Chevrolet Customer Service

Hello,

We apologize that you feel you have not be given assistance while dealing with your transmission concerns. Our system shows that you last spoke with a GM Customer Service representative last year. If there is any additional help we can provide to you please, feel free to private message us.

Amber N.
Chevrolet Customer Care

wldprtgeejr

My 2011 Silverado 4-door 2 wheel drive also has some unexplained vibrations. These are somewhat different than what I have been reading. The vibrations are both at acceleration, deceleration, and seem to happen always at the same speeds. The vibrations are in between 10-15 mph, 20-25 mph, and 30-35 mph. During acceleration the vibration is only noticeable on a very smooth road, but the vibration is extremely noticeable during deceleration. It seems to be happening just before the transmission downshifts to the next lower gear. From 2nd gear to 1st gear the vibration is really bad. I have already had it in the local Chevy garage, and they said it was the drive-line coming apart inside. I am not a vehicle mechanic, but I am a service technician for a tractor dealership and the driveling coming apart doesn't make sense except for balancing weights. In that case the vibration would be constant at low speeds and dissipate at higher speeds because of centrifigal force. Nevertheless the vibration is still there and I have again taken it to the garage to have their power train technician ride with me. He immediately noticed the vibration without me even having to point it out. I have a couple of theories as to what it could be, and possibly some feedback on those theories. First of all the dampner pulley on the crankshaft out of balance, and certain rpm's cause it to vibrate, second is the torque converter slipping, and third incorrect backlash on the rear-end differential. Has anyone else had this issue and solutions to the problem?

chevyguy55

i have had my tires balanced 4 times, 2 of the timess it was road force balance. tires have excessive road force numbers. dealer took 16 new tires and wheels off new trucks on the lot, and 13 failed the road force test. GM engineers told us road force numbers over 30 was too high. the 13 tires that failed were between 40 and 70. It appears Michelin has a problem with the 265/70/18 LTX at2 tires. When we found 4 tires with road force numbers under 25 and put them on the truck problem was solved

NeedMoTools55

I have had the same issue with the last two sets of the LTX A/T2. I thought it was an issue with aged inventory I bought from Tire Rack. They would'nt even respond. Now the 2nd set I bought from a local Merchants tire store. They do not have the Road Force balancer to evaluate them however I used the old method walking them around on the balancer with a straight edge marking the high and low spots, we took the tire off the wheel and did the same with just the wheel. We then match mounted the tires high spot to the factory wheels low spots. (1999 Tahoe with 240,000 miles) This had made the situation tolerable at 70 and below. I also have a lot of cracking in the tire body between the tread blocks. The tires are rated for this weight vehicle. I have now switched to the LTX A/T M&S more highway tread and I am fighting vibration issues all over again. I have gotten nothing but excuses and finger pointing when I contacted Michelin in Greenville, SC. The LTX A/T2 is absouletly first class in snow and ice however I am done with Michelin due to the issues and lack of customer support. Until now I have run Michelins on my vehicles since 1968. I have found the BF Goodrich A/T is a round tire with almost zero runout well whithin tolerances with no issues. However I hear it is no comparrsion to the LTX A/T2 in hard pack snow or ice boiler plate. My Tahoe is 2wd and I have never stayed home in any Washington DC metro or East Coast storm yet. I will have to wait and see this winter with the BF Goodrich A/T tires. Just incase I added tow hooks to the front frame rails since I treat it like a 4wd Some dealers will have a set of zero or near zero run out tires mounted on a set of wheels for testing. Swap them and a quick test drive will confirm if you are chasing an issue in the chassie or in the wheel / tire combo on the ground. The Road Force balancer is critical to identify tires that may test as very little runout however have a sideforce variation which will cause the same vibration. That is a variable difference in the side wall stiffness that will translate into a vibration felt in the vehicle. This can be more noticable in a light duty pickup , ie: soft riade susspension with truck load capacity tires that will talk back more than a passenger grade thinner side wall application. I get the feeling Michelin thinks it's stuff doesn't stink and they are the market leaders. They best note that even MB fell off its thrown and was passed by Lexus. They best take note and act as there are a lot of good alternative choices on the market.

Steve1

The old school issue when I ran into variable vibration was to yank the drive shaft and have it check for true and balance. Fixed a number of harmonic vibration issues. Just saying. Mechanic for 12 years long ago. Saw a lot of bent drive shafts

2012Silverado

Wanted to provide an update. Got a dealer other than the one I bought the truck from to discuss with Regional Manager, they offered to replace the tires after a test drive. I ended up paying a couple hundred dollars more to have Michelin's put on the truck. The 100% solved the problem. Not a single vibration since.

-Chris

Chevrolet Customer Service

2012Silverado,

I am glad to hear you were able to have your concern resolved while at the dealership.

Erica Tiffany
Chevrolet Customer Care

Moonlighter625

Does your truck have the 20" wheels with the Goodyear 265/60R20 Tires?

silentreader

need more info this...

jpaolucci

I bought a new 2011 Chevy Silverado LT April 1st, 2011. The first 5,000 miles went great until I brought it to the dealer for tire rotation and balance and oil change. After getting the vehicle back from them I noticed a vibration in the floor boards and noticed the passenger seat vibrate at around 65 to 70mph. Took it to the dealer and they road forced balanced the tires again. Same problem. Service manager then replaced all four wheels and rims from another truck on the lot. Same issue! Although the service manager said he felt the vibration and I have documentation from them that they recognize a problem they couldn't figure it out. My brand new truck then spent the next three weeks at the dealer so they could figure out what the issue was. They replaced the tires and rims for a second time, Nothing changed. They replaced both front and rear driveshafts, nothing changed. They replaced the rotors on the front and nothing changed. They checked the specs for proper shimming of the transmission and nothing changed. The service manager then tells me that he has a half dozen trucks on the lot doing the same thing. They purchase a meter to monitor vibration in the cab. Meanwhile the service manager contacts GM for help and he does the vibration reading and GM sends me a letter that states that the truck vibration falls within the normal operating characteristics of the vehicle and there is nothing else they can do for me. I continue to take it back to the dealer for the vibrations and after a few more trips the service manager is no longer employed by the dealer and the guy that was under him is now the new service manager. He looks at it a few times and tells me that he feels it but has no idea what the problem could be. He changes the cab mounts to the frame and then contacts GM to see if there is anything else can be done. Nothing! I look up some older chevy forums and come up with a term deemed by GM as frame beaming. A situation where the frame starts to flex and cause vibration at high speed. Sometimes this can be offset by having weight in the bed of the truck to reduce the frame from flexing. GM has a name for an issue but can not come up with a fix for it, how Convienent!

Bottom line is that I have all documentation for all the service dates and in writing that they could feel the vibration but couldn't fix it. My truck now has 90,000 miles on it and it still vibrates but now I'm so use to it that it seems normal to me. I can still watch my passenger seat vibrate when driving and if something is on the seat, it vibrates also.

I know there are many more Chevy Silverado owners out there with the same problems and I'm hoping maybe someone has gotten a resolution or figured out where GM totally dropped the ball on these trucks.