# Atlas Vibration faster than 70mph



## rocknfreak (Jul 10, 2018)

Hello all,

I have had 3 tire balancing, two normal and one road force balancing.

And I still have the issue, that the car is vibrating when we are driving faster than 70mph. 

What else can cause this?

All tires and rims are in a good shape! 

Thanks


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## GTINC (Jan 28, 2005)

How have you determined the condition of the tires and wheels? Are the wheels OE and fit the vehicle's hubs tightly? Have you checked the CVs?


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## PZ (May 9, 2002)

The usual suspects would be bent axle, bad wheel bearing or warped rotors. How long has it been happening? What was done right before it started?


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## Justin7983 (Nov 18, 2008)

I also have this issue. 2019 SEL R-Line 4Motion. Around 72-75mph I can hear it in my kid's voices in the back seat. Don't really feel it much through the steering wheel.

Just haven't had the time to get it to the dealer.


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## Andre VW (Dec 12, 2018)

Proper road force balance requires car to be driven at moderate speeds for 10-12 minutes then immediately brought in and raised on the lift to avoid flat spot and impacting proper road force balance. 

I went through multiple road force balances with the VW dealer until they sent it to their sister Dodge dealer next door to do it after I insisted there was still vibration. 

It is also operator dependent and if they want to go the extra mile to break the bead and rotate tire on rim to minimize the road force number (lbs).

Improper lug torque and sequence can also be at play as it can warp a rotor or make the wheel sit off center when mounted.





Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## GTINC (Jan 28, 2005)

Andre VW said:


> ....or make the wheel sit off center when mounted....


You can't make the wheel off center if a VW OE wheel....fits tight to the hub.


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## msuterski (Jan 4, 2018)

I have similar issue. Had the wheels balanced. Had the dealer look at it last year (after a long road trip where we noticed it for the first time in significant way). They of course could not reproduce it.

What I've found lately during our last road trip is that it's mostly pronounced when there is weight in the back (e.g. luggage in the trunk), but not so much when I drive around town myself or just with my kids in. 

It's also different from usual "wheels out of balance" problem where you feel it in a steering wheel (which actually seems to be OK), but the rest of the car's frame and seats vibrate. It feels like if I was sitting on concrete pad that was jackhammered. 

It also happens closer to 80mph rather than 70. The vibration is up to the level where I can see the hood's edges flexing/vibrating.

I'm going to bring it up with my dealer when I go get my catalytic converters replaced (waiting for the parts for 4 weeks now). I'm planning to put a couple of 60lb bags of concrete into the trunk.


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## 2018 SoCal Atlas Owner (Oct 4, 2018)

Here's a short 5 second video, _(Tried to keep it short to conserve bandwidth!)_, of a bottle of water sitting in the center console of my 2019 VW Atlas SEL Premium w/ 4MOTION® while driving on a freshly sanded-smooth section of I-15 in Southern California Northbound Lanes between Gopher Canyon Rd and SR-76. Seems the faster you go the worse it gets and the video was shot with my Samsung S9+ while going 70+ mph. _(Looks like water in a swimming pool during an earthquake!)_ 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiBKWiBr_fg

The vibration is soooooo bad it can be felt in the steering wheel, drivers and passengers seats, _(Haven't tried the 2nd or 3rd rows!)_, and the front floorboards. _(Once again, haven't tried the back seats/floorboards!)_


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## GTINC (Jan 28, 2005)

2018 SoCal Atlas Owner said:


> Here's a short 5 second video, _(Tried to keep it short to conserve bandwidth!)_, of a bottle of water sitting in the center console of my 2019 VW Atlas SEL Premium w/ 4MOTION® while driving on a freshly sanded-smooth section of I-15 in Southern California Northbound Lanes between Gopher Canyon Rd and SR-76. Seems the faster you go the worse it gets and the video was shot with my Samsung S9+ while going 70+ mph. _(Looks like water in a swimming pool during an earthquake!)_
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiBKWiBr_fg
> 
> The vibration is soooooo bad it can be felt in the steering wheel, drivers and passengers seats, _(Haven't tried the 2nd or 3rd rows!)_, and the front floorboards. _(Once again, haven't tried the back seats/floorboards!)_


Be assured, it is the tires or wheel balance.


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## KarstGeo (Jan 19, 2018)

Tires could be bad. DS to rear end could be out of balance.


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## Datboyv80 (Jan 8, 2020)

I have the same issue in my 2018 Atlas and here’s what I’ve found/noticed. After going to my local tire shop because I that it was a balancing issue the mechanic found something more disturbing.The problem with my vehicle is that the rear rims (20” stock black mejorada wheels) are not actually centered on the hub. In other words once the rim is installed and torqued in place the rim hub has about 1 cm of overlap on the bearing. When the rims get swapped from the back to the front the rim seats perfectly on the bearing with no overlap yet the rear is off again. So it’s not the rims on my car that are the problem it’s actually both rear bearings.


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## GTINC (Jan 28, 2005)

Datboyv80 said:


> I have the same issue in my 2018 Atlas and here’s what I’ve found/noticed. After going to my local tire shop because I that it was a balancing issue the mechanic found something more disturbing.The problem with my vehicle is that the rear rims (20” stock black mejorada wheels) are not actually centered on the hub. In other words once the rim is installed and torqued in place the rim hub has about 1 cm of overlap on the bearing. When the rims get swapped from the back to the front the rim seats perfectly on the bearing with no overlap yet the rear is off again. So it’s not the rims on my car that are the problem it’s actually both rear bearings.


I very much doubt you assertion here. Not the why VW designs things.


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## ThomasM (Jul 30, 2020)

Unfortunately I have the same issue 2019 VW Atlas R-Line. Vibration in the steering wheel and seat at cruising speeds of 60-75mph. The tires have been balanced 3 times, 2 times at the dealership and once at a reputable tire dealer. All of which did nothing to fix the issue. The dealer informed me that the tires need replacing and gave me a quote for $1,200. The tires (Continental Crosscontact) had less than 10,000 miles and less than 2/32 of wear. Still under warranty. The dealer as a last resort did a road force balance which showed a little improvement but the vibration was still present. After a great deal of discussion/arguing the dealer agreed to send the tires back to Continental for replacement under warranty. I still waiting on the verdict. 

Question is, has anyone else resolved this issue by replacing the tires? Or is this a much deeper defect, mechanical, causing the vibration?


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## RLineWeasel (Jul 1, 2020)

I've had similar issues in the past, although not with our Atlas Cross Sport (fingers crossed we don't in the future). Every time I've had issues like you all are explaining, it has been a tire issue, not a balancing issue. A good tire shop or dealership will be able to tell right away if there is a worn our bearing causing the issue, because an alignment will be impossible to complete. Also they should be easily able to see if the rim is bent, which would cause this issue. This will NOT be a warped rotor issue, as that would /should only be felt under braking. Usually light braking if it's the rear brakes (unless pulling a trailer) and heavy braking if it's the front rotors that are warped. Tires are really the only explanation. 

I'll throw in my personal experience here, which unfortunately for me, has been expensive experience. I've ruined 2 sets of tires (22" All terrain tires, that run about $1,200 a set) somehow to the belts separating on the tires when they have been less than half worn. My only reasonable explanation, and an explanation that is agreed upon by 2 separate tire shops here in my city, is that I cross rotate my tires, therefore causing the belts within the tire to separate or pull apart due to the rotating mass being rotated in a different direction after many thousands of miles. Although most modern tires (made after the mid 70's ) should be capable of spinning any direction (non-directional tire) many times the tires don't perform well if they are cross rotated. My new set of tires I'm only going to rotate front to back, and back to front. No cross rotation, and see what I get. I'm hoping this will fix my issue.

My point being (sorry for throwing in my story, but I believe it's relevant) is that all of the above explained issues sound to me like bad tires, which have tread or belt separation. I noticed on our Cross Sport SEL R-Line with 4motion, has text on the tires that say "outside" which tells me that the tire manufacturer wants them rotated in a specific direction. Maybe the tires on your Atlases have been cross rotated, and now the belts are separating. 

I'd have your tires checked over very well, not the tires / wheels balanced.


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## KarstGeo (Jan 19, 2018)

Getting this on my '18 now. We notice it starting around the mid-70s. Not in the steering wheel, whole vehicle. My tires or the OE 18" Contis and are evenly work at around 5/32" at 25K miles. They don't have muhc in them anyway, I don't run tires all the way down and will likely just replace them soon with some Pirelli Scorpions which get excellent reviews on Tire Rack. Have to believe it's tire-related. Thought about trying to re-balance them. I've done the re-torqueing based on the Toureg TSB related to this type of issue - no change.


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## mhjett (Oct 16, 2000)

FYI, for the record our 2018 SEL R-Line has had a vibration since new (14 miles on the odo). It has the 20" Continental CrossContact tires. I've had the wheels balanced twice now and it's gotten better, but still there. At the second balancing, the dealer tech said that one of the tires has some run-out (i.e. it's not perfectly round). Which is what I suspected.

I think the tires are junk, but I can't quite justify buying a new set with this much tread left on the Contis. Instead I decided to start taking corners quicker to speed up the tire wear. 

Anyway, I also have the Scorpions in mind as replacements.


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## 2018 SoCal Atlas Owner (Oct 4, 2018)

*. . . Or is this a much deeper defect, mechanical, causing the vibration?*



thomasm said:


> question is, has anyone else resolved this issue by replacing the tires? Or is this a much deeper defect, mechanical, causing the vibration?


The following is taken from the 3rd of many Service Appointments to try and solve a variety of problems which included a 
vibration problem that started from DAY 1 of receiving a brand new White 2019 Atlas V6 SEL Premium w/ 4MOTION to 
replace our "Yellow" 2018 Atlas SEL Premium w/ 4MOTION.

*Customer states there is still a vibration starting from low speeds and escalates the faster you go up and past 70 mph. 
States feels in feet, seat and steering wheel. Advise. Verified the customers concern, there is a slight shimmy felt while 
driving at freeway speeds. Performed a 4 wheel balance and rechecked. The concern is still present. 

I than performed a 4 wheel road force balance, adjusting tire positions on wheels. Rechecked and verified the concern is 
still present. Created a tech line ticket and was advised to replace the steering rack. Steering is on back order will advise 
when SOP is here. Tech line updated the VTA and also advised to replace the r/f driveshaft. 

Removed and replaced the r/f drive shaft per the Elsa repair manual and rechecked. Again, verified the shimmy is still 
present and will continue with replacement of the steering rack. Removed the sub frame and replaced the steering gear 
per the Elsa repair manual. 

Re-secured the sub frame per the Elsa repair manual, replacing the one time use hardware. Performed steering gear 
adaptations and performed a road test. Found that the vehicle will no longer shimmy while driving at freeway speeds. 
The steering wheel is off center and the front toe will need to be adjusted. Performed an alignment check and adjusted 
the front toe. Performed a road test and rechecked. The vehicle is driving as intended, there is no longer a shimmy and 
the steering/ vehicle are tracking straight.*

So, they had our "new car" for a combined total of 116 days and were finally able to repair a vibration that occurred from
day one but which we are still experiencing other problems including a horrific smell of radiator fluid that we smell EVERY 
TIME WE DRIVE THE CAR. They say they can't duplicate the problem we are experiencing and the car passes pressure 
tests and never shows any sign of water leakage even though it reeks every time we drop the car off for service and does 
the same when we pick it up and drive it home from the dealership and every time we drive it to and from anywhere.


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## KarstGeo (Jan 19, 2018)

2018 SoCal Atlas Owner said:


> The following is taken from the 3rd of many Service Appointments to try and solve a variety of problems which included a
> vibration problem that started from DAY 1 of receiving a brand new White 2019 Atlas V6 SEL Premium w/ 4MOTION to
> replace our "Yellow" 2018 Atlas SEL Premium w/ 4MOTION.
> 
> ...


In VA that would allow you to work through the lemon law - 116 days out of service total. I think it's 30 total days here. Great info on the shimmy/vibration though.

If you smell coolant, you have to have a leak somewhere - do you lose coolant in the reservoir? Not the topic of this post but curious.


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## mhjett (Oct 16, 2000)

KarstGeo said:


> In VA that would allow you to work through the lemon law - 116 days out of service total. I think it's 30 total days here. Great info on the shimmy/vibration though.
> 
> If you smell coolant, you have to have a leak somewhere - do you lose coolant in the reservoir? Not the topic of this post but curious.


Interesting that a new rack solved a vibration issue... Wonder if it had free play or something. 

Seems the easiest way to verify vibration is from the tires would be for a dealer to swap a set of wheels/tires from a new vehicle after verifying it rides smoothly. I almost asked the dealer to do this for my car, but I'm 99% sure it is indeed the tire(s).


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## KarstGeo (Jan 19, 2018)

Quite a bit different as it was stated it was vibration from low speeds up to high speeds; this thread is about a vibration only present at high speeds.


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## msuterski (Jan 4, 2018)

I'm about to replace all brake rotors and pads on ours before we leave for our vacations drive.

The dealer can't figure out the vibrations, but told us that our rotors are probably slightly warped (and quoted us over $1200 for replacement).

Rotors on our Atlas wear in a weird way where the outside edge is warn a lot more than the middle and center. Like if the pads were mostly grabbing outside of the rotors, and so they developed uneven surface and contact patch. The whole surface of the rotors is clean/grabbing, though.

I do not think our problem is tires because we have the same vibrations on our winter set. But I'm also about done with the Conti tires. They are not warn out at all (22k miles), but comparing them with Michelins on my other cars, they look and feel like toy tires.

I'd like to like this car because it has so much potential, but between all the little things and, especially, terrible dealership experience, I can't see keeping it long term and sticking to the brand.


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## Rightside (May 6, 2021)

Hello, new here and first post after being a reader for some time. Any update on the vibration issue? Our 19 Atlas has it and we are going on nearly 2 years and 32,000 miles. Numerous road force balances, new rotors, new wheels, new Conti tires a couple times (long story), new front axles and just last week I broke down and bought new Pirelli’s but it still persists. Steering wheel shakes and can be felt in seats at times. Love the unit but this is so annoying. Thanks.


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## mhjett (Oct 16, 2000)

Rightside said:


> Hello, new here and first post after being a reader for some time. Any update on the vibration issue? Our 19 Atlas has it and we are going on nearly 2 years and 32,000 miles. Numerous road force balances, new rotors, new wheels, new Conti tires a couple times (long story), new front axles and just last week I broke down and bought new Pirelli’s but it still persists. Steering wheel shakes and can be felt in seats at times. Love the unit but this is so annoying. Thanks.


Wow, that's a little crazy. Seems reasonable that you could assume your issue isn't any of the parts you've replaced... I wonder if it could be an out of balance driveshaft -- the long one from the bevel box to the rear Haldex unit. Or possibly a rear axle (you didn't mention if you have 4Motion...).


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## Senior Member (Jul 2, 2016)

Rightside said:


> Hello, new here and first post after being a reader for some time. Any update on the vibration issue? Our 19 Atlas has it and we are going on nearly 2 years and 32,000 miles. Numerous road force balances, new rotors, new wheels, new Conti tires a couple times (long story), new front axles and just last week I broke down and bought new Pirelli’s but it still persists. Steering wheel shakes and can be felt in seats at times. Love the unit but this is so annoying. Thanks.


Find another Atlas owner who's willing to swap wheels with you for a test run.


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## Rightside (May 6, 2021)

Yes it is 4motion. We had new Pirelli Verde tires put on. Still an issue. Took it back and dealer replaced one tire and it seems to be good now. There may be a slight steering whee shake but hardly noticeable. I drove a used 19’ off the dealer lot and it drove about the same. So basically we had 19 different tires and 10 different wheels to get to this point.


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## Rightside (May 6, 2021)

So I take back what I last posted. Vibration still present. Terrible. Seems to be more noticeable on inclines, or slowly coming up to speed on the interstate. I love our Atlas, but hate this problem. I don't even want to take it on trips, which is part of the reason we bought it. Emailed the service manager last week. Not heard back. I plan on contacting VW soon and asking about a buyback. Maybe it is an issue with the driveshaft. Just want a smooth ride. We've had a Grand Cherokee(great vehicle), Yukons, 4 Runners, Tahoe, about every pickup made and never had a persistent problem like this.

Anyone find a fix?


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## mhjett (Oct 16, 2000)

Given your situation -- multiple different wheels and tires -- I'd guess your vibration must be some sort of strange driveline imbalance. Like driveshaft or a half-shaft. Unfortunately, that sort of imbalance is more difficult for a tech to root out compared to, say, wheels or tires. Good luck.


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## Speckled (9 mo ago)

2021 Atlas 4 motion - same issue. It just showed up at around 20 thousand miles. Balancing, alignment, nothing's fixed it so far. Super frustrating. It's been in to the shop twice now to try and remedy this problem. This thread isn't giving me much hope.


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## Carnbike (7 mo ago)

I just picked up my 2022 SE and just drove 300 miles and this thing vibrates. Everyone in the car feels it. It is like the road had small pebbles on it which cause vibration through the tires. You can feel at lower speeds too.:/


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## Rightside (May 6, 2021)

Any of you have an update? We are still battling this and switching dealers. Our dealer did replace the rear drive shaft and the issue was 95% resolved, a few weeks went by, problem came back. Went back in and tech observed the issue, seemed to vibrate/shake more on slight inclines. Dealer addressed it as a "surging" issue, which it is not. Dealer worked with VW tech and reset/updated the transmission. Didn't fix the problem so dealer claimed front wheels are bent...again. Drove home and vibration was terrible. Took to local tire shop that performed a a road force balance. No bent wheels but tires needed balanced. Some shake/vibration still present. Tire shop said it is likely something in the driveline causing it and I agree. App with different dealer in a couple weeks. 

Hopefully someone has an update.


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## dmg924 (Oct 16, 2005)

Rightside said:


> Any of you have an update? We are still battling this and switching dealers. Our dealer did replace the rear drive shaft and the issue was 95% resolved, a few weeks went by, problem came back. Went back in and tech observed the issue, seemed to vibrate/shake more on slight inclines. Dealer addressed it as a "surging" issue, which it is not. Dealer worked with VW tech and reset/updated the transmission. Didn't fix the problem so dealer claimed front wheels are bent...again. Drove home and vibration was terrible. Took to local tire shop that performed a a road force balance. No bent wheels but tires needed balanced. Some shake/vibration still present. Tire shop said it is likely something in the driveline causing it and I agree. App with different dealer in a couple weeks.
> 
> Hopefully someone has an update.


I just got a '22 SEL and I do notice it still has a slight vibration over 70. I previously had a '21 SE where the vibration was noticeably worse.


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