2017 Levante Steering Wheel Shudder

Mine had the shudder too. Between 65-75 mph. Funny thing that my loaner (a Ghibli) had the shudder too!
The dealer had it for 9 weeks. They did everything (road-force balanced, checked steering etc,etc). Finally, it was due to the the tires (Pirelli) or so the dealer says. Since I took the Levante in after >7500 miles, dealer/Maserati wouldn't change the tire on their dime (dealer was in contact in Maserati)
I had to pay for new Michelin tires, and the shudder did go away. However, I'm concerned it is something else in the vehicle itself causing the tires to degrade.

I think the initial vibration started maybe around 5000 miles, but I didn't take it in till later (>7500 miles). Now, I'm around 11000 miles, I think I'm beginning to feel the vibration come back ever so slightly. Will update later if it does.

Getting a new Levante with Lemon Law did cross my mind. I'm not too sure about this, but I read somewhere that if the vehicles sits in the dealer for a prolonged time without any fix, it qualifies as a lemon too

Would love to find out how the dealer finally fixes yours.. good luck!

Levante Steering also Shaking....

2017 Levante, Less than 5K miles.

Already had Rotors replaced & new tires due to what the dealer called " Road Force ". All under warranty.

And still my steering wheel vibrates terribly between 50 - 70 mph. So much that I stopped driving it.

Dealer has taken me from my $80k car and put me in a $25k rental car... But at least it feels safe.

The other issues I have had: broken window trim, squealing brakes, Center display periodically shuts off.

If anyone has a solution for the steering vibrations, I am desperate!

Thinking about the Lemon Law also if anyone has any experience it with, please message me! I'm in Virginia / DC

I traded in a Jaguar F-TYPE for this, I regret it every day! Have 2 other Mercedes, a GLS and GLE, both super reliable but not exotic!

First and Last Maserati!

BDVR said:

2017 Levante, Less than 5K miles.

Already had Rotors replaced & new tires due to what the dealer called " Road Force ". All under warranty.

And still my steering wheel vibrates terribly between 50 - 70 mph. So much that I stopped driving it.

Dealer has taken me from my $80k car and put me in a $25k rental car... But at least it feels safe.

The other issues I have had: broken window trim, squealing brakes, Center display periodically shuts off.

If anyone has a solution for the steering vibrations, I am desperate!

Thinking about the Lemon Law also if anyone has any experience it with, please message me! I'm in Virginia / DC

I traded in a Jaguar F-TYPE for this, I regret it every day! Have 2 other Mercedes, a GLS and GLE, both super reliable but not exotic!

First and Last Maserati!

Click to expand...

That's terrible. I don't have any personal experience with the lemon law but a fellow S4 owner recently had Audi buy back his car after four months. I'm pasting a post he made regarding part of the process. Hope that helps a bit.

*****
For those of you who followed the saga with my original S4, I think it’s respectful to my employer to let you all know (whether you care or not) that they have done the right thing and then some. They agreed to buy back my S4, provide “trade assist” cash, cover my doc/registration fees and allow me to keep the brand new Michelin all-season tires I just put on the car for the previous winter.

Did it take more time than it should’ve? Yes, but I’m satisfied with the outcome, and I ended up with a car that has more equipment and a slightly sexier interior. No, it’s not a Black Optic car with my beloved Rotor Design matte wheels, but I’ll probably end up getting aftermarket wheels for this anyway (titanium grey BBS CH-R).

Having been through an experience where a car I purchased was having consistent (albeit minor, but consistent) issues, I have some advice to give you all in case it happens to you. Yes, I work for the company so it was easier for me to know who to contact and actually have the ability to contact them, but I’m confident you can get to the same outcome.

1. Be patient and keep records of EVERYTHING. I took videos of the problems I had, saved every dealer repair order even when nothing was technically done or resolved, and kept my own running notes of each issue and the conditions that made it worse, if any. That way I could hand the notes to the tech so they had a detailed log of what they should do on a test drive to replicate my issues. Remember, the dealer didn’t build the car, so try to remain reasonable and polite with them. More often than not, the manufacturer is the one that holds up the whole process.

Audi is a $36B multinational company. I’m not always a patient person. In the beginning, it was super frustrating waiting days or weeks for calls/decisions. It’s not how I handle client issues, but I’m one dude with a few hundred clients where Audi has millions that probably have more serious issues than I did. The key is to push the process forward if you don’t like the answer. Find out who your next point of contact is and keep moving. If you make enough noise, the right people will eventually hear you. That’s what happened with me. My usual corporate contacts had their hands tied as they didn’t have the authority to authorize what I needed authorized, so I had to go through a slightly more standard chain of command. But they did all they could do.

My most important bit of advice is this; if your car has some sort of odd or difficult to notice/replicate issues (like a small rattle, vibration etc), ask to test drive a brand new car, focus on the problem area and take some comparison videos. This helped my service advisors immensely when they couldn’t notice my problem the first time around. Granted I have access to several similar cars on demand, but most dealers won’t tell you no if you explain the situation politely. For example, I had a rattle coming from what I thought was the dashboard; the SA couldn’t hear it on a test drive. I then drove a similar S4, took a video, then compared it to a video of my car on the same roadway at the same speed... He got it right away. It turned out to be a part we’d replaced twice before, which is what sparked the whole buyback process. No manufacturer wants a lemon law case brought against them, and they’ll go to great lengths to avoid that third or fourth unsuccessful repair.

Long story short, while it took a few months, Audi did the right thing and compensated me more than they needed to in order to make up for the time it took to get this resolution. I’m happy, and now I have a brand new car to take to the mountains. I loved my “old” S4 as it was the first car I’d ever factory ordered, and it truly never performed poorly or gave me any major issues in the time I had it. Hence, I’m cool with taking another one. I already know what kind of comments I’m going to get on this from the anti-Euro crowd, so just to keep things in perspective... I’ve got 43 clients who either have S4’s, S5 coupe/Sportback/cabriolets or SQ5’s. My car, which was one of the first of the new B9 chassis, is the only one to have this many issues. I had a client with a Prestige S4 who had a piece of glass that cracked due to thermal stress and was warrantied but that’s it.

Thanks for reading.