Vibration between 50 & 70 mph

[Rapid Red]

Couldn't you just put he car in neutral and if it is still vibrating wouldn't that eliminate any potential vibration from the drive shaft and or drivetrain? Of course if it stops then you know what it is.

Drive shaft is still spinning .

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[DeepImpact89]

People that had a vibration in the steering wheel, was it shimmy side to side or sporadic up and down? I have a shimmy from side to side, thinking it is wheel issue.

 

[GT Pony]

People that had a vibration in the steering wheel, was it shimmy side to side or sporadic up and down? I have a shimmy from side to side, thinking it is wheel issue.

Yes, wheel or tire. I had a bad new tire on my other car and one front tire had too much radial run-out ... the steering wheel would shake left to right even though it was balanced perfectly. Discount tire replaced that tire and it was smooth as silk after that.

Need to check both the wheel and tire for both radial and axial run-out. Tires can also look normal but have a bad/weak spot in the sidewall, which would take a force balance machine to detect.

 

[DeepImpact89]

Yes, wheel or tire. I had a bad new tire on my other car and one front tire had too much radial run-out ... the steering wheel would shake left to right even though it was balanced perfectly. Discount tire replaced that tire and it was smooth as silk after that.

Need to check both the wheel and tire for both radial and axial run-out. Tires can also look normal but have a bad/weak spot in the sidewall, which would take a force balance machine to detect.

Yah, my current tires I have are very new, they road forced in the single digits in the front. I do have aftermarket non hub centric wheels with hub rings, they are cheaper niche wheels. I am thinking its a wheel problem. I am most likely going to swap them out for some apex racing wheels.

 

[GT Pony]

Yah, my current tires I have are very new, they road forced in the single digits in the front. I do have aftermarket non hub centric wheels with hub rings, they are cheaper niche wheels. I am thinking its a wheel problem. I am most likely going to swap them out for some apex racing wheels.

I could see the run-out on my bad tire. After driving it a while (so no flat spot on the tires from sitting), I went home and jacked up each front wheel right away and rotated the tire while watching the thread and wheel edge. I could see it plain as day. I'd think a road force machine would detect any bad run-out ... but maybe not?

 

[MuSwede]

Thanks

I left the car at the other service center/dealer june 29, but the tech wasn't able to hose clamp balance the driveshaft without making the vibrations worse. He booked me in for a rear axle+diff+flange etc change that would hopefully fix the issue. He did all that today, along with another warranty fix.

I got a call from the service center a few minutes ago and they said that I need to test drive the car tomorrow to judge if I'm happy with it. I didn't get a "we've 100% fixed your vibrations" message from them, so I guess it's all up in the air, still. Hopefully the bad vibes are gone.

I'll provide an update after I've taken the car for a drive tomorrow.

 

[MuSwede]

I left the car at the other service center/dealer june 29, but the tech wasn't able to hose clamp balance the driveshaft without making the vibrations worse. He booked me in for a rear axle+diff+flange etc change that would hopefully fix the issue. He did all that today, along with another warranty fix.

I got a call from the service center a few minutes ago and they said that I need to test drive the car tomorrow to judge if I'm happy with it. I didn't get a "we've 100% fixed your vibrations" message from them, so I guess it's all up in the air, still. Hopefully the bad vibes are gone.

I'll provide an update after I've taken the car for a drive tomorrow.

No difference with the replaced parts (rear axle etc), unfortunately. Perhaps even slightly worse.

The dealer is going to contact Ford and ask for advice. I'm pretty close to being done with this car. I love the car, but I really hate vibrations.

 

[gmupatriot]

No difference with the replaced parts (rear axle etc), unfortunately. Perhaps even slightly worse.

The dealer is going to contact Ford and ask for advice. I'm pretty close to being done with this car. I love the car, but I really hate vibrations.

That is frustrating. My 2018 GT has vibration in steering wheel and it is felt in the pedals as well as the seats. I have new tires Michelin Pilot AS3+ on the car and it did not change anything. Beyond frustrated with Ford as the dealerships have been of ZERO help. I hope they find a solution for you because driving with vibrations like this at constant highway speed is tiring for me.

 

[MuSwede]

That is frustrating. My 2018 GT has vibration in steering wheel and it is felt in the pedals as well as the seats. I have new tires Michelin Pilot AS3+ on the car and it did not change anything. Beyond frustrated with Ford as the dealerships have been of ZERO help. I hope they find a solution for you because driving with vibrations like this at constant highway speed is tiring for me.

Frustrating indeed. Hope you can get it fixed.

I've contacted a local driveshaft shop and they're going to take a look at my driveshaft if Ford takes too long. I'll give them a couple of weeks more. If I didn't like the car as much as I do I would have sold it back to them by now.

 

[GTP]

Please make sure your wheels have low runout. 0.030" is an actual spec. Go to a friendly tire store, they may not even charge you.

As I posted above, I thought I started to get driveline vibe, but it turned out that two of my wheels were no longer round - almost 1/4" out! I paid a local wheel specialist to get them back to 0.030" - it cost me $250!

 

[gmupatriot]

Please make sure your wheels have low runout. 0.030" is an actual spec. Go to a friendly tire store, they may not even charge you.

As I posted above, I thought I started to get driveline vibe, but it turned out that two of my wheels were no longer round - almost 1/4" out! I paid a local wheel specialist to get them back to 0.030" - it cost me $250!

I will have to do that.

However, I started to notice this vibration when my car had 1100 miles on it. I bought it new with 20 miles on it and it was smooth as glass and then around the mileage mentioned it developed this issue. If the rims had a runout, would I not have experience this vibration from day 1?

At first I was told it is the tires, had them balance many times and rotated as well. Had a competent shop check the rims for being out of round etc but no luck. Finally around 39,000 miles, I changed the OEM tires to Michelin AS3+, still no different. The vibration comes on at around the same speed (55MPH and by 70MPH+) my rear view mirror vibrates slightly as to blurry the image. I feel this vibration especially on smooth roads more than anywhere else. I will have to bring my car to another high end shop near me and explain to them everything I have tried and perhaps they can hook it up to a NVH analyzer machine and hopefully figure out where this vibration is originating from and fix it!

 

[DeepImpact89]

I will have to do that.

However, I started to notice this vibration when my car had 1100 miles on it. I bought it new with 20 miles on it and it was smooth as glass and then around the mileage mentioned it developed this issue. If the rims had a runout, would I not have experience this vibration from day 1?

At first I was told it is the tires, had them balance many times and rotated as well. Had a competent shop check the rims for being out of round etc but no luck. Finally around 39,000 miles, I changed the OEM tires to Michelin AS3+, still no different. The vibration comes on at around the same speed (55MPH and by 70MPH+) my rear view mirror vibrates slightly as to blurry the image. I feel this vibration especially on smooth roads more than anywhere else. I will have to bring my car to another high end shop near me and explain to them everything I have tried and perhaps they can hook it up to a NVH analyzer machine and hopefully figure out where this vibration is originating from and fix it!

My rear view mirror vibrates a bit when I am accelerating hard on the highway.

 

[MuSwede]

I will have to do that.

However, I started to notice this vibration when my car had 1100 miles on it. I bought it new with 20 miles on it and it was smooth as glass and then around the mileage mentioned it developed this issue. If the rims had a runout, would I not have experience this vibration from day 1?

At first I was told it is the tires, had them balance many times and rotated as well. Had a competent shop check the rims for being out of round etc but no luck. Finally around 39,000 miles, I changed the OEM tires to Michelin AS3+, still no different. The vibration comes on at around the same speed (55MPH and by 70MPH+) my rear view mirror vibrates slightly as to blurry the image. I feel this vibration especially on smooth roads more than anywhere else. I will have to bring my car to another high end shop near me and explain to them everything I have tried and perhaps they can hook it up to a NVH analyzer machine and hopefully figure out where this vibration is originating from and fix it!

If you want to fork out some hard earned cash for the NVH app for Android then that worked for me in diagnosing that it at least wasn't the wheels. It's a 100 bucks in the play store at the moment.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=vibratesoftware.jacobkelly.nvh&hl=sv&gl=US

There are free alternatives, but I don't reckon they did the job as well as that app. Considering how much time it saved me going back and forth to tyre shops I think it was worth getting it. I also used the app to diagnose vibrations in my old Volvo. That one 100% had problems with the tyres being out of round.

If you get the app, try putting the phone on different surfaces in the car, strapping it to the wheel etc. There are informative videos that show how to do it.

 

[MuSwede]

Update as of 2021-12-20.

Since Ford couldn't fix the problem after 6-7 trips to the shop (I've lost count by now) I decided to order a driveshaft from the US from a scrapped GT -2019 A10 from eBay. Got it shipped door to door for like $250. I had it balanced, checked and cleaned at a local driveshaft shop for around $200 and got help from a local mechanic to swap it out. Labour cost about $75.

In short; it was the driveshaft that was the problem. For the most part. 80% of the vibrations are now gone, with just a tiny smidgeon of vibes left, which is probably as good as it's gonna get. I know it's a Ford and not a Mercedes, so I'm happy with this.

In total I spent around $525 out of my own pocket to fix a problem that Ford couldn't diagnose, nor fix. I've spent around 30 hours driving to and from the shops, including waiting times etc. I haven't even counted the hours researching the problem, which probably equates to another 20 hours. Lets round it to an even 50 hours that I've spent on trying to get this problem fixed.

525 bucks and 50 hours. Spent by me, on a car that's in WARRANTY. At least it's fixed now. And I've learned a TON about NVH-analysis and diagnosing vibration sources. That counts for something .

I'm not gonna call Ford and bitch and moan about it, because I'm pretty sure it's not going to do any good.

 

[Blufc3s]

My experience was about the same. Ford put in a new driveshaft under warranty and it didn’t solve the problem.
The solution I found came from this thread where someone put a clamp on the DS and rotated it until the vibration was gone. This worked for me, I now can’t detect any vibration. I was going to get rid of the car, it bothered me so much.

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