Alright, so, a little background (sorry in advance for the rant, grab a beer, some popcorn, read my story... OR, for you impatient types, just skip to the bottom for the question)

BEGIN THE RANTSAUCE

My first Delta platform vehicle was a brand new 2007 G5 GT 2.4L and it had the classic rattlebox steering column from almost the moment it rolled off the lot. It had the steering column replaced twice and the steering column I-shaft replaced once under warranty before I traded it in for the next Delta...

My '08 SS Turbo Cobalt never once had a steering issue. Never rattled. Never vibrated or felt loose. I had it for 23K miles before some jagoff hit me head on and totaled the bitch but I never had an issue with the steering situation, it was pretty. effing. sweet.

My final, and current, Delta is the '09 SS. This little turd burglar was bought with 5100 miles on the odo and 1 previous owner who had it for a year and barely drove it before trading it in. Totally clean Carfax, never in a wreck, not even a ding (besides the **** load of hail damage that was fixed when I bought it. This freggin' effer had the power steering motor replaced twice (part of the recall) and the steering column replaced once, BEFORE I OWNED IT. When I test drove it, the steering felt exactly like my G5 but I wanted to get back into an LNF so bad that I said eff it and I'll just get it fixed under warranty.

Well...6 months and 3 dealership visits (to 3 different dealers) later and my **** is completely effed. They've replaced the column and I-shaft a total of 3 times now and this thing rattles, vibrates and shakes like no tomorrow. I will get a vid of it tomorrow and post up if no one else is experiencing my pain...

When stopped, I can turn the wheel just enough to load the steering motor in either direction and the entire column and pedal assembling audibly vibrates and shakes. You can see and hear the shaking. All 3 dealers say "this is normal for a Cobalt". Right.

The steering wheel also shakes back and forth on the freeway at any speed between 55-70MPH in any gear at any throttle position. Like the alignment is facked but the alignment is sans-facking. I can video this too, it's completely visible...and a little scary.

That being said, it actually has become quite a convenient feature, if I decide to go WOT in 2nd gear, I know as soon as I feel the wobbles come on I'm probably going fast enough. It's almost like a safety mechanism. Introducing "Your **** Shakes Violently (YSSV)" by GM. Again...All 3 dealers say "this is normal for a Cobalt". Right.

END THE RANTSAUCE

So...after that ridiculously long message. Does anyone else's 'Balt drive like this? How's your steering situation? Dipped in salty nut sauce or clean as a candy counter? Think I've just got a big effing lemon?

My situation makes me hate the car. I can't even have fun in it because it feels like someone has replaced my steering column with a vibrator that can decide when it wants to turn on and fack me.

Anyway, thank you for listening to my dumb rant. I want to see other people's responses before I try to contact GM directly.

 

dude that sucks.

I am on my first Delta;
I test drove it and didn't drive it hard because i knew what it was about - but wanted to get a feel for it...
I made a deal to buy it, and before going in to finalize the deal I checked the vin's in the then partial recall the Cobalts had going - my car was not in the vin batches that were suspect as being bad.

sounds to me like they just don't know what they're talking about - does any of these dealers have another cobalt/G5 sitting in the used car lot? ~ maybe that car can show them what it's *supposed* to feel like??

I just looked and see that you're in AZ - if yu were in the same city as me I'd offer to go meet up with you at the shop to show them what one of these cars are supposed to feel like.

Have you tried contacting GM customer service?
Maybe they have another dealer that they think you should have it serviced at - I mean GM won't want to be paying to have you column looked at a dozen times when it should really take one single visit...

Good luck.

 

First off, thanks for being nice, it's appreciated, lol.

The first dealer I went to right after I bought it (I bought it from a Dodge dealer so I obviously couldn't have them do warranty work) saw the problem immediately and replaced the steering column (#2) and the steering column I-shaft (#1). I went to pick it up and take it on a test drive with my SA. The rattling over bumps was gone, sweeeet, but now the vibrating at stops/slow speeds started. My SA said "the tech noticed that but when he checked a few of the Cobalt's we have on the lot, he said they all do it." Okaaaaay.

I put up with that for about a month before I couldn't stand the wheel/pedals shaking at every stop light/drive-thru and I took it to dealer #2. They looked at my service history and thought I was trying to scam them. The SA said "Bro, has this thing been wrecked? It's gone through 2 steering motors and 2 columns in less than 2 years." I KNOW DUDE, IT SUCKS. Anyway, they took it in, replaced the I-shaft again (#2) and gave it back to me. For about 3 weeks, I was OK, no vibrating/shaking/rattling. Then it slowly came back over a couple weeks and went right back to what it was.

Dealer #3 replaced both the column (#3) and the I-shaft again (#3). Those parts did worse than the ones they replaced. It rattled and shook WORSE when I got it back than when I brought it in. Dealer #3 also went with the "Our tech test drove another Cobalt we have in the back lot and said it did the same thing, it's normal and completely safe." I don't care if it's safe...it sucks to drive. It feels like a POS. My beater '95 C1500 pickup with 250K miles doesn't rattle like this...

My next step is GM Customer Service but I wanted to see how many other people have the same symptoms first. I think I just got a lemon and they won't be able to fix it but getting GM to buy the car back from me is going to be a nightmare.

 

last time I checked there were two GM customer service reps that posted here - look up something akin to "GM-Customer"..

It sounds like you just need to find one good dealer...

Have you also tried arranging a short talk to a service manager to lay out your scenario?
This might help, as you should hopefully realize that there are people out there looking to scam service shops, and having a short talk might really help you out in getting this solved...
it sounds like parts are being needlessly thrown at your car when the real problem is that the tech doing the diagnosing doesn't know what they're doing...

You can also maybe try to talk to Bill Duncan - it's kinda like going over the head of any ground level BS to get an opinion from someone who might know how to best remedy things;
look up More_Torque_More_HP here or on http://www. LNF Performance.com (remove spaces);
His posts can be found on both sites or on http://www. GM tunersource.com (remove spaces).
(I've had good luck on LNF performance)

 

have they done an alignment, or checked the steering rack (if we have one)?

 

we most certainly have a steering rack



Just instead of a conventional hydraulic pump to assist the power steering we have a variable assist electric power steering motor - which essentially gives more assist at lower speeds.

@DK - if you're bored come over and grab this used oil that some retard left at my place







(just kidding - I wanted any other lurkers to know that I knew you previous to this post)

 

they put in 3 intermediate shafts before they replaced the whole column...it was rattling

then the motor was recalled and replaced

 

My steering rack has also been making the dreaded rattling noise since roughly 15-20k. Can't say I've ever experienced the vibrating pedals though... 107k and counting...

That blows... call GM directly

 

Thats a shame man. I'd honeslty call GM customer service. That is unacceptable for a car to do that, you could possibly bring up the fact that it is unsafe to drive? But i would have them check the whole suspension on the car out and rebalance your tires. It could be something else other than steering related or a combination of the two. I mean hell the car could have sat in a garage and not be moved, thus causing the belts to warp and cause vibrations, it happened to my moms car when she bough it (01 pt cruiser, bought in jan 03 with 350 miles on it)

 

whos the retard? it certainly couldnt have been me. ill come grab it tomorrow. give me a call when you get home.

 

Wow!I'd say take a tech for a test drive or just drive it through the show room.

 

Thanks for the replies guys. I haven't talked to a Service Manager about it yet, that might be better before I go to GM. I'm going to set something up with the first dealer I went to because the SA was the most understanding. If I can't get their SM to help me out and fix the problem then it's off to GM directly. Such a pain in ass though, I shouldn't have to go to GM to get this resolved.

I don't have anything else to complain about with this car either, it's a great car otherwise (from a mechanical standpoint anyway, lol), I just want the problem fixed.

 

Hi 007G5GT – I’m disappointed to hear about all of the dealer visits you had to make. Could you PM me your VIN please so I could look into this for you?

Thanks,
Laura
Chevrolet Customer Service

 

Yup my vibrates like a ************ between 50-75 its soo annoying brought car in like 5 times for it and they dont do ****

 

lol funny OP. Too many good quotes to start.

idk if i got the same problem, but whenever i'm stopping i hear and feel rattling f some sort in the front of the car, i either thought it was the abs cycling or steering column. the balt tracks straight as an arrow and i love the way she handles though, but when i got passengers and hear that i feel like i'm driving a shitbox

 

that's probably the balance, or your tires are crap (or coming apart)...

 

mine vibrates at 60 mph more than a stripper vibrator but once im at 65 it stops

 

Mine runs like glass :P But ya.. I'd say there's a hidden problem somewhere that the techs have missed and keeps screwing up your i-shafts and steering columns.. I'd take a guess and say something warped that throws everything out of sync.. I'm no mechanic and have no idea what it'd be, but there's gotta be something there.. 3 replacements and no solution, so ya..
Let us know when u find out lol

 

at face value, that sounds like another balance issue to me...

the LNF wheels can really easily seem out of balance from picking up dirt ect...
I regularly clean the whole wheel - there's a brush that can be used;
I do it almost every time I wash my car...

 

Truth.. but in this guy's case.. Idk.. blowing steering columns every couple of months lol.. must be 20 lbs of dirt in each front wheel :P

 

mines rattle as well

 

my reply was directed squarely at the person I quoted...

 

Lol I know.. but it was funny :P

 

i dont get it....dicks

lol

 

Bignicky1 – could you also send me your VIN please?

Thanks,
Laura
Chevrolet Customer Service