You'll want to post this in the WK2 section ( this is '05-'10 WK section)

That being said - I would find it unacceptable that my brand new rig has steering shimmy at normal highway speeds.

 

Wheel/tire balance. Have them ROAD force balance the wheels/tires. Or get a tire shop to do it. What a bunch of tossers.

 

If I got a slow warrantee response to highway shaking I would start shouting "highway safety".

 

2014 GC steering wheel shimmy.

I have a 2014 grand cherokee overland with goodyear 20" Frotera tires. I too have a vibration and steering wheel shimmy at 65 - 70 mph. It also has a vibration through the seat and floor, the faster i go the worse the vibration gets. This started from day one. I also test drove 4 others with the same issues. The dealer said he would take care of it. They road forced 4 tires with the Hunter 9700 machine.
Radial force variation went as follows:
LF tire 19 before to 9 after balancing.
RF tire 21 to 12
LR tire 21 to 10
RR tire 16 to 5
These are great numbers for tire balancing. The vibration is almost gone but the steering wheel still shimmies at 65-75 mph. Service manager states they all shimmy, which is caused by the electric steering. THERE IS NO CURE AS OF YET. This is really great I'm stuck with a jeep that I hate to drive on the highway for the next 3 years until my lease is up. THANK YOU CHRYSLER !!!

 

The durango guys are having similar issues with those 20" forteras. I think it was a quality issue with some tires. Might google it.

 

http://dodgeforum.com/forum/3rd-gen-durango/295367-new-r-t-unfortunate-problem-already.html

 

Update: Shimmy Problem solved
Steering wheel shimmy 65-75 mph from day one on my 2014 overland with 20" Fortera tires. I test drive 4 new summits and they all did it. I purchased my jeep 1 1/2 hour from home to get a good price. My first attempt was to bring it to my local dealer who road forced the two front tire only. It still had the shimmy but not as bad. The dealer told me he could not help me any further. I started a case file with chrysler and took it to a different dealer. The mechanic stated he found a slight vibration caused by the stones in the asphalt. Then I took the service manager for a ride and he stated they all do it and the 20" tires are worst. He also stated it is caused by the electric steering assist, but he road forced all 4 tires with the hunter 9700 machine. He stated the road force came in at 9, 12, 10 and 5 pounds. When I drove it home the vibration through the vehicle was better but the steering wheel shimmy was worst. I called chrysler the day after only to find out the dealer had closed the case stating it was the nature of the vehicle. I re-opened the case with chrysler and took it to the dealer where I purchased the Jeep. After 4 hours the shimmy was finally gone. The dealer stated one wheel had a road force of 36# and got it down to 24, another wheel was at 26 and got it down to 17 and the other 2 wheels came in at 8 and 12 pounds, and two of the wheel were off balance by .75 oz . He put the 8 & 12# road force tires in the front and the 24 & 26# in the rear. I drove the vehicle home with no shimmy at all. Upon reaching 75mph I felt a vibration throughout the seat. I stopped by the goodyear store and they replaced the two rear tires and got the road force at 5 and 9 pounds and my grand cherokee drives smooth as silk up to 90 mph. To make a long story short, it is the tires, they just have to be road forced balanced on a good calibrated machine and if they can't get the tires under 12# then get a new tire. By the way goodyear paid for the 2 rear tires after I called them and got a case number. I had a shimmy and vibration for 2,200 miles. My front rotors were also replaced at 725 miles due to steering wheel shimmy when the brakes were applied at 45 mph. After 7 weeks of hating my jeep I now love it!!!

 

Do a sesrch, its been discussed many times already since 2012.
Some had tires replaced to fix the problem

 

I had to have all 4 tires re-balanced when my SRT was brand new. Been great ever since. Shame they let it out of the factory like that.

 

Seems unusual that multi dealers are indicating there is an issue with the electric power steering causing steering vibration. I have 18" Michelin tires. The Jeep dealer force balanced and rotated tires and no improvement. I don't have the balance tolerances, but I am curious enough that I will try an independent alignment/balance specialist. Maybe the electric power steering is more sensitive than hydraulic power steering to a balance harmonic, therefore keeping tires in very tight balance tolerance could be time consuming and costly.

 

I too had the 18" Michelins and they never could get a balance. I replaced all 4 with Firestone Destination AT and the vibration is gone and the tire performes a whole lot better than the Michelins. Just a heads up.

 

I don't know if this still happens.
Once I had a 1980 98 Oldsmobile. Vibrated terrible.
Years of trying to get this fixed.
Spent a fortune at tire shops.
Even checked the drive shift.
Motor mounts, everything.
This was back when just the front had disk brakes
Back had drums.
Right front rotor had to be replaced, for some reason.
So I figured I had checked ever rotating part except the left front rotor.
Found the rotor center machined
--0.050 in. off center. Off center.
Was my whole problem.
Could this still happen?

 

If all these other measures have been exhausted and no issues with the tires being unbalanced or out of round (anyone measure that) the other factor discovered on other platforms is the back lash adjustment. If it is too high the steering is heavy but usually eliminates shimmy. If too low you get shimmy but a nice feeling steering.
I have an Overland 14 on order with the diesel so that means 20" Goodyears. Will see how this goes and I am learning from all of your posts too...

 

Welcome to Goodyear tires. I never had a set that did not vibrate.

 

The GY Forteras on my 20" wheels are smooth at all speeds so far ... guess I'm Just lucky, eh? Just sayin ..

 

Shaky 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited

Bought the car in July '13, afer 12 hours of owning, my cluster went blank and had brake troubles. Dealership could not find a problem and would not replace/refund car. Hired a lawyer, car sat for 6 months before a recall was available to fix the cluster/broke issue. Finally went and got the car and now it shakes over 60mph. Dealership replaced a tire but it did not solve the probledm. WORST PURCHASE EVER. I will never purchase another Chrysler and will likely trade this POS in soon. NOTHING BUT PROBLEMS and not worth the time/money! I bought a new car so I wouldn't spend all of my time at the shop!

 

Bought the car in July '13, afer 12 hours of owning, my cluster went blank and had brake troubles. Dealership could not find a problem and would not replace/refund car. Hired a lawyer, car sat for 6 months before a recall was available to fix the cluster/broke issue. Finally went and got the car and now it shakes over 60mph. Dealership replaced a tire but it did not solve the probledm. WORST PURCHASE EVER. I will never purchase another Chrysler and will likely trade this POS in soon. NOTHING BUT PROBLEMS and not worth the time/money! I bought a new car so I wouldn't spend all of my time at the shop!

If the jeep sat for 6 months and did not move it is possible to have flat spots on the tires. 20" tires are known for this, but they usually remedy themselves after they are warmed up. Six months is a long time for a vehicle to set!

 

OK let me get this right. You had a cluster fail and some brake issues you didn't elaborate on and you want a refund/ replace? How do you justify that? I would say you had a couple problems with Jeep and you are here to complain about something the dealership fixed. Your vibration issue is a real issue but if you still have the problem you need to work with the dealer and manufacturer to resolve these.
You think cars don't have a few problems now and then?
First thing you do when you complained to the dealer and they said no (rightfully so I don't see this as a lemon) is to run and get a lawyer.
Please!!!

 

Ok, finally broke down and had a wheel alignment and balance specialist shop force balance the tires. They were all >= 18 #, which is greater than their tolerance for a light passenger vehicle but reasonable for a truck vehicle. They rebalanced to 1#, 5#, 8# and 10#, with the 1# & 5# balanced tires in front. The steering vibration is much less, but there is still some very slight vibration at 70 mph, hardly noticeable but not perfect. I have full size trucks that have smoother steering than my GC. I took the GC back to the dealer to show the print outs from the alignment shop. The Jeep dealer stands by the fact that they have multiple new 2014 GC with steering vibration and they have an open Case# with Jeep. Jeep did send me a check for reimbursement of the wheel balance.

 

2014..... Jeep GC Overland......20" w/ Goodyears....build date June 2013......smooth as silk so far including a 2 day 1200 mile run up I95 .....

I did talk to the dealer before I bought the truck and had him insure me he would road force balance all the tires if I had issues.

One thing that I found interesting......if you price these tires on tie rack , they are relatively inexpensive vs competitive tires.....$130 vs $200 for Michelins.

Might be a tire quality issue .....as has been mentioned here......road force balancing can normally correct a defective tire balance. I had a BMW that always had a slight vibration....finally had the front tires RFBed and it straightened it out .

As far as any dealer telling you it is because of the steering design....call bs on that..... It is tires ......and the defective tires were not balanced on the factory wheels properly . Would be interesting to know who mounts the Goodyear tires on the factory 20" wheels initially ..... Goodyear?, wheel manufacturer?, or subcontractor?...I would doubt it is done directly at the Jeep plant in Detroit.

 

Our Overland, with 18 in wheels, we Just picked up last week drives perfect.
Put Goodyear Adventure on because they seem to be better Jeep tires.
But.
Smooth as Silk.
Drove to Houston and back Christmas.
Smooth at 90.

 

Road Force Balance

A road force balance will fix shaking at high speeds.

 

Worst

A road force balance will fix shaking at high speeds.

Goodyear is known to have the worst quality control in the tire industry. It has been this way for decades.

 

I have a 2014 GC Limited with 20" wheels and GY Fortera's. Just made a 1500 mile drive from AZ to WA with highway speeds to high of 80 mph. No problems with high or low speed shaking or wobble in the steering. Could be one of your tires or wheels is not true. Getting a road force balance should identify if you have either and easy fix or I.D. for replacement.

 

Just bought a 2014 Grand Cherokee Overland. Feel a harmonic vibration in the steering wheel at 70 mph. Not a vibration, it's like the steering wheel is humming and I here a constant drone in the cab. Has the Firestone 20" wheels. Put 18" wheels on it, improved, but didn't totally eliminate the noise or the humming that the steering wheel does. Not sure what to try next. Never heard of this "road forced balancing". Do all tire dealers do this?

 

Just bought a 2014 Grand Cherokee Overland. Feel a harmonic vibration in the steering wheel at 70 mph. Not a vibration, it's like the steering wheel is humming and I here a constant drone in the cab. Has the Firestone 20" wheels. Put 18" wheels on it, improved, but didn't totally eliminate the noise or the humming that the steering wheel does. Not sure what to try next. Never heard of this "road forced balancing". Do all tire dealers do this?

http://www.hunter.com/balancer/roadforce/

And I had two sets of 19" Goodyear LS2's on our Audi Q7. No issues with quality at all. May just be the Fortera. I agree with others the "electric power steering" cop out is just that. The issue is almost assuredly a tire issue.

 

no they do not...

theck out this site http://www.gsp9700.com/

type in your zip, and you can see where there is one near you.

 

Have you tried TSB 22-001-14 from Feb 19, 2014 labeled "Steering Wheel Vibration at Highway Speeds"? I have attached it. Good luck.

 

I took my 2014 GC in for oil change at a California Jeep dealer during a long road trip and on to Arizona. They decided to rotate the tires and now the Steering shake has returned. They tried road force balancing with no success. The Dealer contacted the Factory, This is because I earned the status of "Special customer" due to a few quality issues with my GC. The factory wants to replace the front wheel bearings and hub. I will do this in Arizona, so lets see how this goes.

 

Huh



Did they rotate the tires back to their original positions? Sounds like a tire or wheel issue and not front wheel bearings or hub issue. Dealer should have also tried a set of tires from another WK2. Most dealership mechanics suck at using wheel balancer.

 

I have to agree, sounds like bad tires or need to be road force. I went through 3 months of vibration with 4 different dealers, came down to 2 new tires and proper road force balancing. I went from one dealer who road forced the tires (still had shimmy) went to the next dealer who said it was normal, then the last dealer said the tires were all out of balance. They road forced the tires and it was nice & smooth except for a small vibration going through the seat. Went home and rotated tires front to back and the steering starting shimmy again but not as bad. Back to the dealer next day and replaced the 2 bad tires re road forced and it is smooth as silk. The dealers and tire companies may have the good hunter road force machine, but the person doing the balancing has to care and know how to use the machine. Also the machine has to be in calibration. I find most dealers don't want to put the extra effort into it, all they care about is pushing the cars through. Good luck.