Car vibration issue that won't go away... Any suggestions?

[Childs Play]

I have had my car in the shop 5 times now since this issue started. At first it was a very obvious violent steering wheel shake. That is resolved but the car still vibrates in the seat and everywhere else. The shifter (it's a 2012 M6 SS) vibrates at idle and speed as well but I was told vibration in the shifter is normal. I'm pretty sure that's not a lie but I don't know that much about manual transmissions.

So far.....
Twice they balanced the tires and it did nothing either time.
The next time they performed the 15k basic maintanence and road force balanced the tires. They found that two were out of round and I payed a pro-rated price for two new tires. The problem was still present (although the violent steering wheel vibration was resolved).

Well then I went and thought I'd get a second opinion and took it to a different dealership (I also didn't have the time to get all the way out to my normal dealership because I got off work late and this one was much closer.) They told me there was a vibration but it was normal. They also wanted me to pay them 89 dollars to road force check the tires... I told them no thanks and picked my vehicle back up. Vibration still present...

This past week I dropped it off on Thursday and just picked it up yesterday. They checked the tires again and the rotors. They turned the rotors and the tires were fine. I mentioned that maybe it was the bushings as well but they didn't see anything wrong with them. Well... The vibration is still there at around 70-80. It's a vibration I feel in the seat and if I touch any part of the car I can feel it as well.

Any clue what this could be? (Driveshaft, mounts, a busted bolt somewhere? I not mechanically inclined so I have no idea unfortunately.) I'm worn out and giving up hope on this car... It sucks because I still love it but I'm at the point where it's just stressful and not even fun to drive anymore because of this issue...

The regular dealership I take it to has been awesome and very understanding and has tried diligently to figure out what the issue is but it's just not getting fixed... They also gave me a TSB on tire vibration till about 15 miles of driving due to the car sitting. I drove it much further than that and it's not that.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I'm taking it to our club's tech meet this weekend and will have one of the mechanical guys take a look at it to see if they can figure it out, but other than that I'm stumped...

[Chevrolet Customer Svc]

Originally Posted by Childs Play

I have had my car in the shop 5 times now since this issue started. At first it was a very obvious violent steering wheel shake. That is resolved but the car still vibrates in the seat and everywhere else. The shifter (it's a 2012 M6 SS) vibrates at idle and speed as well but I was told vibration in the shifter is normal. I'm pretty sure that's not a lie but I don't know that much about manual transmissions.

So far.....
Twice they balanced the tires and it did nothing either time.
The next time they performed the 15k basic maintanence and road force balanced the tires. They found that two were out of round and I payed a pro-rated price for two new tires. The problem was still present (although the violent steering wheel vibration was resolved).

Well then I went and thought I'd get a second opinion and took it to a different dealership (I also didn't have the time to get all the way out to my normal dealership because I got off work late and this one was much closer.) They told me there was a vibration but it was normal. They also wanted me to pay them 89 dollars to road force check the tires... I told them no thanks and picked my vehicle back up. Vibration still present...

This past week I dropped it off on Thursday and just picked it up yesterday. They checked the tires again and the rotors. They turned the rotors and the tires were fine. I mentioned that maybe it was the bushings as well but they didn't see anything wrong with them. Well... The vibration is still there at around 70-80. It's a vibration I feel in the seat and if I touch any part of the car I can feel it as well.

Any clue what this could be? (Driveshaft, mounts, a busted bolt somewhere? I not mechanically inclined so I have no idea unfortunately.) I'm worn out and giving up hope on this car... It sucks because I still love it but I'm at the point where it's just stressful and not even fun to drive anymore because of this issue...

The regular dealership I take it to has been awesome and very understanding and has tried diligently to figure out what the issue is but it's just not getting fixed... They also gave me a TSB on tire vibration till about 15 miles of driving due to the car sitting. I drove it much further than that and it's not that.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I'm taking it to our club's tech meet this weekend and will have one of the mechanical guys take a look at it to see if they can figure it out, but other than that I'm stumped...

We apologize for the frustrations that you are currently experiencing. Please let us know any updates you may have. We are available at your convenience.

Brandon
Chevrolet Customer Service

[Childs Play]

Originally Posted by Chevrolet Customer Svc

We apologize for the frustrations that you are currently experiencing. Please let us know any updates you may have. We are available at your convenience.

Brandon
Chevrolet Customer Service

Hey Brandon,

I'm actually going to try to crawl under the car tonight to see if it's a loose driveshaft bolt. Maybe that's the problem. My dealership didn't check that yet. Other than that I'm honestly not sure what else it could be. :( I do have an open case right now with GM and they are actively working with my dealership to try to figure the issue out. Just sucks. I'm ready for my car to feel road worthy again. :/

I do have a case number but... I can't find where I wrote it down now.

[Chrisrp454]

FYI and a simular experiance with my 98Z28 when it was new. Dealer replaced rotors twice. It kept coming back. Well fix was to stop letting them do the work, they where over tighting the front lugs(which was causing the rotors to warp). I got new rotors did it myself, torqued right and never had the issue again.

[DangerZL1]

A vibration coming through the seat usually indicates the rear of the car. It could be a driveshaft or one of the rear end components. It wouldn't hurt to have the tires road force balanced.

Check the bad vibration and tire noise thread in this forum.

[Learjetguru]

I would look at the drive shaft. Are the balance weight's still there? Is the CV bearing loose. Other things to check. How are the tires wearing. Could it be a alignment problem? Good Luck

[Hannibal]

Originally Posted by DangerZL1

A vibration coming through the seat usually indicates the rear of the car. It could be a driveshaft or one of the rear end components. It wouldn't hurt to have the tires road force balanced.

Check the bad vibration and tire noise thread in this forum.

This. I have seen bearing races warp/score and cause the issue exactly as you have described.

[Childs Play]

Originally Posted by DangerZL1

A vibration coming through the seat usually indicates the rear of the car. It could be a driveshaft or one of the rear end components. It wouldn't hurt to have the tires road force balanced.

Check the bad vibration and tire noise thread in this forum.

They have road force balanced the tires I believe 3 times now. That's how they found that two of them were out of spec and those were replaced. I'm going to attempt to climb under the car tonight to check the bolts on the driveshaft to see if they're loose. I'll see if I see any weights on there as well. I had checked the other thread as well but I'm so far avoiding any tire noise. Oh and they've done an alignment and turned the rotors as well. GM stepped in to help figure it out so we'll see.

I was going to put on a CAI intake this weekend too but I'm now thinking otherwise until this issue is fixed as I don't want them trying to come up with some dumb excuse as to why my car is acting up...

I'm sure it will get solved eventually but it sucks right now. Just gotta keep being optimistic...

[retmil]

Could very well be driveshaft vibration. I have seen it in other cars in the past. If driveshaft is not balanced, it will vibrate like crazy. Just m .02 cents worth.

[Childs Play]

Alright just for an update on this issue...

After our club's impromptu tech meet I found something out. I swapped tires with a fellow member to see if that solved the problem. Well it did. Woot! However... I found something that really bothered me when I took the back left wheel off... See attached pic...

Anybody see something wrong with this picture? I let Classic know that I don't appreciate incomplete work... Now that part doesn't really cause any issues not being tightened properly but it says a lot about the rest of at least one of their technician's work. Usually Classic is great and spot on but for some reason this has been an issue that they were not able to solve.

I've spent a lot of money getting my tires rotated there multiple times and even replaced due to two of them being out of round. They couldn't figure out the issue and its now obvious that its the tires/rims/someone who can't balance a tire to save his life... There is a mountain of weights on one of my tires...

I talked to a guy named Carlos over at Classic Chevy of Sugarland about what I found. He told me I would have to have proof that the tires are not balanced properly before they can do anything regarding a refund. Well... Obviously if I balanced them three times and was still complaining, OBVIOUSLY they didn't do AT LEAST the first two right. Nope. That didn't prove anything appearently to him. I need a receipt from somewhere else that shows they didn't do this right...

I told him everything about swapping tires and he tried to tell me it wasn't my tires but it was my torque converter... I explained that it's a manual (LOL torque converter on a manual) and I've been having this issue for almost a month and a half now and even had two of the tires replaced (which I had to pay for with money (Prorated) I don't really have to spend AND IT DIDN'T FIX THE PROBLEM!) and had the rotors turned AND had my car there a total of 4 times for this issue. The tire that was recently replaced is the one with all the weights on it as well.

I mentioned how we found this out by swapping out the wheels for another stock set at a club tech meet this past weekend and that the issue was gone once we did that and then came back when I put my original wheels back on AND what we found while swapping them... Still... that's not enough proof for Carlos over at Classic Chevrolet in Sugarland.

Anyway I'll be taking my car over to a Discount Tire to have them properly balanced (hopefully) and getting proof that the tires were not balanced properly. Carlos doesn't see any issues with a customer having a 2012 Camaro that has the same issue as my 2002 Honda Insight with 250,000 miles on it...

I think you get the point.

It amazes me that people don't understand the power of the internet and how they could lose much more in the long run than if they just fix the issue in the first place with a smile... I'm not rude to them when I call. I'm firm and polite. I worked in retail for many years so naturally I learned that being a jerk doesn't get you anywhere most of the time.

I'll make sure to send this thread over to Carlos...

Update:

Mike Jones (Who?) over at Classic is awesome and he is my normal service advisor. Unfortunately he wasn't around yesterday. He's working with me on this issue. If you need anything answered he is the man to talk to.

Oh and I do have this as an open case with GM and they are working with me on the issue. I am VERY pleased with their customer service and have nothing against GM. I know it can be the dealership when it comes to stuff like this.