Driveline Vibration

I'm having the exact same problem as Alleyman84. Right at 60mph I notice the vibration in the steering wheel, and it fades away around 65mph. I have 2500miles so far. The dealer has balanced the wheels twice, and my local service station once, with none of them producing any changes in the vibe.

I've got another appointment on Saturday with Toyota, and my service representative said he will get his manager involved to see what the problem could be, whether a bad tire or otherwise. I hope it's just a bad tire. And will keep all posted, and I'm anxious to hear how others fare.
 
alleyman84 said:
Well, I'm not sure if my problem is exactly the same as yours, but here is an issue I've been having lately and it's at the dealer for the 2nd time right now. When the 4R gets to about 63 MPH (usually between 60 and 65) the steering wheel starts to vibrate, and even a slight pulling to the right is noticed. It is not always present, but most of the time it is. It does seem to get a bit better when it warms up, so possibly a bad tire (which they are going to look into). They already found a tire slightly out of balance and they balanced it. They also checked the alignment and said it all checked out fine (although I noticed the computerized printout was from a 4th gen). It only started about 1500 miles ago. I'm at 12,300 miles.

The interesting thing is, I noticed it after my last tire rotation. The service manager thinks it's a tire issue and that the suspect tire may have been in the back and once it was moved up front it's more noticeable in the steering wheel. I'll keep you informed...and let me know if any of you have ideas.
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scrappyirishman said:
I'm having the exact same problem as Alleyman84. Right at 60mph I notice the vibration in the steering wheel, and it fades away around 65mph. I have 2500miles so far. The dealer has balanced the wheels twice, and my local service station once, with none of them producing any changes in the vibe.

I've got another appointment on Saturday with Toyota, and my service representative said he will get his manager involved to see what the problem could be, whether a bad tire or otherwise. I hope it's just a bad tire. And will keep all posted, and I'm anxious to hear how others fare.
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Mine does that as well. Thats why I was surprised that the new tires didn't take care of it. Regardless of what they come up with at the dealer today, I am going to have the wheels road force tested to make sure there isnt a bad wheel.
 
specific speeds and steering wheel vibes certainly sounds like tire balance or bad tire issues.

driveline vibes are usually more audible (cyclable) and/or felt in the gas pedal.
 
KevinG said:
It is definitely not a noise. I have had it all along but always chalked it up to a bad wheel or tire because you could see the shimmy in the steering wheel. Once I replaced the tires, the shimmy went away but the vibration is still there. You can see the passenger seat and belt shaking as you go down the highway. If you place anything on the passenger seat, it shakes like crazy, take a full beverage in an aluminum can and place in the passenger door panel holder, you can hear it shaking. The pulsating feeling I experience after coasting is best described as a hesitation/slight bucking but it is definitely not an engine power hesitation.
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My passenger seat shakes as well, but I don't feel anything excessive that is noticeable. I went on a 2 hour drive this past weekend with no issues.
 
4RBob said:
specific speeds and steering wheel vibes certainly sounds like tire balance or bad tire issues.

driveline vibes are usually more audible (cyclable) and/or felt in the gas pedal.
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Here is my suggestion from experience. First, check the alignment. All four wheels. If that checks out, then increase the PSI at 5 pound increments, not exceeding the max PSI and see if the vibrations change. If they change, I am thinking it is your tires. If it does not go away, bring your tires to a reputable "speed" shop and have them check the tires while spinning not just for balance, but for high spots, heavy spots, bounce or tread waver.

If there is a high spot or a heavy spot on the tire, there is usually a correlating heavy spot or high spot on the wheel. By spinning the wheel to have the heavy spot of the wheel 180 degrees from the heavy spot of the tire, this can help tremendously. If you discover "bounce" while the tire is spinning, if too much, bad tire. If there is tread waver, whereas when looking at the spinning tire, you actually see the tread shift quickly from left to right, bad tire.

3 out of 4 high priced Michelin tires on my last install were found to have these problems. This was discovered after the balance and install, then many of the same symptoms described on this thread. I had the tires reexamined by a more caring eye, and discovered the problems. All three tires were replaced immediately, no more problems.
 
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The dealer (that I will no longer go to) apparently tried to do something right even though I think they had a different motive. They were the one's who steered me towards it being a bad tire so I replaced all 4. Yesterday, they asked if I still had the stock tires because they wanted to see them. I said no, you told me they weren't covered under warranty and suggested I replace them, Firestone sent them back under manufacture defect. They said that the tires were out of balance...again. It appears they marked the inside of each wheel with the road force test results. This is from my left rear...
 

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Here's a follow-up to my trip to the Toyota dealer on Saturday morning. The service rep wanted to try to spin balance the tires again, but I said I think the problem is beyond that since that has already been done 3 times, and he agreed. So he did the road-force balancing on the front two wheels/tires. One tire had a result of 9lbs, and the other one was 19lbs (anything over 10 he said could be considered bad). He is confident the 19lb'er is the culprit for the steering wheel shimmy, and has ordered a new tire (Dunlop).

The guys so far have been responsive to getting a remedy, and I was happy to hear that they felt the shimmy, too, when they took it out for a spin. I was afraid I was imagining it.

When the tire comes in, and I have the time to take the 4Runner back in, I'll follow-up with the result.

Bill
 
Here's my follow-up: The first new tire they ordered and put on didn't solve the problem. They recognized this immediately at the service department, so my service manager advised me to bring the truck in on a weekday, and leave it for the whole day so they could do a complete diagnosis (I had been coming on a Saturday morning, their busiest day of the week). So I dropped it off last Thursday and they provided a 2011 Sequoia for me to drive for the day.

Long story short, they found another of the front tires was also bad and they replaced that one, along with another road force balancing. While they were at it, they also checked out all the suspension and steering stuff to make sure it wasn't something else. So far, I think it is okay. I'm attributing any steering wheel vibe I feel now is just normal road bumps, cracks, etc. I told the service rep that I'd let him know for sure at the 5000 mile check-up (I'm at about 3000 miles now).

Even though it took 4 trips to the dealer and one to a service station, the dealership has always been as persistent to fix the problem as I have.
 
scrappyirishman said:
Here's my follow-up: The first new tire they ordered and put on didn't solve the problem. They recognized this immediately at the service department, so my service manager advised me to bring the truck in on a weekday, and leave it for the whole day so they could do a complete diagnosis (I had been coming on a Saturday morning, their busiest day of the week). So I dropped it off last Thursday and they provided a 2011 Sequoia for me to drive for the day.

Long story short, they found another of the front tires was also bad and they replaced that one, along with another road force balancing. While they were at it, they also checked out all the suspension and steering stuff to make sure it wasn't something else. So far, I think it is okay. I'm attributing any steering wheel vibe I feel now is just normal road bumps, cracks, etc. I told the service rep that I'd let him know for sure at the 5000 mile check-up (I'm at about 3000 miles now).

Even though it took 4 trips to the dealer and one to a service station, the dealership has always been as persistent to fix the problem as I have.
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Hope that is your fix!! At least your dealer is responsive. I dont have any updates, as I need to take some time off from work, in order to bring mine into a different dealer. In the meantime, I drive it daily and get a great massage on my way to work and back. It is disgusting how bad mine has been lately, now that the weather has gotten colder. It has brought me to the point where I no longer even enjoy to drive it...
 
KevinG said:
Hope that is your fix!! At least your dealer is responsive. I dont have any updates, as I need to take some time off from work, in order to bring mine into a different dealer. In the meantime, I drive it daily and get a great massage on my way to work and back. It is disgusting how bad mine has been lately, now that the weather has gotten colder. It has brought me to the point where I no longer even enjoy to drive it...
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I am curious, what speeds does this happen? Did the problem get worse the more time you drove your 4R? Did you test drive YOUR 4R before you bought it, and if so, did you not notice the vibration then?

Just my curiosity getting the best of me.
 
westwind77 said:
I am curious, what speeds does this happen? Did the problem get worse the more time you drove your 4R? Did you test drive YOUR 4R before you bought it, and if so, did you not notice the vibration then?

Just my curiosity getting the best of me.
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It is at highway speeds. After a 10 minutes or so, it will go from a shimmy to just a vibration unless I stay right at 62 mph. At that speed, the shimmy is always there. My 4R is the only one I drove before buying and I didn't notice it then but only drove a very short distance on the highway plus it was raining and windy...
 
Mtn.Rush said:
Here was my expierence, and its back...not bad at all but there. Its gotta be the tires. Happy reading and hope you get it solved, I started this thread a while back.
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-gen-t4rs/68913-what-tires-your-limited.html
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Thanks, I had been through that thread before. I dont know if you read my original post, but I replaced all 4 tires because the dealer said it had to be a bad tire and they werent covered...I really love my ride but I cant even enjoy it or take it off road, fearing they will end up blaming it on that.
 
Has anybody checked the rotors (warped) for the source of the shimmy/vibration? I had a similar problem on an '03 Jeep Grand Cherokee, when the rotors were replaced the shimmy/vibration went away. Yes, the rotors were warped and that was due to the rotor manufacturer and not driving style!

Mike :artist2:
 
philsey said:
Kevin - anything new?
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Phil, I have an appointment with a different dealer scheduled for the end of this month. I have the paperwork ready for our Lemon Law, as a last resort.

B'klyn_Mike said:
Has anybody checked the rotors (warped) for the source of the shimmy/vibration? I had a similar problem on an '03 Jeep Grand Cherokee, when the rotors were replaced the shimmy/vibration went away. Yes, the rotors were warped and that was due to the rotor manufacturer and not driving style!

Mike :artist2:
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They have done nothing except blame it on the tires being out of balance. I could see how just a rotor being slightly warped would cause a vibration. The odd thing is when it was around 70 degrees out, the shimmy was horrific! Now that it is much cooler out, the shimmy is almost completely gone but the vibration is the same. Very frustrating
 
KevinG said:
Phil, I have an appointment with a different dealer scheduled for the end of this month. I have the paperwork ready for our Lemon Law, as a last resort.



They have done nothing except blame it on the tires being out of balance. I could see how just a rotor being slightly warped would cause a vibration. The odd thing is when it was around 70 degrees out, the shimmy was horrific! Now that it is much cooler out, the shimmy is almost completely gone but the vibration is the same. Very frustrating
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I'm having the same problem and it's realllllly starting to piss me off.

I've had the tires balanced twice now and I don't have time to keep bringing it back to get brushed off. Makes me sad I swapped the Lexus for a Toyota. Their service dept would give massages while you waited for an oil change.

Anywhoo --- I'm going back sometime this week for a final 'WTF fix my vibration meeting' but I'm not hopefull.

The interesting thing here is, you have the SR5 and I have the LE so I'm on 20" wheels and different tires. I have a feeling it's something else at this point.

Question -- when you're crusing at 62 and you tweak the wheel for a halfsecond or so (think like an aborted lane change) does the Steering Column react very strangely? Like it loosens up then whiplashes back with intense feedback? It feels like one of my wheels is loose and flapping around.

On that note -- does that happen for folks without the phantom vibration?

Thanks,

Henry
 
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Looks like this thread is alive again. It's been three weeks since they replaced my two front tires and road force balanced them, and I wanted to give enough time to test it out before I replied. It seems the steering wheel shimmy is "mostly" gone. It does come back, but not as bad as before.

Like KevinG noticed, when it is cooler, it isn't as bad. That makes me wonder if it is worse when I run the A/C, and the extra load on the compressor and belt might have something to do with it.

It seemed to come back also right after I had to hit the brakes hard on the freeway, which might lean towards the warped rotor theory that B'klyn Mike has mentioned.

I know I'm grasping straws, and I'll let the dealer know about it next month when I take it in for the 5000 mile check.

Oh, and I haven't noticed the steering column reaction that Henry mentioned.


Bill
 
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