2010 Malibu LTZ Issues [Archive] - Chevy Malibu Forum: Chevrolet Malibu Forums

: 2010 Malibu LTZ Issues


pimpinLTZ
11-01-2010, 06:43 PM
Hi. I'm Sean, mostly been lurking here for a bit.
Come to find out that my new LTZ is not so pimp'n. I want to like this car, but it's pretty hard right now.
Where to begin. I have a 2010 LTZ Ecotec A6, built in Orion, MI in October of 09. Bought the car Dec 17 09
At around 8k miles I started noticing vibrations at different speeds. Took it to the dealer and they found a "low spot in the carcass" of the right front tire, which they replaced. That pretty much fixed the shakes I would get on the highway, but i was still getting a shudder at low speeds, under acceleration between 10 to 20 mph. It's a brief sensation and also intermittent so that makes pointing it out to a tech almost impossible. The feeling mostly comes from the floorboard and gas peddle.
From reading other peoples stories about shakes and shudders on this site made me pretty pessimistic about the dealer solving the problem.

So fast forward a few thousand miles or so, I started getting a clunk in the right front when applying break after a direction change (forward-reverse). So I take it in to get the clunk looked at, and figured may as well try to get them to check out the shudder. The clunk was brake pads that were basically loose, so they replaced front brake pads. Of course they could not really detect the shudder prob. This was a week ago or so.

So I take the car home, seemed ok. The next day I take the car out and cruising at 35mph 1800 rpm, accelerating to 45 @ 2800 rpm, the car pulls to the left. I let off the peddle and it pulls back to the right. It does this every time under those exact conditions. Does not do it at lower or higher speeds. The feeling is very strange. I called the dealer the very next day to let them know whats happening.
So I take it back to the shop today and explain what it is happening and the service writer says "torque steer is pretty normal for front wheel drives":eek: "the only way to tell if it's normal is to take a new one off the lot to see if it does the same thing."
I explain to him that it's not normal and it just started doing this the day after I got it back from them. I made them have a Tech take a ride with me and he could feel it right away, just riding in the passenger seat. I then had him drive and he agreed that it felt very strange. He said it was not the kind of torque steer he was expecting or has felt before. I guess "normal" torque steer is usually from a dead stop under heavy accel.

That's where I'm at right now.
How's your day going?!

DrivenDaily
11-01-2010, 07:00 PM
You have a large part of the battle won now that you have been able to 1) duplicate it, and 2) get a tech to witness it.

You shouldn't be too far from a fix now!

On a side point, I'll be getting some photographs of Miss World 2010 when she arrives here in her home town, where I live as well! Oh, did I mention she's the daughter of my boss? I am so pumped! Depending on what her father says about the pictures, I'll share what seems appropriate. Watching the contest/pageant and then about falling out of my chair when she won - well, that was just the high point of my weekend. Then today I found out that he's gonna let me take some pictures. Wow!

So, how's your day going? Better? I hope so.

Silver LTZ
11-01-2010, 07:27 PM
The other issues they should fix, it not, head to a different dealer.

As the for the vibrations....IF they are the same as many describe here, some do it, some don't. Sorry to say that they won't be able to fix it. GM knows about it, but still hasn't been able to fix it. I took the wife's car in multiple times. Some things helped, some didn't. Thankfully her car doesn't do it that bad, and it doesn't seem to really bother her. I still notice it when I drive the car. I just am not happy with GM lately (and I own two), hence why I bought a Mazda....

pimpinLTZ
11-04-2010, 06:11 PM
Got my car back and they did a great job.
The reason the car was pulling left on accel. and pulling right on decel. was that the engine cradle mounts were not properly torqued. The car now feels leaps and bounds better. It may be a little too early to tell for certain, but it also feels like the low speed shuddering or shaking is now gone.

Thrilled

elcompaLalo
11-04-2010, 07:54 PM
Great news, always nice to know that members issues are resolved.

Back to a pimpin LTZ or what? http://www.gm-trucks.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/pimp.gif

pimpinLTZ
11-08-2010, 04:33 PM
Back to a pimpin LTZ or what? http://www.gm-trucks.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/pimp.gif

Yep. Back to pimp'n.
Car has been feeling really good since i got it back.
The only vibes i feel now are these damn michigan roads.

08chevymalibultz
11-08-2010, 09:37 PM
Lol, i like the little pimp'n dude add-on!