Steering Wheel Shake since 6 Miles on my 20' Off-Road Premium!

[El Burro Guapo]

Just bought a 2020 Black Metallic Off-Road Premium last Friday with 6 miles. Currently at 350 or so. Since I left the lot I have had steering wheel tremble at around 60 to 65 MPH. Took in Monday to have assessed. No big deal right wheel weights were off on three of four wheels. I figured may have fallen off in transit to dealer or test drive etc. Well I picked up and have been driving and now its back again! Has anyone experienced any issues like this? Wondering if it's a bad tire. My truck came with the Dunlop's. One of my buddies who is a Toyota Tech mentioned a local recall on some models with the Wrangler's but I have yet to hear anything on the Dunlop's.

I love my truck, but kind of crazy to have these issues with so few miles. Thoughts? :sobbing:

 

[mteolus]

It's been an issue with a lot of people on previous year model's. Usually the balance requires road force. I can't find it right now, but there is a special way to balance Toyota tires too. You would think a dealership would know this though.

Found it. Check out this topic.

And if they still can't get it fixed, ask for a new 4runner. That is unacceptable.

 

[08TxRunner]

I've had my 20 for about six weeks and have a very mild shake as well around the same speed.

 

[Redsoxx1918]

It’s not the tires. I had it on my 2016 SR5 premium, 2018 ORP and now my 2019 TRD PRO. It’s a known problem with the 4runner and I don’t think anyone has ever found an absolute cure.


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[tm965]

It’s not the tires. I had it on my 2016 SR5 premium, 2018 ORP and now my 2019 TRD PRO. It’s a known problem with the 4runner and I don’t think anyone has ever found an absolute cure.

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for me it was the lower control arm bushings. a decent road force balance and replacing the stock control arms completely solved this for me. i think it has something to do with the rubber bushings the stock LCAs use.

 

[Dynamo]

My '19 TRD ORP had it BAD when I bought it. Turned out that 2 wheels did not have any weights on them so I assume they weren't even balanced. I took it to the dealer and they balanced them. It was fine for a day then came back so I took it back to the dealer. They did their best to balance and even road force balance them but couldn't make them better so they replaced two tires. I can feel it mildly sometimes but it is mostly gone. It's not bad enough for me to take it back so I am living with it.

FJ Cruisers have the issue as well, and my previous '13 FJC was no exception. It was perfectly smooth when I had Michelin LTX's on it and the last set of tires installed, Terra Grappler G2's.

10 years ago I had a 2005 Infiniti G35 with the stock 20" wheels. It was an issue with them and the solution from the forums was to adjust the rack & pinion for a little more preload. They didn't have a lock ring on them like Toyotas have so I was easy to do. It didn't take much, like an 1/8th turn at the most. Too much and the steering wheel wouldn't return to center on its own. It worked though, make the adjustment and no more steering wheel shake. I realize it didn't fix the imbalance but it definitely made it not noticeable. If our steering racks didn't have that locking ring then I would give it a try. I tried to on my FJC but couldn't loosen it so I gave up.

 

[El Burro Guapo]

It's been an issue with a lot of people on previous year model's. Usually the balance requires road force. I can't find it right now, but there is a special way to balance Toyota tires too. You would think a dealership would know this though.

Found it. Check out this topic.

And if they still can't get it fixed, ask for a new 4runner. That is unacceptable.

Thank you for this! At least I will have some ammo now when I go back to the dealer. My 2005 Tahoe drove better than this thing does now. :mad2:

 

[kenwilliams0803]

It’s not the tires. I had it on my 2016 SR5 premium, 2018 ORP and now my 2019 TRD PRO. It’s a known problem with the 4runner and I don’t think anyone has ever found an absolute cure.


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For me it was road force balance three times, then put the ones with the most weights on the back, then do NOT ever rotate them.

 

[thennen]

And then there are others of us who never experience this. My 2019 TRDOR has been smooth as glass since I bought it 40,000 miles ago. Original tires, all pavement miles. Crazy.

 

[Hans Moleman]

Yes it is the tires. It was long battle for me but I was able to resolve it. But I had to go through multiple road force balances on the the stock Dunlops, then multiple force balances and sets of Goodyear Ultra Terrains, then it was completely cured after getting BFG KO2's and balanced on the first try. This was all done under warranty but was still a pain.

 

[mesooohoppy]

write all of your dealer visits and interactions down. it will help you later if the dealer refuses to get you a new car and you have to contact a higher up; it will look like you did your homework and tried.

 

[00Sebby]

Just bought a 2020 Black Metallic Off-Road Premium last Friday with 6 miles. Currently at 350 or so. Since I left the lot I have had steering wheel tremble at around 60 to 65 MPH. Took in Monday to have assessed. No big deal right wheel weights were off on three of four wheels. I figured may have fallen off in transit to dealer or test drive etc. Well I picked up and have been driving and now its back again! Has anyone experienced any issues like this? Wondering if it's a bad tire. My truck came with the Dunlop's. One of my buddies who is a Toyota Tech mentioned a local recall on some models with the Wrangler's but I have yet to hear anything on the Dunlop's.

I love my truck, but kind of crazy to have these issues with so few miles. Thoughts? :sobbing:

Steering wheel shake usually indicates front tire imbalance if actually the tires. If rear tires not balanced, you will feel it more in the seat. If I was chasing this, I would rotate the front wheels/tires to back and vice versa to see if it moves. At least if it does, you can blame the tires. If it doesn't you still have a mystery.

My '10 Trail was glass smooth as long as the tires were balanced. I did get two KO2s one time that would not balance even with Road Force. They were deemed bad and replaced. My '20 ORP was super smooth with the Bridgestones for the first 500 miles, then I replaced them with KO2s. Still perfectly smooth up to 80 or so which is the fastest I've had it so far.

 

[El Burro Guapo]

Update: I brought in today because I couldn’t take it anymore. Was told there was a bulletin released the day I took in for service stating select 4runners with the Dunlop’s like mine need to be brought in. I think it’s something more serious because the dealer service rep said a master tech has to look at it. I’m keeping all of my paperwork in case things get ugly.

 

[Gmnorris74]

Please keep us updated I have a 2020 SR5 with 800 miles and have already been back in to get the tires rebalanced once and get slight steering wheel shake in the same speed range. Just trying to see how long I can deal with it until it goes back in.

 

[Muzzle of Bees]

Mine does the same thing at 55-60 mph. Did fine after a tire rebalance and rotatable for about a month. It’s happening again. I try and stay above or below 55 or 60 otherwise. I am not concerned about it and I am not going through a rebalance every couple of months. The 4Runner goes off-road and I drive over lots of those traffic bumps.

 

[Fourrunnershawn]

Same here. I have a ‘19 SR5(with 2k miles). It has been in 2 times. The most recent time(last week) they put new tires on it(shitty Dunlop’s). It’s doing the same old steering wheel shake between 55-70mph. It’s going back in tomorrow.

 

[bglfgd]

My 2016 did this until I finally ditched the OEM Duellers at 15K miles, no one was able to get those things to balance. Wildpeaks have been smooth for 30K+ miles...

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[El Burro Guapo]

Update: Dropped off my truck last night and today they called. Said the local Dunlop rep actually was there. Put a new tire on performed the road force balancing and called me. Got there drove with the service tech. Not even a 1/4 mile down the road it was trembling again with him in the car! Three times! I had a serious discussion with the sales manager. I demanded they put different tires on or I wanted my money back. He told me they were going to keep the service ticket open and have some Toyota “guru” come into town to go through it and in the meantime open a ticket with Toyota to get them to cover the new tires. I called and raised hell. They are having a manager on their side contact me tomorrow. We shall see. I am not happy about this situation, but more so how they are not doing anything with other people’s trucks. It’s apparent Toyota knows this is a big issue and I feel they are trying to keep it hush hush. If your truck is still under warranty I strongly encourage you to bring it in.

 

[DallasTRDPro]

Its crazy because I test drove a Premium and it did it. Then I drove a Tacoma TRD Pro and it did it. My current TRD Pro does not. I drove Jeeps with 37's and not a hint of a shake so it sucks that it happens with 4R's.

 

[Sky]

It’s not the tires. I had it on my 2016 SR5 premium, 2018 ORP and now my 2019 TRD PRO. It’s a known problem with the 4runner and I don’t think anyone has ever found an absolute cure.


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It is a known problem with the FJCruiser as well. Been living with it since 2011 on ours. It is dependent on road surface- we have a section of newly paved interstate near us- both our new 19 4runner and the 11 FJ do it there. Other places it is fine. FYI my other 3 vehicles don't do it anywhere.
On the FJ Toyota came out with a "fix" involving placing a stronger spring in the steering rack that applies pressure to, IIRC, the rack to hold back the vibes a little. It does help but does not eliminate it.

On our FJ I too found tire placement is critical- once you get a smooth ride you best not rotate them unless you want to do a bunch of playing around to get it smooth again.
To be clear it still does it on some roads even though it is perfectly smooth on other roads.