Are they talking about "road force" balancing?
I heard of this a while back..
Each tire is rotated/turned on the rim until it is balanced out..They may even swap tires from one rim to the other until they are balanced..
That is how i understood it.
It is worth a try i guess..
If that does not work, i would demand some new tires!
Good luck.

 

Thanks, man.

That "road-force" term does sound familiar. That's probably what they'll be doing, and I'm pretty sure it's an expensive thing to have done. Again, as long as they foot the bill, I'm game for anything they want to try.

My truck has about 1,400 miles on it now, and I can't say the vibration has dissipated at all since it had 183 miles on it. So annoying.

The dealer wants me to wait until it's time for my first oil change before we do the "road-force balance", so I guess they're hoping the problem will resolve itself between now and 3,000 miles. *shrug*

I am prepared to demand new tires if this road-force balancing step doesn't fix the problem.

 

I bought a 2008.5 SE brand new and mine did the same thing. Not sure what it was, but it went away after about 800 miles.

 

http://www.titantalk.com/forums/titan-problems-dealer-service/66913-08-death-wobble-vib.html

 

Hey, man, thanks for digging this thread up for me! I read the start of it (first few pages) and the most recent few pages. Very interesting stuff. Now I'm really curious to find out what'll happen after the additional alignment/balancing job...

 

My father has a 1993 vette, that he purchased brand new tires from hibdons. They sold, mounted and balanced the tires. After leaving the shop the car shook like hell. long story short, after three diffrent balances, they still could not get the shake to stop. Finally the manager and my father took a ride in the car, the manager threw up his hands and said i give. Put another brand new set on, perfect!! They sent the tires back to the manu. and even cut my father a deal on the new ones for his trouble. Crazy, that was a brand new set!!!!

 

Yeah, that could certainly be caused by defective tires.

 

Many places do not balance tires well, including the dealerships. Especially on larger truck tires, sometimes it's hard to zero out the tire/wheel on a balancer and some machines are not calibrated well and then you get the tech that thinks close enough is good enough. Take it to a shop that specializes in alignments and balancing. I changed my stock steelies for some aluminums and the shop reinstalled my tires and balanced them, I ended up with a wobble and vibration. Took it to a highly reccomended alignment shop and they rebalanced the tires and now no more wobble or vibrations.

 

This is BS!! Ok so you road force balance tires or you take it to a specialty shop and pay out the nose to have them balance. So now what happens when its time for anothe rotate and balance. You pay out the nose again, fight with the dealer. NO they need to put new tires on it, new wheels or what ever it takes so that you as a consumer can pay what everyone else pays under normal conditions to maintane your truck. Why should you pay out the nose to have your tires go through a special balancing program because the tires and or wheels suck!! I have had it out with tire shops in the past over this very same thing and won. If the tires are bad they need to be replaced period.

For this reason I only deal with Discount tire, even a hint of a hosed tires they replace it.

 

yeah, I'm still fighting with Nissan, 46K miles and still having the problem. I even won the lemon law here in Texas, but since the I waited too long to submit the paper work, a buy back was not an option. Nissan was ordered to repair my truck, but once they attempted a single repair, that was it, they were done, even though the issue is not resolved. So I have filed a motion for rehearing. Nissan responded with this today "Nissan does not believe a hearing is necessary, as we will likely be asked to perform another repair."

Well yes, if the issue is not resolved, shouldnt they be ordered to repair the truck? Anyway, I am looking for folks that have this same issue and everything has been tried to resolve the issue. I would like to get others together to start a class action lawsuit. I will do all the work, you just have to agree to be part of the lawsuit. For those that have the issue, start trying to fix it, dont put it off. If you have a lemon law in your state, read it, understand the requirements and make sure you have fulfilled all the requirements. Start with the BBB arbitration, but do it as quickly as possible. Please ping me at reytbeas1@yahoo.com with your story.

 

I am new to this forum. I bought my Titan new 2 weeks ago and it had the same problem. I took it to Firestone and the guy did a wheel balance. The problem is gone. I do not trust the dealers sorry.

 

I used to see this quite a bit when I was a field engineer with Ford. It was especially common the Navigators, Expeditions and some F150s. I remember even seeing it on a few Lincoln LS cars as well. Nearly 100% of the time, it was the tires. We would always try road force balancing first. Some Ford dealerships didn't have the right Hunter machine for this, so they would send the vehicle out to another dealership or a tire shop that had one. I would say this fixed it about half the time. The next step was usually a 1 for 1 swap of the tires. If it had Continentals, for example, we would put on a new set of Continentals. This had mixed results.

When all else failed, I would usually approve swapping the tires out for Michelins and that would normally fix it. We had a hell of a time with Continental tires and the occasional Goodyear with vibration problems. The Michelin tires were more expensive, but they worked great and seemed to correct the problem. This was a baffling problem for the design engineers. They were never able to find a common thread, such as a specific suspension setup, frame length, etc.. It was pretty random. Even with the Michelin tires "solving" the problem, they were never able to find defects on the tires that were replaced.

If all else fails, push them to swap out the tires with Michelins. You might be surprised at the results.

 

Thanks, man. I will actually be suggesting that tomorrow when I drop off my truck for an oil change and another round of "troubleshooting" the vibration problem. I'm dropping my truck off in the AM and I'm leaving it with them all day. They're supposed to do the road force balance at some point tomorrow, and I believe they're taking it to an off-site tire dealership to do this.

If this road force thing doesn't fix the problem, I think I have a pretty good case to demand Nissan buys me new tires (Michelins, hopefully).

Does anyone have suggestions on what tires I should make them put on my truck? Michelins, I know, but is there a specific model that I should ask for?

 

Slugoo-
Please keep me up to date on this, as we're in the same boat at the same time. If you have a definite fix for the problem, then it could save me and the dealership a lot of time and effort. I'll do the same for you. Thanks.

 

Just called the dealership to see if my truck's ready yet. They said it had just gotten back in from the road force balancing, and they're then going to "throw it up on their balancer" and do one more pass at it to make sure the road force worked its magic.

I'll report back tonight when I get home and let you all know the results.

 

Okay, fellas, here's the deal.

The dealership is keeping my truck overnight. During the day, they took my truck to have the road force balancing. Afterwards, they found there was something wrong with one of the tires (what was wrong, I don't know). So they took the truck back to the shop at the dealership and swapped all four tires with an '08 Titan that doesn't have the jittering problem.

Once the "new" tire were installed on my Titan, the service manager took it for a test drive again. Surprisingly, the shudder was no better, he says. So, they want to do a swap-out of the drive shafts between the two Titans tomorrow AM, and see how my '09 Titan rides with the '08 Titan drive shaft.

Again, I'll post again as this *story* develops.

 

I've swapped between the factory wheels/tires and my aftermarket set and I still get the shaking at around 65-70mph.

 

I had really bad shake when I bought my truck. Same issue as others had, it had sat on the lot for a long time. One tire was so bad out of round they had to replace it. After a few K the bad vibration went away. Now I am getting some minor vibration around 70, thought I have 13k and am probably due for a balance on the tires. Not to mention all the crap I've probably picked up in my tires at my jobsite. I actually had a 3/8" diameter bolt go through one tire... needless to say my spare became one of my tires. Bottom line.. the stock Conty's suck.

 

Yup, getting the same vib at 60-70 mph. I have an 08.5 and have taken it back to the dealer for the problem. They did notice the vib and was supposed to contact Nissan about it. I haven't heard back from them yet. I thought at first, like most people, it was the tires. And it may be. But after reading a few posts above it sounds like more. So what's the deal? I'm going to feel like I'm in a paint shaker every time I head down 81?

 

I had my first service yesterday. Road force balanced and 2 back tires out of round. They replaced with 2 new Goodyear Wrangler SR-A's, per Nissan policy. I drove out of the lot...same problem. However, they did warn me that would probably be the case. They said if I felt the slightest vibration, to call Monday and set up to bring it back in. Strange thing is that I drove over 250 miles today and it seems to have gone away. I'm going to drive tomorrow to see if it was just a fluke, but I felt very little vibration today, and I was on the interstate all day, between 65 and 80mph. They did balance all 4 tires and replaced the rears.

The tech said the next step was to shim the rear axle to reduce rear drive-shaft vibration, and then to replace with new brand of tires. He said he's seen it before and the strange thing is that it's always something different. He said the best method is just trial and error. At least I have a great dealership who is taking care of me. I've heard horror stories from others with this problem, simply because when their dealership didn't have an answer, they tried to wash their hands of the problem. Good luck. Let me know what happens with yours.

 

Mine developed a slight wobble at highway speeds on all roads so I knew it couldn't just be the road I was on. Nothing major, just enough to shake the pass seat and drinks in the cupholder, but annoying none the less. Since I was in the market for tires I decided to just wait and see if it went away with the new set. Sure enough, I got the TGs installed and balanced and have not had a vibration or wobble yet. I chock it up to the pos goodyears that were on it.

 

Well, I just got off the phone with the head service tech. He said he finally found the time to get "his guys" to do the drive shaft swap (with the earlier model Titan), and says that there was no difference in the way it rode. Because the vibration is still there, he says he went back to the data from the road force balancing from Friday. He says there are, indeed, "flat spots" in my tires, so he's ordered me a brand new set of "Goodyears" (the same kind that's on my truck right now).

Here's the weird part: He told me that the swapped tires from the 08 Titan still gave my truck a jittery, uncomfortable ride. I don't know what makes him think another set of fresh tires will correct the shaking problem. If they (the dealership) prefers to spend the money on brand new tires, why not? Right?

The new Goodyear tires will be in tomorrow, and the technician says I'll be able to pick up my truck later in the afternoon.

I'm anxious to see if the new tires are going to fix the shaking. I'll post again after I get my truck back.

 

sorry to here(read) the problems. I never had any vibration issues with my 08. I didn't like the goodyears that came with it and after they wore out i installed the Cooper Discoverers, much better tire.

 

I finally got my truck back!

It's the strangest thing: A new set of Goodyear tires fixed the severe shakiness. Now, I wouldn't call the ride "as smooth as riding on air" like the service manager said, but I can tell a HUGE difference. There's still a slight vibration at the same speeds I was seeing the previous quivering, but nothing near as bad as it was.

I'm a happy camper, and thrilled it didn't cost me anything. I hope it continues to ride this well, but I will definitely post again if the crazy shaking comes back.

Thanks everyone for sharing your stories, your suggestions and for your support.

I have to say, this is a fantastic forum!

 

My 05 Titan developed a shaking after I got a new set of tires, after screwing around with the balancing etc. for about a month, a Tech discovered that the FRONT Drive shaft U joints were bad. They replaced the drive shaft for $350 and it runs like a dream

 

so glad to see this thread. I have an 09 titan king cab SE with 1500 miles on it. I have the same stinking vibration at the same speeds!!! 65-70 seems to be the sweet spot.

The dealer did the road force balance (whatever it is called) and replaced the right rear with a new Wrangler SR-A. it is better, but I still feel it. I am chalking it up to crappy tires/balancing. I am going to have my normal service guys balance it soon.

Others have to be having this as well!!

 

My dealer finally fixed that same problem as I stated in an earlier post. They checked the tires and replace the rear ones with brand new SRA's. Said one tire was out of round. I'd say the wobble got better not much better. Again this only happened or at least most noteable at 65-70 mph.
So they ordered rear leaf spring shims for it. After they put those on it now rides much better. I really dont feel that same wobble as before.

 

I really think this is tire and balance related. I had the piece 'o crap SRA's balanced numerous times with mixed results. Sometimes when it was hot it would wobble but after a corner it would stop, then on cooler days or when the tires weren't warm no wobble but when I pulled a trailer bad wobble. All of this somewhere in the 40-70mph range. I thought it had to be something else, but I finally threw in the towel on the Goodyears and bought some Bridgestones which I've had a lot of luck with on past vehicles. First go around the tire shop just did a spin balance and it was roughly the same wobble. I took it to a pro shop, like a real pro shop and they did a ground force adjustment of the tire/rim then a spin balance. Now my truck feels like I'm driving on glass. Always smooth. I really think it takes a guy who cares about what he does and actually listens and knows how to use the equipment. I went through 5 spin balances with mixed results before the road force.

 

I haven't been on this forum in a long time, but here's my 2cents. My '05 has had the bed shake around 55-57mph no matter what I've done. You can mess with tires til the cows come home, but I truly believe it's the lightweight bed on the unsprung suspension. Simply close your tailgate a few times and you'll see the vibration. Whenever I load up my bed with my dirtbikes, gear, tools, etc., the shake goes away. Also goes away towing the trailer. Just sayin . . .

 

Mine has done it since 2004. It's just the nature of the beast & the fully boxed frame.