Yes or no: my '03 Cobra has bad vibration at > 80 mph

[alex46stang]

Mine vibrates at 45 gets worse at 60, and by 70 its smooth as can be. This type of vibe is very annoying since I cant drive 30 or 70 everywhere I go. I had a 2003 bought back from ford, they relpaced the rear end, d/s, wheels and tires, and could not get rid of the vibe. I test drove a black 04 vert and it had a vibe, so I went to a different dealer drove thier black vert to make sure it had no vibe. Had my dealer locate it and now after 3000 miles it has a vibe. I think it came in after one day where I experienced bad wheel hop. Im going to a live axle and if that doesnt take care of it I will have a new d/s made, but Im not taking my car in for the vibe.

 

[moonltgold]

I only get a low frequency vibe starting at about 110 mph in top gear, although I have a carbon fiber DS so my situation might be different. It is quite audible in the car.

 

[03 DSG Snake]

I still can't believe how many of us are having problems with this crap.

If it were anything but a 390hp car I'm sure we'd REALLY be pissed :bash:

 

[vipergts281]

Originally posted by 03 DSG Snake
I still can't believe how many of us are having problems with this crap.

If it were anything but a 390hp car I'm sure we'd REALLY be pissed :bash:

That's part of the problem. Alot of people seem to be "dealing" with their issues only because the car has 390 HP and is fast as hell.....for under $40,000. In a way I can see their point. But then again, $35,000 to the average American is alot of money for a car. Knowing what I know now, I would of bought used. I paid over $32,000 for this car BRAND NEW only to keep taking it back to the dealer time after time. It starts to get on your nerves and takes the fun out of the car.

 

[RJCobra]

It could be out of balance tires. My vibe always gets better when I have my tires re-balanced. My tires are moving on the wheels. Put a mark on the tires adjacent to the valve stem with a grease pencil. Then for the next few days watch if the mark moves in relation to the wheel. You may be suprised.

 

[Dave99GT]

Originally posted by RJCobra
It could be out of balance tires. My vibe always gets better when I have my tires re-balanced. My tires are moving on the wheels. Put a mark on the tires adjacent to the valve stem with a grease pencil. Then for the next few days watch if the mark moves in relation to the wheel. You may be suprised.

I think RJCobra has hit it on the head. My vibe got much better recently after the dealership rebalanced all four tires. But then after three or four days of driving, it was back.
I spoke on the phone to our member "SVTAdvisor" here on this site, and he said that the tires rotate on the rims. If you can get them to stop rotating, it might help alot.
I had my driveshaft replaced two or three months ago, and it helped marginally. I really think it is the tires wandering on the rims.

 

[RJCobra]

Originally posted by Dave99GT
I think RJCobra has hit it on the head. My vibe got much better recently after the dealership rebalanced all four tires. But then after three or four days of driving, it was back.
I spoke on the phone to our member "SVTAdvisor" here on this site, and he said that the tires rotate on the rims. If you can get them to stop rotating, it might help alot.
I had my driveshaft replaced two or three months ago, and it helped marginally. I really think it is the tires wandering on the rims.

Did the Svt advisor suggest anything to correct the problem. Is it a problem with the stock rims, tires? My left rear tire seems to be the worst. The right rear moves only a small amount.

 

[firered03]

I think my car runs smoothest at 80 in 6th gear. I hardly know I'm driving....

 

[Redfire Vert 03]

I have the vibe and I took it to Ford and they tried to road force balance the tires and found out 3 out of the 4 are out of round and ordered me new tires. According to SVT, if this does not fix it, the next move is the drive shaft but they like to try the tires first

 

[Dave99GT]

Originally posted by RJCobra
Did the Svt advisor suggest anything to correct the problem. Is it a problem with the stock rims, tires? My left rear tire seems to be the worst. The right rear moves only a small amount.

He said that after you get them mounted and road forced balanced, don't drive them anywhere for a day or two. That will allow time to dry for the lube they use for mounting the tires.

Sounds kind of dubious to me, not sure how to do that other than put the car up on blocks, take in all four rims/tires, have them taken off the rims, cleaned to remove any lube, re-mounting the tires on the rims and balancing, and then wait a couple days to put them back on the car.

He also said that the Goodyears were the worse, other brand tires seemed to do it less according to him. SVTAdvisor said 90% of the time it is the tires causing the vibe. No real suggestion for fix other than trying new tires until you find some that don't wander, or remounting/balancing and waiting before driving on them.

I also saw a post on here the other day (by someone who works at a Goodyear store) about sanding down the bead of the rim to make it rough so the tire won't wander on the rim. That post said that chrome wheels seem to be the worse for how much they allow tires to wander.

 

[SVTCobra2001]

The tires are a major issue. They replaced all my tires and they had to replace the replacement a few times because those were bad too..

Just had the vibe cured.. My dealer said there is a SSB about it and it advises to replace teh Driveshaft first. If it is still there they replace both the driveshaft and the rearend. The last one fixed it for me. No vibe at ALL... I've been cured... The Ford gods have saved me.. At least from a lot of hassle to have them tear the whole car apart. My dealer has been handling the situation very well. It is the first time I have had a good exp. from a dealer in I don't knwo how long..

Eric

 

[firemanmike]

I got lot of problems, rear end ticking or binding noise all the time, fixed TOB that is now better but now I've got to live with a heat sheild type rattle or chattering the tech left me with, a slapping sound under the dash on bumps (really annoying) and now just had it up on a lift for the snakes first drink of some AMSoil venom and found

 

[firemanmike]

I got lot of problems, rear end ticking or binding noise all the time, fixed TOB that is now better but now I've got to live with a heat sheild type rattle or chattering the tech left me with, a slapping sound under the dash on bumps (really annoying) and now just had it up on a lift for the snakes first drink of some AMSoil venom (6600 miles) and found a small oil leak at the front of the oil pan. Put off the oil change, as I will bring this in for service and don't want to dump $60 worth of oil. BUT, on a smooth road serface at 130 plus, smooth a glass! I hope I can get all the other problems resolved and not run into a vibration problem then! I LOVE this car, just wish I was able to fix all the problems myself. Only mod is KN FIPK, so no warranty issues, just seems like everytime I bring the car in for service, I just got to go back over and over for the same things. My wife said I now have a second wife, but I didn't want to get married to her in-laws at the dealership. I'm trying a new dealership, hoping maybe to get me issues finally resolved. If any of you guys live in the Long Island area and have found a dealership with competent service, I sure would like to know there name and maybe even a contact there!!

 

[Shanezam203]

another vote for no vibe problem

I've only put 700 miles on my Cobra but I must say it has less problems than I anticcipated the car was going to have. What I mean by that is I went on here for a year and I read about the vibe, the tick, and the clunk and I was like no way am I paying $30,000 for a car with all those problems... Then I realized that anything you buy is going to have problems. Nothing is perfect.

I learned to drive around the clunk in the first 100 miles. Knock on wood, I dont have any bad rear end clunk or any tick under the hood. The only complaint I have on top of a slight vibration is the sound the car makes at idle while say sitting at a drive through or in a parking lot. It sound like the car is 10 years old. My truck was 5 years old and had 45,000 hard miles on it and it was quit at idle. The Cobra is a little louder, I dont know what it is. Something like the timing chain, or something in the motor I dont know. (that's not the tick you all are refering to is it?) There isnt any significant tick coming from any of the heads...

As for the vibration for some reason I didnt get any bad vibration at 80-120 but I got a few bad vibes around 60-70 a few times. I dont know what it was. I dont think it was the road I was on. But I felt a bad vibe coming from beneath that made the stearing wheel shake, and I could feel it on the shifter and I could see it in my radar mounted on the windshield. I'd imagine that is similar to the vibe you all are talking about over 80. But for some reason over 80 is smoother than I thought it would be after hearing everything about "the vibe." Maybe either I'll get it over time, (it'll get more noticable) or I got one that doesnt have a bad vibration.

As for overall satisfaction of the car, I have to give it 4 and a half stars if not 5 of 5. It is a real fun car to drive. I am a little guy, just under 6 foot but I don't weigh much so I have plenty of room in the front seat. The car starts right up, and the clutch was easy to get a hang of.

If I could change some things about the car it'd be real minor things like keep power to the windows when I turn the car off like my truck did. (same thing for the radio like my trans am did)
Some kind of auto on/off lights that most of the new cars have. Traction control being auto on I've gotten used to, but while we're on it, make that come auto off and if you need it, THEN turn it on. Other than that, a pretty solid car and I can't complain.

:beer: Shane

 

[2004 Culebra]

I luv my Cobra. Never regret the purchase and in my eyes it is a DIAMOND...

 

[merp]

I've had my 03 'vert for about four months and 4500 miles, and regardless of what the dealer does for me, I've still got a bad vibe from 75+ right on up. Got the mirror shake and everything. It buzzes so bad at 85 the rearview mirror's practically worthless. I'm curious to compare notes, it's not that the mirror shakes around so bad that the entire view is swinging around, I just can't clearly make out details behind me. There's about a quarter inch deflection for the image at worst, and while I can still see there's a vehicle behind me, I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a truck or a car.

The dealer just put in a whole new pumpkin with halfshafts, and it's actually worse than before. I'm starting to think it's the DS, but the vibe is only present as a noise and a seat-of-the-pants buzz (well, and in the mirror). My service advisor says they're done throwing parts at it, but I'm still not satisfied. I'll be taking the thing into a different dealer, but at this point, I'm saving the warranty repair orders until I've got enough to lemon law the car back to the dealer.

Can anyone suggest a DFW dealership? I'm considering Bankston Ford in Frisco, or the John Eagle Lincoln-Mercury dealership, as both shops have alot of involvement with the local car clubs in Dallas.

 

[Dave99GT]

Merp: I have the exact same problem as you, still unresolved.
Have you tried marking the tire/rim to see if the tire is wandering on the rim?

 

[merp]

nope. I wasn't aware that could actually happen, save for curb check events or other forms of non-pavement use of the vehicle.

I'm pretty sure it's not happening to me, as I've rotated the tires, and the vibration stays in the rear of the vehicle, and there's no indication of any kind of vibration in the steering.

 

[DHFB]

I had my tires balanced and indexed and the problem went away. My 04 vert had a horrible vibration at 80 mph but is now pretty much gone. There is a TSB for the drive shaft on the 03 and 04 cobra if the problem begins at 65 to 80 mph but the tire index made all the difference in the world; I couldn't even see out the rear view mirror but now its great.

 

[Coiled03]

Just had the vibe cured.. My dealer said there is a SSB about it and it advises to replace teh Driveshaft first. If it is still there they replace both the driveshaft and the rearend.

Got a link to this?