I have a 2019 1 LT A8 with 18,000 miles. Last fall I took my car to the dealer for a vibration. When I am driving my car there is a very strong vibration, a water bottle in my cup holder will move from side to side. I originally thought I had the transmission shudder as I had owned a 2016 Camaro with the shudder. The dealer preformed the triple flush but the vibration remained the same. Then on a subsequent visit they used a meter to look at the transmission to see if it was shuddering and they told me my problem was not the transmission. I then bring it back to the dealer again for the same vibration and I was told both my passenger side wheels were bent and needed to be replaced. Now I had curbed my wheels and put a minor scuff in the rear so I didn't know if they were or not. At this point I put mt car away for the winter. This summer when I brought my car out of storage I took it to the dealer and had them replace the 2 rims for a cost of $2300.00. When I picked up my car the vibration was exactly the same. The next week I made an appointment to drive the car with a mechanic and they clearly felt the vibration. This was on June 23, 2020. They now diagnose my car as needing a axle shaft but the part is on back order. My car has been sitting for 3 weeks and the dealer cannot tell me when the part will be here. Here is my question to you my vast wealth of knowledge. Can anything be done about getting my part and also can anything be done about the $2300.00 I spent on 2 wheels that were clearly not my issue?

 

I'd start w/ the service mgr and then go to the GM or owner. And then call GM customer service. They charged you a ton of $ which did not fix your car. I wonder if your old wheels are still there. If so putting them back on the car and refunding your $ would be a decent fix. But even if they are not available, they screwed up and you shouldn't have to pay for their error.

 

Based on your post, you seem like a calm rationale guy. Take the same approach with the service manager and GM.

 

I have my old wheels. I paid the core charge to keep them.

 

are the OEM wheels not bent? The total solution could possible involve replacing bent wheels along with the shaft. If they are not really bent, then they owe you a refund.

 

I recently replaced the front tires on my 2014 Z51. The tire guy showed me where the inside rim on one wheel was out of round. It balanced fine (not a road force balance either, just regular spin balance). Car tracks perfect and no vibration. And these were used tires that he mounted. So just because the wheel may be bent doesn't mean its going to vibrate at speed.

Yeah I'd bitch too if I dropped 2300 to fix a problem, and it didn't get fixed.

 

Do you think getting GM involved would get my part any faster?

 

Sounds to me like it was your decision to replace the bent wheels since you did say you had "curbed" the wheels earlier. If that is the case then I think you are left with the cost. You can then resale the new or old rim's to recoup your money.

If however the wheels were replaced at the dealers choice and it didn't fix the problem then perhaps they could work a deal to buy back your wheels minus any labor charges to install/reinstall them.

The end result is that you just want the problem to be fixed.

 

2 replacement OEM rims for $2300 and a bent wheel core charge...yikes that is worthy of a whole new thread.

Sorry for your troubles...

 

Good luck with your wheels; years ago I had Mr. Good-wrench misdiagnose a bad caster alignment as bad rear shocks (Mag-ride). So now I have two new rear shocks on my shop shelf! They did do the alignment for free.....doesn't really cover the cost of two mag shocks though.

Hope you get it worked out soon.

 

I don't know for a fact they are bent. I only know what the dealer told me and that is that they are.

 

I only replaced the wheels because the dealer told me that was why my car was vibratiing.

 

I believe that I would take your original wheels to a good wheel repair shop and find out if they are bent, or not. Additionally, they can repair your curb rash and the wheels will look like new. I've had two wheels repaired for curb rash and they both looked like new ones after the repair. One was a chrome wheel on my '08 C6 and the other was a machine faced black aluminum wheel on my present '17 2LT Stingray. The repair to the machine faced wheel ran $125.00. The repair to the chrome wheel was a little more because it had to be re-chromed after it was repaired. I believe it ran about $300.00

It may take a while to get your shaft from GM. A lot of their suppliers have been shut down due to COVID-19 and some are back on line but with reduced capability.

 

I have had wheels repaired back to OEM condition at Discount Tire for $150 out the door......worth a quick check on Google.

 

Thanks