Shake or Vibration Issues

[Fishingbear]

When they put the GM sign on the dealership they agree to perform warranty work on GM vehicles. I don't think GM condones dealerships turning GM customers away and/or not performing warranty repairs.

 

Edit: but I don't think it's illegal, well then again maybe they are legally obligated?

 

It's not a criminal offense to deny warranty service however GM has a contractual obligation to hold up their end of the deal based on the purchase agreement details. For a new car purchase, a warranty is typically included in these purchase details. If GM denies a legitimate warranty claim they are in violation of that contract. If you take it to court and are successful you may be entitled to punitive damages for harassment.

 

Regarding my personal experience with these vibration issues that GM has admitted they can't fix, I have consulted with an attorney and have decided to proceed with a lemon law claim. According to my state, if the automobile manufacturer is found to have harassed the customer, the judgement can be double or triple the value.

 

This sucks.

[mikeinmobileal]

Ive searched every resource I can find and I cant find any statement regarding GM dealers being required by law or by GM to repair any new vehicle under factory warranty, regardless of where it was bought.

 

I wish you the best with your lemon law claim. They didnt make enough repair attempts under my state lemon law, they just denied the problems exist and suggested I get a second opinion from another dealer.

 

I tried to get a second, and third opinion from two other Chevy dealers and it is impossible, mainly due to the fact that GM allows dealers to pick and choose what warranty work they will and will not do, without penalty to the dealer.

 

You buy a new Chevy vehicle, have some problems, take it to a Chevy dealer that you didnt buy it from and the dealer tells you they refuse to work on it because you didnt buy it there. You notify GM and they apologize, but wont make that dealer work on your car and they dont penalize the dealer.

 

I now believe that GM is fully aware of this and allows it to happen, and that in itself may be grounds for legal action.

[KARNUT]

I cant even imagine that, all the people that travel would have to worry that if they had car trouble a non selling dealer would work on their car. Wouldn't happen, it would be a P.R nightmare.

[GearheadSS]

My truck has an annoying shake as well. Honestly though, most 2014 trucks I've driven have it. I've put plenty of miles on 2014 Silverados and I'd say 95% of them have a vibration. At first I thought it was just because the trucks had been sitting on the lot and the tires had developed flat spots but I don't think that's the case now.

 

I'm just living it with it for now.

Edited August 15, 2014 by GearheadSS

[14SLTZ71]

I cant even imagine that, all the people that travel would have to worry that if they had car trouble a non selling dealer would work on their car. Wouldn't happen, it would be a P.R nightmare.

Yes, this is odd because I have never been turned down and I rarely take my vehicles back to the purchasing dealer because it's too far away.

However, I have been told that some dealerships are having a hard time getting reimbursed from GM for the warranty repairs they perform. GM is picking and choosing which ones they feel are valid and then reimburse the dealership for those. Dealers are getting hesitant when it comes to repairing vehicles under warranty. They want to perform the work because it keeps their employees busy, but not if they aren't going to get reimbursed for it.

 

Edit: however, I do seem to be getting a lot of "normal", "operating as designed", and " operating within the normal characteristic of vehicle design" corrective actions on both my GM vehicles.

Edited August 15, 2014 by 14LTZZ71

[KARNUT]

Yes, this is odd because I have never been turned down and I rarely take my vehicles back to the purchasing dealer because it's too far away.

However, I have been told that some dealerships are having a hard time getting reimbursed from GM for the warranty repairs they perform. GM is picking and choosing which ones they feel are valid and then reimburse the dealership for those. Dealers are getting hesitant when it comes to repairing vehicles under warranty. They want to perform the work because it keeps their employees busy, but not if they aren't going to get reimbursed for it.

 

Edit: however, I do seem to be getting a lot of "normal", "operating as designed", and " operating within the normal characteristic of vehicle design" corrective actions on both my GM vehicles.

I did feel a little shake on my last trip east on I 10 at around 75 MPH, the road surface changes so much it hard to tell if its truck or road. I would have though nothing of it if I haven't herd there was a problem with some of the trucks, that seem to be a lot worse. But if I ever have a warranty problem that a dealer doesn't fix and GM doesn't follow thru Ill be done with the brand. Ive own more than a few GMs and only had one claim, it was repaired with no problems.

[2strokesmoke]

Ok a lot of information to swallow,

GM sold you a vehicle with a warranty, it is the Manufactures responsibility to up hold their warranty for the term/mileage advertised. Yes dealers are dealers and not owners of GM, but they are agents for GM's products.

Now if a dealer refuses to work on your vehicle it is not a breach in the warranty agreement as they have no binding requirement to meet.

 

Now if GM is notified by means of a registered letter that your truck has a defect and dealer refuses to diagnose or have it fixed, it is now an issue of warranty refusal and GM is now obligated to arrange to get it diagnosed and attempted to be repaired by law! This is when a Solicitor or lemon law can be a help "refusal of warranty" GM will now get the dealer to act.

 

Here is the real problem dealers do not get paid to diagnose problems, but paid when there is a tsb or know fix! So if many hours are spent getting things figured out, and the repair is 15min they will only get paid for 15min + wages.

This is why the dealers always say go back to the selling dealer. Yes this is a catch 22 situation, however a legal request by letter for GM to comply to warranty obligations is a legal binding notice, also grounds for buy back if they still refuse to meet advertised car warranty obligations.

Edited August 15, 2014 by 2strokesmoke

[George J. Klinkhardt III]

I posted on this forum back in Jan and Feb....a final report now...Truck 2014 GMC Double Cab Sierra z71 2WD with 18" tires..built 7-13 and got possession 9-13..After 8 trips to my selling dealer (160 miles each roundtrip) I finally convinced them the vibration/shake was in the side to side movement in the oem Goodyears (btw, 4 months later the dealership was STILL trying to get reimbursed by GM for the tires THEY purchased at their expense)...installed new Bridgestones and cured 98% of that problem..then I had the clunking noise in the differential noticeable at slow speeds during a turn or crossing a driveway entrance, etc.

 

Well, contacted another dealer namely Glen Sain Motors, Kennett, MO (located about 16 miles away) about the rear end noise originally in April 2014 and even though I didn't buy the truck from them, they took a genuine interest in my problem and yesterday finally time after time fought GM tech and went to bat for me and the truck is FIXED!!

 

Events and the cure: replaced Rancho shocks, no cure. Check run out on the ring and pinion and was .004 exceeding the .004 allowed (mine was .008 out) so GM instructed to replace the complete differential and I do mean complete (brake calipers, axles and all) AND a new driveshaft........Still no cure!

 

Two mechanics of the dealership actually layed on their stomachs in the bed while another mechanic drove the truck slowly in the dealership parking lot and PRONTO discovered the noise was coming from the spring leafs shifting side to side and causing the noise!! They home engineered and put heavy Hose Clamps (2 on each spring) and PRONTO again - cured the noise!!!! After much discussion with the GM tech, they finally convinced him to replace both faulty rear spring assemblies and I picked up the truck yesterday afternoon and ALL is fixed..It was a spring problem ALL along and thru some ingenious "shade tree" engineering by the mechanics...they found the problem!! All the replacing of expensive parts (namely the complete differential and new driveshaft) could have been eliminated if GM tech had've LISTENED to these "lowly" mechanics all along!!!!!! Remember KISS - keep it simple stupid!!!

 

Bottom line: I commend this dealership (especially the service manager) for fighting for me and having a strong determination to fix my truck! Remember this does take time (if you can find a dealership with their determination) as they kept my truck almost three weeks (which was fine with me, because I JUST WANTED IT FIXED!! And a lot of the time was spent waiting on parts because nothing could be ordered until an okay was received by the high and mighty GM tech guys!

 

Maybe the GM tech and engineering department will learn from this experience and put out a bulletin nationwide so that the next clunking noise complaint that comes in will be fixed by simply replacing the faulty rear springs!!!!!!

 

BTW, the truck now has 13,250 miles and we've been fighting this problem since about 1,200 miles!

 

I really like this truck and I am so happy to FINALLY have all the "bugs" worked out so I can completely enjoy it...

 

BUT, I'm still convinced that without the help of this dealership's determination, it would remain NOT fixed and I am totally disappointed in GM seemingly continually turning their backs to problems that exist in these new vehicles!!!! I have found no where that GM has even admitted that all those oem Goodyear 18" that were originally out there were FAULTY!! And they had to know because mysteriously they quit shipping new trucks with THESE tires; now Continental, Bridgestone or Generals!!) That's very distressing to a LONG time loyal GM customer. (and by the way, ALL new parts came in with "Made in Mexico" stickers!!! duh)

 

Hope this helps someone out there and with that I will close.............

Edited August 16, 2014 by gjk1932

[2strokesmoke]

Thxs for the update, and the fix for your clunking.

When you say your leaf springs were moving side to side do you mean they were loose at the ubolts to rear axle area, or were they loose at the leaf spring eye to body bracket to bolt area.

 

Loose leaf spring to rear axle ubolts will cause clunking when axle wrap occours. It is a common practic to recheck retorque the axle ubolts after 500 miles or so. All trucks have some form of axle wrap, but axle movement from leaf springs means ubolts are loose allowing the axle to rotate forward pushing the driveshaft forward into the transmission yoke this has been an ongoing issue for GM in the past.

 

On sure way to check this is where leaf bolts to axle there will be a shinny metal wear area on axle near fastening bracket. This is noticeable if you look around that axle area.

Glad your truck is fixed now.

[Kent2500]

Those who are currently following this thread, if you still have vibration problems, please post where your truck was assembled and if you have a short or long bed.

 

 

 

Background information on general vibration issues -> http://www.discounttire.com/dtcs/infoTireBalancing.dos

 

I have read that larger rims are more difficult to balance, thus besides short/long bed size, information on the rim size maybe useful.

[FL335i]

Just bought a 2014 LT Crew/SB 4x4 today. Love it. It has the 18" SRA Wranglers. Vibrates like my company '14 2wd version does. Same sheit. You guys need to lookup the new 2014 Tundra videos with their chief engineer. I was watching them last weekend and one of the videos really caught my attention. Regarding the use of a steel driveshaft and the rear frame section nob being boxed. His response was that the aluminum shafts were harder to balance for quality control and the C-channel rear sections allowed some flex and helped reduce NVH. So pretty much we have a stiff frame and aluminum shafts which probably are not balanced like a one-off race shop would. I may take mine a local driveline shop if I get bored. It's not bad enough to mess with though. Here's the video. I found it.

 

Driveshaft video:

 

 

 

 

Frame video:

 

 

I guess the Silverado "rides like a truck".

Edited August 17, 2014 by FL335i

[14SLTZ71]

Just bought a 2014 LT Crew/SB 4x4 today. Love it. It has the 18" SRA Wranglers. Vibrates like my company '14 2wd version does. Same sheit. You guys need to lookup the new 2014 Tundra videos with their chief engineer. I was watching them last weekend and one of the videos really caught my attention. Regarding the use of a steel driveshaft and the rear frame section nob being boxed. His response was that the aluminum shafts were harder to balance for quality control and the C-channel rear sections allowed some flex and helped reduce NVH. So pretty much we have a stiff frame and aluminum shafts which probably are not balanced like a one-off race shop would. I may take mine a local driveline shop if I get bored. It's not bad enough to mess with though. Here's the video. I found it.

 

Driveshaft video:

 

 

 

 

Frame video:

 

 

I guess the Silverado "rides like a truck".

 

If this was the case with the Silverado, everyone would be having this issue.

Edit: & Sierra

Edited August 17, 2014 by 14LTZZ71

[Yzkiley]

Here's an update to my vibration. 2 of my after market falken zies st05 were out of round. These 2 tires were out of round and have now been replaced. I have very slight vibration still between 105 kph to 115 kph. Past 120kph its smooth. I was told that because these tires are low profile they should be road forced. Don't think I will bother as the vibration is tolerable. 80% percent improvement with the new tires. 305/40R22

[14SLTZ71]

Here's an update to my vibration. 2 of my after market falken zies st05 were out of round. These 2 tires were out of round and have now been replaced. I have very slight vibration still between 105 kph to 115 kph. Past 120kph its smooth. I was told that because these tires are low profile they should be road forced. Don't think I will bother as the vibration is tolerable. 80% percent improvement with the new tires. 305/40R22

Why not get them road force balanced to get all of the vibration out. It doesn't cost that much.

[FL335i]

I only road force balance. But you need to make sure the tech is good and knows how to use it. I make the deal with the shop that if I can't watch him and witness the work, in the shop, right there, no business.