Which parts fail
Components named in complaints (struts, shocks, control arms, ball joints, springs).
Mileage when the problem started
Owner reports
Selected complaints filed with NHTSA by 2006 Pontiac GTO owners, lightly cleaned up (personal details are redacted by NHTSA).
Hello, I would like to send you a complaint concerning the safety of my vehicle. I own a 2006 Pontiac GTO. My car currently has under 25K miles on it and I have already had two sets of tires blow out on me due to inner tire wear. I have owned my car for less then 1.5 years and I have put under 19K miles on it. As far as I know, I am not the GTO owner with these problems. I have been told that the issue which is causing these tire problems has to do with bad suspension. I beg you to help by having GM contact GTO owners and put a recall on these cars. How can GM get away this? The first time my tire blow out I figured the tire was bad b/c the car was a couple of years old even though it only had 5xxx miles on it. The second time I had a blow out, I was with a loved and nearly hit a telephone pole after I avoided hitting an on coming car. …
Purchased the GTO July 5, 2006. Did the first oil change on August 6th at 1983 miles. My husband noticed oil all over the undercarriage and inside wheel. We had been hearing a clunking noise once in awhile and handling started to get worse. He warned me to be careful when driving the car and to get it back to the dealer. Took it in to the dealer the next day, they identified the strut problem, ordered parts, wanted me to drive the car until the parts came in, I refused and put us in a rental until it could be completed. Called ponitac customer service to complain about the delay in parts availability. After a lengthy call with a lot of on holds, was informed we probably would not get the part until at least sept. 15, 2006. They are on a boat from australia and we were number 238 and only 100 parts were coming in. They agreed to reimburse us our payments after everything had been fixed. …
When removing my summer tires, and installing my winter tires I noticed that my front right tires inner shoulder was worn down to the steel belt. I was very concerned, as the car has been aligned by the mfg regularly, and the tires had low mileage on them. The tire was in a condition such that it could lose pressure at any moment. After research, it appears as if the front radius rod bushings and front strut mounts have failed. A major contributor to this failure was the fact that the vehicle was made in australia and shipped to the us for distribution/sales. During the shipping process, the vehicles were strapped down such that their suspensions were fully compressed. This extended load allowed for key suspension components to fail prematurely. …
I took my 2006 GTO into the dealer in jan. 2009 for some warranty repair work on the fan switch. While performing a safety inspection the dealer noticed the right front strut was rubbing on the tire and causing significant wear on the inner tread. I had noticed a clunking sound as I went over speed bumps or turned tight like you would in a parking lot for approximately 3 months prior to that. I asked if they were related and the service attendant said possibly, but that all the gtos made noise when cranking the wheel because of the wide tires. I asked if the strut was covered under the warranty and they said no, it was some type of front end damage that caused it. The car had a fender bender in nov. 2006, but it was re-aligned in dec. 2006. No mention was made at the time that the strut rubbed on the tire. …
My 2006 Pontiac GTO drove normally for about 7,000 miles before the left front tire began rubbing against the strut. The rubbing has caused excessive tire wear on the inside of the tire and left visible marks on the strut where the rubbing has occurred. GM warranty service says that no recall has been issued on the vehicle regarding this problem, although an "enhancement" was performed on the vehicle prior to my purchase in July 2007. There are many reports of continued problems even with the enhancement and GM appears to have no intention of addressing the issue. This is a severe safety issue as blowouts and crashes are inevitable. I only noticed the problem when it came time to rotate the tires. Others May not be so lucky to catch the problem in time. There is a known issue regarding the strut bushings collapsing and with the cars being sold with wider tires than designed for. …
Driving 60 MPH on freeway and had a blow out. Almost hit two cars as a result of control loss. Removed flat tire (front passenger) and noticed the inside of tire was excessively worn down to the metal while the rest of the tire still had plenty of tread. Tire still had half its life left. Asked tire company to return the tire to me but they sent it to recycler before I picked the car up. I did take a picture of the tire and it does show the inside wear. There is a corresponding mark on the shock where the tire rubbed the paint off in one specific area on the shock. I have no alignment problems which is what the dealer said caused the blow-out. There is no question that the rubbing is what caused the problem. I don't feel safe driving and will have to prematurely replace tires which wii be expensive. …
2006 Pontiac GTO had to have all 4 tires replaced as the car has the strut rub problem that I have heard and read about since I bought the car. One of tires developed a slow leak and I took it to the local dealer where it has had its regular service done. They called me out to look and showed me how all of the tires had wear on the inside and one in particular was virtually shredded. I have had frequent rotations done on this car as a precaution since learning of this problem. Although with each rotation I would ask the dealer if there were any signs of this abnormal tire wear and they always acted like they never heard of such a thing. It is obviously a design flaw as what vehicle needs all new tires every 10-15 thousand miles because of inner tire shredding? I find it hard to believe that there has not been a recall on this automobile to fix this problem. …
Buy new 06 Pontiac GTO, 3 days latter drive car to salt lake city, get there and have oil all down both sides of car and oil dripping from front wheel wells,cant see oil source so we turn around and head home. First canyon we hit there was bumps in road, front tires start bouncing and car slides sideways right off the road, we got the car to a stop without hitting anything, it was late so we decided to try and continue cautiously, that's when we noticed the bounce in the front end and realized we no longer had shocks, only springs in the front end. …
When replacing a "flat" tire on my 2006 Pontiac GTO with standard 17" wheels and original tires (approx. 26K miles), I noticed that the whole inner side of the tire was shredded beyond the belts. When I had the tire replaced, two additional tires were found in even worse condition - all were shredded on the inner side. One tire that had previously been replaced, was in good condition. I remember that when I bought the car, there was a manufacturer's service bulletin addressing "strut rub" on the inside of the front wheels. I made sure this was addressed and that the vehicle received an alignment at the dealership according to manufacturer's specs. Tires have been rotated at every oil change in accordance with maintenance procedures in the owner's manual. It appears that even though the manufacturer is aware of the defect, the solution is not a cure. …
I have a 2006 Pontiac GTO with just over 14,000 miles on the odometer. I was getting an oil change done and the car was up on a lift. My mechanic told me that I need to come look at something. He showed me that the inside of my right rear tire was worn to the point that the steel belts were showing through the tire. He also pointed out that the insides of my other tires were showing wear but not near as badly as the right rear tire. He stated to me that the only cause of this was to get an alignment. I had the alignment checked by an alignment shop that tells me that the alignment is in factory specifications. I had to pay for four new tires at discount tire company here in phoenix. I have done searches on the internet and many other GTO owners are having the same issues I am having. Pontiac needs to research this and recall these vehicles if necessary. Something is very wrong here.
NHTSA investigations
Front strut to tire interference
Note: the complaint and warranty counts given in the failure report summary of this resume include all records related to tire wear and wheel alignment and are not limited to tire-strut contact.general motors (GM) identified two contributors to premature front tire wear in the subject vehicles.one of the contributors causing the premature tire wear was out of specification negative camber.GM stated that excessive…
Suspension complaints in other GTO years
Frequently asked questions
How common are suspension problems on the 2006 Pontiac GTO?
NHTSA has 191 complaints about the suspension of the 2006 Pontiac GTO, 88% of the model year's 216 complaints. The component named most often is front (72 mentions).
Is there a recall for 2006 Pontiac GTO suspension problems?
No. NHTSA lists no suspension recall for the 2006 Pontiac GTO. If the problem is widespread, a repair may still be covered by an extended warranty or a manufacturer service bulletin — ask a dealer.
At what mileage do 2006 Pontiac GTO suspension problems start?
Half of the complaints with a recorded mileage happened before about 1,000 miles, and 91% before 25,000 miles.
Is it dangerous?
Owners linked 2 crashes, 0 fires and 0 injuries to suspension problems on this model year. If you notice symptoms, have the car checked before driving further.
Source: U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) — owner complaints through October 20, 2026, recalls and defect investigations; fuel economy from the EPA. Complaints are unverified reports and are not proof of a defect. How we rate model years.