Vibration at highway speeds 75MPH

[mikee]

I have only had my truck for 1month. It has been back to the dealer 3x for this problem and they keep trying to balance the tires. 1st time it was reduced for about a week. The second time I took it back I had a tech ride with me to show them the problem, then he spent 4hrs to rebalance the tires (4 hrs for a balance) with the truck before giving it back. I drove 4 miles down the road and the vibration was then worse and showed up below 60m/hr. I immediately circled back and they had a different tech ride with me. He also agreed there was something wrong so he took a further look at the suspension and then decided to put the wheels on the balancing machine and claimed two of them were out of balance (with only about 15miles from last balance). He took it out and claimed it was gone. I picked up the truck on Thursday and on the way home i was able to get it up to 75 mph and felt the vibration - this time different and not felt as much through the steering. I am suspecting it is one wheel and now it has been moved to the rear. I am planning to put some miles on it next week because if this plays out like the first time then the problem should worsen over milage on our crappy California roads.
I am considering to get an assessment at a proper tire shop. I am suspicious that it could be due to the cheap tires Ford puts on a $80k truck. Eventually, I am planning to upgrade wheels/tires with a leveling kit, but i am not moving forward on that until i am confident it is not something other than the tires/wheels. I was also suspicious about the 22" rims, but based on the reports from others, it seems it happens on the 20" ones as well.

In any case at this point i think there is something wrong with the 1) tires - wont stay firm and round under load, 2) shop: they cant balance tires properly, 3) It is not the wheels or tires and something else (rotor or ???) - at this point in time i am believing it is the tires but will keep you updated.

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[tewest86]

Dang, now I'm a little worried. I have an appt. to get it checked later this month. I am having my driver door repainted because of a ding and they will look it then. The XLT Sport with the 18" wheel rode smooth as ice. My 20's are giving me issues. The GMC I traded in had 20's but it rode smooth as ice also.

 

[7cbreeze]

Brand new tires can have issues? I have another question. Do you guys take your truck back to the original dealership when discussing issues? I’m asking because my purchase dealership is an hr away and I have another Ford dealership 10 mins away. I can afford to be wasting an entire day driving 2 hrs round trip and trying to find away home if they have to keep it.

Yes of new tires can have balance issues,, A Friend had a new set BFG KO2 that would not stau ballanced,, The store replaced two tires,, and all was fine

 

[Corsini77]

I purchased a Black Widow last week, well sorta, it's still at the dealers due to the windshield recall. But I did let them know I noticed a wobble in the steering wheel at anything over 50mph when I test drove it.

They performed a balance and alignment, but the wobble remains. They also reached out to their SCA rep, and apparently he has a few trucks on hand right now and they wobble as well. So apparently they are aware (or a least SCA is)

They are waiting to hear what the resolution is, whether that be from Ford, or in my case SCA. I have no idea how or why SCA would put all these aftermarket parts on it, and still send them out when the steering clearly wobbles at 50+mph.

Bit of a bummer, haven't even taking the truck home, and it's already had a windshield replacement and wobbles at speed... sigh.

I have a Black Widow as well that has the exact same issue. It happens at 55mph but goes away at 75 mph. It is only in the steering wheel. The truck itself has zero wobble, shake, or shimmy at any speed. Almost hate to try to fix the wobble in the wheel due how smooth it rides. Afraid the dealership will mess up something else. Rides smoother than my 2018 explorer.
Keep me posted on the outcome. Sounds widespread.

 

[muddyh2o]

I have a Black Widow as well that has the exact same issue. It happens at 55mph but goes away at 75 mph. It is only in the steering wheel. The truck itself has zero wobble, shake, or shimmy at any speed. Almost hate to try to fix the wobble in the wheel due how smooth it rides. Afraid the dealership will mess up something else. Rides smoother than my 2018 explorer.
Keep me posted on the outcome. Sounds widespread.

I just replied to your message before seeing this post

My dealer is still waiting to here from SCA, I'll let you know what they say. The local SCA Rep did tell my dealer there is a fix, so I'm hopeful. I also agree, the trucks rides great aside from this steering wheel wobble.

 

[LIVRaptor]

Anyone have any updates? My vibration is between 70 and 80 but is very mild. I'm on the fence on if I should even do anything about it. I am considering taking it to the dealer to get realigned and cross off the list my suspicion that the shop I took it to did not have the right 2021 alignment specs

 

[tewest86]

Anyone have any updates? My vibration is between 70 and 80 but is very mild. I'm on the fence on if I should even do anything about it. I am considering taking it to the dealer to get realigned and cross off the list my suspicion that the shop I took it to did not have the right 2021 alignment specs

I ended up getting my tires rebalanced. It's better. Maybe it's just in my head. It still feels like a very slight vibration. My 2020 GMC with 20s rode smooth as ice. Maybe it's the Goodyear Tires.

 

[pjb]

Howdy, I recently got my 2.7 F150. This is my third F150 with the 2.7 engine and I have already taken my truck in to get it check out for vibrations in the steering wheel, floorboards, and seats when I am around 75MPH. Our speed limits in Texas are fast and I would hate to have this truck like this since I am on the road alot. The dealership balanced all 4 tires and said concern was corrected, however it was not. Has anyone had this issue and if so what was the fix?

I had the same problem with tires i bought at dealership and the tires were bad. They replaced two tires and the problem went away

 

[muddyh2o]

Hey all,

The wobble issue has still not been resolved on my Black Widow. The last information I received from my dealer was Ford told them that running it in Sport mode was the temporary fix, which we all know is bullshit.

I've uploaded a few videos to my YouTube channel showing the vibration/wobble. Sorry for the quality of the video, it was actually hard to capture for some reason.

 

[Norris McCarty]

Yep, anytime you change the factory wheel/tire combo to a non factory wheel/tire you run a risk of out of round and/or out of balance problems. Especially when running wheels with different than stock offsets. It's not Fords problem.

 

[jb55]

Mine has this issue. 6" lift and running Toyo Open Country AT3s. Had them balanced 5 times now and they finally said the issue was the tires. They tried a second set of the same tires, same thing. It appears I am now on the hunt for a different brand, which is frustrating.

 

[LIVRaptor]

My issue is with bitto ridge grapplers, 2 inch fox suspension lift, similar vibrations. Really bad 75+

 

[hr1987f150]

I just pickup minea week ago, xlt sport on 20’s with the 2.7 EB and at over 65mph when I slightly press the throttle on the highway the truck shake like the tuning of the engine is bad or there a boost leak. But I don’t have any cel at all. My truck got only 300miles on it. Anyone have this issue?

 

[jb55]

Mine has this issue. 6" lift and running Toyo Open Country AT3s. Had them balanced 5 times now and they finally said the issue was the tires. They tried a second set of the same tires, same thing. It appears I am now on the hunt for a different brand, which is frustrating.

It was decided that the AT3 I had were F rated, so we switched to E rated Toyo MT and it rides much better. Still some shimmy over 60mph but way more manageable.

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