Steering wheel vibration in dual drive cars

[Johnwi]

Has anyone noticed a slight vibration/humming in their steering wheel with their dual drive? I have taken mine in twice and told both times it is normal. We even drove a 70D as a comparison and it too had the vibration. I would say it is most pronounced at 50-55 mph. I did not have the a/c running during these tests. Also, th vibration seems to go away when driving 75+. Thoughts?

 

[Niclas]

This is inherent in dual drive/AWD. That is why I prefer the steering in RWD. In D, you also can feel the "pull" from the front wheels in curves especially.

 

[deku]

Lane departure warning......if you are slowly drifting to the white lines

 

[Johan]

Lane departure warning......if you are slowly drifting to the white lines

Agreed. It's far more likely related to Lane Departure than having something to do with AWD. If so, it would indicate something wrong with the drive train.

 

[RDoc]

I haven't noticed it at all. Our car is very smooth at those speeds.

 

[403portside]

Has anyone noticed a slight vibration/humming in their steering wheel with their dual drive? I have taken mine in twice and told both times it is normal. We even drove a 70D as a comparison and it too had the vibration. I would say it is most pronounced at 50-55 mph. I did not have the a/c running during these tests. Also, th vibration seems to go away when driving 75+. Thoughts?

I've noticed a tad more steering wheel vibration in my P85D vs my P85+ at highway speeds over 70, and it's not related to lane warning.

 

[mspohr]

I haven't noticed any steering wheel vibration in my 85D at any speed (except when I get the lane departure warning).
Handling is superb in all conditions: dry, wet, ice, snow.

 

[MuppetOwl]

No steering wheel vibration issue on my P85D

 

[Johnwi]

It is without a doubt not the lane departure warning. I am getting a vibration resonating from somewhere, but the service people can't seem to figure it out. The feeling is like the vibration you feel from a hose when you are watering your plants. It's like something is rubbing against the steering column in a pulsating type feel. The A/C hoses have been checked and moved already. Could the front motor cause this or something in the suspension? I appreciate everyone's input. Thanks again.

 

[No2DinosaurFuel]

maybe it's the wheel which needs balancing. That usually gets rid of vibration at highway speeds.

 

[thebishop]

I also noticed a very subtle vibration and had the SC look at it - they claimed it was the tarmac - but it would manifest even on perfectly smooth tarmac (felt almost like a small pulsing in the steering wheel). It seems that the AC may be the culprit here, you might want to set the AC to "LO" and turn down the fans to minimum and wait a while and see if you feel anything... (and I disabled the annoying lane departure warning as it triggered when it shouldn't and drove me crazy, so that is not it...)

 

[joer00]

I have the same issue which I realized immediately when I picked the car up. Tesla did not comment on it, so thinking it is normal. Now question is, do some cars have it and others not, or do people just have different "feel" ?

I did not have this with my Audi AWD.

 

[Johnwi]

I have had all the tires road force balanced...still no luck.

 

[Sh3xCod]

Folks any news on the fix to this issue? I have early Jan 85D with the same vibration 40-75 km/h. Specially noticeable with full acceleration from stop....
I had tires re-balanced and so on..........still vibrates.

What could be wrong here? Opinions?

 

[sbtz]

Has anyone found an answer for this? For me, it only seems to happen when it's hot outside and therefore the AC is working a bit harder. Just a very light vibration through the steering wheel, even at parking lot speeds... feels as Trouthooked described (like water going through a hose).

 

[bredi]

coil or air?

 

[sbtz]

coil or air?

air

 

[cab]

Maybe the CV joints - see here:
Front vibration when accelerating - accelerometer graphs....

 

[sorka]

My p85d is glass smooth. I did have vibration start to appear which ended up being cv joints.

 

[Andino]

I'm also experiencing a very subtle vibration on the steering wheel at any speed (even at 2-5mph) on my P90D. The vibration is about 20% of the force as you would experience though lane departure warning. Is this normal?