Smooth ride sometimes, vibrating others

[Andy_H]

Does anyone have experience with this problem - I can hop in my 4Runner and it will drive nice and smooth, but then later that day it will vibrate like crazy. Nothing different about the trips, like today I took the kids and dogs to the park and it was fine on the way there but the trip home felt like all the counterweights had been removed time my tires. Any ideas what could cause this? 96 4Runner BTW.

Thanks

 

[Bad Luck]

Does anyone have experience with this problem - I can hop in my 4Runner and it will drive nice and smooth, but then later that day it will vibrate like crazy. Nothing different about the trips, like today I took the kids and dogs to the park and it was fine on the way there but the trip home felt like all the counterweights had been removed time my tires. Any ideas what could cause this? 96 4Runner BTW.

Thanks

Sounds like tires to me. Sometimes with older tires a belt will shift once they get warm enough and cause a vibration.

 

[JLTD]

Not so sure about the shifting belt theory; I had a belt shift years ago...it never shifted back and became smooth again

Suspension/alignment would be my thought.

 

[TRDFerguson]

Does anyone have experience with this problem - I can hop in my 4Runner and it will drive nice and smooth, but then later that day it will vibrate like crazy. Nothing different about the trips, like today I took the kids and dogs to the park and it was fine on the way there but the trip home felt like all the counterweights had been removed time my tires. Any ideas what could cause this? 96 4Runner BTW.

Thanks

My 98 absolutely does this. But the ratios of vibrating vs not vibrating is more like 80/20, and it doesn't vary as much as you're describing. I pretty much expect some kind of small vibration and get to be pleasantly surprised by a super smooth ride every once in a while.

 

[rightyouareken]

I've had this on several cars and it's always been tire balance being slightly off on several tires. I think there's a phenomenon where the tires get in or our of sync with each other and either cause a vibration to be felt or not depending on where the heavy parts of each tire are in relation to each other. My theory is that each tire isn't out of balance enough on it's own to cause a vibration, but when they get lined up with each other in a certain way that resonance causes the vibration to appear.

I noticed on my vehicles that the vibration will come and go periodically in long sweeping highway turns. Or I might drive a long straight stretch where there is no vibration but then the road will make a turn, the tires will obviously roll different distances around the turn, and when they become a different orientation to each other I'll get a vibration.

 

[ppoorman]

Drive shaft or CV joints

I had a vibration in my 2001 Limited that came and went. It was ultimately traced to a bent or out-of-balance drive shaft. Silky smooth once the shaft and the CV joints were replaced.

-- Pete

 

[HeisenBob]

I’m having vibration issues. Mine vibrates slightly but with a loud humming noise. Starts at around 40-50 mph