I have a vibration above 45mph that will not go away. You can feel it anytime above 45mph, all road conditions. I’d say it’s actually more of a rapid pulsation than a vibration. It’s in the steering wheel, gets more intense when you turn the wheel slightly off center left or right. You can feel it in the seat bottoms, seat back, and arm rest if you lean on it. You can actually see the passenger seat vibrating while your driving if nobody is sitting in it. It honestly feels like the car’s tires are filled with concrete on the highway because the ride is super harsh and jittery to the point that passengers ask if there’s something wrong with the car. I know it’s not just how the car is supposed to drive because it didn’t always drive like this. I do a lot of highway driving so having your hand go numb from vibrations every 10 minutes isn’t really ideal.
Here’s the situation if anyone out there thinks they might have some insight…
2018 XC90 Momentum w/ 21″ Wheels (NO air-suspension), has around 13k miles on it.
Car drove FLAWLESSLY until I picked it up from the 10k service. At the service they also did a software update and I paid $50 for them to rotate and balance tires (apparently a big mistake).
Day after the service I get on the highway and notice the car is vibrating like crazy over 45mph…you can feel it in the steering wheel, under the seats, arm rest, etc. Gets even worse over next few days so I bring it back in, they verify bad vibrations, say wheels needed to be re-balanced, send me on my way. Car seems ok when I leave dealer but vibrations start to come back over next few days. Bring it back, they re-balance wheels again but this time say I have a rim that looks slightly bent which is likely causing the problem. Skeptical about the bent rim (and not wanting to spend $1000 if didn’t have to), I take the car and have wheels road forced balance somewhere else. They do the balance, say I had WAY too many weights on the wheels (two of the wheels had 10-15 weights on them), don’t mention anything about a bent rim. Few days later, vibrations are back so I decide to take the hit and replace the rim.
Take car back to original dealer, ask them to show me the bent rim. Tech puts car on the lift, turns the front passenger wheel, tells me to watch the front drivers wheel. I see it lift slightly at one point in the rotation. I ask him if it could possibly be a bent axel shaft or something else, he says no. I pay $940 for a new wheel. They re-balance all tires and send me on my way, vibrations come back few days later so I bring it back in.
Tech says vibrations could be part of a Service Bulletin for the propeller shaft, but thought it was more likely the tires were defective. They determine that 3 of the 4 tires are out of road force spec for Volvo, so the very reluctantly replace those 3 original Pirelli’s with new Pirelli’s. I ask them to put the old tire on the passenger rear. Drive is noticeably smoother but after a few days I have a vibration again, this time you really feel it in the seat and arm rest, it’s less intense in the steering wheel, so I assume it’s the old tire that didn’t hold it’s balance.
I have zero confidence in this dealership anymore and will likely go to a different dealer to get the 4th tire replaced this week. I’m starting to think it’s a mechanical problem though (which I know wouldn’t really make sense given that it started after the rotation and balance). It’s unlikely the Prop Shaft TSB (according to Tech) because the vibrations occur under both acceleration AND while coasting.
I really love this car and just want it back to normal 