Front end vibration that comes and goes

[acr_ted]

Hi all,

I've noticed recently that my T4R (97 SR5) will have some serious front end vibration at highway speed when I first start out on a trip. After a few minutes the vibration does seem to go away, or if I stop at a store when I leave and get back on the freeway the vibration is gone!

The tires are new Michelins with about 1000 miles on them...and because the vibration goes away after a few miles (or sitting for a few minutes) I don't think the tires are bad...and I did notice this with the old tires as well.

I assume some rubber parts in the front suspension need replacing. I did replace the lower ball joints as well as the shocks a year or so ago.

Thoughts?

Thanks!

Ted

 

[01thunder]

worn out inner and outer tie rods, worn out upper and lower control arm bushings, worn upper ball joints, etc. does the steering wheel shimmy? 4wd, 2wd?

 

[BrianK14]

Front suspension issues don’t go away after you drive for awhile. Perhaps your noticing flat-spotted tires from the truck being parked? That does go away as the tires warm up.

 

[acr_ted]

The truck is a 4WD...and yes this does remind me of when I lived in the Great White North and the tires would thump for a few miles when it was 50 below .

But now I am in the Phoenix AZ area so that shouldn't be an issue I'd think. The tires are almost new Michelin LTX. And yes I can feel the vibration in the steering wheel. There was one time I thought the front wheels were vibrating so much I'd loose control (at 65 mph) so I slowed down for a mile or two, then speed up and all was well...the way it should be.

Any way to check these bushings and so on? My T4R only has about 99.6K miles on it and I rarely do much off roading so shouldn't those things still be ok? Maybe not though being 20 years old.

Thanks!

Ted

 

[Mr.X.]

I am having a similar issue with mine. Just picked her up few days ago. Feels like wheels out of balance

 

[acr_ted]

I am having a similar issue with mine. Just picked her up few days ago. Feels like wheels out of balance

Now that it is getting colder here in the Phoenix area I notice this problem even more. Today I made a run to Home Depot which is about 3 miles from here. On the way there on the freeway I couldn't safely go over 60 account the front wheels seemed to be about to hop off the road . Yet 20 minutes later on the way back home the T4R ran just perfect at 70 mph.

So what is going on here guys???

Thanks

Ted

 

[nobb]

Could be anything in the front end. For me, it was the tie rod ends. Sometimes just a little play in the components is enough to cause this sort of random wobble. All it takes is a small bump at the right frequency, then resonance takes over and the wobble becomes more severe, or it suddenly stops.

 

[gray_es300]

On lexus forums, the issue for intermittent vibrations ended up being bad axles, especially on the RX330-350s

 

[Mr.X.]

Now that it is getting colder here in the Phoenix area I notice this problem even more. Today I made a run to Home Depot which is about 3 miles from here. On the way there on the freeway I couldn't safely go over 60 account the front wheels seemed to be about to hop off the road . Yet 20 minutes later on the way back home the T4R ran just perfect at 70 mph.

So what is going on here guys???

Thanks

Ted

I took mine in for roadforce balancing and was told tires are way beyond spec. They did their best balancing them and put he 2 worst ones in the back. My vibration issue at 60mph is gone but I still have a tad bit vibration (felt at the pedal) while braking around 25mph which I am now trying to diagnose

Have you checked air pressure? Was the truck sitting for a while?

 

[thecole1098]

I took mine in for roadforce balancing and was told tires are way beyond spec. They did their best balancing them and put he 2 worst ones in the back. My vibration issue at 60mph is gone but I still have a tad bit vibration (felt at the pedal) while braking around 25mph which I am now trying to diagnose

Have you checked air pressure? Was the truck sitting for a while?

Your vibration at the pedal while braking is warped rotors and or drums. Get them all machined if they're still in spec.

 

[Mr.X.]

I took mine in for roadforce balancing and was told tires are way beyond spec. They did their best balancing them and put he 2 worst ones in the back. My vibration issue at 60mph is gone but I still have a tad bit vibration (felt at the pedal) while braking around 25mph which I am now trying to diagnose

Have you checked air pressure? Was the truck sitting for a while?

Your vibration at the pedal while braking is warped rotors and or drums. Get them all machined if they're still in spec.

I checked the brakes this morning they looked pretty good, I don't know how to check for warping. Any ideas?

 

[nevada]

I checked the brakes this morning they looked pretty good, I don't know how to check for warping. Any ideas?

I took mine in for roadforce balancing and was told tires are way beyond spec. They did their best balancing them and put he 2 worst ones in the back. My vibration issue at 60mph is gone but I still have a tad bit vibration (felt at the pedal) while braking around 25mph which I am now trying to diagnose

Have you checked air pressure? Was the truck sitting for a while?

you already checked it.

 

[thecole1098]

I checked the brakes this morning they looked pretty good, I don't know how to check for warping. Any ideas?

You can’t tell if rotors/drums are warped just by looking at it. It can be checked by measuring runout of the rotor but that’s a lot of work for something that’s relatively cheap to just go and get machined. The pulsating pedal says it all.

 

[octanejunkie]

Pulsing while braking may not be rotor runout, in fact it's unlikely that it is, in my experience. But if you replace or machine your rotors the effect may go away for a several hundred miles only to return again. Look at all the components that can contribute to this issue.

Things I would check/try before spending money on rotors (unless they are out of spec)
-check wear on pads, is wear uneven? If yes, might be a sticky piston in the caliper or bad pads
-check inner and outer tie rod ends for play
-check wheel balance
-buy a big bottle of DOT3 and bleed out your front calipers replacing ALL the fluid between the MC and the calipers
(when you are done with the front circuits, do the rear too and finish that bottle off)
-re-bed your brakes

The process of doing all these things will help you learn a lot about brakes, but if you want to throw money at the problem to make it go away for a while, you can do that too.

Luck :usa2:

 

[Mr.X.]

Pulsing while braking may not be rotor runout, in fact it's unlikely that it is, in my experience. But if you replace or machine your rotors the effect may go away for a several hundred miles only to return again. Look at all the components that can contribute to this issue.

Things I would check/try before spending money on rotors (unless they are out of spec)
-check wear on pads, is wear uneven? If yes, might be a sticky piston in the caliper or bad pads
-check inner and outer tie rod ends for play
-check wheel balance
-buy a big bottle of DOT3 and bleed out your front calipers replacing ALL the fluid between the MC and the calipers
(when you are done with the front circuits, do the rear too and finish that bottle off)
-re-bed your brakes

The process of doing all these things will help you learn a lot about brakes, but if you want to throw money at the problem to make it go away for a while, you can do that too.

Luck :usa2:

Sorry for the thread hijack op.

I am picking up a fresh set of tires tomorrow (Toyo opencountry). I've already checked the front pads, they seem good, off to check the rears. I'm also puzzled by steering wheel being out of calibration by almost 10degrees clockwise. My plan is to take it to an alignment shop to get a verdict. Brake fluid seems dirty and I think ti's time for a flush, checked the bleeders they seem to be good so gonna do a full flush when I take apart the brakes.

Thanks for the tips! I didn't suspect brake fluid as a culprit