I'm a little stumped on this one. I know i have at least one warped rotor (new slotted brembos on the way) but I drive like a grandma and can get by without feeling the shimmy a warped rotor causes by taking forever to stop lol. Every now and then, I'll feel a shimmy in the steering wheel develope out of seemingly nowhere while cruising down the road. Today it did it right before I needed to push on the brake (again, very light braking) and the vibes were outrageous! The hood was shaking, the wheel, everything. Came to a stop, light turned green and down the road. The very next stop, nothing, normal function and feel. I've suspected ball joints or rod ends but can't get either to show problems jacking up wheels and pushing, pulling, kicking...everything seems fine.... Any idears?? And yes the lugnuts are tight lol.

Is it lifted?

Nope, stock suspension

Steering rack bushings? My old 4runner would do the same thing (not quite as bad by the sound of it). Shimmy occasionally for no apparent reason. almost like a wheel was out of balance one day, but then fine the next.

After I replaced my rack bushings with poly ones from Wheelers, it 95% went away.

I know my runner does it too... but that is because i need new rotors like yesterday.. during my NYS inspection the tech said i need new brakes but not enough to fail the inspection.. somthing else under there caused it not to pass until i got it fixed. I forgot waht it was though.

best of luck

I crawled under while a buddy moved the steering wheel, sure enough, there is play. Cant tell how much since I didnt have the keys to unlock the column if we turned it too far, but what little he steered it, I could see movement.