High Speed Shimmy on 2015's

[ZJumper]

High Speed Shimmy on 2015's ??

Back when I got my 2011, myself and quite a few other forum members battled a high speed shimmy of sorts ranging from 60-70 mph. Some were able to rectify the issue with repeated tire balances or new tires. Mine was a case of new tires and one shop that can get them right.

Has the issue been rectified? Just haven't seen anything mentioning the issue in a long time.

Are there any guys with 14-15 4Runners with the shimmy?

 

[Raven]

No shimmy here - 2015 TE

 

[Misterquad]

This was a problem with the FJ Cruisers too. Even brand new trucks off the lot. Some of them went through several re-balancings and rotations to fix it. Some just had to swap tires and rims.

The tires that were the toughest for me to keep in balance were BFGs, KOs and KM2s. And I am not talking about a single set, I have had over 6 different sets. The other thing to check was roundness. One day, the Discount Tire manager explained said to me that, "I can balance an egg", but it won't make it ride smooth. I actually had to take my KM2s in to a shop and have them shaved to get them round.

I would check balancing, roundness and mounting too. The rims are hub centric. And if not completely centered properly you will get a shake too.

 

[Randyman...]

Roadforce Balancing and Computer Ride Matching will help tremendously IMNSHO. Had the same issues with 6-7 sets of BFG All-Terrain's on my '87 T4R 4x4 and '99 TRD Tacoma (went through 3 sets of rear wheel bearings thanks in no small part to a horrible balance!).

Once I began demanding Roadforce balancing, been smooth as silk. This not only addresses balance much better than a regular balancing machine, but matches the low-spot of the rim to the high-spot on the tire (or vice-versa) and can get you closer to a perfect circle even with non-perfect tires/wheels.

Not all shops are equipped to handle this - find one that is and stick with them IMO. I believe the Hunter GSP9700 is a fairly popular model, and is what my Discount Tire uses to my repeated satisfaction. Don't settle for less IMO - our T4R's deserve it

 

[marshal]

ultimately you're looking at the tires being at fault for the shimmy. and unfortunately for BFG their tire construction process leaves fault in the roundness of their tires as a sacrifice for being super light.

the most round well constructed tire you can get right now comes from Nitto and Toyo, albeit they're very heavy. they use a special method for constructing tires that leaves them almost perfectly balanced and round from the factory.

 

[Misterquad]

ultimately you're looking at the tires being at fault for the shimmy. and unfortunately for BFG their tire construction process leaves fault in the roundness of their tires as a sacrifice for being super light.

the most round well constructed tire you can get right now comes from Nitto and Toyo, albeit they're very heavy. they use a special method for constructing tires that leaves them almost perfectly balanced and round from the factory.

I cannot describe the ride quality improvement I found when I switch from BFG KOs over to Nitto TG. But I still remember that day and the drive to work. It was beautiful.

 

[marshal]

i love my 285x75/17 Terra Grapplers, they'll be worn out by summer and I'm going shopping likely for a pair of 35x12.50R17 Trail Grapplers next go round

 

[bste3]

I had this problem with my 2015. I had Goodyear Wrangler A/T Adventure tires swapped out for the OEM tires immediately upon possession. I ended up taking it back to the dealer to fix some rubbing between my steering wheel and steering column and asked them to rebalance / realign while it was in the shop. It was probably the tire place's fault, but that solved the problem.

 

[Mooney]

ultimately you're looking at the tires being at fault for the shimmy. and unfortunately for BFG their tire construction process leaves fault in the roundness of their tires as a sacrifice for being super light.

the most round well constructed tire you can get right now comes from Nitto and Toyo, albeit they're very heavy. they use a special method for constructing tires that leaves them almost perfectly balanced and round from the factory.

BFG superlight? Always ran BFG, and still run them on my Gen 2, but went with Nitto partly because it was lighter . . . . they seem round to me.

 

[marshal]

Generally, BFG in an identical comparison BFGs products will always be significantly lighter than the competition. Of course the tire is round, but the manufacturing process they use, like Goodyear and a several others leads to imperfections. The manufacturing method that nitto, and their parent toyo use for building the carcass takes more time and is more expensive but results in a higher quality tire in the end.

 

[Cheers!]

Is this the case for OEM stock 4runners? I've had my 2015 Limited 80+ mph and no issues (but I'm on stock Yokohama GEOLanders and the stock 20" rims).

 

[Taco04]

A lot of BFG's tend to run small compared to their competition which is another reason they run lighter.

 

[Mooney]

Generally, BFG in an identical comparison BFGs products will always be significantly lighter than the competition. Of course the tire is round, but the manufacturing process they use, like Goodyear and a several others leads to imperfections. The manufacturing method that nitto, and their parent toyo use for building the carcass takes more time and is more expensive but results in a higher quality tire in the end.

Hmm . . . got that.

However the 285/70/17 in BFG KO is 55.5 and Nitto T. Grapp is 46. Nitto was the lightest tire I could find in that category . . . multiplied by four tires the BFG added almost an extra tires worth of weight.

 

[marshal]

We're they the same load rating? The difference from a C to a D is pretty significant in weight.

Regardless, that's a rarity that BFG wasn't the lightest - and surprising to me.

 

[marshal]

We're they the same load rating? The difference from a C to a D is pretty significant in weight.

Regardless, that's a rarity that BFG wasn't the lightest - and surprising to me.

 

[05Rrunner]

Back when I got my 2011, myself and quite a few other forum members battled a high speed shimmy of sorts ranging from 60-70 mph. Some were able to rectify the issue with repeated tire balances or new tires. Mine was a case of new tires and one shop that can get them right.

Has the issue been rectified? Just haven't seen anything mentioning the issue in a long time.

Are there any guys with 14-15 4Runners with the shimmy?

The fix for the shimmy was introduced in around late 2012 and was a heavier spring in the steering rack and bypass valve adjustment, this also applied to Lexus GX 460. My 2013 trail edition was very good but it did sometimes feel like it was on the edge of shimmying. My 2015 Trail edition feels solid so far no shimmy at all so I believe the issue has been resolved.

 

[ZJumper]

The fix for the shimmy was introduced in around late 2012 and was a heavier spring in the steering rack and bypass valve adjustment, this also applied to Lexus GX 460. My 2013 trail edition was very good but it did sometimes feel like it was on the edge of shimmying. My 2015 Trail edition feels solid so far no shimmy at all so I believe the issue has been resolved.

That was a Lexus-only TSB and never applied to the T4R's or FJ's that had the same issue and have virtually the same steering rack.

 

[05Rrunner]

That was a Lexus-only TSB and never applied to the T4R's or FJ's that had the same issue and have virtually the same steering rack.

That's contrary to the information that I have gathered over the years.
How else would you explain the end of the shimmy ? All of a sudden people figured out how to balance tires?
The rack and calibration was updated across the line including Lexus, Prado, FJ and 4runner. But I don't really care enough to get into any kind of whatever so we can agree to disagree.

 

[ZJumper]

That's contrary to the information that I have gathered over the years.
How else would you explain the end of the shimmy ? All of a sudden people figured out how to balance tires?
The rack and calibration was updated across the line including Lexus, Prado, FJ and 4runner. But I don't really care enough to get into any kind of whatever so we can agree to disagree.

I'm not trying to get into any sort of argument. Just stated that I've only seen the .pdf for the Lexus TSB referenced in the Lexus/FJ/Prado/Taco threads concerning it.

When was the rack and calibration updated? Never heard of that.

Heres the reason for asking:

1. I had a 2011 T4R that had a case of the shakes
2. Countless balancing by dealer/tire shop. Toyota claimed it was "characteristic of the vehicle." BS!
3. New tires and road forced seemed to cure it until recently
4. Started again out of the blue
5. More balancing by dealer/tire shops
6. Frustrated with the vehicle
7. Sold it 2 days later

I loved it with it wasn't shaking. Just thinking of getting a 2015 but not wanting to take a gamble with another parkinsons disease T4R

 

[05Rrunner]

I'm not trying to get into any sort of argument. Just stated that I've only seen the .pdf for the Lexus TSB referenced in the Lexus/FJ/Prado/Taco threads concerning it.

When was the rack and calibration updated? Never heard of that.

Heres the reason for asking:

1. I had a 2011 T4R that had a case of the shakes
2. Countless balancing by dealer/tire shop. Toyota claimed it was "characteristic of the vehicle." BS!
3. New tires and road forced seemed to cure it until recently
4. Started again out of the blue
5. More balancing by dealer/tire shops
6. Frustrated with the vehicle
7. Sold it 2 days later

I loved it with it wasn't shaking. Just thinking of getting a 2015 but not wanting to take a gamble with another parkinsons disease T4R

If you had a 2011, then you were prime to have the shimmy no matter how many tire balances were done. The rack was just set up to soft to hold that size tire and SLA suspension style. As I stated above, I believe the fix was done in late 2012 calander year (around 11/12) as a running change to the whole 150 chassis line. The late 2013, 2014, 2015's all seem to be rock solid. Now that's not to say you can't have a shimmy on those model years there are still many other factors that can cause a shimmy , like tires etc.. but the reacurring and annoying 45 to 65 mile an hour shimmy has been fixed.