2005 Toyota 4Runner, Wheel Balance/Alignment Issue

[kgatch]

Hey,
I have a 2005 Toyota 4Runner SR5 and I got it in march and hit 5,300 miles already (lots of driving in June because of moving into a new house).

I began to notice the car would pull to the right at highway speeds and got it checked it with the first oil change. I suggested to the service manager the car probably needed an alignment. However, once they took it back, they said it just needed a wheel balance and did it.

Ok, that didn't fix the problem. The car returned to the same pulling on the way home. So this Saturday I took it back. They then told me I had to have a wheel alignment and performed it. Well, its sort of better but I still notice the pulling.

Everything has been under warranty and repaired free of charge. However, I live about 45-50 minutes away from the dealership and its just getting to be frustrating.

Therefore, what could be the problem?
I have bridgestone tires and I drive the car easy. (I drive like a grandpa). I drive 80% highway during non-rush hours.

Any ideas? I thought Toyotas were reliable.......

 

[jharris2]

Last time I saw behavior like that, it was crosswinds causing the problem. Doesn't sound like that's your problem.

Maybe they didn't do the alignment right?

 

[coolpop]

My guess would be a defective tire. Take it to a place that has the Hunter 9700 balancer and you'll know for sure.

 

[2003_4Runner]

It could be very well be the road causing this pull...!. Did you try driving on a different road, on the same road in different lane?.

I will also test the car driving in the middle lane (if there are three lanes) to make sure that road sloop is not causing the pull.

 

[Spider5]

You indicated that you saw improvement from the initial alignment. It is likely that the alignment was done for only the front. I would take it back and ask for a complete two axle alignment.

 

[azskyrider]

Sometimes city streets will slope more than others depending on the drainage needed. There is a particular road I noticed this more than others and though I felt a slight pull to the outside I moved the vehicle more towards the center of the road (Turning lane) and the problem was non existant. Of course I made sure no cars were on coming and I reserved caution. In any event when it rained today I noticed that particular road is sloped more to drain the water faster. The outside portion on both sides were flooded but most of the center portion was dry. During dry conditions you probably would not notice the slope.

Cheers,

 

[greasefingers]

Whenever you suspect a tire or wheel issue, you can rotate the tires to see if the problem follows the tries or not. I do like Spider5

 

[Jim_Chow]

If the dealer indeed checked the alignment, the car can be "in alignment" and still pull. I had this happen on my 01 honda, took it for a test drive w/ the service guy. There are tolerance ranges for the alignment specs, so one can tweak the values so they are near the end of the range. The alignment (caster and/or toe) should be assymetical to compensate for the slope in the road. Yeah, my dealer said they did compensate, but I guess it wasn't enough. The alignment guy re-aligned it, test drove it, and it drove straight. Best dealer for alignment I've ever gone to was South Bay Toyota in LA (down the street from Toyota USA headquarters). I've had two alignments done (after adding a lift and again after regearing the front/pulling the ifs crossmember) and they got it right on the money both times. Mechanic was even saavy enough to notice that only one side of the front suspension was off and ask me about why (the side I pulled the ifs crossmember).

Another possible problem is pulling after a tire rotation. Many dealers only do front to back rotations (father had his honda tires rotated at the dealer; dealer always does a front-back on the same side. The vehicle pulled to one side after that. I swapped the front wheels on either side, which solved the problem). I prefer cross-rotations to even out the wear. I don't think this is your problem since you say you've only driven 5K mi. Another possibility is a defect in the tire itself, but I've yet to experience this myself...just have heard of it.

 

[RickyCRX]

I would rotate the tires next... If the problem goes away by putting a bad tire on the rear, it's probably a defective tire. They call it 'radial pull.'

Ricky

 

[kgatch]

Hey Guys,
Thanks for the suggestions. I'm beginning to think its the dealership I took it to. The apprentice technician took care of the vehicle the first time and said it required a wheel balance instead of the wheel alignment.
Then after that, when I took it back, they finally agreed that it did need a wheel alignment. I'm a patient person, not a big deal, but as you all know, it wasn't fixed.
They do not have the Hunter GPS 9700 and the Straight Trak LFM, so I'm taking it to another Authorized Toyota Dealership that does. Unfortunately, I called Toyota's Customer Experience asking if this repair would be covered under warranty. They said 1 wheel balance and 1 wheel alignment is covered under warranty.
Therefore, I'm going to be paying for this. I just hope they don't gouge me too much.

 

[Derek]

Hey Guys,
Thanks for the suggestions. I'm beginning to think its the dealership I took it to. The apprentice technician took care of the vehicle the first time and said it required a wheel balance instead of the wheel alignment.
Then after that, when I took it back, they finally agreed that it did need a wheel alignment. I'm a patient person, not a big deal, but as you all know, it wasn't fixed.
They do not have the Hunter GPS 9700 and the Straight Trak LFM, so I'm taking it to another Authorized Toyota Dealership that does. Unfortunately, I called Toyota's Customer Experience asking if this repair would be covered under warranty. They said 1 wheel balance and 1 wheel alignment is covered under warranty.
Therefore, I'm going to be paying for this. I just hope they don't gouge me too much.

I'd be surprised if they really make you pay for this considering how new your 4Runner is. Just explain to them that another dealer had attempted this twice and hadn't succeeded. I had to do the same thing with my '04 SR5 because the first dealer couldn't seem to get my wheels balanced correctly. The second dealer understood my frustration and did it free of charge.

 

[kgatch]

I took it to a dealership that has the Hunter GPS 9700 with StraightTrak LFM:

Here's the diagnosis:
Camber, Caster, and Toe in front were out and they performed the alignment. Interesting how it was out of alignment and I had taken it last Saturday to the previous dealership.
They test drove it, and it still pulled to the right. They then rotated the tires and they found it pulled to the other side.
Therefore, they then rotated the tires, even switching the rear right tire for the spare and road force balanced them. They tested it on the road. They said it should be ok.
Well, I immediately questioned the Service Advisor about tire defects and she was vague about it. When I hit the highway, the pulling still existed.

I have yet another appointment on Monday 8:00 am sharp and dropping it off all day to see if they can correct it at this 2nd dealership I took it to. In addition, they did not charge for anything. I'm beginning to think these are just crappy tires but there's so much "warranty" language in the Bridgestone booklet that looks ridiculous.

In the mean time, the car has just fallen under my state's (Maryland) lemon law. In anticipation of this, I've sent Toyota all the copies of warranty work done with a letter stating the problem and all legal codes etc. The law seems to be clear-cut but I doubt it is.

Yikes.....

 

[Derek]

I had similar problems with the Bridgestones on my '04 SR5. Those tires are junk, and the service advisor finally admitted to me that they were after the third attempt at balancing them. They were able to get them close to balanced, but never perfect, as they seemed to vibrate the most at round ~70 MPH. I have the Dunlops on my SE, and I know they aren't the best tires, but they don't vibrate, and they ride pretty nice for what they are. If I ever wanted another SR5, I'd make the dealer swap the Bridgestones for the Michelins that they put on a lot of the Limiteds.

 

[Kanab]

I had similar problems with the Bridgestones on my '04 SR5. Those tires are junk, and the service advisor finally admitted to me that they were after the third attempt at balancing them. They were able to get them close to balanced, but never perfect, as they seemed to vibrate the most at round ~70 MPH. I have the Dunlops on my SE, and I know they aren't the best tires, but they don't vibrate, and they ride pretty nice for what they are. If I ever wanted another SR5, I'd make the dealer swap the Bridgestones for the Michelins that they put on a lot of the Limiteds.

The only good tires Toyota puts on the 4runners are the Michelin Cross Terrains, I had the dealer put them on my SE as part of the deal. The other tires are crap and you need to tell them you will lemon law the whole car if they don't swap out your tires for the michelins.

 

[kgatch]

:bash: :awais:

So, of course, I took it back this morning. The Service Advisor had me drive with one of experienced mechanics, nice elderly guy. We drove on the highway and I showed him what I believe to be the pulling. So we pulled over and he drove. Well, I'm not crazy or exaggerating because he noticed and noted the problem of the pulling at highway speeds still existed.

He was totally stumped but I did throw in the "I believe it could be the tires" speech. Nice guy though, this dealership has been a lot easier to deal with. We began talking about the Hunter GSP 9700. He was telling me that he signed off on that when ordering it, cost a pretty penny, and was worth it because it saves a lot of time and guessing.

In any event, I went back to the waiting area while he said he was going to look up some TSB's and references. After a bit, he came back still stumped. They looked at the alignment and tires again and just are baffled. He said he was going to contact an engineer at Toyota and what-not.

I cannot wait to see what they have to say or how they want to go about fixing this. I feel like since they don't want to try new tires that I should push the lemon law and get this replaced.

 

[littlerascal88]

Did you rotate the tires to determine if the pulling ceases or moves position in accordance with a tire location? If it does, maybe you have a bad tire.

 

[kgatch]

The 2nd Dealership with the GSP 9700 and Straightrak LFM rotated all of the tires, even the spare. They rotated them until it was fine, supposedly.

Since my second repair appointment with them, its been a week and 3 days and they're still waiting for an answer from Toyota on how to fix my 4Runner. I told them "I think its the tires.....". Oh well, let's see what happens.

I just walked back from the post office sending Toyota their second lemon law letter with all my documents and what-not. Good stuff.....sigh

 

[kgatch]

This is interesting, a Toyota Factory Rep took a look at my 4Runner today.

After the service manager drove with me August, 8 and did notice that my problem of it pulling to the right still existed, the Factory Rep took all day to look at it extensively.

His findings: The vehicle drifts to the right. No pull exists. Drove a similar 4Runner and it had the same characteristics. No repair needed.

The dealership would not let me keep the copies of all the extensive "testing" done either.

So let me get this straight, everyone on here must drive a 4Runner at highway speeds and has to literally hold the steering wheel at 11:50 - 11:55 instead of 12:00 to get it to drive straight.

They gave me a free loaner vehicle. A Toyota Highlander that actually had pretty bad brakes. However, I drove the Highlander and decided to test it out. I put it on some straight aways on the freeway....no "drifting" when I drove it. I even took both hands off of the wheel and it drove straight perfectly for a very long time even over minor crowns.

In addition, the factory rep was late and when I got there, he left so I could not ask him any questions or he felt as if calling to talk with me was not important.

SWEET!!!