Too much steering wheel feedback over bad pavement

[bbonkk]

I noticed this on my R1S with a June 2023 (20" AT) build on roads that have been patched. Not even potholes or anything like that. Just little rough roads and you get the steering wheel feedback you describe. Some of it could be bump steer and some if it could be related to alignment. I will have to check my tire pressure to make sure it matches what is listed on the door.

I have tried All Purpose soft and stiff but neither made too much of a difference.

I plan to take it in for alignment but not sure how much that would help.

I second the motion. I know bad potholed roads have a problem but going over patched rolling roads is worse. This time I will ask for the alignment stats.

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[AARivian48]

I read your original post. I was using the exact same wording for my issues on steering wheel feedback. any small change on the road surface like manhole covers, different asphalt coming together, I could feel it rather than suspension smoothing it out. big bumps and surface changes, it would handle like it was nothing and butter smooth. I had 20 AT tires also.

did a long test drive with a mechanic, and almost recreated every single thing I was mentioning. after 3 weeks at the service center, it is still same. even they changed all of my tires and did a whole re-alignment. this is now second time I am told steering is too light for weight of vehicle, they are looking into long term solution. Mechanic also mentioned to me that all season tires would have smoothed some of it out. recommended to keep playing with ride height and settings till I found some combination I liked.

I always felt like vehicle with this price point and this complicated level of suspension should do much better in handling small road surface changes.

 

[DuoRivians]

Is this heavier steering wheel really available from Rivian? If so, I think we should get it asap

 

[Mygrain]

I second the motion. I know bad potholed roads have a problem but going over patched rolling roads is worse. This time I will ask for the alignment stats.

I can't resist asking @bbonkk -- how does the Rivian compare to the Citroen 2CV?

 

[Kiafoulis]

I read your original post. I was using the exact same wording for my issues on steering wheel feedback. any small change on the road surface like manhole covers, different asphalt coming together, I could feel it rather than suspension smoothing it out. big bumps and surface changes, it would handle like it was nothing and butter smooth. I had 20 AT tires also.

did a long test drive with a mechanic, and almost recreated every single thing I was mentioning. after 3 weeks at the service center, it is still same. even they changed all of my tires and did a whole re-alignment. this is now second time I am told steering is too light for weight of vehicle, they are looking into long term solution. Mechanic also mentioned to me that all season tires would have smoothed some of it out. recommended to keep playing with ride height and settings till I found some combination I liked.

I always felt like vehicle with this price point and this complicated level of suspension should do much better in handling small road surface changes.

Well shit - that’s not what I wanted to hear! Tells me that it was design and released from Rivian that way and it’s unfortunately normal. I’m still going forward with the alignment request and I will be certain they share the before and after results, which of course I will post. Problem is I probably can’t get in for service until late July or August.

 

[usofrob]

Does anyone know how to adjust the alignment on a Rivian?

While all this discussion continues to sound like good news for me...
For those that want to have less feedback, maybe you could get Rivian (or someone else) to adjust the castor to the max (?min) allowable that reduces the feedback. My bet is that it's not something they'd normally adjust when doing an alignment.

Also, someone did an alignment check at the different ride heights to see how things changed, it was really interesting, but I don't remember if the castor was effected much. (I'll try to find it.)

Edit: It took a while but I found it. There was no difference in castor:

 

[LoneStar]

I love my R1S, and I have no hesitancy agreeing with the OP about the herky-jerky behavior of the steering wheel over uneven road surfaces. I have the 20" ATs. This effect is enhanced by speed in my experience. For research-purposes made a few runs (in Mexico) up to triple digit speed. The wheel can get so squirrely it almost takes control of the vehicle direction. I have no intention of giving up the R1S because of it. (I'm on day 4 of ownership).

I figured with all the fancy tech that Rivian has it will develop improvements in calibration and algorithms through software updates to overcome it. I mean it makes sense if you think about it... Rivian had the R1T in development for YEARS with probably a million miles of road testing to fine-tune it. The R1S came way later in the development cycle and sold publicly with far, far less reams of data. Surely that started with the R1T calibrations as a baseline. The differences in wheelbase and mass dynamics are going to play havoc until enough data is amassed to extract the right balance.

At least I hope it goes that way!

P.S. my alignment seems just fine. my steering wheel is dead straight on center. No pull or drift under routine driving conditions.

 

[timgradywy]

Interesting that this feedback issue seems to be from people with the 20's. I've never noticed it with my 22's.

 

[tiltedandsaltyaf]

I love my R1S, and I have no hesitancy agreeing with the OP about the herky-jerky behavior of the steering wheel over uneven road surfaces. I have the 20" ATs. This effect is enhanced by speed in my experience. For research-purposes made a few runs (in Mexico) up to triple digit speed. The wheel can get so squirrely it almost takes control of the vehicle direction. I have no intention of giving up the R1S because of it. (I'm on day 4 of ownership).

I figured with all the fancy tech that Rivian has it will develop improvements in calibration and algorithms through software updates to overcome it. I mean it makes sense if you think about it... Rivian had the R1T in development for YEARS with probably a million miles of road testing to fine-tune it. The R1S came way later in the development cycle and sold publicly with far, far less reams of data. Surely that started with the R1T calibrations as a baseline. The differences in wheelbase and mass dynamics are going to play havoc until enough data is amassed to extract the right balance.

At least I hope it goes that way!

P.S. my alignment seems just fine. my steering wheel is dead straight on center. No pull or drift under routine driving conditions.

Can confirm, at high speeds it’s much more noticeable. Just did a Vegas to LA trip on 22in wheels wheel and it was trembling/shaking more aggressively the faster I went. I’m at around 9k miles and I haven’t noticed this at all until this trip. But I haven’t driven it as fast or for as long periods like this but definitely noticed it on my way back home on this trip while driving rather spiritedly keeping up with traffic.

 

[bbonkk]

I can't resist asking @bbonkk -- how does the Rivian compare to the Citroen 2CV?

The 2cv rides better, gets more looks and has a folding roof.

 

[Kiafoulis]

New update. Rivian agreed to service the truck since I had an even worse experience just happen days ago. I towed a 3500lb trailer with a SxS in it - it was nothing short of a shitshow. Any speed past 55 the entire truck was shaking really bad. The service center went over the vehicle and drove it. They called me and said that it seems normal, you can only imagine my reaction. Upon inquiry as to what is determining normal they didn’t have anything to share except for a drive: of course I asked them to put it on the alignment rack. Front Toe and Caster are out of spec, and Rear Camber and Toe are out of spec. It’s not horribly out of spec… I’m wondering if these things are hypersensitive to alignment. They will have it wrapped up tomorrow so we shall see. I will let you guys know.

 

[Kiafoulis]

Is this heavier steering wheel really available from Rivian? If so, I think we should get it asap

I have heard from the service center that the heavier weighted steering wheel is apparently being worked on. This is in an effort to combat the “left/right nibble”.

 

[Kiafoulis]

Well Ladies and Gents - I would love to report that an alignment made a world of difference but it hasn’t changed or improved one bit! The Caster and Toe was indeed out of spec, albeit slightly. The service center was able to get everything in spec, except for the left/front wheel - apparently the cam is maxed out and can’t move past 4 degrees.
Although I just can’t believe that at this price point, and level of engineering, Rivian would design such a horrible driving experience where every little nuance in the road translates straight up and into your steering wheel, I don’t think there is a fix! I will give them another shot but if there is no improvement in this thing (my unit specifically), this will be a very short ownership experience because I’m going to sell it! We drove it for 250 miles and I asked my adult kids and wife if this seems right (hands off the wheel to monitor impacts) needless to say they were as well quite surprised.
I’m so bummed about buying this thing!

 

[twvette]

Thanks for this post. My R1S delivered a month ago has this too. I almost turned around while driving home from delivery to give it back to them once I got on an imperfect pavement highway but my first thought was it was just a very bad balance. Later realized it feels perfect when hit nice new pavement. It is not bad at low speeds but annoying on highway as it literally shakes my arm with high frequency small vibrations mostly until its numb if its not perfect pavement and also a bit jarring when hit a medium sized imperfection.

I went to 35x11.5 tires on Thuren wheels too so not wheels/tires either. I have a RAM diesel also and a big thing with vehicles for towing is figuring out what the proper tire pressure should be unloaded vs. towing heavy (max inflation) to avoid wearing out the centers of the tires unloaded by doing a chalk test. I think its worth figuring out what that pressure really should be. My tires will be different as heavier ply and much wider. Its usually MUCH lower pressure even on the front axle of the RAM with the diesel weight sitting on it. I am going to guess it could even much less on a more balanced Rivian. Wont know till someone tries as completely different rated tires for Rivian 20in vs. D rated I currently have vs. E or F rated that use on my RAM.

The caster setting is also an interesting consideration. Maybe even setting it "out of spec" in positive direction would be interesting to see if fixes.

The combination of improper caster and over pressurized tires would seem to produce in my mind exactly what is being felt/observed. Might be able to at least mimic a fix with much lower tire pressure to give the additional "weight" to the steering.

Otherwise, they are considering replacing my steering rack and also mentioned replacing the steering wheel so thoughts seem to be lining up with some of the others in this post. Perhaps not a great chance to resolve but also I would think everyone would be complaining if truly normal as I am not very sensitive to this type of issue in general and it is very obvious. I already had both front air shocks replaced for an air leak so its not them.

 

[screamingkarts]

Well Ladies and Gents - I would love to report that an alignment made a world of difference but it hasn’t changed or improved one bit! The Caster and Toe was indeed out of spec, albeit slightly. The service center was able to get everything in spec, except for the left/front wheel - apparently the cam is maxed out and can’t move past 4 degrees.
Although I just can’t believe that at this price point, and level of engineering, Rivian would design such a horrible driving experience where every little nuance in the road translates straight up and into your steering wheel, I don’t think there is a fix! I will give them another shot but if there is no improvement in this thing (my unit specifically), this will be a very short ownership experience because I’m going to sell it! We drove it for 250 miles and I asked my adult kids and wife if this seems right (hands off the wheel to monitor impacts) needless to say they were as well quite surprised.
I’m so bummed about buying this thing!

I am pretty much in the same situation as you because the steering wheel vibrations and a noise. I have 20 ATs too. Along with that there is a bad rumbling noise started recently. SC dismissed that citing the AT tires. But I think it may not be the case after riding for sometime. They also told it does not need an alignment. I have created another ticket. Hopefully they can fix either one of the issue. Will be disappointing and sad to let go of this beast

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