Cadillac CTS vibration

[Shimy87]

Looking for some help here. I just got a 2008 CTS and was one of the lucky ones to get one that has a vibration. Seems about 10-20% of them have this mystery issue that they cant figure out. My question is this. Anyone have a "home remedy" to damper vibration on a drive shaft?

[Steve Wood]

Have a professional drive shaft company balance it, or build a new one?

[Shimy87]

Looks like many dealerships have tried balancing them with no change in the problem, along with balancing the tires every way possible, even changing out rims and tires from a car that dosent do it. GM's "fix" was installing some rubber washers where the rear differential mounts to the car body. Most report that dosent fix it either. It only vibrates from 45 to 65 MPH, above and below that its silky smooth. At this point I'm going to try making some thicker shims to isolate the rear diff more where its mounted to the car, and on the drive shaft I was going to take a black rubber bungiee, cut 2 pieces to fit to wrap around the drive shaft, and use 2 hose clamps to tighten them around the shaft with the adjustment screws 180 degrees apart to keep it balanced. Its a small vibration but very annoying, the sound of it is more irritating then the feel actually. Any thoughts??

[daveismissing]

Any play in the yolk(s) will amplify it. " Ford death wobble " searches are always interesting

[1KWIKSIX]

Take your driveshaft out & drop it off for a re-balance.


I was chasing a similar problem for years with my GN.
Changed a million things that it could be, but never addressed the mysterious vibration problem at hand. Even changed out the transmission tail shaft bushing as I needed to rule this out. 


When I took in my driveshaft to Pat's Driveshafts in Mississauga, he looked at it & immediately noticed that the U joint was not centred when it was pressed in & said this would be a contributing factor to any vibrations I was experiencing.
They also noticed that my driveshaft was bent (minimally), so straightened it in a press.....fina lly had em install some new spicer HD non greasable U joints. After they rebalanced the drive shaft.....no more vibrations!


Finally cured my issues.


Cost me less than $200 for all the above, plus they cleaned up the unit & repainted it black....looks good as new now!


Pat's are all over Canada....chec k for a location near you.....I would highly recommend them.


dave