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Slight vibration at higher speeds

kennedyliam38

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
Scotland
Car(s)
Golf MK7 TDI
2015 MK7 Golf Hatch 2.0TDI Stage 1 (220BHP) DSG 6 speed 45,000 miles

Hey guys, hoping someone can point me in the right direction or put my mind at rest.

For the past few weeks I’ve noticed a slight (kind of intermittent) vibration at higher speeds. When I sit at any speed under 70mph it is definitely not there or noticeable. Once I’m at 70mph it’s very mild and maybe not even there at all.

But over 80mph (lets say theoretically if I was ever doing that speed) the vibration is there. It’s not terrible, but I can definitely feel it. My passenger can’t even notice it and it does not make the car drive any different, it doesn’t alarm me or feel in any way unsafe.

Furthermore, I have just had the MOT carried out and it passed first time, not even an advisory.

The wheels have been recently refurbished and powder coated professionally, the balance has been double checked, the alignment is fine and there is a set of 4 new Goodyears on it. I can’t see how it can possibly be the alloy or the tyres.

This vibration only happens at about 80mph+ and it goes away when coasting, accelerating a reasonable amount and it does not happen when braking. It basically ONLY happens when you’re keeping the car (or the cruise control) at a steady speed with minimal throttle input. VERY STRANGE...

Before anyone says to simply only drive at 70, the car should not be vibrating at any speed. It did not do this before and now that it’s doing it, there must be a reason.

Hope someone can help me out :)
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jimlloyd40

Autocross Champion
Location
Phoenix
Car(s)
2018 SE DSG
Still sounds like a wheel balance problem. What wheels do you have? Are they hub centric?
 

SRGTD

Autocross Newbie
Location
UK
Still sounds like a wheel balance problem. What wheels do you have? Are they hub centric?
That was my first thought - maybe aftermarket wheels that aren’t hub centric are causing the vibration issue.
 

rye0pa

Go Kart Newbie
Location
NJ
I have this same issue I run 2 sets of wheels. Original factory wheels with winter tires and a second set of lug-centric (with spacers to fill the gap)with summer tires and General gmax RS tires. I have had 3 different shops balance them and even had 1 of them a roadforce balancing done and still have the issue in 80+ driving. But the factory set with a shittier winter tire runs smoothly. I am wondering if the summer set/ wheel actually has a minor bent rim on 1 of the wheels. Or is it the lower cost rims that are just the issue. At this point the vibration is so miniscule that I try to ignore it until the summer set tires ware out and will consider my options to have the wheels looked at by some kind of rim place.
 

chillax

Drag Racing Champion
Location
Wi
Car(s)
18 GTI SE plaid
Do you happen to run DWS06 tires? I had vibrations at the exact same speeds and eventually the shop that did the install sent them back as defective. I read about someone else having the same issue in a thread around here the other day.
 

kennedyliam38

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
Scotland
Car(s)
Golf MK7 TDI
Still sounds like a wheel balance problem. What wheels do you have? Are they hub centric?

They are the standard 16inch VW wheels the car came with. I had them refurbed and powder coated in mirror black. I’ve had the wheel balance done twice though
 

sloopercat

Go Kart Newbie
Location
Knoxville
Get the tires balanced on a “road force“ balancer. If you let the shop know what the issue is they can check the rims and tires out to see if they are the problem and fix it if they are.
 

SRGTD

Autocross Newbie
Location
UK
I’ve read - think it was on this forum - that the mk7 Golf seems to be susceptible to wheel imbalance and vibrations if the lug bolts aren’t tightened in the correct (star shaped) sequence, so maybe that’s something for the OP to consider.
 

DrewB

Ready to race!
Location
Central, PA
Car(s)
'17 Pure White Sport
I can tell you that I get almost the same exact sort of vibration and it just happens to be around 80mph. I know for sure it's something with my spacers because if i take them off it's completely gone. If you're running spacers, maybe try taking off the fronts or the rears one at a time to see if it goes away or pull all off once to test. I love the look with the spacers but am about to take mine off because the vibration is starting to drive me nuts if I'm highway driving.
 

Golfs everyday

Autocross Newbie
Location
USA
I ran spacers front and rear on my GTI and no issue with vibration at all speeds. I usually run H&R, Eibach, Turner, BMS, ECSTuning, and other Japanese brand spacers.

I currently run 10mm ECS spacers on my Golf-R (rears) with BBS wheels. No issue with vibration.
I am also running front and rear Turner spacers on my other sports car.. no issue.

Spacers are not all bad.
 

Diggs24

Autocross Champion
Location
de plains! de plains!
Car(s)
2015 GTI
I can tell you that I get almost the same exact sort of vibration and it just happens to be around 80mph. I know for sure it's something with my spacers because if i take them off it's completely gone. If you're running spacers, maybe try taking off the fronts or the rears one at a time to see if it goes away or pull all off once to test. I love the look with the spacers but am about to take mine off because the vibration is starting to drive me nuts if I'm highway driving.
Which brand spacers?
 

DrewB

Ready to race!
Location
Central, PA
Car(s)
'17 Pure White Sport
Which brand spacers?
Believe they were from USP, bought new not used. They actually replaced the front 15mm spacers because i was having vibration last summer after purchasing them but now with only 20mm on the rears i'm getting the vibration again. Probably just end up pulling them when I get around to doing my rear brakes/rotors and leave them off. running stock Nogaro wheels.
 

kennedyliam38

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
Scotland
Car(s)
Golf MK7 TDI
Get the tires balanced on a “road force“ balancer. If you let the shop know what the issue is they can check the rims and tires out to see if they are the problem and fix it if they are.

Surely since I’ve just had the wheels totally refurbed and new tyres plus the wheels balanced twice it couldn’t be the wheels...
 

kennedyliam38

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
Scotland
Car(s)
Golf MK7 TDI
Do you happen to run DWS06 tires? I had vibrations at the exact same speeds and eventually the shop that did the install sent them back as defective. I read about someone else having the same issue in a thread around here the other day.

I currently have Goodyear efficient grips on. 205/55/16... They seem fine
 
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