2018 S90 T6 Inscription, 52,000 miles, new tires, rims checked for bends, car has been aligned front and back, tires road force balanced, psi good all around. At highway speeds, 65+, the steering wheel has a minor vibration, let go of the wheel, the car pulls hard to the left after 30-40 yards, al lane assist driving items are off. Volvo tells me there is nothing wrong although the loaner car S60 performed better than mine, Goodyear tire says there is nothing wrong but I can feel an issue, not sure what I'm looking at but very frustrated. I commute 500 miles a week and having to hold the steering wheel slightly left all of the time to stay straight seems unacceptable. Any thoughts would be appreciated! Attached is the screenshot of the alignment, before the work was completed.


Alignment

 

Luke, trust your feelings...

Time to go back to the shop and have them check the alignment again and take a test drive. vibrations can be a tire issue, a wheel issue or a warped rotor. Alignment issues can be an incorrect toe in adjustment or a worn/bent suspension component (ie a bushing, strut mount etc) where the alignment can change as the car is driven. The alignment shop should always set the steering wheel straight as well - if not, have them redo even if it rolls straight. I've had shops misalign before and when I went back and they put the car on the rack a second time the stats showed it was off.

 

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The Alignment is not complete. I don't know if your car has rear toe adjustments but the right rear is pointing left (Positive Toe - Toe In). Positive and in the red meaning not within spec. This is causing the thrust angle to go to the left so your car is pushing left. This could be creating the slight vibration as your right rear tire is rolling sideways, NOT HAPPY!

The front specs of Positive Toe / Toe In (could be better as the front right is also pushing left), Positive Castor and negative Camber are all helping the front to track straight. If you don't have rear toe adjustments then your suspension has either been bent, bushings are bad or a defective part in the suspension. The Ford Escort and a few other cars came out of the factory with flexible and defective chassis so the alignment shops can never cure the poor tire wear. Was looking at an early XC90's Carfax yesterday and there was alignment checks frequently through out it's history. Sometimes you get a lemon suspension.

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Suggest you have the wheel bearings checked. Vibrations can indicate rotating mass off center. Just two weeks ago, while waiting to place my factor order for a new 2020 V90 Inscription estate wagon, I spoke with an S90 owner who experienced a similar issue. Turns out the front bearing needed replacement.

 

Thanks for the suggestions, trying to work on it with the dealer, however, this morning when I parked at work and decided to take a look at the tires and steering wheel, after everyone has told me there’s nothing wrong with the car. I was surprised to see when I parked with “my wheels straightened,” I have this:

 

any shop doing a wheel alignment should be checking for worn or damaged suspension parts. Additionally they should be locking the wheel on center then doing the alignment and thrust angle around that. Time to go back to Goodyear and show the shop manager the cocked steering wheel - that should be enough to get them to redo the alignment for free. If they tell you there are bad or damaged parts in the front end, then its time to go to the dealer and see if they will cover under the warranty (you are a hair over 50K miles so they may need to offer some good will on any parts).

 

MT6127, I agree with your comment about returning to the shop to re-check the alignment, and that the steering wheel should be properly centered. With this said, I'd be very concerned about going back to the place that appeared to do such a poor alignment job. This isn't rocket science. Make me wonder and worry about the quality of the shop. From my personal experience, I tend to not go to chain stores (e.g., Goodyear, Firestone, etc) for any work on my cars. I either go to the dealer or a nearby mechanic shop that either I, my neighbors and/or friends have some (good) experience with.

 

I hear ya. I had a similar experience and after I got the second alignment done (for free) I still wound up going to the dealer who got the car spot on - who noted that different models have a "sweet spot" which they shoot for. The best Goodyear and other tire shops can do is give you a print out that says it met the listed spec.

 

UPDATE: I took the car back to Volvo, the mechanic and I took it for a drive and the he indicated the alignment was definitely off, they fixed the alignment and it's better. However, at highway speeds I still have a noise coming from what seems like the front driver side tire, like it has a flat spot. Also, the front end appears a bit bouncy, especially on curves. I described the issue to the mechanics as a similar feeling I had in a Suburban years ago and it was a bad tie rod. Waiting to see their response..

 

yep tires can "cup" which will lead to noise and vibrations but with new tires, I'd want to have them checked for balance and wheel trueness (hey if Goodyear messed up the alignment, I wouldn't trust them to get the balance correct...). Curious, how was the car driving /riding before the new tires?

 

The tires, which were installed by Goodyear, we’re fine for 2-3000 miles before this issue came up. I’ve had the tires road force balanced on 3 occasions, twice by Goodyear and most recently by the dealer. The dealer indicates they’re accurately balanced and the rims are true.

 

have you tried doing a front to rear rotation to see if that changes the steering wheel shake?

 

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Volvo S90 XC90 XC60 T6/T5 Vibration Issue SPA 2018 (solution in description)
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Many new Atlas owners have had vibration issues including bad CV shaft. My 2019 with 4 miles, steering shook back and forth almost an inch for 80 miles on the way home. Dealer said no alignment under warranty till 800 miles. I went ahead and inflated tires to 48 PSI (52 PSI Max), center the steering and set the toe. Almost all gone but don't know what it would be like at higher speeds. I think the 20" Continental are not good tires and besides potentially having some suspension issues. April 2020 will be one year and only 3,500 miles so no time to deal with it.

Googled - 2018 S90 T6 Inscription tire vibration
One of links said the 19" Continental that came with V90's were bad?
https://www.google.com/search?source...dqIBoYQ4dUDCAs
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I have a 2019 V90 T6 with 19" Continentals and no shakes after 5300 miles. Had 18" Continentals on my wife's Acura MDX, and no issues with them either.
I had a side impact accident a few months ago, and they hit the passenger side rear door and wheel. The body shop replaced the door, wheel, and lower suspension arm. Took it to the closest Volvo dealer for alignment, came back worse. Took it to the other Volvo dealer and they got it perfect, but there are two issues to deal with on a Volvo if it has Pilot Assist. In my case, once the suspension alignment was correct, it still pulled to the right. They also had to align the Pilot assist system to get it to track straight. Not all dealers have technicians that know this and it may be beneficial to the OP to have it checked out. Question the dealer about tracking with Pilot assist and see what their response is. Rotating the wheels is also a good idea to try, if a tire is bad, the symptoms will change.

Gil