Road vibration

[zamboknee]

My 2002 SR5 is constantly vibrating at highway speed and a lot of times at 35-50mph speeds.
My buddy, who owns a shop, has replaced the rotors TWICE, brake pads once, checked brake lines for leaks, it's aligned but we just can't figure out what's wrong.
Can anyone (with some sort of automotive knowledge) chime in here. My buddy's thinking most of my problem is that the truck is just getting up there and will never run perfectly smooth again (105k miles).
And, yeah, I'm probably gonna take it elsewhere but I wanted to get some feedback here before going to a different shop.
Thanks

 

[Doc2012]

My 2002 SR5 is constantly vibrating at highway speed and a lot of times at 35-50mph speeds.
My buddy, who owns a shop, has replaced the rotors TWICE, brake pads once, checked brake lines for leaks, it's aligned but we just can't figure out what's wrong.
Can anyone (with some sort of automotive knowledge) chime in here. My buddy's thinking most of my problem is that the truck is just getting up there and will never run perfectly smooth again (105k miles).
And, yeah, I'm probably gonna take it elsewhere but I wanted to get some feedback here before going to a different shop.
Thanks

Mine has close to 200k and is smooth as silk.

Get your tires rotated and balanced. You might be past that point, and may need new tires all together if thier worn out incorrectly.

 

[Dark Lord]

Although I can't say I know this 100%. This was my #1 problem on my truck, and I did a lot of reading on this issue and concluded to a few things. After all the reading and searching on this issue, I came to believe 90% of the time, the highway vibration has to deal with balancing issues whether it be aftermarket wheels or OEM.

What kind of wheels do you have? Aftermarket or OEM?

From my understanding, taking it to a shop to get a road force balance usually fixes this.

 

[Crashnrondo]

Would it still be the tire balance if the vibes come and go on the highway?

 

[Dark Lord]

Well, if it's something that only vibrates when you give it gas then it's definitely not the balance. On my Limited 4runner, I have American Racing Outlaw II wheels with LT285/75/R16 tires, and it starts vibrating at 55MPH and continues from then on. In the 4runner I just recently bought, it doesn't vibrate at all at highway speeds, and I'm assuming because of the FJC wheels with a proper balance.

 

[waketek516]

I was JUST going to open a thread on this. Mine is doing the same thing from 40-50mph.

I'm going to have it checked out this week. Here's a video I took of mine - Watch the cruise control stalk shake:
4Runner Wheel Shake - YouTube

 

[nevada]

Would it still be the tire balance if the vibes come and go on the highway?

yes.
just about everytime.
the harmonics of the vibration based on the diameter of the tire will cause it cancel the vibrations out at certain speeds.

 

[Dark Lord]

yes.
just about everytime.
the harmonics of the vibration based on the diameter of the tire will cause it cancel the vibrations out at certain speeds.

Hmmm.... interesting, didn't know that.

 

[waketek516]

Going to get the balance on mine checked today, and I ordered a set of Prothane steering rack bushings as well. I figure with 192,000 miles it can't hurt to replace them.

 

[zamboknee]

I've got General Grabber tires. Gonna get the fancy-pants balance and alignment checked.

 

[SoAZ4Runner]

My 2002 SR5 is constantly vibrating at highway speed and a lot of times at 35-50mph speeds.
My buddy, who owns a shop, has replaced the rotors TWICE, brake pads once, checked brake lines for leaks, it's aligned but we just can't figure out what's wrong.
Can anyone (with some sort of automotive knowledge) chime in here. My buddy's thinking most of my problem is that the truck is just getting up there and will never run perfectly smooth again (105k miles).
And, yeah, I'm probably gonna take it elsewhere but I wanted to get some feedback here before going to a different shop.
Thanks

Do you have a lift? Maybe you threw a weight on the tires? Or the U-joint is at an extreme angle on the drive shaft from a big lift. There are tons of things. Spec out your truck porfavor!

 

[zamboknee]

Do you have a lift? Maybe you threw a weight on the tires? Or the U-joint is at an extreme angle on the drive shaft from a big lift. There are tons of things. Spec out your truck porfavor!

No lift at all. Stock 2002 SR5 with General Grabber tires. Any specifics other than that, please let me know what I can provide.

 

[jreask]

I have owned 12 different third gen 4Runners. About ten of them had the shaky/vibration. EVERY TIME I had the tires road force balanced, it eliminated the problem. EVERY TIME !!!!

 

[Arv]

if you have aftermarket wheels ET lug nuts definitely helps. these are conical type lugs with a short shank like the OEs. Aside from roadforce balancing make sure they back cone the wheel at a minimum and if they have a haweka or similar FIXED finger adapter have them use it. Finally make sure they zero it out and don't use dynamic weight balancing or some labor/weight saving mode on the balancer. search for the thread I started about this and vibrations I had to deal with for over a decade. And yes they come and go.