Shake above 70 mph, gets worse as I go faster

[lbenson]

I own a 2015 Yukon Denali with 171,*** miles on it. I now have a bad shake at 70mph plus that I cannot outrun as I go faster, it only gets worse. New wheels and tires installed roughly 3000 miles ago back home. Now at school, I had my local dealer check to see if any wheels were out of balance causing this shake. They claimed there was one wheel that needed to be rebalanced, which they did. I took it back on the highway and the problem is still there.

I had new brakes at 156,000... lower ball joints at 144,000...tires only have 3000 miles... no body damage that would cause wind to make it shake, etc. I have no idea what is wrong at this point. I thought it was the rear shocks since they were blown out... but replaced those last weekend and it did not fix it.

I do a lot of highway miles so this is super annoying to have.. and I assume a symptom of what could be something broken. Would like to get another 60k miles out of this truck and at least make it after graduation before buying a new one.

 

[avalonandl]

Have them ROAD FORCE balance them. Showing up after new tires wheels means thats where to look. Which brand of tires?

 

[Joseph Garcia]

Welcome to the Forum from NH.

Lots of knowledgeable folks here who freely share their knowledge, experiences, and perspectives. Knowledge is power.

I hope that you will become a participating member in the Forum's discussions.

Pics, please.

What are the conditions of your wheels? A bent, or out of spec geometry, wheel could cause this issue. I had a wheel that was slightly bent, and the high speed shake issue at 70+ mph could not be fixed by simple balancing. I had the wheel straightened, and the vibration at 70+ went away. I'm not saying that this is necessarily the resolution of your shake issue, but this was my resolution to my shake issue.

Other folks will chime in.

 

[lbenson]

Have them ROAD FORCE balance them. Showing up after new tires wheels means thats where to look. Which brand of tires?

Thanks for the response. I had new Michelin Defenders installed. Have had great experiences with them before.

 

[lbenson]

Welcome to the Forum from NH.

Lots of knowledgeable folks here who freely share their knowledge, experiences, and perspectives. Knowledge is power.

I hope that you will become a participating member in the Forum's discussions.

Pics, please.

What are the conditions of your wheels? A bent, or out of spec geometry, wheel could cause this issue. I had a wheel that was slightly bent, and the high speed shake issue at 70+ mph could not be fixed by simple balancing. I had the wheel straightened, and the vibration at 70+ went away. I'm not saying that this is necessarily the resolution of your shake issue, but this was my resolution to my shake issue.

Other folks will chime in.

Thanks for welcoming me. Glad to be here.

My wheels were brand new when I purchased them (from Discount Tire back home). I am not sure if they checked here or not for a bent wheel, but I do suppose that could be a possibility. I don't think it is anything broken on the truck itself, drove totally smooth to Vail, CO and back (over 2000 miles) right before the new wheels and tires were installed, without any shaking on the old Michelin Defenders and 22" factory rims.

 

[lbenson]

Just spoke over the phone with the dealer that looked over the tire shop's work. They did not see any bend in any of the wheels on their machine or any tire defects. Will be having a mechanic ride with me in the AM tomorrow so I can demonstrate the shake as they did not get the vehicle going fast enough.

I did have them check and road force them as well (forgot to mention in my reply above). I believe they said the fronts were around 30-33 as far as a value goes, they got it down to 15-16 now (I think.)

 

[avalonandl]

You have ALOT of miles. It could be a bad bearing on front hubs.

EDIT- Usually Front hubs will cause steering wheel shake.

 

[hcvone]

The road force balancing maching is only as good as the person running it, some shops just do a better job than others, never had great luck with the dealerships, they just do not do as many tires as some of the tire shops

 

[Mickey_7106]

I replaced the passenger side bushing on my steering rack and made a huge difference

 

[bigdog9191999]

have the front axle shafts checked, our denali as well as a fwd car we have had some shake issue was both an axle getting bad and basically rotating off center ( the cv joint gets sloppy)

 

[lbenson]

Update: it turns out one of the wheels was bent. Getting it replaced next week.

 

[Rocket Man]

Update: it turns out one of the wheels was bent. Getting it replaced next week.

And they said none were bent....I wouldn’t go back to that tire shop. They should have seen that when they were road force balancing it, it’s hard to miss. It’s so hard to find decent tire stores. I had balancing issues on some 26’s and went back 3 times. Finally I went to another shop that does a lot of custom wheels and one tire was out of round. The first shop should have seen it the very first time it was mounted. Idiots.

 

[lbenson]

And they said none were bent....I wouldn’t go back to that tire shop. They should have seen that when they were road force balancing it, it’s hard to miss. It’s so hard to find decent tire stores. I had balancing issues on some 26’s and went back 3 times. Finally I went to another shop that does a lot of custom wheels and one tire was out of round. The first shop should have seen it the very first time it was mounted. Idiots.

It's so odd they missed it when road forcing and it only took a Discount Tire store 20 mins to see that (didn't take it there initially as the nearest one is an hour from me here). Especially since they told me the exact wheel was completely out of balance, that should have been a complete red flag! It was even my local GMC dealer too. I've had no issues with them before and in fact their prices here in Bloomington, IN are way more reasonable than the dealers where I am from in MN. Oh well.

 

[Tonyv__]

Easiest test is to rotate your tires from front to back and see if the vibration Changes. It won’t go away completely but you’ll feel it less in the back. Doesn’t fix your problem but it will tell you if it’s your wheels or not

 

[lbenson]

Dang it... looks like bent wheel was apart of the problem but the shake is still there at higher speeds. Back to the drawing board on this one...

 

[Rocket Man]

Dang it... looks like bent wheel was apart of the problem but the shake is still there at higher speeds. Back to the drawing board on this one...

Swap front tires to the back and see if it changes like @Tonyv__ suggested.

 

[lbenson]

Swap front tires to the back and see if it changes like @Tonyv__ suggested.

Had them rotated and it did not seem to change anything.

 

[lbenson]

Should probably have mentioned this earlier but the shake is inconsistent. Ex: set cruise at 80... shakes for a little bit, then goes awake, then comes back.

 

[exp500]

Try removing the rear driveshaft and "feel" the u joints. Wouldnt hurt to grab front axle shafts and hubs for a looseness feel.

 

[jdadams21]

2015 Tahoe. 140k miles Have this issue now. new tires, new brakes, new rotors, new transmission. still vibrates over 73 mph. joined this forum hoping for answers