2022 1500 Wheel Shake and Vibration, and Towing Issue

MrLeadFoot · April 5, 2023

3 hours ago, Kevin0311 said:

should lay under yours and look at the driveshaft, see if can see if a weight is missing or can see where there was one, i have had carrier bearings (trucks don't have 2 piece driveshafts so no carrier bearings) going bad and cause vibration similar before. i have 3500 miles on mine, if vibration doesn't move to the front wheels and make it obvious it is a tire/rim issue and feels the same that is where i will be looking next at the driveshaft/ujoints.

Mine has 3485 miles. It irritates me why the heck dealership and GM didn't even mention those possibilities, and instead blamed my wheels/tires (which are stock), and then still say everything is within spec? I will go look tomorrow.

Edited April 5, 2023 by MrLeadFoot

Kevin0311 · April 5, 2023

My driveshaft weights still intacted and marked from factory

MrLeadFoot · April 6, 2023

Mine are good, as well. That said, mine has a slight depression (not a dent with creased edges )in it, near the rear. While it's easy to see I'm not sure if it would show in a pic. On the opposite side of the depression is a yellow paint mark. Could that depression potentionally be an issue?

Silverado4x4 · April 6, 2023

15 minutes ago, MrLeadFoot said:

Mine are good, as well. That said, mine has a slight depression (not a dent with creased edges )in it, near the rear. While it's easy to see I'm not sure if it would show in a pic. On the opposite side of the depression is a yellow paint mark. Could that depression potentionally be an issue?

Funny you brought that up as mine on my 2019 has the same ding in the driveshaft towards the rear but no yellow paint on the other side.

MrLeadFoot · April 6, 2023

1 hour ago, Silverado4x4 said:

Funny you brought that up as mine on my 2019 has the same ding in the driveshaft towards the rear but no yellow paint on the other side.

Is that ding an issue? Are you having vibration issues?

Edited April 6, 2023 by MrLeadFoot

MrLeadFoot · April 8, 2023

I think DFM is part of the vibration issue, for me. When I throw the shifter into L on the freeway, it drops 8nto 7th gear, and smooths out a hair. When I upshift through 8th and 9th, no change. When i put it back in D, after a second or two under low throttle, I feel a noticeable increase in vibration. Anybody else notice this?

Edited April 8, 2023 by MrLeadFoot

MrLeadFoot · April 17, 2023

On 4/5/2023 at 5:33 AM, Kevin0311 said:

My driveshaft weights still intacted and marked from factory

Have you made any headway on your vibration? And, what happened when you roared tires? I notice that my vibration becomes most noticeable 65 mph, and lessens to be a bit more tolerable at 85mph. This sucks, because that's right in the speed range I want to drive on the freeway. I don't always want to drive over 85mph!

Edited April 17, 2023 by MrLeadFoot

Kevin0311 · April 17, 2023

1300 miles round trip and no clue. seemed to come and go very minor but noticeable. i am betting my vibration is just body/frame transfer into the cabin. mine is not bad enough for me to worry about just noticeable certain times. switching tires front to back made no difference at all, switching modes (if they change the adaptive ride control i did not notice) made no difference. I would be on a smooth road and would be fine and other times it was like i could feel the road.

my conclusion is either the adaptive ride dampeners or just transfer of roads through frame/body.

my 2019 T1 without adaptive ride did not do this, but the 23 with adaptive ride is night and day better ride in all even towing.

MrLeadFoot · April 17, 2023

2 hours ago, Kevin0311 said:

1300 miles round trip and no clue. seemed to come and go very minor but noticeable. i am betting my vibration is just body/frame transfer into the cabin. mine is not bad enough for me to worry about just noticeable certain times. switching tires front to back made no difference at all, switching modes (if they change the adaptive ride control i did not notice) made no difference. I would be on a smooth road and would be fine and other times it was like i could feel the road.

my conclusion is either the adaptive ride dampeners or just transfer of roads through frame/body.

my 2019 T1 without adaptive ride did not do this, but the 23 with adaptive ride is night and day better ride in all even towing.

Sounds familiar. I would appreciate if you would let me know if you notice it more at different highway speeds, like I do.

Kevin0311 · April 17, 2023

i could find no specific rime or reason or time as i was paying attention the whole time, above 55 mph only though. i would be going 70 on straight flat road and would get it for a few minutes then went away, different speeds and different times no difference that i could tell. I did lower pressures to 32 cold when left ny and "hot" temps were 37. Do you have a soft tonneau cover? i even thought that that flopping/moving with the highway wind could be sending the vibration into cabin but left rolled up once down in TN and still noticed. My gut tells me stuff too stiff and normal vibrations are just being transfer into the cabin, like cab mount rubbers or maybe the adaptive ride control "stiffens" at highway speeds idk.

MrLeadFoot · April 18, 2023

You seem to be experiencing pretty much the same thing I am. I can't believe they released this model truck for sale the way it is. $80k should ride nice!

I do not have a tonneau cover of any kind. I've tried between 60 and 180 lbs. of sand/rock in the bed, and while 60-80 lbs. BEHIND the rear wheels balances out the truck better, the vibrations are still there. It's so annoying that this happens at freeway speeds. I never would have thought a Denali would ride nice in the city, but like a totally unrefined vehicle on the freeway. Towing a 4000 lbs. bass boat only exacerbates the condition to the point where it jostles the heck out of you even on 20 mile trips! I've become so sensitive to this vibration, and it's not right to have to live with this for $80k!

None of my friends' non-Denali 1500, 2500s, F150s or Ram 1500s do this. Sure, the regular shock 1500s float over dips a bit more, and 2500s are a bit stiffer, but I would take any of those traits over this vibration any day. I've wondered if it's actually the shocks not being programmed right or something, like maybe we're feeling the acutal shock valving changing every 2 milliseconds?

To me, it kind of feels like out of balance wheel vibrations, that commonly only happen within a certain speed range. As I mentioned, the vibrations become less at 85mph, and at 95mph they're so much less I can live with them! That's what makes me sometimes think it's wheel/tire-related. Not to mention that my experience of putting on my friend's stock 20" wheels helped lessen the vibrations, but not completely eliminate them.

I also think it's possible that more than one thing causes it, which might explain why it is seemingly worse at one moment, and tolerable (but not gone) the next. For example, DFM comes in and out under certain conditions. In fact, I haven't heard of any of the diesel owners complaining of this vibration, nor has anyone with 20"wheels. Think about it, we have DFM, ARC and 22" rims. No other model has that combination.

Regardless of what the problem is, GM shouldn't just kick us to the curb. They should help us resolve the issue. Not only would it help owners like us, we'd be free Guinea pigs for them that would help get rid of this problem and help make future trucks that much better!

Edited April 18, 2023 by MrLeadFoot

603Denali · April 18, 2023

Mr Leadfoot, boy am I glad I found this thread. I have a 2020 Denali, 6.2 and 22's, with the EXACT issues you have been describing in 4 pages. To give you some color, back when I purchased brand new, I test drove another color truck, it road fine, but ended up going for a black one with every option available. I am embarrassed to say I didn't test drive the exact truck I purchased. Covid had just hit, everything shut down, they had weird rules about driving trucks, etc. Anyway, on my way home, I noticed shaking as you described. I called with 12 miles on the truck complaining about spending 72k on a truck that rides worse then the 2017 I had just traded. They did a Pico test, replaced tires, and it did improve but never went away. They basically said sorry your truck was within spec on the Pico test after so much back and forth. I was exhausted by the process and said whatever, I am just driving it. I've put different GM wheels on for winter, new tires, etc, my problem has never managed to go away. I just purchased Defenders for my stock wheels a couple of weeks ago, the truck now has 37k on it. They made a HUGE difference, but it still shakes.

With all of that said, I am totally convinced part of the issue is the DFM. I disable autostop every time I get in the truck, but have strongly considered purchasing the DFM disabler. I notice some weird idling at times which leads me to believe its DFM related. The dealership replaced 4 of my injectors at one point because of rough idle, it still shakes. I can't blame the large wheels, my wife has had Audi's with very large wheels and the cars have floated over the roads at any speed. This is my 4th GM in a row, all have been relatively amazing other then this one. I know all brands have annoying quirks, but I ordered a Raptor and should see it by the end of 2023. I still like GM, I just need a change I am so burnt out with this thing. I am not comparing the Raptor to the Denali, two totally different caliber trucks, I am just in desperate need of a change. My advise, trade it before it drives you insane unless you somehow get it lemoned.

smit303 · April 18, 2023

I've got a 22 refreshed Denali with 22 inch wheels and have none of the shake issues you are having. Because you guys have legitimate gripes about the ride doesn't mean all Denali's set up like yours are shakers.

MrLeadFoot · April 18, 2023

9 hours ago, 603Denali said:

Mr Leadfoot, boy am I glad I found this thread. I have a 2020 Denali, 6.2 and 22's, with the EXACT issues you have been describing in 4 pages. To give you some color, back when I purchased brand new, I test drove another color truck, it road fine, but ended up going for a black one with every option available. I am embarrassed to say I didn't test drive the exact truck I purchased. Covid had just hit, everything shut down, they had weird rules about driving trucks, etc. Anyway, on my way home, I noticed shaking as you described. I called with 12 miles on the truck complaining about spending 72k on a truck that rides worse then the 2017 I had just traded. They did a Pico test, replaced tires, and it did improve but never went away. They basically said sorry your truck was within spec on the Pico test after so much back and forth. I was exhausted by the process and said whatever, I am just driving it. I've put different GM wheels on for winter, new tires, etc, my problem has never managed to go away. I just purchased Defenders for my stock wheels a couple of weeks ago, the truck now has 37k on it. They made a HUGE difference, but it still shakes.

With all of that said, I am totally convinced part of the issue is the DFM. I disable autostop every time I get in the truck, but have strongly considered purchasing the DFM disabler. I notice some weird idling at times which leads me to believe its DFM related. The dealership replaced 4 of my injectors at one point because of rough idle, it still shakes. I can't blame the large wheels, my wife has had Audi's with very large wheels and the cars have floated over the roads at any speed. This is my 4th GM in a row, all have been relatively amazing other then this one. I know all brands have annoying quirks, but I ordered a Raptor and should see it by the end of 2023. I still like GM, I just need a change I am so burnt out with this thing. I am not comparing the Raptor to the Denali, two totally different caliber trucks, I am just in desperate need of a change. My advise, trade it before it drives you insane unless you somehow get it lemoned.

Thank you so much for posting this. Like you, I wasn't able to drive my truck before buying it, although I had driven others. And, like you, I wanted one with all options. Perhaps this only happens with fully loaded models, I don't know, but it's becoming obviously apparent that there is a serious quality control issue, and GM sucks for not taking care of us. For example, instead of saying it's within spec, I don't see how hard it would be to swap out shocks and wheels, to at least try to those rule out as potential causes. The two dealerships I went to wouldn't even put 20" rims just to see. One of them did swap a complete set of 22", but now, I know why they didn't try 20". They probably know that they drive so much better with 20" wheels on them.

Aside from the vibration issue, I even have rust on the ends of the pivot shafts of my powersteps that I've been told is normal. Really? This is a California car, for God's sake, that doesn't see snow or salt, thr tuck has 4k miles on it, with that rust being there since day one at 9 miles! GM won't do anything about it, even though they have a corrosion warranty.

I don't blame you for ordering that Ford. I contacted a lemon law attorney when I had 1500 miles on the truck. They said they've seen so many of these cases, and they keep telling me I should move forward with the suit. But, I've been dragging my feet because I was hoping GM would work with me to figure this out and fix it. But, hearing your story on a truck that's 2 years older tells me they won't. FWIW, I've been a GM guy forever, as you can see by my signature. But, this has me rethinking my loyalty now because they don't seem to care about their customers as much as they used to, which is sad.

Edited April 18, 2023 by MrLeadFoot

MrLeadFoot · April 18, 2023

8 hours ago, smit303 said:

I've got a 22 refreshed Denali with 22 inch wheels and have none of the shake issues you are having. Because you guys have legitimate gripes about the ride doesn't mean all Denali's set up like yours are shakers.

I've had a lot of people check out my truck because of the issue. I've heard some people say, "Of course it rides rough, it's a truck, not a Lexus." I don't know if you think along those lines, but I know GM used to put out some nice riding vehicles, and their trucks used to be top-notch, which is why I sought one out to begin with. Perhaps you got lucky and have one that doesn't vibrate, or perhaps you're lucky enough not to notice the vibrations. Other people on other threads said they went Michelins to "make their truck ride as best as they can". But, that shouldn't have to be done. And as mentioned by 603Denali, it doesn't mean it resolved the issue, it's just the best that can be done.

In either case, I won't be buying another one, and everyone I know said they'd never buy a Denali after they've seen what I'm going through, and how GM has been handling the issue.

All this said, is yours optioned out, like ours are? And, do you also have the 6.2 motor like we have?

Edited April 18, 2023 by MrLeadFoot