). GM offered to pay my monthly payment last month since they had my truck the whole time. It’s been over 30 days - I’ll give you guys one guess as to whether or not I’ve received that check.

Edited October 31, 2018 by Olvim

Dearmosd · October 31, 2018

New member,please keep us posted. I have talked a a couple that commented on that a change to after market axles solved their issues and wanted to find out who else had their axles inspected. I agree if they didnt document their results then it probably didn't happen. In the healthcare field "if it isn't documented, then it didn't happen"

GMCJOE17 · October 31, 2018

Heard back from the service manager at the dealer, he said the drive shaft company told him my driveshaft was a little out of balance and is ready. They should have it back and in the truck hopefully tomorrow. Have fingers crossed that this takes care of it and this can all finally be over.

I have a case open and although I don't qualify for the lemon law because I bought it used, today we have agreed/settled the case pre-arbitration. (That's all I can say about it other than I feel it was fair)

Now lets see if I get my truck back before week #6 at the dealer (Friday) If they say it still vibrates then the only other thing I can imagine would be a torque converter.

GMCJOE17 · November 1, 2018

Got a call from the Service manager at the dealer. He said they got the driveshaft back and he said the driveshaft company said it was slightly out of balance. They put the driveshaft back on and it still vibrates. He said he took another set of tires off another truck and put them on mine (AGAIN) and the vibration went away.

He told me he is going to order a brand new set of Michelin tires for it, the best tires for this truck under warranty and he said of that does not correct it then its the rims. I said you would figure the rims would have shown any imbalance on the balancer. He said the machine will not show where the tires bolt to the truck. I said I find it strange that the original rims did it, the set I bought did it, the set you already swapped from a NEW truck did it, and now you changed them with another truck and it went away?

Sitting here SMH and fed up with the entire thing.

Edited November 2, 2018 by GMCJOE17

Barak · November 1, 2018

Wow GMCJoe17. That’s insane! So they fix it with one component but cause the same issue with another. Are these techs certified with experience or just random techs who have no clue how to work a balancer let alone fixing anything else of such capacity. Crazy for sure!

GMCJOE17 · November 1, 2018

9 hours ago, Barak said:

Wow GMCJoe17. That’s insane! So they fix it with one component but cause the same issue with another. Are these techs certified with experience or just random techs who have no clue how to work a balancer let alone fixing anything else of such capacity. Crazy for sure!

Barak, at this point I am wondering if the set they put on from the other truck was actually out of balance and the possibility of the trucks balancing issue and the tire they took from the other truck had balancing issues and they worked against each other and it corrected the vibration.

Don't know but I give up.

Edited November 2, 2018 by GMCJOE17

Barak · November 1, 2018

Unreal. I hope the tires are not Goodyear wranglers because lot people have complained about those. My first inclination was tires, then rims, now a driveshaft. However, I no longer experience the vibration/shake at all so I am wondering if it was just needing to drive for 2,000+ miles to break-in. Or the weather aspect has an effect on driveshaft so vibration will return in warmer weather. I do have an open case and they are still to run PICO on shaft l, but I will ask to hold off until next summer or have them do it now than again in summer to rule out shaft if in fact. More to come...

GMCJOE17 · November 1, 2018

3 minutes ago, Barak said:

Unreal. I hope the tires are not Goodyear wranglers because lot people have complained about those. My first inclination was tires, then rims, now a driveshaft. However, I no longer experience the vibration/shake at all so I am wondering if it was just needing to drive for 2,000+ miles to break-in. Or the weather aspect has an effect on driveshaft so vibration will return in warmer weather. I do have an open case and they are still to run PICO on shaft l, but I will ask to hold off until next summer or have them do it now than again in summer to rule out shaft if in fact. More to come...

Tires were continentals that they said they replaced with Bridgestones and force balanced them all to 7lbs. Now they are installing Michelin's as a hail mary to curing the issue.

Its been so long that I lost faith in just about everyone working on it including GM and the poor service they barely provided. It should not take a month and a 1/2 to fix ANY problem on a new(er) automobile.

Barak · November 1, 2018

LoL totally agree on a fix part. Michelins are great tires. I once had this same vibe/shake experience with my Tundra truck, which would be 1/2 ton same class as 1500 Sierra or Silverado and it turned out to be tires causing it, actually bridgestone ones. Well Toyota told dealer to ask me what brand I wanted. So I told them michellins. But you can see how quick GM is when they need to sell a vehicle to meet their monthly goals vs when they need to extend that superior customer service when they need to service the vehicle or do any type of customer service. I think this is true with any vehicle manufacturer.