Rough ride question

[2021nightshade4x4]

I have suddenly noticed that the ride on my 2017 4Runner is very bumpy.Noticing every little imperfection in the road and the whole vehicle vibrates.

This started after my last oil and tire rotation service at the dealer.

Checked the tire pressure with two different gauge's and they are +/- 32 PSI. The tread has still got around 20k miles left.

Tire alignment seems fine as it is not pulling to either side. I have read about this issue elsewhere and they said to balance the tires properly. Well, if the tires were not balanced properly, then I should notice it no matter what road I drive in. But on smooth highways the vehicle runs perfect sometimes even doing 80 mph +.

Once you hit a rough road, which is not really rough with potholes or anything but the top of the road has worn off revealing the gravel, then the bumpyness gets annoying.

One more thing I noticed is, when you are turning your vehicle into a parking lot, there is squealing noise from the tires.Hear it from the rear.

What could this be?

Dealer lifted the vehicle improperly (under control arms and not on the frame like they should) and it ripped through your LCA bushings?

Asking the audience… plausible?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[krravi]

Dealer lifted the vehicle improperly (under control arms and not on the frame like they should) and it ripped through your LCA bushings?

Asking the audience… plausible?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You know I want to badly go underneath my Toyota and check everything out and its so damn cold, I can't bring myself to do it. Can't wait for warm weather.

But, you may have a point. Some have said that after lifting their car, the struts were frozen and felt like there was no suspension at all. My experience is, the suspension does go up and down during highway travel with smooth road bumps. I have talked to the dealer and he is going to check it out. I hope he doesn't stiff me for a suspension replacement. Going to ask him to balance the tires and do an alignment once again.

But this was an interesting read on that issue,

Ride VERY stiff after jacking up Outlook to work on brakes/rotate tires | Saturn Outlook Forum

 

[2021nightshade4x4]

You know I want to badly go underneath my Toyota and check everything out and its so damn cold, I can't bring myself to do it. Can't wait for warm weather.

But, you may have a point. Some have said that after lifting their car, the struts were frozen and felt like there was no suspension at all. My experience is, the suspension does go up and down during highway travel with smooth road bumps. I have talked to the dealer and he is going to check it out. I hope he doesn't stiff me for a suspension replacement. Going to ask him to balance the tires and do an alignment once again.

But this was an interesting read on that issue,

Ride VERY stiff after jacking up Outlook to work on brakes/rotate tires | Saturn Outlook Forum

I had a vehicle (not my 4Runner) where that exact situation happened. I had a flat and the only place I could reach on the leaky tire was a Discount Tire.

Once the new tire was on, I took it to the dealer to investigate the clunk. Luckily there was a recall for the LCA bushings so there was no need to pursue the tire shop.

But sticks in my mind to this day.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Lexington]

I found out over the years the most common cause of vehicle vibrations or rough rides are bad wheels. If you have older tires the usual culprit are tires that have worn down unevenly due to improper balancing, improper tire inflation, bad alignment, not rotating the tires on a regular basis or all of the above. Once this occurs no amount of balancing or wheel alignment will fix it. Only a new set of tires will. If you have new tires that vibrate or gives you a rough ride the first thing you should do is have it rebalanced. If that does it fix it you just may have a bad new tire. It happens from time to time. In the molding process the rubber usually spread out evenly with some minor imperfections and that’s why they need to be balanced but sometime the distribution is uneven to the point where even balance weights won’t balance it out. Take it back and ask for a replacement.

 

[krravi]

I found out over the years the most common cause of vehicle vibrations or rough rides are bad wheels. If you have older tires the usual culprit are tires that have worn down unevenly due to improper balancing, improper tire inflation, bad alignment, not rotating the tires on a regular basis or all of the above. Once this occurs no amount of balancing or wheel alignment will fix it. Only a new set of tires will. If you have new tires that vibrate or gives you a rough ride the first thing you should do is have it rebalanced. If that does it fix it you just may have a bad new tire. It happens from time to time. In the molding process the rubber usually spread out evenly with some minor imperfections and that’s why they need to be balanced but sometime the distribution is uneven to the point where even balance weights won’t balance it out. Take it back and ask for a replacement.

You know, I think you might be right. I bought one of those tire tread measuring things from WalMart the other day and went through all four tires. Sure enough, the depth guage showed different readings from side to side. I have always had it rotated and balanced at every service at the dealer and even had it aligned once.
After rotating the tires is when this problem became noticable and the treads on the rear(now) are better than the front. Maybe that's what it is? I am not sure, if I have to rotate them back.

There is a possibility that, at times I might have been lax about the tire pressure causing uneven wear.

But highway travel is smooth as butter. No pulling to one side, no steering wheel shake and absolutely no symptoms. That's what is puzzling. But the tire guage is all yellow, which means I might be at the end of my tire life. But only has 47k miles.

There is this thing called camber/castor and I am wondering if somehow that is off.

Anyways, I am taking it to the dealer as I just got it serviced and see maybe if it needs an alignment.

If all else fails, I might just have to buy new tires this prematurely. Next, I need to research what other tires to buy. Stock tires were fine but something with a little more bite for rain would be nice. Not planning on Off roading at all.

 

[Lexington]

You know, I think you might be right. I bought one of those tire tread measuring things from WalMart the other day and went through all four tires. Sure enough, the depth guage showed different readings from side to side. I have always had it rotated and balanced at every service at the dealer and even had it aligned once.
After rotating the tires is when this problem became noticable and the treads on the rear(now) are better than the front. Maybe that's what it is? I am not sure, if I have to rotate them back.

There is a possibility that, at times I might have been lax about the tire pressure causing uneven wear.

But highway travel is smooth as butter. No pulling to one side, no steering wheel shake and absolutely no symptoms. That's what is puzzling. But the tire guage is all yellow, which means I might be at the end of my tire life. But only has 47k miles.

There is this thing called camber/castor and I am wondering if somehow that is off.

Anyways, I am taking it to the dealer as I just got it serviced and see maybe if it needs an alignment.

If all else fails, I might just have to buy new tires this prematurely. Next, I need to research what other tires to buy. Stock tires were fine but something with a little more bite for rain would be nice. Not planning on Off roading at all.

Very likely. I think the biggest culprit is bad alignment. Most people think you just align your wheels once and forget about it. But alignments can be knocked out of place for various reasons over a period of time. I usually redo mine roughly every two or 3 tire rotations. In your case you could of had just one wheel where the camber castor got knocked out of alignment and once you rotated it it became noticeable.

 

[krravi]

Very likely. I think the biggest culprit is bad alignment. Most people think you just align your wheels once and forget about it. But alignments can be knocked out of place for various reasons over a period of time. I usually redo mine roughly every two or 3 tire rotations. In your case you could of had just one wheel where the camber castor got knocked out of alignment and once you rotated it it became noticeable.

I just had the wheels aligned and the only thing that was off was the front left tire. But, inspite of that the rough ride persists. It is almost like there is no suspension.

I will post the wheel alignment report shortly.

 

[krravi]

I finally found the issue. Front suspension is shot. Strange that it goes out after a dealer service.

Anyways it is very bouncy during turns and the front end dips like a boat when you apply brakes. This explains why on smooth roads I didn't feel anything and yet on gravel or country roads I could feel every little indents on the road. My vehicle is basically running on coil springs and front shocks are doing nothing.

Now I am contemplating wether to buy the Bilstein and get a little lift in the front or go with KYB to keep it close to OEM.

 

[repo]

30 psi is too low for E rated at highway speed.

LT tires need more air pressure.

 

[repo]

Update:
Ditching the E rated Terra Grapplers made a huge difference.
Ride is much smoother now with Wildpeaks and 5100s.

I noticed the same going from KO2s to UltraTerrain ATs. Sidewall stiffness makes a big difference between different E tires it seems.