Steering wheel vibration poll -- responses appreciated

[engineeer]

I setup a quick survey (limited to 10 questions [un]fortunately) to see if there are any common denominators with people who have persistent steering wheel vibration.

Survey shouldn't take more than a couple of minutes to complete--thanks in advance for taking the time to fill it out.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/KHRPP2M

I'll update this thread with the results after I get 50 or so responses.

Edit: I ran out of questions to include trim level, but from what I've read so far this issue happens on all trims.

Edit #2: 70 responses so far (thanks!) and no definitive trend:

To read the following images: I did a comparison view of people who answered "Yes" or "No" to whether or not they have steering wheel vibration. The bars next to "Q1: Yes" represent the distribution of that particular answer (e.g. load rating of tire) for people who have steering wheel vibration. The bars next to "Q2: No" then represent the data for people who don't have steering wheel vibration.

 

[engineeer]

8 responses already -- I'm watching the results come in live and updating the available answers in case I missed anything e.g. adding specific tires

 

[Engineer]

Good idea but I think the only correlation will be that any 5th gen stock or modified is susceptible to it.

Mine got bad for awhile, and like most people I got a bit to hasty in changing things to truly narrow it down to an exact cause or fix (Multiple times balancing tires and doing alignments, changed UCA bushings) My belief is that having my Toe set to max factory Toe in specs almost completely eliminated mine and has not produced noticeable excess tire wear. I had both a 60MPH ish vibration and then a worse vibration when slowing down to say exit the high way from about 60-30MPH

its a real bear to troubleshoot issues like these because most of us don't have access to tire balancing and alignment equipment which are normally the first to things to go after AND the fact that there is normally a blame game between owner, dealer and tire service center - which is fair and I don't blame a dealership for wanting to stay away - I found a good attitude with the Service manager went a long way and they were willing to at least check alignment, tire balance and swap wheels&tires from an SR5 (or so they said). If someone came to me with a car I sold them with new wheels, tires and suspension and said they had steering issues I would kindly offer to help them but not under any kind of warranty service unless during the troubleshooting (which I would expect to be paid for upfront) something is found that is not related to one of the changed components or that those components would not effect.

For what its worth my vibration is coming back(alignments change, tires wear, components age and loosen up) but I expect this winter to be making some changes to both tires and suspension set up so unless it gets really bad am not planning to pursue at the moment.

 

[6172crew]

Not sure if this applies but my new 4runner was really bad, took it back to dealer and they said it wasn't balanced from factory. No weights at all.

 

[blacksheep4]

Completed the survey, interested to see the results. I get vibration from 40-50 mph on asphalt on every other tire rotation. A couple notes for your survey if it's not too late to make changes:

Stock TRD pro tires are not E rated.
Option for pizza cutters (255/80r17) was not included but is what I have, Cooper ST maxx. I just selected 285s as they are both roughly 33".

Hopefully your survey produces some kind of qualifiable reaults, but I'll admit I'm a bit skeptical as there are so many variables. In my case I've accepted that it's a combination of tires and alignment, and something I'll just have to figure out each time I'm due for a rotation.

 

[1jzgte]

done

 

[17KT4R]

Vibes

People have this issue with bone stock vehicles and OEM tire sizes on tight front ends? I've come from a lifted Jeep so I do know a fair bit about front end vibes through the wheel and where they typically originate, I'm sure many of us here do but in the Jeep world at least ( and my good buddy makes his living on modifying them specifically ) they don't just come on all of a sudden or come and go, there is always a common denominator even if its simple tire wear, belt shifts which are really hard to diagnose.

We tossed u-joints and stabilizers at my last truck to try and calm a minor vibe at highway speeds to no avail, turns out a simple decrease in the transfer case drop kit did the trick ( which is usually the opposite problem - you need more )

I know our front ends are significantly more complicated then the front end of a Jeep which has half the alignment consideration too but I have a hard time understanding these issues crop up on bone stock vehicles. I hope - I only have 1500 miles on our TRD OR right now but drive frequently at these suspected speeds and everything rolls along as smooth as butter.

I don't expect these Duellers to last too long, so I'll be very picky on replacements - the Duratracs on my last Jeep started to have vibe issues and required frequent rotations to keep their belts wearing properly I thought. They sure got loud as hell around the 50K mark which was annoying.

 

[dot_tom]

I had this issue from 40-50 brand new. Now I have lift, 285s, and 6,000 miles on the 4R with 3 alignments, and multiple tire balancing attempts. Still have this 40-50 mph.

 

[Jetboy]

FWIW - I have 2 sets of wheels and tires. It vibrates with one, not the other. Not much question whether it's the wheels and tires for me. Toyo AT2s - 285/70/17 vibrate like crazy at highway speeds. I'm working with Toyo on possibly buying the whole set back (I've had 7 total tires over 20k miles and have 2 that sorta balance out). The one I just had replaced - for free - called for 16 ounces of weight to re-balance on a normal dynamic balance after only 1500 miles. Didn't even try a road force balance, just sent it back. The new replacement couldn't be dynamically balanced either - so it's static only and I've been working directly with Toyo. It ain't a mystery why my steering wheel shakes if the tire is a full pound of weight out of balance....

Other set is 275/60/20's on Limited wheels. Cooper HT Plus. Smooth as can be at any speed.

 

[03_4x4Runner]

I also run 2 sets of wheels and tires. No problem with any of them but I do rotate them a lot. .

 

[LJSIII]

I had steering wheel vibration at 60-65mph until my local tire shop did a computer balance. After that, it's been perfectly smooth. Before buying this one, I drove a few other 4Runners (2010-2012) and every one had wheel vibration.

 

[engineeer]

Completed the survey, interested to see the results. I get vibration from 40-50 mph on asphalt on every other tire rotation. A couple notes for your survey if it's not too late to make changes:

Stock TRD pro tires are not E rated.
Option for pizza cutters (255/80r17) was not included but is what I have, Cooper ST maxx. I just selected 285s as they are both roughly 33".

Hopefully your survey produces some kind of qualifiable reaults, but I'll admit I'm a bit skeptical as there are so many variables. In my case I've accepted that it's a combination of tires and alignment, and something I'll just have to figure out each time I'm due for a rotation.

Hmm...I looked up the Terra Grappler's on Nitto's site and it lists the 275 as E load rating. Do you know what the rating actually is?

 

[2012sr5]

One thing I noticed on the survey...the factory Nittos that come on the newer TRD models that I've seen are not E load/LT tires. EDIT: just noticed [MENTION=118948]blacksheep4[/MENTION] beat me to it!

I just put E load Nitto Terra Grappler G2s on my 2012 SR5, and my vibration at 40-50 mph disappeared.

 

[blacksheep4]

Hmm...I looked up the Terra Grappler's on Nitto's site and it lists the 275 as E load rating. Do you know what the rating actually is?

Yeah I can see where that is confusing... they are available in E load, however the ones that come standard on the turds are just passenger rated. That's the main reason I got rid of them!

 

[engineeer]

One thing I noticed on the survey...the factory Nittos that come on the newer TRD models that I've seen are not E load/LT tires. EDIT: just noticed [MENTION=118948]blacksheep4[/MENTION] beat me to it!

I just put E load Nitto Terra Grappler G2s on my 2012 SR5, and my vibration at 40-50 mph disappeared.

Yeah I can see where that is confusing... they are available in E load, however the ones that come standard on the turds are just passenger rated. That's the main reason I got rid of them!

Fixed--thanks for pointing out that mistake!

I'm going to have to unmuddy the raw data and regraph this stuff.

 

[engineeer]

Updated the first post with some early results.

 

[3wbdriver]

Hmm...I looked up the Terra Grappler's on Nitto's site and it lists the 275 as E load rating. Do you know what the rating actually is?

I'm pretty sure the TRD Pro Terra Grappler is a 265/70. Which looks like a Load Range C from what data I can find, although they also have an E rated version.

Terra Grappler G2 All-Terrain Light Truck Radial Tires

 

[engineeer]

45 responses so far and the only thing that really stands out is that the majority of people without steering wheel vibration don't have rock sliders.

 

[Superwhite17]

I'm pretty sure the TRD Pro Terra Grappler is a 265/70. Which looks like a Load Range C from what data I can find, although they also have an E rated version.

Terra Grappler G2 All-Terrain Light Truck Radial Tires

TRD pro tires is a p-rated 265 Terra grappler not a g2

 

[T4 Leaf]

just bought my 2014 about 1 month ago...put about 1,500 miles on it....pretty bad vibe from 60-65....any road, any temp...don't drive there much, so haven't considered taking it in yet...planning to have a balance with new rims in near future

has 25K miles on it currently