New Equinox… bought last night… drove home and vibration at all speeds and bump feedback constantly… vibration less on smooth road… what is causing this? Any suggestions? Dealer took me to service after riding with me and he did not really acknowledge it, so Service said they wait 500 - 1000 miles before balancing tires due to possible flat spots or weight since delivery from their trucks… just drove to Waco and i am still vibrating from the drive… is the ride in an equinox feeling every single mark in the road with post.bump vibration?
I wonder if the tires are overinflated. The tires are inflated to 55 psi before shipping and are supposed to be set to the correct pressure in the new car preparation. I would buy a tire pressure gauge and check the tires
Some people are more sensitive to vibration than others.
Did you drive the car before you bought it? Did it bother you then?
Ask the dealer to let you drive another Equinox equipped like yours if he ever says “they ALL do that”.
It could be flat spots on the tires… but one highway trip of more than 10-20 miles should roll those flat spots out. Checking wheel balance is a first step and waiting 500-1000 miles is BS. Have it checked now. That means spinning the wheels up on a balancer before removing the old weights. You want to know IF a tire is out of balance, not just re-balance and find the problem is still there. The tires also need to be road-force checked. Especially if the balance is found to be OK. It is a machine that rotates the tire against a drum and measures force variations in the tread surface. If the dealer doesn’t have one, the nearby Cadillac or Buick or Lexus dealer will so tell him to load up his truck with your wheels and take them there!
Be aggressive with the dealer. You spent a buncha money on this car and you deserve a car that doesn’t vibrate!
Hi - Thanks for your suggestion – I will check the psi…
Thanks for the feedback – so appreciate it – I have owned up now to my bad decision- to driving a different Equinox and not all that far, and feeling fine; and then when it came to the deal, i wanted the other interior, so he found one on the lot - he said it hadn’t been unloaded long, and I didn’t drive it before I closed the deal. That is my huge mistake. I think weights or flat spots or both may be at fault here – great suggestion! Maybe flat spots would have sorted out after that drive, as it got to be 70 degrees all day Saturday so there is still this response I can see in my legs after going over the slightest thing; or just the most not so perfect road, that shouldn’t respond that way… the vibration continues a bit, and it seems the car feels “nervous” – I noticed a side to side a bit too, and it is so unsettling. I am not a picky driver about feeling bumps, as I had a Mini Cooper for the last 5 years, which has a rough ride to say the least, but I like it for sporty driving – I traded it for this to have less harsh bumps; so I expected a softer ride, but not a perfect ride without bumps - I expect bumps, but there shouldn’t be this shimy, post-bump replay, so I am hoping its the tires. if this vehicle is this stiff, and feels everything like a truck, I am up a creek. I will test the PSI, and ask for the rest of your suggestion re: weights, and balance, and road-force check… I don’t think they should push me off at this point - it has 220 miles on it now.
Don’t beat yourself up over this. Since the Equinox you bought was recently unloaded, it may not have been thoroughly prepared by the service department. The tire pressure is what I suspect wasn’t checked. You wanted a particular interior. You have to live with it and there is no reason you should accept a vehicle with an interior color you don’t like. It is possible that the Equinox you bought has a different make of tire than the Equinox you tested.
If it’s any comfort, I went through a similar experience this past August. I owned a 2011 Toyota Sienna that we decided to sell to our son, so we bought a 2017 Sienna. I didn’t test drive it before I made the purchase. I assumed that it would drive like the 2011 that I owned. I found quite a few differences in the way it drives. For one thing, there are 8 speeds in the transmission in the 2017 as opposed to the 6 speeds in the transmission of the 2011. The 2017 shifts more often than the 2011, and doesn’t seem as smooth in town driving. They have changed the location of the controls on the steering wheel. I might not have made the purchase had a done a test drive. However, after 6000 miles, the controls have become intuitive and I am used to the more frequent shifting in the transmission. The around town gas mileage on the 2017 is 2 mpg better than the 2011. I don’t know what I would have purchased if I had taken a pass on the Sienna. I like working with the Toyota dealership. I have never been able to work with our local Chrysler dealership, so I didn’t bother with them even though the hybrid Pacifica minivan appeals to me. The Honda Odyssey doesn’t have as good a repair record as the Sienna.
I think you will be fine with your new Equinox.
Thanks so much for your experience – It seems like I learn after the fact to once again ’ not take anything for granted’, or make no assumptions… so I’ll update with how this plays out… good or bad. 
@Melinda_McGee. I drive a minivan by necessity as I frequently transport musicians and their instruments to gigs. I had the opinion that if you’ve driven one minivan, you’ve driven them all. I was surprised to find differences between the 2011 Sienna and the 2017 Sienna. I had more trouble adjusting to the 2017 Sienna from the 2011 Sienna than I did going from the 2006 Chevrolet Uplander that I owned to the 2011 Sienna or from the 2000 Ford Windstar I owned to the 2006 Uplander. My adjustment to new things may be due to my age (76). Geezers don’t adapt to changes easily.
I did drive a Dodge Caravan rental a couple of years ago. My Sienna was bumped in a Wal-Mart parking lot. There was only cosmetic damage to the rear bumper, but the insurance company of the party that hit me insisted on fixing my van right away and supplied me with a Dodge Caravan. ( I really wanted a Duke Ellington Caravan, but was told it was only rented to Sophisticated Ladies). The Caravan was easy for me to adapt to. Last summer, we did rent an SUV for the 365 mile trip back home after delivering the 2011 Sienna to our son. The SUV we rented was a Dodge Journey (I asked for a Sentimental Journey, but was told that it had already been rented to Doris Day). The Dodge Journey was quite different from anything I had ever driven. It had a stop/start button. The starter wouldn’t engage unless one stepped on the brake. Now I remember the 1949 Nash had the starter activated by depressing the clutch all the way to the floor. My 1954 Buick started by depressing the accelerator. Having to.step on the brake to start the engine was a new one on me. However, I don’t think I would have any problems adjusting to a Mazda Miata. If I was in your situation, I would have trouble giving up a Mini Cooper.
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Why YES you ARE a sensitive driver! Not picky, sensitive! Not to be an insult in any way, just descriptive of your nature.
I used to be one of those engineers that developed the ride and handling of cars as part of my job. We had to be “sensitive” and “picky” for you, the buyer, to be happy. I read your descriptions of what you are feeling makes me point out a few more things.
A tire or wheel vibration that is caused by flat spots or imbalance would be consistent and rhythmic, at certain speeds. About 70 mph and half that - 35 mph, either would cause a steady vibration that reduces and goes away as you slow or speed up. The previously mentioned tire services should fix this.
The nervousness you describe is very often tires with too much air pressure. There are things like the shocks and struts that will also “settle in” in a few hundred miles as well.
Other vibrations - the kind that happen at idle or with little speed dependency are other things. Engine mounts, suspension bushings, virtually ANYthing can vibrate in the right situation. Those are VERY tough to find and fix. The good news is many of these type of things go away with a few hundred miles of driving as the car “settles in”. Some may not. Your Mini was harsh over bumps but once that bump was past there were no after-shakes were there? BUMP and gone. If this car hits a bump but is softer and has after-shakes, it might not go away, ever. (The description of this is going to be cryptic!) It feels like bump-thudeda-thudeda-dribble. The best suggestion I can make is to install premium tires with a very high ride comfort rating (see TireRack.com, a tire selling sight with good product comparison ratings) and buy the best tire you can get for ride comfort. I like Michelins myself but I’ve had comfortable tires from Toyo and others.
Give it some miles and time before you buy a new set of expensive tires. Otherwise you might have to trade it for another car. Good Luck!
I hated giving up the mini-- I wanted to keep it forever. But it cost $2K last year in repairs, and it soured me. Your rental experience is like mine – The first time they put me in a Prius, I got stuck in the parking lot, and couldn’t tell if it was on, or how to turn it on, or off, – totally lost. I have to now go to the user manual for everything. You are funny!
– great information on letting it settle in – I’m going for a pressure reading, and a comparative drive this afternoon. we’ll see how all this works out…I have seen every review, and although they say it is a stiffer ride, they do not say a thing about vibration, in fact one guy said it was a relaxing experience… I will work toward that with this car… maybe it is tire replacement eventually. Thanks so much for every bit of advice. I am definitely using it.
Have the dealer check to see if what they call the load block’s were removed that is something they put between the spring’s to make them ride better on the truck. dealer prep may have missed this.