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Wheel vibrating, front of truck shaking

42K views 8 replies 7 participants last post by  SDHQ GOODGUY 
#1 ·
So when I bought the truck it came with the stock 17", I drove with them for about a month and felt a little shaking when going on the highway( dont remember the exact speed it started shaking).
At that point I thought a tire was bad but since I was thinking of getting 22" or 24" I didnt bother to look into it, and so I did get some 22's from usarims.com. they came balanced and with tires mounted, so I had firestone mount the rims and allign the truck. Well it vibrates when driving ....
It shakes and the steering wheel vibrates when going on the highway like if I were on a bumpy road. I,took it into the dealership to have it checked and they said the suspension was fine and that the truck wasnt doing anything out of the ordinary. Well I dont think the steering wheel vibrating is something normal....

What do u guys recommend?
Is the dealership blowing me off?
 
#2 ·
Most commonly, if the shaking is in the wheel, then the alignment is off; on the other hand, if the shaking is coming from the seat, then the balance is off. This is the basic rule of thumb for figuring out what one would have checked.

To answer your other question...I would almost bet that the dealership feels no responsibility for the 22" wheels that you have put on there. You may check around this site in Wheels/Tires section to see if anyone has had a similar problem with such large wheels. I have always bought custom wheels for my trucks, but have never crossed above what it came with stock; I figure the engineers at GM have a reason for putting 18" wheels on my truck, even though their is an optional 20" five spoke. Anything over that size and all kinds of different things can come into play. Just my $0.02...
 
#3 ·
Is there any speed at which it does not shake? Or does is shake all the time.

When driving down the road and its shaking, put it in neutral and if it continues, tires. If it goes away, drive-line related.

Try rotating the front tires to the rear and see if anything changes.

Just because someone balanced the tires does not mean the tires are balanced. Tires can be perfectly balanced on the machine but still shake when driving because the tires are not a true circle, they have a high spot(s) that cause the tires to move up/down and shake when traveling down the h-way. The larger and wider the tires, the harder they can be to balance. Take a look at how much weight is on each wheel, good tires should balance at a few ounces, 1-2 at most. If a larger amount of weight, poor quality tires.
 
#4 ·
Nice Mike! I should have expanded on my thoughts past the wheels causing the shaking in the seat (or under your arse). Off brand tires also have been known to cause many issues, and true balancing is only the tip of the iceberg. Also, less than superior wheels can have an uneven flow of weight through them.
 
#5 ·
Is your shake in the low 70's? I haven't had a single vehicle with a/m oversided rims come through the shop that didn't come with a shake at that speed. There is some warpage in the rims that tends to show at that speed and no matter what I couldn't get rid of it.

If you want a good ride, go back to stock. If you want to look cool, drive 55.
 
#6 ·
Ok nice replies, thank you all
Im gonna take it in to check on the alignmnent and balance.
As far as the wheel size I dont think it has anything to do with the shaking, my reasoning is.... I had a 02 trailblazer ltz for a few years with 22's the whole time I owned it and it never did what my truck is doing
 
#7 ·
well your truck is not exactly a trailblazer. its a truck, its made to tow/haul/drive on crapy roads. you want a smooth ride buy a Cadillac, you want to look cool drive slow. jmo.
 
#8 ·
I'll just throw this out there.
I would check the
Inner and outer tie rod ends
Ball joints
Sway bar end links
Pitman arm
Idler arm
Just for starters. Not saying this will be the problem but it could cause this problem. Also, just because the dealer looked at and said there isn't a problem I would still check it out myself. Just my .02
Good luck
 
#9 ·
MTPockets said:
I'll just throw this out there.
I would check the
Inner and outer tie rod ends
Ball joints
Sway bar end links
Pitman arm
Idler arm
Just for starters. Not saying this will be the problem but it could cause this problem. Also, just because the dealer looked at and said there isn't a problem I would still check it out myself. Just my .02
Good luck
x2 start there. has the truck been wrecked?
 
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