MG4 X Power Vibe/Hum 65to75mph

Got my xpower today, highway speeds she got the annoying vibration. Its on R11 firmware.. nice around town , embarrassed to take anyone on the highway in it. Its drive shafts, mg know it. I had copy cheap drive shafts put into my subaru outback, same feeling, replaced with oem , problem gone. Suby forum helped me on that one, others had it too. Mech didnt believe me. was gobsmacked when it did fix. So MG , time to get some precision ones made and shipped out, before class action bites.

powerfulx said:

Got my xpower today, highway speeds she got the annoying vibration. Its on R11 firmware.. nice around town , embarrassed to take anyone on the highway in it. Its drive shafts, mg know it. I had copy cheap drive shafts put into my subaru outback, same feeling, replaced with oem , problem gone. Suby forum helped me on that one, others had it too. Mech didnt believe me. was gobsmacked when it did fix. So MG , time to get some precision ones made and shipped out, before class action bites.

Click to expand...

You will see in post #4 that I am already alluding to the front drivetrain!

Seems like a long time ago now!!

As you will know (if you have read the whole thread) that folk have seen an improvement with just getting the wheels balanced.

I have never liked the angle of the front driveshafts #48 and am still suspicious about that today.

As of today my vibes are very minimal but they are still there and it is an annoyance.

As you say if MG don't get to the bottom of it, I'm going to want compensating in one way or another, but ideally a fix as I am genuinely pleased and very happy with my car.

The car is awesome and insanely quick, and in every other way a nice ride. Love all the mod cons coming from an old leaf.

Interesting, i did another test drive , i can get the vibes to go away when in between regen and power, as in a coast. Also noticed around long corners it can go away. i suspect different tyres impact how the vibrations resonate.

My only other suspicion is that the two different motors are resonating when they are slightly out of sync at that speed. Which could be down to either the inverters, the inverter hardware and possibly the software. If it's the inverters and it's hardware, it's going to be very expensive for MG to fix, they may end up changing the tyres to reduce the vibrations has a sort of partial fix. You mentioned that the angle of the driveshafts could be playing a role, this is plausible as the xpower sits slightly higher than the stock mg4. However, I know there's a lowering kit or lowering springs for the X power, so it would be interesting to see if this impacts the vibrations. I'd also like to know if anyone has purchased one without the vibrations.

Ok , i suspect mg for their demo cars are maybe running tyres with lower pressure. A test drive of efficiency isnt what xpower drivers are looking for. I remember feeling a slight hum on my test drive. Slowly letting my tyres down over the next few days

Interesting I'm starting to see some complaints of vibrations in the BYD seals at higher speeds as well.

Quick up date. Did a long journey yesterday at motorway speeds, for the first time since having the wheels balanced. Have to admit that the vibration is still there, despite my initial comments. However it is very slight and does come in at a higher speed than it did and then goes completely, beyond that speed.

CooperS said:

Quick up date. Did a long journey yesterday at motorway speeds, for the first time since having the wheels balanced. Have to admit that the vibration is still there, despite my initial comments. However it is very slight and does come in at a higher speed than it did and then goes completely, beyond that speed.

Click to expand...

Interesting to know, but so many unbalanced wheels? Yet not one complaint from rear wheel drive MG4s. I do have a set which i will try soon. Shame its not gone, i noticed less today with lower tyre pressures. But economy goes right out the window.

I wonder if an "old fashioned" on-the-car wheel balance would be any better? That may help balance the whole system; wheel, hub, drive shaft. I've not seen that done anywhere for many years though.

powerfulx said:

Interesting to know, but so many unbalanced wheels? Yet not one complaint from rear wheel drive MG4s. I do have a set which i will try soon. Shame its not gone, i noticed less today with lower tyre pressures. But economy goes right out the window.

Click to expand...

Oh I don't know about that m8!

There are loads of threads on vibration issues with the rear wheel drive only cars.

Just one example.....

mg4mc said:

I wonder if an "old fashioned" on-the-car wheel balance would be any better? That may help balance the whole system; wheel, hub, drive shaft. I've not seen that done anywhere for many years though.

Click to expand...

Possibly, however a search only seems to show one company that offers that service. They are in Bicester, but guide price for all wheels is £286 plus vat. Then its still a guess as to whether that is the issue, Will just put up with it as thankfully dont travel at motorway speeds much these days.

CooperS said:

Possibly, however a search only seems to show one company that offers thats service. They are in Bicester, but guide price for all wheels is £286 plus vat. Then its still a guess as to whether that is the issue, Will just put up with it as thankfully dont travel at motorway speeds much these days.

Click to expand...

Yep, actual on the car wheel balancing is bl00dy expensive. But supposedly is super duper accurate. Obviously if we knew that it would cure the problem, it would be well worth it. BUT.....
Anyone, volunteering.

Bricktop X PWR said:

Oh I don't know about that m8!

There are loads of threads on vibration issues with the rear wheel drive only cars.

Just one example.....

MG4 Rumbling and vibration

Driving car home from dealer yesterday, I noticed noise and vibration at various speeds. The vibration can be felt all through the car, including the wheel, but there’s no visible steering wheel shake. I would err towards wheel balance, but the rumbling that goes with the vibration isn’t...

www.mgevs.com

Click to expand...

I did read that after i posted , my bad. I guess not to the point where theres polls, news articles, and a large percentage of drivers having the same issue.

salty said:

Yep, actual on the car wheel balancing is bl00dy expensive. But supposedly is super duper accurate. Obviously if we knew that it would cure the problem, it would be well worth it. BUT.....
Anyone, volunteering.

Click to expand...

If you look at the posts on here and FB, it looks like we are starting to spend our own funds on trying to fix the issue for MG, new tyres, balancing etc. Fair enough if people want to do that but I think MG should be spending the money to fix it. It may end up being something that cannot be fixed.

I suspect if i take the car in, it will be weeks with rubbish results. Wear the customer out tactics.

Another drive up the line today back from Plymouth, the vibration and hum just droning in and out, I offered to call into my dealership so that the Service Manager could give it a go but he declined.
He did say that he would send all my emails to MG UK(I think he knows there is no fix) so hopefully he will send the email from Nov 23 when I first mentioned the issue

I would like a letter or email sent to all X Power owners from MG UK acknowledging the issue, apologising, confirming that they are working on a fix and that their cars will be recalled when there is a fix...then I will believe that something is being done and MG UK are taking things seriously

seamust1000 said:

I would like a letter or email sent to all X Power owners from MG UK acknowledging the issue, apologising, confirming that they are working on a fix and that their cars will be recalled when there is a fix...then I will believe that something is being done and MG UK are taking things seriously

Click to expand...

If only … I sent 3 or 4 emails to MG UK complaining and pointing out that MG Australia had acknowledged the issue. I just got fobbed off every time and told to get my dealer to investigate the issue. My supplying dealer who was copied in to my emails did’nt even respond for over a week. I wasn’t going to waste my own time travelling there and back with no cure found. MG UK and many of their dealers are useless IMHO and for that reason I doubt I’ll buy another MG again even though I love the XPower.

I hope someone at MG UK reads these posts and realises how annoyed we all are and that they are going to get some bad press over their awful service.

Rant over

powerfulx said:

Shame its not gone, i noticed less today with lower tyre pressures.

Click to expand...

How much lower? I wonder if variances in temperature then has an effect, because warmer weather gives slightly higher tyre pressure and vice versa

Tyre pressure drop helps a tad. I wouldnt write home about it.

What i have noticed , is on long gentle bends at motorways speeds, it goes away. If someone else could confirm.

My guess is possible rpm changes on the inner wheels and drive shafts, shifting harmonic resonation.

When u let off the power and coast with zero regen , i have noticed some drop.

Going to test again and see.

Sounds like the drive shafts need balancing.

JonnyG said:

If only … I sent 3 or 4 emails to MG UK complaining and pointing out that MG Australia had acknowledged the issue. I just got fobbed off every time and told to get my dealer to investigate the issue. My supplying dealer who was copied in to my emails did’nt even respond for over a week. I wasn’t going to waste my own time travelling there and back with no cure found. MG UK and many of their dealers are useless IMHO and for that reason I doubt I’ll buy another MG again even though I love the XPower.

I hope someone at MG UK reads these posts and realises how annoyed we all are and that they are going to get some bad press over their awful service.

Rant over

Click to expand...

Do you remember the email I received from MG where after the general fobbing off he said

'Engineers will test this, and provide a solution, and I may say, that because of our unique set up in the UK, usually much quicker than most OEM. I have worked with several brands and may take years to provide solutions to these things'
At the moment, everything is simply being looked at case by case and thank you for your continued patience'

Years!

I'm not losing any sleep over the vibes because If they don't eventually get it sorted, there will be a Solicitor out there willing to take them on.

My post 'Not MG specific then..... is in General Chat as it seems to be more inclusive of the main issues complained about.

Ian Key said:

Sounds like the drive shafts need balancing.

Click to expand...

Or there's an unwelcome resonance under specific conditions. Either way, they should identify and fix.

Bricktop X PWR said:

Do you remember the email I received from MG where after the general fobbing off he said

'Engineers will test this, and provide a solution, and I may say, that because of our unique set up in the UK, usually much quicker than most OEM. I have worked with several brands and may take years to provide solutions to these things'
At the moment, everything is simply being looked at case by case and thank you for your continued patience'

Years!

I'm not losing any sleep over the vibes because If they don't eventually get it sorted, there will be a Solicitor out there willing to take them on.

My post 'Not MG specific then..... is in General Chat as it seems to be more inclusive of the main issues complained about.

Click to expand...

Yes I remember that .... it's the quote "At the moment, everything is simply being looked at case by case and thank you for your continued patience'" that annoys me.

They know its a general issue with all Xpowers so why treat us (and their dealers) like individual guinea pigs rather than find a cure themselves. They must have some ex-demo Xpowers to investigate and work on by now.