1engineer
Moderator
Yeah mine is adjustable but not as drastic as head tube angle lol. I like a slacker versus twitchy. Twitchy is for racing and youngsters...
"Floaty" steering on interstate - Tires or Alignment?
- Thread starter Throwback
- Start date
Yeah mine is adjustable but not as drastic as head tube angle lol. I like a slacker versus twitchy. Twitchy is for racing and youngsters...
Saxainpdx
New member
This weekend was the first time I had the new T4R on the interstate(and out of Oregon). Just put on a Toytec 2.5 Ultimate Lift and BFG 285/65-18's and thought they did pretty well. Passengers asked me why I was all over the road and I asked what they were talking about. I didn't really notice it, but after they asked, and depending on how worn the ruts/surface was, that I could just barely touch the steering wheel(like 1 degree or so) and it had a very tight/quick response. Wasn't too difficult to keep in the lane, but if I hit puddles or ruts at 70-75mph, I did have to correct.
Still happy with the alignment and tires. Although I need to replace the UCA's to get more caster. I think they could only get to 2.3 or something like that.
Still happy with the alignment and tires. Although I need to replace the UCA's to get more caster. I think they could only get to 2.3 or something like that.
Saker
Senior Member
they should have been able to get more than 2.3 degrees!
Saxainpdx
New member
Have lifetime alignments, so will take it back in a month or so and see if they can up the caster more.
Looking at the alignment sheet, it was left 2.04 and right 2.15
nevada
Senior Member
based on your initial post, it sounds like it was toed out. that will cause what you are describing.
After much research and driving the different models we finally decided that we wanted a new SR5 Premium because we do a lot of HWY driving. In our testing the SR5 model seemed the most comfortable on the HWY. So after deciding on the SR5 Premium it finally came down to which dealer would give us the best price That wound up being a dealer about an hour away from us who had a demo with 1500 miles on her that he was motivated to move.
So we did the perfunctory 5 mile test ride last evening and everything seemed fine and we finalized the deal. On our 60 mile hwy ride back home I was like,"Oh Chit" this thing is twitchy as can be - much more than I remember on my other longer test rides in other SR5's. I found it annoying as heck to keep between the white lines. Having never owned a 4runner a bit of doubt began to creep in my mind about the user-friendly hwy driveibility of these 4runners, but then I figured with the great reputation of the 4Runners it had to be correctable with tires or alignment.
After finding this thread I feel a bit relieved that others have faced and rectified this issue as well. Fingers crossed that our new issue is alignment.
Thoughts?
I'll let you know how it turns out.
So we did the perfunctory 5 mile test ride last evening and everything seemed fine and we finalized the deal. On our 60 mile hwy ride back home I was like,"Oh Chit" this thing is twitchy as can be - much more than I remember on my other longer test rides in other SR5's. I found it annoying as heck to keep between the white lines. Having never owned a 4runner a bit of doubt began to creep in my mind about the user-friendly hwy driveibility of these 4runners, but then I figured with the great reputation of the 4Runners it had to be correctable with tires or alignment.
After finding this thread I feel a bit relieved that others have faced and rectified this issue as well. Fingers crossed that our new issue is alignment.
Thoughts?
I'll let you know how it turns out.
Throwback
New member
I would call myself a near expert on this stuff at this point. I bought my 2014 TE in October and for tires I have run the original OEM Dunops, BFG KO2s (LR:C), Cooper ATPs (P), Cooper AT3s (P), and a different set of KO2s (LR:C).
I was convinced the poor driving characteristics were due to the tires, but after getting an alignment it turns out the twitchy/floaty feeling was mainly a symptom of poor alignment.
I wouldn't mind mine to be a little bit tighter, which means having the caster closer to maxed out, but right now I'm in the dead middle of acceptable caster variation according to the dealer.
I would recommend having your dealer do an alignment and ask that they take the caster further than mid-spec, which should be close to 3 degrees or more.
I was convinced the poor driving characteristics were due to the tires, but after getting an alignment it turns out the twitchy/floaty feeling was mainly a symptom of poor alignment.
I wouldn't mind mine to be a little bit tighter, which means having the caster closer to maxed out, but right now I'm in the dead middle of acceptable caster variation according to the dealer.
I would recommend having your dealer do an alignment and ask that they take the caster further than mid-spec, which should be close to 3 degrees or more.
Thanks, I have a service appt set for Thursday.
