Billynath1988
Senior Member
Sounds like a tire issue.
Cant figure out my steering wheel shaking
- Thread starter vastano
- Start date
nevada
Senior Member
same problem, and same year. started immediately with new tires. have had them rebalanced 3 times. had them replaced with a different set entirely. it feels like old biased ply tires, when they flat spot. its much worse in the mornings, and when the tires are cold. not nearly as bad in the afternoon. tire guys are as confused as I am. I personally did tires for a few years, and have a good idea what it takes to make these things run smooth. this one has us all baffled.
stock size and tread tires. I couldn't feel ANY difference between the first set, and the current ones. its annoying as hell though...
Billynath1988
Senior Member
possibly a blown shock? your alignment might be off? try jacking up each side and shaking stuff to see if anything is lose?
Hunter.Cribb
New member
Hunter.Cribb
New member
You know mine is worse in the mornings also! That’s so strange. I have new shocks and front cv axels so can’t think of what it could be.
That_Titanium_4RNR
New member
hmmm wondering if the weight just keeps coming off?
Hunter.Cribb
New member
I check and the weights haven’t moved or fallen off after the past 3 balances.
nevada
Senior Member
I threw mine on the lift and ran it in gear. the wheels are rock solid. not a bit of runout. but the tires have a definite bounce to them. the tire shop is going to order me yet another set of tires. this time a completely different brand.
I was quite happy with the OE tires, and that was the only reason I went with them again.
Hunter.Cribb
New member
Yea I’m thinking I have the same issue with a out of round tire.
I am having the same problem, same tires as you installed by Toyota about 5 weeks ago.. Had them re-balanced, but feeling the steering wheel shake again around 65-70 mph.
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Hunter.Cribb
New member
Interesting. Mine were installed in June. Well if it does happen to be a out of round tire I’m wondering if I can or should switch to a different brand.
It might very well be the calipers seize. I too recently had a small highway steering wheel vibration. I lived with it for a while and because the pads were going, I went to replace the rotors and pads. Found one of the caliper pistons on the inboard pass side was completely seized and the same inboard piston on the driver's side was starting to seize. Replaced the calipers and viola! Rides smooth as glass now.
Thank you NAPA Lifetime warranty!
Good luck!
I had calipers fail (stick) on the front brakes on my 2005 4runner - 150,000 miles.
Best to buy the new remanufactured ones as if you can't free the caliper pistons or you don't get it right - the pistons will stick again.
Calipers rust tight. https://www.amazon.com/CCK03115-Pre...5------------&vehicleName=2005+Toyota+4Runner :bump:
A bad front wheel bearing will cause steering wheels jitters and pull.
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Hunter.Cribb
New member
Well after 4 times of rebalancing at Toyota they confirmed with a meter that there are hard spots on the rotors and the calipers are tapping them at highway speeds. So crazy because I just had the calipers, pads and rotors replaced 2 months ago.
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AuSeeker
Elite Member
You say that they found "hard" spots on the rotors...did you mean to type "high" spots instead???
I ask because I don't see how a "hard" spot would effect the tire rotation in any way, on the other hand a "high" spot I can see where that could cause a shimmy.
So did you get this fix?
If so what did they do to fix it?
I can guess if it is indeed a 'high" spot/s that simply "turning"/machining the rotors will solve that.
Hunter.Cribb
New member
They say “Hard spots”. My steering wheel intermittently shakes when hitting the brakes and also inconsistently while cruising at highway speeds (60-70) they said the balancing was spot on and there’s no play in any suspension or steering components. They recommended resurfacing the rotors but I’m going to take it back to the shop that I had The brake job done and have them confirm.
AuSeeker
Elite Member
Thanks, I have a similar issue as well, but I pretty sure it's brake related as my brakes are due for replacement.
If they said "hard" spots and that "turning/resurfacing/machining" the rotors was what needed to be done, I'm sure they mean't to say "high" spots because it just doesn't make sense that "hard" spots would cause it to shimmy, especially when not using the brakes.
Please update your issue after getting the rotors resurfaced!
Hunter.Cribb
New member
Yeah I agree that high spots is probably what they meant to say. I will be getting it checked out this coming week and will update.
firebirdguy
Member
i also dont think they meant hard spots... & if so, what is this meter they used to determine hard vs soft spots on the rotor?
tpetsch
Member
I have the same issue myself and I have a theory I'd like you to think about: I think that in many cases the tires are balanced within spec but drive-line components are slightly out of balance. I have noticed wheel shake on the highway while going straight, but sometimes no shaking for long straight distances, then while going thru a long bend the shake goes away at some point in the turn, then I go thru another turn and the shake starts to increasingly materialize again. I believe the issue could be that the drive-line rotates at different rates in the turns and in time the drive line components line up in opposing high and low spots -no shake- than while going thru a turn the drive line components eventually meets up to a high + high, -right side vs. left drive shafts perhaps- thus exasperating drive line imbalances and the wheel shakes again at different intensities depending on where you are in terms of where the left side drive line is in relationship to the right side of the drive line. I may be crazy but the more I think about this and experiment the more I think it's got some possible relevance.
nevada
Senior Member
you might not be crazy. mine is definitely worse going around a long curve.
also, in the last week or so, our temps plummeted. cold mornings(mid to low 40's) I have significantly less vibrations. almost none at all. in the mid to lower 50's, its very bad. 60's and 70's, almost gone, but NOT as good as when its in the 40's. so strange...
