Steering wheel shake at 50 - 60 MPH.

[PopsSmurf]

I'm getting a a decent steering wheel shake when I get up to about 50mph and it goes away around the 60-65 mph range.

The background is that this is an almost new 2020 TRDOP w/KDSS. I just leveled the front end with Bilstein 6112's, installed new Falken ATW3 in stock size on new OEM TRD wheels. Also installed Bilstein 5100's in the rear without changing the rear springs. I installed the new coilovers and shocks myself. It has approximately 5k miles on it. The new tires were installed on the new wheels and obviously balanced at that time. After a few hundred miles I finally got it in to the dealer for it's 5K service and had it aligned at the dealer. It was pretty far off after the new coilovers were installed but since I didn't even lift it a full 2" it got back into specs easily. I can't really tell if it got any better after the alignment but the wheel shake is still there in that speed range. Before the lift it was perfect from the factory and I can't remember if I did the lift before or after the new tires/wheels were installed (I want to say before and I didn't notice the shake but anybodies guess at this point).

Anyhow, with this COVID-19 I haven't been able to go back to Discount Tire to have them re-balanced yet but I was hoping for any suggestions beyond the tires and alignment. I've looked at countless threads but besides alignment and balancing not too many suggestions of where to focus. If it was my Ford F350 and I was getting the death shake I would loosen and readjust the front track bar. Anyway to reset the KDSS or other components I should be looking at in the front end. I'm hoping it is the tires but who knows.

Thanks

 

[02SE]

In a situation like this it's almost always the tires, or the balancing job. Especially a new vehicle.

Take it back to Discount, and ask them to do a full Roadforce balancing job, (ideally with a Tech that truly knows how to use the machine) and to turn off the 'Smart Weight' feature.

Unless you have an out-of-round wheel, or a tire with poor uniformity (which should then be replaced) they should be able to fix the issue.

 

[mcat707]

Try mounting your rear wheels to the front and see if your steering wheel shakes or not. If the shake is gone then maybe its either your wheels or tires or both that were originally from the front. If it still shakes, then my guess its suspension related. Maybe your new 6112 shocks are DOA’s? Check your work. Make sure every nut and bolt is secure. Mark them with a paint pen, then check them again after driving it few miles.

 

[axel1]

It would be nice to know if a rebalance solves your issue.

I've had a shake for over a year on my '14 with AT3w's and I've been to four separate discount tire locations. All of them have balanced the tires and said that they looked fine. Still have the steering wheel shake. I've pretty much ruled out tires at this point but once COVID dies down a bit I'm planning on taking it to one more Discount location to see what they say.

The difference from most people is some days mine isn't there and other days it's really bad. Always around 55-65 mph though. Sometimes it will go away while driving, it's really strange.

The 5th gen's are just super sensitive at that speed I guess.

 

[Chevrolegs]

I also have a 20 with Falken tires. I have the steering wheel shake at about 60mph but it goes away after a bit. I read somewhere that AT tires develop a flat spot when parked and go away after the tires warm up.

Not sure how true that is but it seems to be the case with mine.

 

[mizzougrad01]

Sounds like your suspension needs a retorque and allignment.

 

[Wolfman’s Brother]

I’ll go another direction than those above.

Welcome to owning a 5th gen. It’s a roll of the dice if this issue will forever haunt your vehicle, or maybe it can be eliminated completely. There are plenty of both outcomes to be found on here.

I got new K02s road force balanced with the special Yota attachment recently and long story short it smoothed out the shake I was getting at 75 and it’s generally silk, but at 58-60 it still shakes if I’m honest. It’s minor enough now to tolerate, but it’s still there.

I don’t set the cruise to 58 and I deal.

People have returned new vehicles over this. It’s a whole thing. Fight it to a point and move on.

 

[SoCalRunner]

Easy check

Check the specs on the Tire and find out what the PSI should be. If its under inflated it could cause the steering wheel to shake at certain speeds.

 

[engineeer]

One of the few reasons I got rid of my 5th Gen.

Steering wheel vibration poll -- responses appreciated

https://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-...wheel-vibration-poll.html?highlight=vibration

 

[nwebb01]

I had those tires on my 3rd gen and had the same vibration issue at the same speed. I got them from discount tire and they didn't mount them with the valve stem aligned with the red dot. Seemed odd to me. Also, each tire had vastly different amounts of weight. I assumed they just sucked at balancing the tires. I was going to go somewhere else to get them balanced, but I just traded in my 3rd gen for a 5th gen last week. It needs new tires, and after reading this, I'm not sure if I want to go with the falcons again. I loved them except the flaw that you and others have seemed to have, apparently.

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

 

[PopsSmurf]

Update

Finally was able to get into the tire shop to have the tires rebalanced. Road force balancing did the trick. T4R drives like new again! Tech said the original installer just slapped on the weights in one inside location instead of placing them on the wheel width wise as needed. Good guy at Discount Tire who went the extra mile. Took him about 20 minutes top.

Thanks for the suggestions and the most obvious solution usually works!

 

[ryguytheman]

A while back, an accident occurred on the other side of the highway from me, and I ran over a piece of debris that flew over the divider right as I went by. Instantly flat tire going 75 MPH on I-70. Discount Tire "fixed" it. That particular tire has had a very slow leak ever since, where I have to fill it up every other week or so.

The steering wheel shake gets bad when that tire gets low. The shake seems to go away almost entirely when I check and adjust all 4 tires PSI. Worth noting that unequal PSI has a significant effect in my case.

 

[08TxRunner]

My '20 SR5P came with the black TRD wheels, and I just noticed yesterday that three of the wheels have weights going halfway around the inside of the rim. I've never seen a tire/wheel combo require so much weight. I wonder if it's the wheels or the OEM Duratracs. I have the steering wheel shake too.

 

[DEF4Runner]

A while back, an accident occurred on the other side of the highway from me, and I ran over a piece of debris that flew over the divider right as I went by. Instantly flat tire going 75 MPH on I-70. Discount Tire "fixed" it. That particular tire has had a very slow leak ever since, where I have to fill it up every other week or so.

The steering wheel shake gets bad when that tire gets low. The shake seems to go away almost entirely when I check and adjust all 4 tires PSI. Worth noting that unequal PSI has a significant effect in my case.

Unequal PSI as in 1-2 pounds?

 

[lyodbraun]

My '20 SR5P came with the black TRD wheels, and I just noticed yesterday that three of the wheels have weights going halfway around the inside of the rim. I've never seen a tire/wheel combo require so much weight. I wonder if it's the wheels or the OEM Duratracs. I have the steering wheel shake too.

Probably have too much weight on there definitely go in and have them road forced balanced...

 

[Signal]

I'm getting a a decent steering wheel shake when I get up to about 50mph and it goes away around the 60-65 mph range.

The background is that this is an almost new 2020 TRDOP w/KDSS. I just leveled the front end with Bilstein 6112's, installed new Falken ATW3 in stock size on new OEM TRD wheels. Also installed Bilstein 5100's in the rear without changing the rear springs. I installed the new coilovers and shocks myself. It has approximately 5k miles on it. The new tires were installed on the new wheels and obviously balanced at that time. After a few hundred miles I finally got it in to the dealer for it's 5K service and had it aligned at the dealer. It was pretty far off after the new coilovers were installed but since I didn't even lift it a full 2" it got back into specs easily. I can't really tell if it got any better after the alignment but the wheel shake is still there in that speed range. Before the lift it was perfect from the factory and I can't remember if I did the lift before or after the new tires/wheels were installed (I want to say before and I didn't notice the shake but anybodies guess at this point).

Anyhow, with this COVID-19 I haven't been able to go back to Discount Tire to have them re-balanced yet but I was hoping for any suggestions beyond the tires and alignment. I've looked at countless threads but besides alignment and balancing not too many suggestions of where to focus. If it was my Ford F350 and I was getting the death shake I would loosen and readjust the front track bar. Anyway to reset the KDSS or other components I should be looking at in the front end. I'm hoping it is the tires but who knows.

Thanks

Welcome to the group, I took the 4runner to the dealer on a weekly basis for this issue and I gave up. 20k miles on my 4runner and at 60 the steering wheel shakes bad. they rotated the tires, gave it an alignment, tried different wheels and tires and nothing made it better. I bought a 3 inch lift and just ordered new UCA's. next will be wheels and tires. If it's still there aft that the dealer is not going to have a good day.

 

[DEF4Runner]

I really hate to recommend this because the truck is relatively new, but check the brake calipers. If there's a seized piston, it'll give you wheel shake. I dealt with this issue for quite a while on my 4th gen and when I replaced the calipers, it went away and was smooth as glass. I bought the lifetime warranty NAPA calipers and took advantage of it twice until I sold it.

Just remove the caliper and try to compress the pistons in with a c-clamp. If there's one more difficult than the others...could be it. On my 4th gen, it was the inner lower piston that would constantly seize up.

Hate to think it's bad calipers this soon, but maybe that's a possibility.

Good luck!

 

[RusPro17]

It was the Falken tires on my 2020 Pro. 3 different sets and mounted on my new SCS wheels and shake between 50 and 60. Did not have it before I removed my pro wheels and tires. My Pro only has on it at the time 2000 miles on it. Put Nitto’s back on and smooth as silk.

 

[85GT-79FJ40]

definitely tires. Mine was smooth as silk with the OE wheels and General Grabber ATX's even with 1.25" spacers. I already had my suspension on (eibach springs and 5100's with a .75 cornfed spacer out back and JBA UCA's) and it was perfect. Bought a set of Methods and 285 AT3's and it's driven like a POS between about 50 and 65 since. 3 trips to the balancer and it seems better initially but sure enough it's still there and just seems to get progressively worse. Unfortunately I have about 2k miles on the tires and I bought them on amazon so I'm probably hosed. I will probably buy a new set of BFG At's this week. So sick of my nice 67k mile truck driving like a shitbox.

 

[DallasTRDPro]

I barely had it on my Pro. Then I added spacers and it was slightly worse. Then I had my tires rotated and balanced and it sucks at 55-60. I just speed right through that speed so I don't have to worry about it.