Steering Wheel Shake at Highway Speeds

[eskudo12791]

I don’t have any shake, but requested a rotation at Rivian during my SC visit. Now I’m a little nervous to have them do it. Apparently they don’t balance so I’m paying for rotation and will have to pay again for balancing at American tire. Maybe I should just go there for both.

If you have no shake, and are only getting a rotation, why would you need a balance? Moving the tires around isn't going to suddenly put them out of balance.

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[emoore]

If you have no shake, and are only getting a rotation, why would you need a balance? Moving the tires around isn't going to suddenly put them out of balance.

This is exactly what happened to mine but I also had an alignment. Had the drift to the right issue but no shake. Alignment and tire rotation (no balance) and now the drift is nearly gone but I have the steering wheel shake at highway speeds. Hoping a tire balance will fix it.

 

[tate16t]

I just took delivery a few days ago, ‘23 R1S. I saw this post earlier after a highway drive where I too experienced the steering wheel shake. I recalled experiencing this on my test drive a few months ago and the rep driving with me had me switch from soft to a stiff suspension and that helped. I tried this moments ago and it did help but I thought I still experienced it slightly. I was in All-Purpose mode.

 

[ham]

Same issues from day one going back to march 2022. I really hope this can be addressed at some point. I've had the wheels rotated and tires balanced twice now by service. Has not solved anything. Maybe not as bad as it used to be, but still unacceptable.

Having identical issue on my freshly delivered 2023 R1T with 22s.

If you guys have figured out a fix let me know! Also this is totally unacceptable behavior on a vehicle with precise steering, basically uncontrollable on the highway trying to deal with the shake and maneuvering the vehicle.

Suspension settings or road surface does not affect the shake. Its purely a speed component. Shake oscillation is consistent when going from rough to smooth highway for example.

 

[KRG]

I had 2 independent road force balances. The first didn’t do much; the second made a good amount of difference. It still vibrates a bit above 80mph, but it’s not as bad as it was. Finally opened a ticket for it. I can live with it for now, but would like it to be smoother. I think these tires are just notoriously problematic. I’ve had the same issue in other cars.

 

[technerd]

Had the issue from purchase, but it definitely got worse lately. At my last service visit I mentioned it, and they replaced the steering wheel with the new one (2022 here) and road force balanced the tires. They said 2 of the tires had flat spots, giving the reason that I "only had 13k miles on my 2022, so it obviously sits for long periods." That shitty answer aside, it drove a lot better after all of this.

My biggest take away from this, make sure the tires are at 48psi cold, 51-52 warm. The 22" seem to get flat spots when sitting for a few days when the pressure is lower. Keeping the tires at 48psi has kept them rounder and the vibration at a minimum. I plan on replacing the Pirelli's with something a bit more rugged if the vibration comes back.

 

[NetworkM]

I had the same issue and recently took it in for inspection. 3 out of my 4 tires failed the road force balance. After they replaced them the vibration went away. This is also after I had the weighted steering wheel which did help a little.

 

[snowboarder777]

Definitely have them do road force balance on these tires. If they are more than 15 lbs of road force they can cause slight vibes in the steering wheel. I always have my tires road force balanced on my sedans and SUVs for the best ride and to pinpoint an out of round tire from factory or when replacing tires. But then again since most people have done it, the tech needs to let you know what were the road force numbers??

Some techs would be ok with road force numbers in high teens to low 20s for SUV but I refuse that. I can feel slight vibration and request all the tires below 15 lbs for suv and 10 lbs for cars.

Michelins have the lowest road force and are the smoothest tires out there and the new LTX M/S 2 available in size 20 and 22s will help. The 21s not coming till fall hopefully.

 

[KRG]

Yeah I think one of my tires was 21, and that's probably why I still have a small amount of high speed vibration. Good info.

 

[HAL9000]

I’ve had Rivian replace my steering wheel for a heavier one over the summer. Had my tires road force balanced at America’s Tire. Those combined got rid of my shakes

Same here they replaced my steering wheel last yr and that fixed all my shakes/vibrating issues. Didn't have to do any wheel balancing.

 

[ham]

Got truck back from service today

Did alignment, balance, and rotation.

Steering wheel still shaking at 67-70+ apparently it’s “within spec” and this is a known thing which is kind of insane for a $80k+ vehicle.

Sharp Sporty steering + wheel oscillating at high speeds is uncontrollable.

I guess I will pay out of pocket for the new Michelins in a couple thousand miles and see what happens.

 

[emoore]

Got truck back from service today

Did alignment, balance, and rotation.

Steering wheel still shaking at 67-70+ apparently it’s “within spec” and this is a known thing which is kind of insane for a $80k+ vehicle.

Sharp Sporty steering + wheel oscillating at high speeds is uncontrollable.

I guess I will pay out of pocket for the new Michelins in a couple thousand miles and see what happens.

Get them balanced at a discount tire. They fixed my steering wheel shake.

 

[Riviot]

Same here they replaced my steering wheel last yr and that fixed all my shakes/vibrating issues. Didn't have to do any wheel balancing.

Get them balanced at a discount tire. They fixed my steering wheel shake.

Weird question for y'all, and the group: did you feel vibration in the steering wheel at slow/no speed? I occasionally feel it on highways (definitely when ATs are on) but today I felt a slight vibration backing into the garage. I stopped backing up and still felt it, I thought that was strange. It felt like a fan running high leaning against the steering column, but AC was on lowest fan setting.

 

[HAL9000]

Weird question for y'all, and the group: did you feel vibration in the steering wheel at slow/no speed? I occasionally feel it on highways (definitely when ATs are on) but today I felt a slight vibration backing into the garage. I stopped backing up and still felt it, I thought that was strange. It felt like a fan running high leaning against the steering column, but AC was on lowest fan setting.

Back then I only felt it at highway speeds above 70 ?

Even switched from 22's to 20's recently and all is well.
New steering wheel fixed my issue don't know if it will do the same for you.

 

[MotoBenelli]

Without reading the last 6 pages. Yes, we get the shakes at 80 and above.

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