Steering Wheel Shake at Highway Speeds

[kozak79]

No wheel shake at highway speeds on my R1T. Sounds like a bad alignment. It can happen. My brand new Volvo XC60 had a bad vibration at highway speeds, brand new from the dealership. Took it back and they had to rebalance all the wheels, that fixed it.

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[619RivianR1T]

Good luck dealing with them on this issue. My local service center refused to provide a permanent solution after road balancing, tire swaps & alignment DID NOT fix the vibrations. When i picked up my truck the smug little fuck at the service center inserted on my ticket "driver/owner was instructed to drive with 2 hands on the wheel". I wish i was making that up.

 

[Rousie13]

I did not have this issue when I had the 21” wheels on my truck, but now I have it present with the 22” wheels. I’m dropping my truck off at the sc on 10/21 for several items and this is one of them. It doesn’t appear to be wheel balance because it doesn’t do it 100% of the time.

Update on my issue:
They didn’t find any issues with my truck, but they did comment that they were working on a heavier steering wheel. However, my issues completely went away after I got more miles on the new 22” tires and I have no shake anymore at any speeds.

 

[Yellow Buddy]

Update on my issue:
They didn’t find any issues with my truck, but they did comment that they were working on a heavier steering wheel. However, my issues completely went away after I got more miles on the new 22” tires and I have no shake anymore at any speeds.

Sounds like you had a tire that was out of round (ie, flat spotted) and it just needed miles to round out.

Did they say they're working on a heavier wheel? Or a heavier feeling wheel? They can probably adjust the steering boost levels (Do we have electric PS?) to effectively create a heavier feel.

 

[dleepnw]

Good luck dealing with them on this issue. My local service center refused to provide a permanent solution after road balancing, tire swaps & alignment DID NOT fix the vibrations. When i picked up my truck the smug little fuck at the service center inserted on my ticket "driver/owner was instructed to drive with 2 hands on the wheel". I wish i was making that up.

geeesuuzzz

Update on my issue:
They didn’t find any issues with my truck, but they did comment that they were working on a heavier steering wheel. However, my issues completely went away after I got more miles on the new 22” tires and I have no shake anymore at any speeds.

heavier steering wheel? WTF, thats not a solution. thats trying to cover up the symptoms.

 

[Rousie13]

Sounds like you had a tire that was out of round (ie, flat spotted) and it just needed miles to round out.

Did they say they're working on a heavier wheel? Or a heavier feeling wheel? They can probably adjust the steering boost levels (Do we have electric PS?) to effectively create a heavier feel.

The tires did not feel flat spotted....I'm familiar with how that feels in a car. I'm honestly not 100% sure what was causing it, but within a few hundred miles of having the new 22" wheels installed the vibration completely went away in the truck.

They were talking about a physically heavier steering wheel, but who knows how accurate that was or if it will ever actually happen.

 

[the long way downunder]

Sure, that I know. I'm wondering if others have seen it and diagnosed it so that I know which one and how urgent it is to correct.

There's a shimmy in the wheel at some speeds in my R1T with 20s and the factory Pirelli AT tire.

I've recently put on Nokian snow tires, which I expected to be properly balanced, and I've used Nokian for 10+ years with no balance or irregular wear problems, but the shimmy is still there. Nothing much, just a few mm, but not satisfactory, though low on my list of to-do's (once I get the wind noise squelched.)

I'd suspect the Rivian suspension is susceptible to tire imbalance.

Even a lump of mud or some ice in the wheel can induce significant imbalance, but with clean wheels on dry, smooth roads, there's clearly something not quite right causing that shimmy.
That it's worse in some vehicles than others suggests it's a tire balance susceptibility.
Maybe Rivian changed the compliance of a bushing (the ride is far too stiff and needs a couple of damper settings softer than its current softest) while tuning ride quality and NVH, resulting in the unintended consequence of not being able to control those enormous, heavy wheels and tires.

 

[AARivian48]

I have 20 inch AT tires with my truck also. on the day of delivery, shaking and pulling to right was so bad, I could not take the delivery of the vehicle. a week later I was told it was fixed and picked it up. but was told it would still shake some as they would have a long term solution later.
as long as I have some kind of pressure on the wheel at highway speeds there is no shake. once I take my hands of the steering wheels significant shake is there. sometimes it still pulls to the right, not all the time.

Also I am super confused about suspension too. I am mostly driving with soft setting of suspension and I can literally feel every uneven surface on the road through the wheels, every manhole cover, every little bump. I feel like truck with this much sophisticated suspension should eat some those things and provide a better ride. this is some of the time. There are also times, where it feels smooth and almost perfect. it almost feels like truck suspension is sleeping sometimes till for some reason it wakes up and start working. majority of the time, it feels like suspension has a setting of its own.

Also own a 2022 4runner trd offroad with stock suspension. no steering issues, no suspension issues. It is so much more comfortable ride and feels much more solid on the road at any speed. It is really enjoyable to ride offroad or onroad. of course it lacks the power R1T has.

Starting to think either I am going crazy and imagining things or these things are not normal especially when it comes to feedback from suspension. I don't even know how one can describe a problem if people will answer saying it is normal or within spec.

 

[Kdog]

Agree. Have my truck at the SC for the third time on the same issue, pulls right, wheel shakes at hwy speeds. SC had truck for a week last go, did 4 wheel alignment and balanced wheels, issue still there. They mentioned the know issue with wheel shake and said they’re waiting on a fix. Loaner R1T has no wheel shake or alignment issues. Same wheel/tire set up as mine. Told them it’s clearly an issue elsewhere in the suspension and to keep my truck until it’s fixed properly… we will see.

 

[Mark_AZR1T]

Update on my issue:
They didn’t find any issues with my truck, but they did comment that they were working on a heavier steering wheel. However, my issues completely went away after I got more miles on the new 22” tires and I have no shake anymore at any speeds.

This is exactly what they told me! Road Force balancing by the SC helped a bit....BUT when I changed over to a more aggressive Cooper Discover AT3 XLT AT tire, my vibration went 95% away. I'm 4000 miles in and still about as smooth as you can get......no Road Force, just regular balance.......

 

[BigE]

Sure, that I know. I'm wondering if others have seen it and diagnosed it so that I know which one and how urgent it is to correct.

Mine does it somewhat when Driver+ is engaged. I have a service ticket in for this.

 

[R1Tom]

Mine did it pretty significantly for the first several thousand miles. But now at 13k it is completely gone. Like I almost forgot how bad it vibrated in beginning. And now at least that aspect of truck has completely resolved itself.

 

[Insight75]

I'm experiencing a very slight shake or vibration at around 75MPH. With hands on the wheel it essentially goes away. I have about 300 miles on it now so will see what happens over time.

 

[R1Tom]

I'm experiencing a very slight shake or vibration at around 75MPH. With hands on the wheel it essentially goes away. I have about 300 miles on it now so will see what happens over time.

Mine actually went away over time. Which I don't fully understand. But it is completely gone and it was kinda bad when new.

 

[Insight75]

Mine actually went away over time. Which I don't fully understand. But it is completely gone and it was kinda bad when new.

That is exactly what I'm hoping for. Seems something wears in and resolves itself. So weird.

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