How noisy is your front end?

[WSea]

Anyone notice more noise in Conserve/FWD vs All Purpose/AWD?

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[JamesPolk24]

Anyone notice more noise in Conserve/FWD vs All Purpose/AWD?

I have concluded that conserve is a little more clunky. Not scientific though. Just one persons opinion. I don't go back and forth between them. R1T is not a smooth ride as some state though. Over large expansion joints and rough roads, it gets kinda messy IMO. Which is basically everywhere.

 

[OKRivian]

Mine is pretty noisy, front more so but the rear as well. Just sounds like something is going to fall apart at any moment. Currently at the service center and this is one of the items on the list for the second time. Not sure they even did anything about it last time as nothing was noted on the work order. The "normal" and "within spec" responses are getting old and souring what could otherwise be an excellent truck.

The loaner they gave me isn't perfect but it is considerably better than my truck to the point that I would accept how it sounds. FWIW, the loaner has 6k vs my 4k miles and is a 3k launch edition VIN vs my 10k.

 

[Jus10]

I have the same clunking sound, mostly Front Driver wheel area. Seems to be most noticeable when turning at slow speeds... while hitting small bump. Like entering a driveway or turning out of a parking lot to a road. I did have the clicking/creaking half shaft issue, which was serviced and has been quiet now for 1000 miles.

 

[DaveA]

I have the same clunking sound, mostly Front Driver wheel area. Seems to be most noticeable when turning at slow speeds... while hitting small bump. Like entering a driveway or turning out of a parking lot to a road. I did have the clicking/creaking half shaft issue, which was serviced and has been quiet now for 1000 miles.

The clicking/creaking/clunking half shafts may be part of the suspension noise as well. I can move both sides in front a little by hand…so I’m sure a bump or rough road can move it around a bit too and cause more noise. We will see after my SC appointment to “fix” next month.

 

[manitou202]

I have concluded that conserve is a little more clunky. Not scientific though. Just one persons opinion. I don't go back and forth between them. R1T is not a smooth ride as some state though. Over large expansion joints and rough roads, it gets kinda messy IMO. Which is basically everywhere.

I'm convinced conserve is more clunky than any of the other modes.

The main road up to our house is pretty bumpy. It's really obvious when driving along that stretch. Our other car is a Mercedes EQS SUV which is dead silent along the entire stretch. I don't expect it to be as quiet as the Mercedes, but it doesn't seem right.

Other EVs we've had you can hear the shocks compress at slower speeds if everything in the car is silent. This is the first EV I've had where it's a clunk, not the shock compression.

 

[Deleted member 7086]

No detailed explanation by the SC just that it was thought to be a damper problem.

 

[madgrey]

Sounds like we're having similar issues. Mine is minor at the moment, the loaner I'm driving right now is maybe slightly better. It's not worse than the last air suspension vehicle I owned.

It's a "clunking" sound in the front, perhaps the drivers side (but I'm sitting on that side), exacerbated by minor road imprefections and I notice it more at slower speeds. I've diagnosed and fixed similar sounds on my cars when a anti-roll bar end link, shock mount or even an end link is loose.

 

[computertom]

Sounds like we're having similar issues. Mine is minor at the moment, the loaner I'm driving right now is maybe slightly better. It's not worse than the last air suspension vehicle I owned.

It's a "clunking" sound in the front, perhaps the drivers side (but I'm sitting on that side), exacerbated by minor road imprefections and I notice it more at slower speeds. I've diagnosed and fixed similar sounds on my cars when a anti-roll bar end link, shock mount or even an end link is loose.

This is my first air ride vehicle and my first ev, so I am definitely out of my element here. That said, I can hear and feel it big time and it definitely takes away from the quality of the ownership experience big time. I truly can’t get my brain around how this could be the case with any review sample or influencer truck.

 

[AlpMan]

Add me to the list of having exactly the same issue. Sounds like something with the top of the struts is loose to the point where every time I drive it I'm a little concerned. Worse on the driver's side and happens at all heights / settings but much more pronounced at slower speeds and on rough roads. I've crawled under there countless times and checked every bolt. I've also got a buddy with one and his is much quieter; still not silent but better. Mine is a 115xx VIN. Was at the SC for an alignment a few months ago and they said it's just normal. Have another appointment scheduled for Tuesday, but honestly, I'm at a point where I may just sell it and place an order for another one and give it a few years for the bugs to be worked out. I love the truck, but some of these "little" things bug the crap out of me. Everyone says turn up the stereo or just ignore it... but I can't... that's just not me.

 

[cjbot3000]

5xxx vin here, glad to know I'm not the only crazy one. Also have front half shaft movement by hand.

I'm in the "not going to worry about it unless it's a problem" camp, yet it really bugs me.

Was also told it's "normal"

Also have a sinking front end overnight but it's not consistent enough for me to think it's an actual leak. Might just be temperature swings affecting the air pressure inside? I dunno.

Service center is 2.5 hours away so I'm waiting until it breaks enough to qualify for a free tow and then I'll tell them to fix the 18 different things in one go.

 

[R1Tom]

I am just hoping that enough feedback is making it to appropriate level people at Rivian that they work on a solution to this problem to help us all out. I for one would not buy another Rivian unless I could test drive it and make sure it doesn't have a noisy front end. I love so much of my R1T, but noisy front ends are something I just don't think I can do long term. And at least when I have had any noises in other vehicles in past, the dealer found and fixed them. I had an Acura that had squeaky lower control arm bushings and they replaced the lower control arms with an updated part....noise gone. Same with a Shelby GT500. Upper strut mounts were noisy...updated part installed under warranty...noise gone. Lower control hydro-bushings were making noise...updated part again....noise gone. Clearly with Acura and Ford in both those cases, recognized the issue, updated spec on the parts, customer satisfaction program, and they fixed the issues.

Please Rivian....find the root causes of these front end noises and help the service centers with a customer satisfaction campaign, so that we can all stay the big Rivian fans we started as.

Front end noises are not normal and can be designed out...it is a design problem. Since many say they have silent front ends, I suspect it is more a variance issue, so please figure out where it is happening and how it can be corrected in field.

This would greatly improve many of us and our Rivian experiences.

 

[Inkedsphynx]

Mine seems to be intermittent. When I was in Seattle proper I noticed it more because the roads there are dogshit, but since moving out to the burbs I notice I can take the speed bumps in my neighborhood without any noises at all, and I haven't noticed the same clunking over bumps that I'd sometimes hear in the city. I'm not really sure what to make of it.

I do think that any sounds the vehicle makes get amplified by how smooth and quiet it normally is. Even with an ICE idling very quietly, there are all sorts of other inputs that affect how you perceive your surroundings, like the vibration of the motor. That may not make any audible noise, but it certainly alters how you're perceiving and processing the rest of the sensory information around you.

Unfortunately I've only ever driven mine so I've got nothing to compare to when it comes to this issue, or the frequent discussions around wind noise. Overall I don't find the occasional clunking to be problematic so long as it's not actually indicative of an issue or impending failure. If something does fail, I've got an excellent warranty and no problems taking advantage of it.

 

[p3ck]

I had some noise in the front end that I asked the SC about and they agreed it wasn't normal and replaced the entire drive unit in the front. Been quiet since then. Chelsea Service Center. Vin in the 8xxx range

 

[NY_Rob]

I had some noise in the front end that I asked the SC about and they agreed it wasn't normal and replaced the entire drive unit in the front. Been quiet since then. Chelsea Service Center. Vin in the 8xxx range

Glad it was only a minor repair

If the sample of people here experencing the same issue need "entire front drive units" Rivian is going to go broke. That same repair option has been used to get rid of the "tock" issue some have had. At one point Rivian is going to have to get a little more granular replacing only the faulty part(s) vs. whole drive units that cost $$$$$.

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