The best way to describe it is that it sounds like a sub woofer, or bass speaker playing a constant low note. Other people describe it as a muffled airplane propeller. Yes, you will notice that most around 60 miles an hour, depending on your gear ratio. Mine is 3.73's, and I can hear it all the way from 50 miles an hour to 65. It is not a pogo-ing back-and-forth of the steering wheel like a tire imbalance would make. The drivetrain vibration is purely a first order harmonic around 30 to 50 Hz that matches the frequency of the drive shaft rotation. A tire imbalance at the same speed is about 7 to 12 hz.
That's the first thing the dealership should look for if they suspect the driveshaft.
Perfect description of the noise !!
That's a shame , I have an appointment with my dealer tomorrow and I have a feeling handing out a loaner car Is going to be an issue as well as I mentioned it while making the appointment . And the person on the phone didn't sound too confident that I would get one .
Test drive the car extensively. I mean 50 miles at all different speeds. On the hwy, go in 5 mph increments from 50 up to 75 and back down. The sales person will think you are crazy but you really don't want to have to deal with this... In general, the car will exhibit the problem from mile 1 but some people have said their car didn't have a vibration until it had a few thousand miles on it. I think you are generally safe buying a car that doesn't have the problem when new, though. If one car does it, test drive another one. Totally crazy that Ford makes customers do quality control for them, but for some reason, they don't seem to care (enough).
