Vibration when driving 70+ MPH

[cdf3]

When I drive my Model S, I feel a lot of erratic vibration when driving 70+ mph.
It was a pre-owned vehicle, and it drove like that from day one.
I had the tires balanced, but that didn't help.
Tesla Service Center said the tires were out of round.
Since they were fairly new tires, Michelin covered 3 out 4 under warranty.
One of the tires tested out as being OK.
It still vibrates pretty bad when I drive 70+ MPH.
It drives fine if I drive under 65 MPH.
Thought it could be bad wheels, but they said they look to be OK.
Anyone else having this issue, or have experienced this issue?

 

[jackie]

Had the same problem with my jag. I pulled away a little too quickly at the lights once and managed to scrape off enough rubber for them to cause vibration at over 120km. Only solved by buying some new ones. Took quite a while to find and rather expensive lesson so I have been rather more careful since especially in the Model S :wink:

 

[Spyder14]

If you have the tires replaced & properly balanced & it STILL vibrates at speed, it could be a wheel(s) that are damaged causing some vibration that they can't balance out. Maybe take it to a good tire store or even an ICE dealer you have worked with in the past to high speed balance all 4 wheels.

 

[cdf3]

I took it to Discount Tire to have the tires replaced under warranty, because Tesla Service Centers do not handle tire warranties. It vibrates worse after the new tires were installed.

 

[AMPd]

I took it to Discount Tire to have the tires replaced under warranty, because Tesla Service Centers do not handle tire warranties. It vibrates worse after the new tires were installed.

As spyder14 pointed out, one of your wheels might be bent

 

[MyJoule]

When I got my Model S in June 2014 it too vibrated at 70+ speeds, we did take it back to Tesla for service, and after a couple of tries, they ended up replacing all 4 tires, One of the troubleshooting steps they actually did was swap wheels with one of their loaner cars, to make sure it wasn't a drive train issue. Which thankfully it wasn't. Subsequently, I was told by my service center, that there were a batch of Michelin Primacy tires that indeed didn't/wouldn't balance properly, I wonder if your car was produced in that time frame? ( My car was built in June 2014) These tires are very sensitive to balance, but since the Service center did your work, I would have thought they would know about the "bad batch of tires" I wonder if they shouldn't have replaced that 4th tire too (even if you had to pay for it. Have you asked them again to look into it?

 

[HankLloydRight]

Another thing to look out for is not bent or "out of round" wheels, but warped wheels. One of my 21" wheels is warped side-to-side, so it spin balances correctly and isn't dented or bent, but when on the spin balancer watching it from the tread side, you can see it wobble slightly in and out (side to side)... You can see this better with the tire off the rim and watch the lip of the rim not be true. I don't believe this kind of warp is repairable, but it does manifest itself as a bent rim or out of balance tire with high speed vibrations. I get vibrations above 80mph, and slightly less vibration when the tire is on the front versus the rear. I'm constantly looking for a good deal on one 21" grey turbine rim to eventually replace it.

 

[cdf3]

When I got my Model S in June 2014 it too vibrated at 70+ speeds, we did take it back to Tesla for service, and after a couple of tries, they ended up replacing all 4 tires, One of the troubleshooting steps they actually did was swap wheels with one of their loaner cars, to make sure it wasn't a drive train issue. Which thankfully it wasn't. Subsequently, I was told by my service center, that there were a batch of Michelin Primacy tires that indeed didn't/wouldn't balance properly, I wonder if your car was produced in that time frame? ( My car was built in June 2014) These tires are very sensitive to balance, but since the Service center did your work, I would have thought they would know about the "bad batch of tires" I wonder if they shouldn't have replaced that 4th tire too (even if you had to pay for it. Have you asked them again to look into it?

I will look into having the 4th tire replaced. They will also schedule for me to have a road force done on their machines.