When I purchased my 4Runner back in 2016 I had all sorts of tire balancing issues detailed in this thread: Tire Balancing Issues - Seeking Advice

After many attempts to rebalance them, ultimately the fix was to replace two of the tires as the dealership determined they were 'out of spec'.

So here I am 4 years later and I am with a new set of tires. I decided to go with the Michelin Defender LTX because Discount Tire claimed these were easier to balance and had fewer issues than others. I had them installed in June right before taking a 600+ mile trip a few days later. As soon as I got on the interstate and hit 65-75 MPH I could feel vibration in the steering wheel. It was really bad at 75 and enough that I found myself driving slower just to maintain a smooth ride. As soon as I got back, I called Discount Tire and told them something was wrong. They had me drop it off for another rebalance.

I pick it up after that 2nd attempt and when I get home I discover two of the wheels had scratches around the lugs in a circular pattern. I sent pictures to the manager and he said they forgot to put the rubber plate on the balancing machine and that's why the wheels were scratched. So I took it back a few weeks ago so all 4 wheels could be completely refinished since they knew the color match would be off if they only did two. Also, the vibration was still there.

So after the wheels were all refinished they balanced them again (3rd time), I drove it on the interstate this past weekend and now instead of the vibration up front I feel it in the rear. My guess is 1 or 2 tires are out of spec. The manager claims they are balanced because the machine shows "red or green" for pass/fail and they were all green. My understanding was that these road force balancers would provide values for how well the tires were balanced with pressure applied.

I emailed the manager again yesterday telling him there are still issues with the tires and I'm not sure what the next steps are. I'm not going to have them do a 4th balancing as it's a waste of my time and they may damage the wheels again. Any advice on how to proceed from here?

Im kinda the same. I think unfortunately - to some extent you'll have to decide how much you want to live with.

To some degree the 4th gen is always gonna vibrate on the highway. With new tires/ different balancing it is just going to feel different to what you're used to.

The LTX is not a super aggressive tire so should run smoother than other all terrain or mud tires.

Certainly, look at everything else that could impact your ride quality (IE tire pressure is at rec 32 psi - would it be smoother with a higher pressure of 36 or even 40?) check alignment, suspension components, ball joints, control arm bearings etc.

It may get better over time as the tires wear, which is a big maybe

My advice (as bad as it may seem) is that if you've had 3 balances done and aren't happy, You could see if you're still within the trial period and try another set of tires. Alternatively, getting a newer 4runner (though the 5th gen owners c/o steering wheel shake too) or smoother vehicle

Best of luck

Take the vehicle to an offroad shop that does tire mounting and balancing. They should have the balancing beads needed to get them spinning true on the highway.

I do believe the 4Runner requires a lug centric balance though, meaning there's 6 posts that go into the wheel to position it correctly on the balancer. If Discount Tire didn't do that, then there's your problem.

most of the issue will be with the mechanic/equipment they are using. I had 4 brand new tires mounted on 4 brand new oem trd wheels. The guys at the small shop "balanced" them.. I was amazed at how many weights they had to put on each wheel.

Same feeling as you, anything above 50-60mph the shake was so bad that I didn't drive interstate until I sorted out the issue. My brother works for a higher end body shop and they have an in-house mechanic that did my alignment on the car and checked the balancing. Lets just say that literally every single one of the weights they put on was not even remotely close to where it needed to be.

The new re-balance only resulted in approximately 20% of the previous weights all in different spots from the original weights. This made the balancing like 95% better. There is still a slight hint of a little shake that I can feel sometimes at speed so its definitely not a 100% smooth ride, but I figured to be on some big offroad tires, in a 17 year old car with 1.25" spidertrax I could expect to feel a little off balance somewhere in the chain.


There are VERY few people I trust to get the work done right (which is the reason I do anything possible myself) and of that small group that I would put trust into none are employed by a big-name brake/tire shop. These "mechanics" have more certificates with acronyms than a person should be able to obtain in 3 lifetimes by the time they are 22 years old and 0 real-world experience or care to do something simple correctly. I mean I have yet to see a "professional" tire shop use a torque wrench to put the lugs back on

I agree with you 100%. I mean, these guys managed to damage two of my wheels because they "forgot to put the rubber plate on the balancing machine" but I'm supposed to trust that they know how to properly balance a tire? I really wish I knew who else to trust with these things. I used to go to a place named Butler Tire because they service many high-end cars and for years I never had an issue there. Then the last two visits they managed to cross-thread two studs. One of them snapped off and the other is now missing the first ~5 threads completely. So I'm not sure where to turn next.

Oh how I wish this was something I could do myself. I recently replaced my calipers (one was seized), rotors, pads, etc. all the way around because I don't trust anyone else to do the work. It was the first time I had taken on more than the swapping of pads but it wasn't too bad and I enjoy learning how to do these things.

yea unfortunately from multiple experiences I have just about 0 trust in anyone working on any of my things.. particularly my cars. Fortunately my brother and i grew up watching my dad DIY just about anything that needed to be done so I picked up on the mechanical part pretty quickly. The only things I have to take to get done at the shop are things I don't have the equipment to do at home.. ie: balancing, alignment, etc. I even had instances with screwed up oil changes.. which is beyond me how you can mess up the simplest and most frequent automotive service.. had a car double-filled with oil, one had a filter that was changed because they couldn't unscrew it, and had an acquaintance with an S2000 that literally dropped the drain plug on the highway 2 miles from the dealer and spew oil all over.

For your case, I agree with the above, maybe see if there is a local off road shop that deals with larger tires on the regular (not that this should be an issue from what the mechanic just told me.. "if you can balance a 15" wheel/tire you should be able to balance anything if you aren't a moron" ). If you can't find that, what I have had luck with on my other toy (95 Supra) with nice expensive wheels that I didn't want screwed up, is take it to a high end performance shop that worked on a lot of higher end porches with a good reputation. It was the only time I've see my car/wheels handled like it was on an operating table.. the mechanic changed his gloves for each wheel and washed his hands in between. Service like that is hard to come by.

Well I'm still trying to figure out what to do next. The manager at Discount Tire offered to replace them initially but I have been reluctant to go back considering the experience so far and the damaged wheels. I also noticed that when my 4Runner sits for a few days and then I drive somewhere, the tires feel out of round and there is significant vibration until they warm up. I'm not sure why these Michelins are so highly rated or expensive. I've had much better cheaper tires.

Today I decided to rotate the tires myself to see if I can narrow down which tire(s) are causing most of the vibration. I quickly discovered that every wheel was adhered to the hubs because they mounted the wheels before the paint had completely dried (from the repair job they did). So I had to use a rubber mallet and slam it against the inside of every wheel many times until it broke free. Additionally, NONE of the lug nuts on the drivers side were torqued down. I could have removed the lug nut with one hand if I wanted to.

So these guys (1) 'forgot' to use the rubber plate on the balance machine and scratched the wheels leading to a full refinish and (2) 'forgot' to tighten the lug nuts on two of the wheels. I really really don't want to go back to them at this point.

I thought I had balancing issues with a set of new Firestone AT2 tires and was back in forth at Toyota and Firestone rebalancing a half a dozen times. I even had Toyota road force balance, but the vibration problems persisted. I would get a steering wheel shimmy at about 65mph and then a vibration in the vehicle with speeds beyond that. Below 60mph is smooth as butter.

At this point, I've rebuilt the whole front end. But the biggest improvement happened after replacing my upper control arms.

The vibration persists though, and will be replacing my front wheel bearings in a few weeks.

Getting tired of this tbh.

Yep, You would think a tire shop would know how to balance tires correctly. I too had issues with Discount Tire balancing so
I go to Les Swab Tire now. They also do good well with the front alignment.