i posted about this problem before. I purchased my car in october 2008. I have a 2009 xd. I noticed steering wheel vibrations when i got the car over 35 mph. I took it to the dealer. They said they didnt feel it when they test drove it. I took it back again and they rebalanced the wheels and tires. The vibration wasa still there. I took it back again and they diagnosed it to be the transmission. They replaced the AT transmission and one of the driveaxles. I went to pick my car up and test drove it and the vibration was still there. GRRRRR! Its not a wheel out of balance vibration. Its like a pulsing through the steering wheel from 25-75mph. It happens on even roads and uneven roads. Its real annoying. It feels like my steering wheel is giving my hands a massage when i drive. Anyway i told the service manager the vibration was still there. He called up some scion engineers and they said its "JUST THE WAY THE CAR DRIVES, ITS A RIDE CHARECTERISTIC OF THE VEHICLE" So now i have to drive around with this annoying pulsing,vibration in the steering wheel. If any xd owners have experienced this or something similar to this, please respond to this post

 

hmm... yah i have an 09 and i dont have this problem... maybe alignent???

 

Call Scion! They will bishlap the dealership and make them fix it! A pulsing vibration is NOT a characteristic of the car, there is just them saying LEAVE US ALONE - WE ARENT SMART ENOUGH TO FIX THIS!

Keep all your paperwork!

Let me see if i can find the number for you...

 

Here it is

866 707 2466

Good Luck!

 

nothing on my 09 xd either.... good luck

 

yeah, def. not normal. the dealer is just trying to pass you off. alignment and tire balance are possible issues and maybe they just did a crappy job on those...

 

yep... but call scion and they will not have that... they will make the dealer take care of it under warranty

 

Mine shakes too. Are you riding on the Pirellies P Zero tires?

 

Take a tech in your car, drive around and see if they notice it as a passenger. If they don't, let them drive the car so they can experience first hand.

 

i have the factory dunlop tires and steelies. It had the weird vibration in the steering wheel with those and it has the weird vibration with my summer 18 inch wheel and high performance tires. So that definetly rules out the tires. Im thinking it has something to do with the steering rack or steering column......

 

posted about this problem before. I purchased my car in october 2008. I have a 2009 xd. I noticed steering wheel vibrations when i got the car over 35 mph. I took it to the dealer. They said they didnt feel it when they test drove it. I took it back again and they rebalanced the wheels and tires. The vibration wasa still there. I took it back again and they diagnosed it to be the transmission. They replaced the AT transmission and one of the driveaxles. I went to pick my car up and test drove it and the vibration was still there. GRRRRR! Its not a wheel out of balance vibration. Its like a pulsing through the steering wheel from 25-75mph. It happens on even roads and uneven roads. Its real annoying. It feels like my steering wheel is giving my hands a massage when i drive. Anyway i told the service manager the vibration was still there. He called up some scion engineers and they said its "JUST THE WAY THE CAR DRIVES, ITS A RIDE CHARECTERISTIC OF THE VEHICLE" So now i have to drive around with this annoying pulsing,vibration in the steering wheel. If any xd owners have experienced this or something similar to this, please respond to this post


I had exactly the same problems with the steering vibration as you described here. I brought my scion xd 2009 to Monroe. The assistant Manager did the balance of my four tires (Dunlop Sport 5000). Looks like a good guy, working extremely fast balancing my tires. After testing on highway, still got the same vibration as before. Read your posting make me feel even more desperate. I brought my car to Hartford (Connecticut) Toyota dealer. I tried to explain the steering vibration, it's kind of pulsing massage steering wheel bla bla bla... to the service manager. The technician balanced my 4 tires. I tested my car on highway and this time it's worsen. The pulsing vibration steering wheel is gone but now I can feel one of the tire is not well balanced. I brought back to the same Toyota dealer again and complained. This time the Service Manager went to the bodyshop with the technician and they all started all over again with my 4 tires. Finally, it stopped pulsing my steering wheel after this balancing. My conclusion: keep going back to the dealer until the vibration is gone. Sometimes the technician does the lousy job.

Tung

 

If the vibration keeps coming back I wouldn't rule out some damage in the steering area or other component. I've had the same problem on my summer tires and rims, but i've just learned to live with it.

 

I kinda get vibration feeling when im breaking slowling. but not often. But I think thats a wheel and tire that probably plays a role in this cause it just started happening when I got tc wheels in but yea I got used to it. no biggie

 

i get it too every once and awhile. i kinda ignored it. i figured it was cuz of my drop. it doesn't happen all the time but when it does its annoying.

 

I am by far not an expert with our modern steering systems, but I do know that they are electric, meaning there are no steering shafts, etc to translate vibration through. That being said, you rims/tires could be the culprit.

Depending what rim tire combo you have, to have a perfectly balanced wheel the rim has to be hub centric. That means the rim has a hole made for the size of your vehicles hub and uses that to center the wheel on the vehicle. That set up guarantees a perfect balance.

Otherwise, most aftermarket multi purpose wheels use the lugs to center the rim on them. The drawback is when mounting that way the rim may not center itself right when tightened thus giving the vibration that will not go away.

It can be fixed, but care has to be taken when mounting the wheel to ensure it is centered with the lugs, not fun and most techs do not give a crap which would explain why after multiple visits and balancing you still have no resolution.

Hopefully that is your problem, it doesn't explain the vibration with the OE wheels, but if you remove them seasonally and store them, that could be there problem as well ...

Hope that helped a little ..