My $100K Cybertruck Was Shaking Like a Chihuahua at 70 MPH, Here's How a Simple Tire Balance Fixed What FSD Broke

It was only a matter of time before Tesla’s stainless steel monolith, the Cybertruck, found itself the subject of forum banter, equal parts admiration and absurdity. This is no ordinary vehicle. It’s a brutalist sculpture on wheels, equal parts tech utopia and torque-laden absurdity. 

Tire Rotations & Everyday Driving Challenges

But now that owners are finally living with these things in the wild, we’re beginning to see a more nuanced reality, grocery runs, school drop-offs, the occasional brush with a curb, and, yes, steering vibration at 80 miles per hour. It’s the collision of ambition and asphalt, and like most tales of high-tech excess, this one starts humbly: with a tire rotation.

Let’s go straight to the source, courtesy of a Cybertruck owner who posted their experience online in refreshingly candid detail:

"Steering vibration at 70+ mph

For the past month or so, I was experiencing pretty noticeable vibration in my “squircle” on my Cyberbeast at 70 and definitely at 80+ mph.

Took it in to Tesla today for my first tire rotation at 6k miles and asked for a balancing too.

This completely fixed the issue and I can once again surprise myself when I’m going 90 without knowing.

I attribute the problem to potholes and hitting curbs during turns in earlier versions of FSD."

And there it is. A $100,000 techno-brick brought to its knees, not by a Martian dune or a Yukon river crossing, but by curb rash and early Full Self-Driving software. It’s a reminder that for all the Cybertruck’s space-age ambitions, it still exists in a world where tires go out of balance and steering geometry gets knocked out by everyday road imperfections. 

Why The Cybertruck Was Made

• The Tesla Cybertruck's angular, stainless-steel design has polarized opinions, with some praising its futuristic look while others criticizing its unconventional aesthetics. Additionally, the vehicle has faced multiple recalls due to safety issues, including problems with trim detachment and accelerator pedals, raising concerns about its reliability. ​
• Despite initial hype and over a million reservations, the Cybertruck's production has been fraught with challenges, leading to lower-than-expected sales. In 2024, Tesla sold approximately 40,000 units, significantly below projections, prompting the company to offer discounts and shift focus to other models. ​
• As of early 2025, the Tesla Cybertruck is sold out, with the company halting new orders to manage existing demand. This move reflects both the vehicle's popularity and the production limitations Tesla faces in meeting the high reservation numbers.

A properly sorted off-roader shouldn’t lose its composure at the first sign of a pothole. That’s not engineering excellence, it’s a design compromise wrapped in stainless steel.

Cybertruck vs. Traditional Pickups: The American Truck Paradox

Of course, this isn’t unique to Tesla. The American pickup has long been a contradiction on four wheels. We market them as trail-dominating gladiators, but the vast majority never leave the pavement. Trucks like the F-150 Raptor, Ram TRX, and Silverado ZR2 may be capable of jumping sand dunes and fording creeks, but most of them spend their lives navigating suburban cul-de-sacs and grocery store parking lots. The Cybertruck is simply the next evolution of this cultural phenomenon: a vehicle that looks like it belongs in a lunar outpost but spends its time avoiding shopping carts in a Costco lot.

Evaluating Cybertruck’s Ground Clearance & Weight

Still, credit where it’s due, on paper, the Cybertruck is a capable machine. Tesla claims up to 17 inches of ground clearance with its adaptive air suspension, which would make it one of the highest-riding production trucks on the market. That’s serious off-road potential, at least in theory. But with a curb weight pushing 7,000 pounds, physics becomes the limiting factor. It’s hard to articulate over boulders when you’re dragging around more mass than a GMC Hummer EV. Off-roading is about more than specs, it’s about how those specs play out in the dirt. And so far, most Cybertrucks seem to be tackling speed bumps more than sandstone.

Cybertruck’s FSD and Steering Vibration Issues

But what’s really worth chewing on here is the role technology plays in these mechanical hiccups. This owner attributes their steering woes to FSD, Tesla’s still-in-beta autonomous driving system. Hitting curbs during low-speed maneuvers isn’t something most traditional vehicles do unless the driver is asleep or texting. In the Cybertruck’s case, it's a product of software struggling to interpret the real world. Imagine telling Jeep Wrangler owners that their steering wheel shakes because the trucks decided to clip a corner. Welcome to the future, where your AI co-pilot might be more dangerous than a teenage valet.

How Tire Rotation Restored Cybertruck’s Smooth Steering

Yet, the fix was beautifully simple: rotate the tires, balance the wheels, and suddenly, the steering feels like new. In a sense, this is Tesla’s dichotomy writ large, cutting-edge hardware capable of zero-to-sixty in 2.6 seconds paired with old-school service solutions. You don’t need an over-the-air update to fix this. You need a tire shop. That irony isn’t lost on anyone who’s ever tried to schedule a Tesla service appointment or explain to a tech why their $100K truck shimmies like a '98 Civic with a bent rim.

A Masterpiece or a Misstep For Modern Vehicles?

So, where does that leave us? The Cybertruck is equal parts masterpiece and misstep, a rolling contradiction that dares to redefine the American truck while still falling victim to the same everyday issues as its combustion-powered cousins. It may be bulletproof, but it’s not pothole-proof. It may look like the future, but it still needs tire balancing like the rest of us. Perhaps that’s the real lesson here: no matter how advanced your vehicle gets, you still can’t program your way out of physics.

Noah Washington is an automotive journalist based in Atlanta, Georgia. He enjoys covering the latest news in the automotive industry and conducting reviews on the latest cars. He has been in the automotive industry since 15 years old and has been featured in prominent automotive news sites. You can reach him on X and LinkedIn for tips and to follow his automotive coverage.