Huge Vibration on Highway then gone? Anyone have info?

[CanadianRob]

Supercharged my 2 day old 2021 M3P today and then jumped back on the highway toward my house.

Nav on Autopilot set at 115km/h. Was fine for the first couple minutes, but then started getting a Huge vibration from the back end of the car. Pulled over on the side of the highway, didn't see anything out of place under the vehicle. Decided to try and get it to the next exit which was about 2 kms away (being on the side of the 401 is scary) and when I pulled back on there was absolutely no vibration at all. No issues all the way back home.

Has anyone else had an experience like this?

should I be getting it in for service? The sound it was making resembled a helicopter and was physically vibrating as well, but went away completely after pulling over.

 

[TLLMRRJ]

Check the underbody cladding for the rear bumper is well attached. On mine the Tesla SC left out all the fasteners on the leading edge of the panel and it popped out on the highway. I had similar symptoms.

In my case, the panel was now dragging on the ground, so I had to limp it to an area to do the work of putting replacement fasteners, but maybe yours didn't pop all the way out and popped back in when you slowed down.

 

[CanadianRob]

Check the underbody cladding for the rear bumper is well attached. On mine the Tesla SC left out all the fasteners on the leading edge of the panel and it popped out on the highway. I had similar symptoms.

In my case, the panel was now dragging on the ground, so I had to limp it to an area to do the work of putting replacement fasteners, but maybe yours didn't pop all the way out and popped back in when you slowed down.

I pushed on things under there and it seemed like nothing was loose. Also doesn't look like anything is missing. It's pitch black out now and the car is safely in my poorly lit garage. I'm going to check it out again in the morning when I can see better.

 

[TonyJag]

It may be the lane departure warning, which shakes the wheel. It feels like you are driving over rumble strips.

 

[DaveRZ]

Sorry if this sounds like a sarcastic answer, but YES, take it in for immediate service. New cars (from all manufacturers) can have defects. It wouldn't surprise me if they didn't torque down the lug nuts at the plant. Don't wait until something physically falls off the car while at highway speed. Just go, tell them what happened, and let them give the car an inspection. I wouldn't even bother with the app and appointments...

If they find nothing, then hopefully it was just something silly like a wad of duct tape temporarily stuck to your tire (I've actually had that happen).

 

[jkirkwood001]

If it was winter, I'd suspect ice on wheel(s). This can cause a big imbalance,. Maybe you had mud in one wheel..?

 

[MikeyC]

What about the fan imbalance thing (where balancing weights fly off the cooling fan)? Every time I hear about a vibration now, I think of that. Right after supercharging, the fan might have come on at high speed for a bit and if it's imbalanced, maybe that was it?

Mike

 

[KenC]

If you can't find anything, I'd consider taking it to the nearest shop that can put your car on a lift so that you can inspect all the under tray panels. Also, look at the wheel wells to make sure those aren't vibrating at speed.

 

[tapboxer]

Supercharged my 2 day old 2021 M3P today and then jumped back on the highway toward my house.

Nav on Autopilot set at 115km/h. Was fine for the first couple minutes, but then started getting a Huge vibration from the back end of the car. Pulled over on the side of the highway, didn't see anything out of place under the vehicle. Decided to try and get it to the next exit which was about 2 kms away (being on the side of the 401 is scary) and when I pulled back on there was absolutely no vibration at all. No issues all the way back home.

Has anyone else had an experience like this?

should I be getting it in for service? The sound it was making resembled a helicopter and was physically vibrating as well, but went away completely after pulling over.

Yes, same here red 3P on two days old. same thing happened to me, its the rear (right-side for me) brake caliper locking out. I also had my screen flickering and going black and they replaced the harness from the computer to the screen and they were was thinking that may have been the problem for the brake locking too. But the next day it came back(yesterday) its in the shop now... before I left the tech was thinking it could be a sensor on the brake caliper

 

[CanadianRob]

Sorry if this sounds like a sarcastic answer, but YES, take it in for immediate service. New cars (from all manufacturers) can have defects. It wouldn't surprise me if they didn't torque down the lug nuts at the plant. Don't wait until something physically falls off the car while at highway speed. Just go, tell them what happened, and let them give the car an inspection. I wouldn't even bother with the app and appointments...

If they find nothing, then hopefully it was just something silly like a wad of duct tape temporarily stuck to your tire (I've actually had that happen).

The issue with this is going to the service center is a whole day endeavor for me. I live 2 hours out of Toronto and the closest service. Lug nuts are torqued properly, I checked that myself. We went out in the car today and it included a fairly lengthy highway portion and there were absolutely no issues.

Yes, same here red 3P on two days old. same thing happened to me, its the rear (right-side for me) brake caliper locking out. I also had my screen flickering and going black and they replaced the harness from the computer to the screen and they were was thinking that may have been the problem for the brake locking too. But the next day it came back(yesterday) its in the shop now... before I left the tech was thinking it could be a sensor on the brake caliper

This is interesting. There's a shop a couple blocks from me that I'm on really good terms with. I'm going to head over there on Tuesday and see if they'll toss it on the lift for me so I can check it out underneath. I'll have them take a quick look at the brakes and see if there's abnormal wear.

On another note, both times that this happened, the temperature was -1c to -4c. Wondering if that had something to do with it. Today was 7c and there were absolutely no problems.

 

[CanadianRob]

It may be the lane departure warning, which shakes the wheel. It feels like you are driving over rumble strips.

The lane departure warning is a slight buzz compared to what I was experiencing. It was vibrating to the point where I pulled over because I thought the car was falling apart.

 

[MrF06]

Do you remember if it went away completely as you slowed, or just got less severe? If it's only at higher speeds it could be a wheel balance issue. Something stuck to the wheel could cause that (or throwing a balance weight, but if all is good now that's probably not the case).

I had a vibration at highway speeds on a previous vehicle once. I had a shop check the balance on the tires twice, and they came back good both times but the vibration was still there. I finally took the wheels off myself to start digging into the suspension and I noticed a giant glob of tar was stuck on the inside of one of my rims. I scraped it off, put the wheels back on and the vibration was gone. Apparently it was enough to cause a vibration, but not enough for the shop to think the wheels were out of balance. Although that same shop also missed the glob of tar stuck in the wheel, so they might not have been the most thorough.

 

[CanadianRob]

Do you remember if it went away completely as you slowed, or just got less severe? If it's only at higher speeds it could be a wheel balance issue. Something stuck to the wheel could cause that (or throwing a balance weight, but if all is good now that's probably not the case).

I had a vibration at highway speeds on a previous vehicle once. I had a shop check the balance on the tires twice, and they came back good both times but the vibration was still there. I finally took the wheels off myself to start digging into the suspension and I noticed a giant glob of tar was stuck on the inside of one of my rims. I scraped it off, put the wheels back on and the vibration was gone. Apparently it was enough to cause a vibration, but not enough for the shop to think the wheels were out of balance. Although that same shop also missed the glob of tar stuck in the wheel, so they might not have been the most thorough.

The really odd thing is that it didn't come on as soon as I hit a certain speed... I was using Nav on Autopilot at 115 km/h the first time, and the vibration came on slowly after 2-3 minutes of being at that speed. Started out small and built up to the point where I pulled over. Slowing down didn't stop the vibration either. It was only after stopping and then getting moving again that the vibration went away completely.

The second time I felt the vibration, I was on Nav on Autopilot set at 117 km/h, had been for at least a good 5 minutes and the vibration came on the same as it did the first time.

Again, these were both when it was colder out, it's warmed up considerably here now and the car isn't doing it anymore. With everything closed up for Easter at the moment, I'm going to take it into my local shop on Tuesday and have them take a quick look over the brakes and underside of the car to make sure it's not missing any pins or has any loose panels.

I'd take it to Tesla Service, but they're over 2 hours away by Highway and I'd like to rule out panels or brakes first.

 

[TonyJag]

The issue with this is going to the service center is a whole day endeavor for me. I live 2 hours out of Toronto and the closest service. Lug nuts are torqued properly, I checked that myself. We went out in the car today and it included a fairly lengthy highway portion and there were absolutely no issues.



This is interesting. There's a shop a couple blocks from me that I'm on really good terms with. I'm going to head over there on Tuesday and see if they'll toss it on the lift for me so I can check it out underneath. I'll have them take a quick look at the brakes and see if there's abnormal wear.

On another note, both times that this happened, the temperature was -1c to -4c. Wondering if that had something to do with it. Today was 7c and there were absolutely no problems.

I have seen a similar problem caused by ice frozen to a rim. Perhaps, while your car is sitting in the cold, there is water INSIDE one or more tires that freezes to the tire casing or sound deadening belt, unbalancing the tire(s) until it melts and spreads out?

 

[KenC]

Loose foam in the tire? Hit a certain speed, creates a harmonic vibration?

 

[CanadianRob]

I have seen a similar problem caused by ice frozen to a rim. Perhaps, while your car is sitting in the cold, there is water INSIDE one or more tires that freezes to the tire casing or sound deadening belt, unbalancing the tire(s) until it melts and spreads out?

The thing is, there was a few minutes of no vibration at the same speed before it started. Really odd.

Loose foam in the tire? Hit a certain speed, creates a harmonic vibration?

I wouldn't be thinking it's the foam in a tire, as once the vibration started, it continued until I had the vehicle stopped on the side of the 401.

I'll update here again after I get a response from Tesla Service on Tuesday and also once I take it in to my local shop to see if it's something simple like a loose panel.

 

[tapboxer]

The issue with this is going to the service center is a whole day endeavor for me. I live 2 hours out of Toronto and the closest service. Lug nuts are torqued properly, I checked that myself. We went out in the car today and it included a fairly lengthy highway portion and there were absolutely no issues.



This is interesting. There's a shop a couple blocks from me that I'm on really good terms with. I'm going to head over there on Tuesday and see if they'll toss it on the lift for me so I can check it out underneath. I'll have them take a quick look at the brakes and see if there's abnormal wear.

On another note, both times that this happened, the temperature was -1c to -4c. Wondering if that had something to do with it. Today was 7c and there were absolutely no problems.

The easiest way to check is after it happens, pull over and touch the rotor (be careful) it should be really HOT. That will tell you the caliber is locking up...

 

[tapboxer]

The easiest way to check is after it happens, pull over and touch the rotor (be careful) it should be really HOT. That will tell you the caliber is locking up...

Supercharged my 2 day old 2021 M3P today and then jumped back on the highway toward my house.

Nav on Autopilot set at 115km/h. Was fine for the first couple minutes, but then started getting a Huge vibration from the back end of the car. Pulled over on the side of the highway, didn't see anything out of place under the vehicle. Decided to try and get it to the next exit which was about 2 kms away (being on the side of the 401 is scary) and when I pulled back on there was absolutely no vibration at all. No issues all the way back home.

Has anyone else had an experience like this?

should I be getting it in for service? The sound it was making resembled a helicopter and was physically vibrating as well, but went away completely after pulling over

The issue with this is going to the service center is a whole day endeavor for me. I live 2 hours out of Toronto and the closest service. Lug nuts are torqued properly, I checked that myself. We went out in the car today and it included a fairly lengthy highway portion and there were absolutely no issues.



This is interesting. There's a shop a couple blocks from me that I'm on really good terms with. I'm going to head over there on Tuesday and see if they'll toss it on the lift for me so I can check it out underneath. I'll have them take a quick look at the brakes and see if there's abnormal wear.

On another note, both times that this happened, the temperature was -1c to -4c. Wondering if that had something to do with it. Today was 7c and there were absolutely no problems.

It ended up being a defective brake caliber... good luck!

 

[Camryguy]

I believe you may have impacted a moose turd.

 

[CanadianRob]

I believe you may have impacted a moose turd.

I'm too far south in Ontario for that lol


On another note, thanks to the suggestions here, I believe I've figured out the issue. I haven't had the vibration issue again, but was out this morning, pulled back into my driveway and smelled something odd. Turns out my driver side rear rotor was hot enough it smelled funny, while all the others were cold to the touch.

Service being scheduled. Thanks everyone!