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Steering wheel vibration / shudder at 70 mph - not lane departure system

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Hi -

On Monday my M3D suddenly started experiencing significant and constant steering wheel vibration starting around 60 MPH and is especially noticeable at 70 MPH. Before Monday - rock solid at any speed. It feels like about 50% of the vibration of the lane departure system. I turned off lane departure just to make sure that wasn't the cause - no change.

I know the most common cause is out of balance tires - but I don't know why it would suddenly appear - maybe a weight popped off?

Incidentally I also noticed an increase in the clunk / pop noises under the left front this week - especially when turning into a driveway or turning a corner where there is a dip in the street. I don't know if the two are related, but I made a service appointment for Dec 18. If any of you have experienced something similar, please share.
 
Hi -

On Monday my M3D suddenly started experiencing significant and constant steering wheel vibration starting around 60 MPH and is especially noticeable at 70 MPH. Before Monday - rock solid at any speed. It feels like about 50% of the vibration of the lane departure system. I turned off lane departure just to make sure that wasn't the cause - no change.

I know the most common cause is out of balance tires - but I don't know why it would suddenly appear - maybe a weight popped off?

Incidentally I also noticed an increase in the clunk / pop noises under the left front this week - especially when turning into a driveway or turning a corner where there is a dip in the street. I don't know if the two are related, but I made a service appointment for Dec 18. If any of you have experienced something similar, please share.

Two issues are run out either in the tire or the wheel or tire imbalance. Run out in the wheel is almost always impact related, especially if it appears after a rough impact, and sometimes that causes run out in the tire as well. Jacking the car up and spinning each Wheel and Tire and expecting for run out is an easy and quick first step
 
Just hit a huge pothole today at around 45 MPH, and I have the exact same issue. It was dark out and I was looking at the Nav directions for a split second and out of nowhere BAM! Now the steering wheel vibrates at speeds over 60 MPH. I couldn't tell if I had a bent rim (to my untrained eye). No bubbles on the sidewalls though.

Unfortunately Tesla Service doesn't have an opening for another month... Debating taking it into a non-Tesla tire shop
 
Just hit a huge pothole today at around 45 MPH, and I have the exact same issue. It was dark out and I was looking at the Nav directions for a split second and out of nowhere BAM! Now the steering wheel vibrates at speeds over 60 MPH. I couldn't tell if I had a bent rim (to my untrained eye). No bubbles on the sidewalls though.

Unfortunately Tesla Service doesn't have an opening for another month... Debating taking it into a non-Tesla tire shop

Ouch. I feel your pain - been there, done that, have the t-shirt. if you do take to non-Tesla shop, make sure they have the hockey puck lift assist, or you risk your battery integrity. Wheel straightening is not something every shop does, so make sure the shop can do that. Stock OEM alloy wheels require a fierce application of kinetic energy to deform. Might need alignment check also. Would also check references on the shops that might do potential wheel straightening.

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Ouch. I feel your pain - been there, done that, have the t-shirt. if you do take to non-Tesla shop, make sure they have the hockey puck lift assist, or you risk your battery integrity. Wheel straightening is not something every shop does, so make sure the shop can do that. Stock OEM alloy wheels require a fierce application of kinetic energy to deform. Might need alignment check also. Would also check references on the shops that might do potential wheel straightening.

View attachment 359468
That was supremely helpful, thank you so much for that :)
 
Two issues are run out either in the tire or the wheel or tire imbalance. Run out in the wheel is almost always impact related, especially if it appears after a rough impact, and sometimes that causes run out in the tire as well. Jacking the car up and spinning each Wheel and Tire and expecting for run out is an easy and quick first step

Hey all - just an update on this. The vibration was due to a defective tire. The tech found foam separating from the inside of the tire, which was causing it to be hopelessly out of balance. They told me that Tesla has special versions of tires made for them, which have foam in them to make them quieter. Sometimes the foam separates from the inside of the tire, which causes steering wheel vibration. They replaced the tire under warranty since I only have 6K miles on the car.
 
Hey all - just an update on this. The vibration was due to a defective tire. The tech found foam separating from the inside of the tire, which was causing it to be hopelessly out of balance. They told me that Tesla has special versions of tires made for them, which have foam in them to make them quieter. Sometimes the foam separates from the inside of the tire, which causes steering wheel vibration. They replaced the tire under warranty since I only have 6K miles on the car.
Excellent. Glad to hear it got resolved. Probably a pretty unusual issue with that tire.
 
if you do take to non-Tesla shop, make sure they have the hockey puck lift assist, or you risk your battery integrity.

Tons of shops can lift Tesla's without the pucks, even Tesla themselves don't use them. I just got back from a 3rd party shop that works on Tesla's all the time and they don't use pucks, no problems. Well, beside the problem of them failing at a tire rotation but that's another subject...
 
Tons of shops can lift Tesla's without the pucks, even Tesla themselves don't use them. I just got back from a 3rd party shop that works on Tesla's all the time and they don't use pucks, no problems. Well, beside the problem of them failing at a tire rotation but that's another subject...

Have you actually looked at the lift surface? It's a very slick piece of metal with a hole in it. If the Jack slides off that slippery surface your battery is toast. I'm glad you have such high confidence in the average shop. I just don't share that. As for Tesla not using them that's not entirely true as their lifts have a special pin that fits in that hole