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Vibration/juddering at motorway speed Model 3 2021 facelift
- Thread starter gdallas
- Start date
It'll be tracking. Get it checked by a competent garage with a Hunter or similar.
That's the next on the list. Though I am preparing myself to resign to the fact that I will feel all bumps through steering wheel even on the smoothest of roads. Car is currently with a tech at Winchester SC for an a extended drive test over the weekend
K44ENT
Member
Very interested to hear how people get on with this. My new Model 3 performance has now down just over 300 miles and whist the vibration / tingling seems to be getting better it's not perfect. I have re-torqued all wheel nuts and made sure pressures are at the recommended 42psi. I find that after a few miles of motorway speed driving the vibration gets even less and almost disappears. I put this down to typical Pirellis flat spotting when parked so have had the car sat on my Tyre Cradles Order TireCradles which I had years ago to store a classic car but in this instance they don't seem to make any difference. In my case it's just through the steering and is a small but noticeable vibration / tingle at all speeds above 50mph that seems to go the further you drive. I have no pull on the steering and the steering wheel is pretty well centred.
I had to replace a set of defective tyres that had a similar problem - they were Conti Sport contact 5s. This was after repeated attempts to balance, checking for bent wheels etc. The tyres were actually out of round - you could see the tread moving up and down as the wheel rotated, relative to a static reference point as the wheel was rotated slowly.
My symptoms were slightly different to yours - vibration started at approx 70mph and continued to get worse as speed increased. Balance induced vibration usually occurs at 60-70mph and smooths out as you go faster, so my symptoms weren't typical.
Diagnosis was confirmed on a Hunter road force balancing machine and I ended up getting a full refund on the set from Continental technical services. Replacing the tyres completely resolved the issue.
Might not be your issue, but it does happen. Try rotating the wheels front to rear and see if the problem feels better?. Go to a tyre place with a road force balancing machine - see www.balancemycar.co.uk for a list of fitters with these machines across the UK.
Regards,
Alex
My symptoms were slightly different to yours - vibration started at approx 70mph and continued to get worse as speed increased. Balance induced vibration usually occurs at 60-70mph and smooths out as you go faster, so my symptoms weren't typical.
Diagnosis was confirmed on a Hunter road force balancing machine and I ended up getting a full refund on the set from Continental technical services. Replacing the tyres completely resolved the issue.
Might not be your issue, but it does happen. Try rotating the wheels front to rear and see if the problem feels better?. Go to a tyre place with a road force balancing machine - see www.balancemycar.co.uk for a list of fitters with these machines across the UK.
Regards,
Alex
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Just got my car back today. This being their 2nd attempt to fix the steering wheel. Vibration. Guess what, still not fixed. I've told them I'll give them a 3rd a final attempt. If its still not resolved by that point, I'll be calling black horse.
I think you'll enjoy reading their diagnosis, attached. Apparently we should expect this from our brand new £57k cars! Unbelievable.
I think you'll enjoy reading their diagnosis, attached. Apparently we should expect this from our brand new £57k cars! Unbelievable.
Attachments
Sounds like a real pain!
I hope that Tesla have already tried this however assuming they haven't, I'd suggest swapping the wheels from the front to the rear axle - I don't believe the tyres are staggered?
If you still get a vibration through the steering wheel then you can rule out the wheels as the culprit, which suggests it's something more serious. If you still feel a vibration but it's not resonating through the wheel then there's something wrong with the wheels that you've just placed on the rear axle.
Not that you should have to do any of this yourself of course, but this would be my suggestion if Tesla service still aren't able to pinpoint the issue.
rincewind
Member
It can be done. I took mine to Wheels In Motion (Hertfordshire). £80, perfect aligment. Also, to the OP, I have the M3 Performance and there is NO vibration at any speed.
My P-'s alignment was way off when I picked it up. Edinburgh Service center got it 'better', enough to last for 18 months, but still not perfect. If you are in the central belt, pop next door to the service center to RD Motorsport (literally 2 doors down). OK he fitted new suspension for me first, but the the alignment he did also feels absolutely spot on in a way it never did before.
That's interesting. It's Edinburgh Tesla I'm dealing with, and I'm from Alloa so will definitely bear this company in mind. Tesla just off the phone. To be fair to them, they are not dismissing me. They've just told me that their service engineer confirmed he felt the vibration too, but after rebalancing the wheels and road testing again, that he felt the severity had lessened. My hands were tingling when I arrived home last night. Anyway, I'm awaiting a call from their service manager regards next steps.
Very frustrating. The service centre has so many cars around they could easily swap a complete set from another vehicle then drive it down the motorway and back. Then they know for sure whether it's the wheel/tyre setup or suspension issue.
Might be a long shot. I was had a vibration problem on a GSXR-600 track bike. The wheel was statically balanced, but still had a high speed vibration. The problem that I eventually found was that the Maxxis tyres had a marker to orient the wheel on the rim- the marker had to be opposite the valve position. Other tyre makes didnt have this.
I see that Yokohama car tyres also need mounting in this way. Might be worth a check?
Mounting Your Tires | Yokohama Tire
I see that Yokohama car tyres also need mounting in this way. Might be worth a check?
Mounting Your Tires | Yokohama Tire
My problem was fixed by swapping from 19" new style sports to 2020 (pre refresh) 20" performance alloys. But I think the real issue in my case was the 19" Hankook run flats which caused the vibration. Now I have no vibration whatsoever.
So if you guys are facing this issue, the simplest solution would be find a tesla owner near you, offer him some money for this time, and both of you go to a tyre shop and do a straight alloy wheel swap. If the problem goes (like it did in my case), you know where is something wrong with your setup, mostly tyres. Run flats are a no-no.
I forgot about this thread. I have previously posted my updates here
Very Shaky/ Bumpy Ride
Just out of curiosity, say they were flat spotted from transporting. If you got the balancing checked while they had flatspots, then wouldn't they show as out of balance. If you then had them balanced they would improve instantly, but get worse over time as the flat spot goes and the tyre returns to its original shape. Is it not worth doing say 1000 miles in it and then getting the balancing checked if you still have any vibrations at that point?
Why waste time? A swapped set of wheels and tyres, which can easily be done by Tesla SC, will prove whether it's suspension or wheels/tyres. I can't believe they gave up so easily and were prepared to return the car to the customer with a vibration still present!
Hit a pot hole and you can damage a tyre and you’ll never get rid of the vibration until you change the tyres. A temporary swap might show this, but a front fear swap (if the same size) would also change things.
Some swear by ‘road force’ balancing where the tyres are loaded when being balanced but I’ve never found a place to do this despite Edd China saying that’s what you need to do.
Tesla suspension also only has limited adjustment. There are after market parts on the MS and MX to give more adjustment and I presume the same for the M3.
I share the pain though, I’ve suffered from this over the years on a range of cars and it’s a PIA
Some swear by ‘road force’ balancing where the tyres are loaded when being balanced but I’ve never found a place to do this despite Edd China saying that’s what you need to do.
Tesla suspension also only has limited adjustment. There are after market parts on the MS and MX to give more adjustment and I presume the same for the M3.
I share the pain though, I’ve suffered from this over the years on a range of cars and it’s a PIA
SpareHeadOne
Member
It used to be common for this kind of information to be shown in the manual for the car, but I've not seen it in years now.
We often forget that the tyres are part of the suspension system and there's a trade-off between comfort and economy to be had.
