Root cause fix for my steering wheel shake/feedback on minor road imperfections = too much toe in on the alignment!

[twvette]

Spoiler alert .......................................... mine was related to too much toe in! One full turn of tie rod out for more toe out and it is MUCH better.

Figured would start new thread on this but there are a few related posts out there. From day one on OEM and then aftermarket wheels and different tires have got a lot of steering wheel shake when going over minor road imperfections like pitted pavement or sections where they have sealed cracks. It physically shakes the steering wheel to the point it puts my arm to sleep on longer drives! On smooth pavement mine has ZERO shake so its not tires, wheels, balance, blah, blah. Even after doing test drive with Rivian tech said it was bad and he promised would try and find something to fix. In the end Rivian officially determine mine was "within spec" and then basically said they don't know what causes this on some of their vehicles and engineering still investigating.

I have experienced similar shake/feedback in dedicated off-road vehicles that have very sloppy steering racks. So, I initially though was likely due to a bad steering rack, but also had a theory that if there was too much toe out in the alignment that could cause a similar "loose" steering feel when hit surface imperfections.

I installed a set of tie rod sleeves yesterday (further info here https://www.rivianforums.com/forum/threads/dhd-tie-rod-sleeve-install-and-info.28854/), so took the opportunity to test my above theory. On the install video for the sleeves noticed the guy mentioned found his tie rods were screwed in 19 turns. When I took mine out found it was 21.5 turns on driver and just shy of a full 22 turns on passenger side (the difference is basically where the threads start to engage). So basically ~3 turns difference between his and mine. This was suspicious to me so I certainly made note of this, but each vehicle can be a bit different. Went ahead and still tested my theory by adding another full turn to each to add more toe in with ~23 turns on each. Did controlled test drive on same roads and the shakes/feedback got WAY worse and were much more obvious at lower speeds too (even at 20mph). Knew I was on to something now, just my theory was backwards. So, backed them out two turns to give one less of where I originally was and thus now at ~21 turns for more toe out. Did same controlled drive and was MUCH better than ever. Steering still feels nice and firm, tracks perfectly, etc. It would be interested to see where I now fall within the alignment specs as perhaps I could do another turn or two for even better results. For now it is full send as not sure even the alignment spec can be trusted if it was aligned "properly" to start with. Seems with too much toe in the road surface feedback gets transmitted more to the steering wheel.

For those not scared to try something like this for a fix, it is very easy. Don't even need to lift vehicle in general (tires on smooth surface helps). 21 mm to break loose the outer end from the steering knuckle (use deep socket and breaker bar) and the jam nut (wrench on nut and hold rod end with another wrench ... its not torqued as much). Push tire out a little to give clearance to pull out the rod end from knuckle and give it one full turn out (makes it longer) and reinstall. If don't like the results just repeat to turn it back in one turn and then nothing has changed.

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[twvette]

Someone edited the title wrong ... I fixed it.

 

[DoubleTake]

Just tried this. Mine were at 20 rotations. I change to 19 and felt no difference.

 

[twvette]

Just tried this. Mine were at 20 rotations. I change to 19 and felt no difference.

Bummer. I still get a little shake with larger road imperfections but still much improved. It is now like the loaner R1T I had last time took it in so not sure it will ever be as good as my other vehicles.

 

[DoubleTake]

I have a service ticket in for next week. Will be my second ticket for it. First time they replaced steering wheel with heavier one but that didn’t fix it :/

 

[Riviot]

Great write up! Thanks for not being afraid to tinker with the truck and sending it. We need more experimenters here.

Let me know when you're ready to remove the steering wheel and check the spline alignment. I'm still annoyed with the tilted wheel (despite tracking straight on flat roads) for the last 48k miles.

 

[electruck]

I didn't have this issue but my R1S came from the factory with wayyy too much toe in. So much that I burned through a set of tires in 10k miles. Hopefully they're getting this dialed in better from the factory these days.

 

[HaveBlue]

Steering shake is almost always an alignment issue unless something is worn or loose. The rivian has a huge amount of caster dialed in. 0.20 toe is pretty low. I'm going to guess turning one side cuts that in half. Keep in mind you may change the steering wheel position unless you turn each a half. Going to zero is not ideal but it's lower resistance. You can use a simple tape measure and pick equal spots on the leading and trailing sides half way up the tires to calculate tow in inches. 0-1/8” is typical total toe. Not like you can dial in more caster. Camber won't do much but is worth checking at standard height.

 

[Lsthrz]

It’s been a constant (losing) battle for me for over two years now. Was present the day I picked up the R1T and still remains through many alignment and balancing attempts.

 

[Shawnybs]

@twvette Hey! Is this fix holding for you? Just curious before I go experimenting

 

[twvette]

@twvette Hey! Is this fix holding for you? Just curious before I go experimenting

I have not got any shake again that would put my arm to sleep, drive me nuts, or similar. I can’t say not getting any as still get some brief feedback over the larger road imperfections but don’t think mine will ever be perfect. It’s MUCH better.

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