Steering wheel vibration Poll

[Donovan1]

I had BAD wheel wobble on my FJ for a while. I have 305s and wheel spacers though, so I'm doing everything wrong. I had the tires balanced at a local tire shop that had come highly recommended which appears to have done a lot to fix the issue. They put the two best tires on the front and it is MUCH better.
My 4Runner has some wheel hop but I don't feel it in the steering wheel, so I'm hoping that is is also resolved with a balance. The tires have about 35K on them so it's probably time. BFG K02s.

 

[Tgalletti117]

Mine wobbles at times, typically between 60-70mph and braking. I’ve been informed it’s being caused by my lower control arms which need replacing. Will update this post once replaced in a few weeks of the wobble still happens or if it’s been fixed.

 

[Hans Moleman]

Finally my steering wheel wobble problem is over.

Here is my experience:
1) With the stock Dunlop AT20's various dealers and tire shops tried road force balancing and some even had the Haweka adapter. The steering wheel wobbles still comes and goes.

2) One dealer finally agreed the Dunlops are bad and need to be replaced. They documented it on my service record. They referred me to Goodyear to open a claim because they don't deal with tire warranties.

3) Goodyear approved the claim and referred me to America's Tire. They said I could only pick any Dunlop or Goodyear tire because it was covered by Goodyear. So I picked the Goodyear Ultraterrains in P-Metric.

4) Shortly after the GY Ultraterrains were installed, the steering wheel shake was much worse than the Dunlops and the whole truck was shaking violently too on the freeway. Then I had them rebalanced and road force balanced at another shop and all had high road force. One was so bad that it had to be replaced because match mounting wouldn't help. The one bad tire had to replaced 3 times until I got a good one.

5) All was good for about a week then the steering wheel started shaking again. One tire on the front developed high road force out of the blue for some reason and it also had to be replaced.

6) Since I went through multiple rebalancing and replacements, America's Tire finally agreed and let me exchange the Goodyear Ultraterrains for any tire that carried. So I picked the BFG KO2's in load range C.

7) No more vibrations or steering wheel shake anymore with the BFG KO2's.:bounce: The steering wheel is rock solid. America's Tire did a regular balance (they don't have the Hunter GSP9700) and without the Haweka adapter (not have this either) and the BFG KO2's still balanced out.

All of this was over the course of 1 year and it was such a pain.

 

[pumacat24]

Finally my steering wheel wobble problem is over.

Here is my experience:
1) With the stock Dunlop AT20's various dealers and tire shops tried road force balancing and some even had the Haweka adapter. The steering wheel wobbles still comes and goes.

2) One dealer finally agreed the Dunlops are bad and need to be replaced. They documented it on my service record. They referred me to Goodyear to open a claim because they don't deal with tire warranties.

3) Goodyear approved the claim and referred me to America's Tire. They said I could only pick any Dunlop or Goodyear tire because it was covered by Goodyear.
so I picked the Goodyear Ultraterrains in P-Metric.

4) Shortly after the GY Ultraterrains were installed, the steering wheel shake was much worse than the Dunlops and the whole truck was shaking violently too on the freeway. Then I had them rebalanced and road force balanced at another shop and all had high road force. One was so bad that it had to be replaced because match mounting wouldn't help. The one bad tire had to replaced 3 times until I got a good one.

5) All was good for about a week then the steering wheel started shaking again. One tire on the front developed high road force out of the blue for some reason and it also had to be replaced.

6) Since I went through multiple rebalancing and replacements, America's Tire finally agreed and let me exchange the Goodyear Ultraterrains for any tire that carried. So I picked the BFG KO2'd in load range C.

7) No more vibrations or steering wheel shake anymore with the BFG KO2's.:bounce: The steering wheel is rock solid. America's Tire did a regular balance (they don't have the Hunter GSP9700) and without the Haweka adapter (not have this either) and the BFG KO2's still balanced out.

All of this was over the course of 1 year and it was such a pain.

Amazing and with knobbies!!! Kudos to you!


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[Hans Moleman]

Amazing and with knobbies!!! Kudos to you!


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When I was picking the tires I had my doubts about BFG KO2's because a lot of people also had balancing problem with them. Fortunately it worked out. The KO2's are also quieter and seem more stable than the Ultraterrains for me.

 

[4roffroad]

I haven't visited this thread in a couple years, but I see nothing has changed unfortunately.

I don't know if it is in this thread or another, but I believe a couple people have gotten steering rack work for this issue. If I recall, at least one guy claims the issue came back after the work.



I have been riding pretty smooth since the dealer put on Michelin LTX and took it to the regional service center for balance. They still couldn't get it aligned right though and I had to visit a local shop for that. This was 18k miles ago.



Now I am about to change wheels and tires and add 5100s. I am expecting my vibration to come back. Just don't know how I am going to fix it this time.



Seems like many claim that a lift has fixed the problem, while a few say that it hasn't. It would be interesting to know exactly what parts were replaced and what they were replaced with when doing suspension work, as this varies greatly from one person to the next.



Also, why hasn't anyone gotten a class action together to get Toyota's attention? This has been going on for way too long and happening with way too many vehicles without a proper solution. This website is amazing when it comes to finding solutions to pretty much everything 4Runner related, but this issue has proved to be a confusing mystery. For every one person that claims that they did a certain thing to fix it, I could find at least one other person that claims that that same thing did not fix it.



If these trucks are just hyper sensitive to balancing issues, well in my opinion that still falls on Toyota as a design flaw. With all the balancing tech, nothing in this century should be this hard to balance.

Toyota is a $236B company, if they wanted to fix this issue they could, squeaky wheel gets the oil. Owners are to complacent...

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

 

[MikeMike5280]

Finally my steering wheel wobble problem is over.

Here is my experience:
1) With the stock Dunlop AT20's various dealers and tire shops tried road force balancing and some even had the Haweka adapter. The steering wheel wobbles still comes and goes.

2) One dealer finally agreed the Dunlops are bad and need to be replaced. They documented it on my service record. They referred me to Goodyear to open a claim because they don't deal with tire warranties.

3) Goodyear approved the claim and referred me to America's Tire. They said I could only pick any Dunlop or Goodyear tire because it was covered by Goodyear. So I picked the Goodyear Ultraterrains in P-Metric.

4) Shortly after the GY Ultraterrains were installed, the steering wheel shake was much worse than the Dunlops and the whole truck was shaking violently too on the freeway. Then I had them rebalanced and road force balanced at another shop and all had high road force. One was so bad that it had to be replaced because match mounting wouldn't help. The one bad tire had to replaced 3 times until I got a good one.

5) All was good for about a week then the steering wheel started shaking again. One tire on the front developed high road force out of the blue for some reason and it also had to be replaced.

6) Since I went through multiple rebalancing and replacements, America's Tire finally agreed and let me exchange the Goodyear Ultraterrains for any tire that carried. So I picked the BFG KO2's in load range C.

7) No more vibrations or steering wheel shake anymore with the BFG KO2's.:bounce: The steering wheel is rock solid. America's Tire did a regular balance (they don't have the Hunter GSP9700) and without the Haweka adapter (not have this either) and the BFG KO2's still balanced out.

All of this was over the course of 1 year and it was such a pain.

It's interesting that the K02s solved your problem. Mine was just the opposite. The 4Runner was rock-solid with the factory Dunlops. It was the change to the K02s that caused the 55-65 steering vibration. My wheels and suspention are all stock. I just had them balanced for the 3rd time (three different Discount Tire locations in Denver) over the course of 7k miles and the vibration is gone so far. The most recent Discount Tire claims that it's only BFGs that they have trouble with on Toyotas... Fun...

 

[SoCalRunner]

Joining the sad ranks

My turn. My issue started a few weeks ago after a visit to the dealer for oil change and tire rotation. NOTE - i just purchased new KO2's/C a few months ago (no issues). On the drive back from the dealer i quickly noticed the wheel shaking at 60mph(+/-2). I figured it was an unbalanced tire and decided i would visit Discount Tire on the weekend to have it addressed. The weekend came and i went in for a balance. The tech said it wasn't that out of balance but again, i felt the shake on my way home. I tried to ignore it, but the road i was on was butter smooth and when i hit 58-60mph my left hand at 10 o'clock on the wheel started shaking and it was ridiculous.

Over the following weekends i went back to DT and they did the Road Force test to confirm the tires were good and balanced. For a second opinion I also made a visit to a little tire shop on the south side of town to get my hommies to check the balance. They said the tires were balanced, but one of the guys said i needed an alignment (crooked steering wheel).

The next week i went in for an alignment hoping it would magically fix the issue but of course, it didn't.

I also called my wheel company to inquire about "hub rings" but was reminded that my wheels were hub-centric so they didn't need rings.

After watching Youtube videos and reading this forum, there are still a couple of things i want to check. I read a post about "seized calipers" and since i had a brake job a few months ago, i will take the truck back to the dealer to have them verify that. Another idea is "cold" tires (but im Texas and its super hot). My wife drives the truck during the week and i only drive it on the weekends for short trips to Costco. So need to take a long drive just to confirm the tires are nice and hot when it happens.

In conclusion

• shaking started after tire rotation - continues after reversing the rotation
• I have hub centric wheels (-6 offest)
• I have new KO2/C
• Recent front/rear brake job
• All tires are Road force balanced
• Alignment done
• Shaking occurs at 58-62 mph (@gradual acceleration)
• Shaking does not occur when braking

Should i consider suspension components next?

Sometimes i wonder if the dealer sabotages my vehicle to get me to go back for more service - so frustrating!:redbrick:

 

[4gambler]

Any pattern to the affected 4 runners? Only happens to 4wd ones? Only to ones with lockable oem diffs? Only to 4 runners that have manual transfer case lever. Are 2wd 4 runners excluded too? Someone has to come up with a pattern. My guess is that some frames are not 100% exactly spot on square even from side to side maybe throwing off the rear axle a little crooked and when driving front tires fighting rear axle alignment. Would be my guess.


At what mileage u guys noticed it?

My 2020 SR5 Premium 4wd with 144 miles no shakes or steering wheel vibration at any speeds and tracks STRAIGHT.

 

[jhebert9]

Steering wheel wobble

I had 60K miles on my 2010 Runner with no wobble. I got a wobble when I changed tires. I now have 140K miles but I have to get my tires road forced balanced annually. The wobble has never gone away entirely, but they manage each year to get it down to an acceptable level. It is scheduled for re-balancing Monday, so I will report back then

 

[jhebert9]

Same here. No problem with factory Dunlops. Wrangler off road tires are unbalanceable on 4 Runners. I now have Firestone tires and have to have them road force balanced annually. They are not perfect, but vibration is minimal at 50mph and is acceptable.

 

[Moltenburn]

Cant comment on the fix yet, but I noticed minor shimmy between 50 and 60 on our new 19 ORP. Truck tracks straight and it is not a driving issue, but I feel the very slight vibration. We drive a lot and the truck already has 2500 miles on it. So just going to bring it up to the dealer when I get my 1st oil change and ask that the road force balance them. I really want new AT tires but sounds like we have to be careful with the choice b/c some just wont balance.

Anyone here with Grabber ATXs having this issue?

 

[Judster19]

I've noticed that the steering wheel wobble is not always there. Same road, lane, speed and direction. Makes me think more than just balance issue...
Will see what the dealer does at the 5k mark. Only have 2k now.

 

[SoCalRunner]

Joining the sad ranks - MAYBE NOT!

Ok, this is weird. After posting my story, i went on to explore other forum topics. I was curious what PSI others were using for the KO2 285/C. I found one guy that said his sweet spot was 40psi so i went out to check my psi and found it to be at 30. That seemed pretty low so i pumped them up to 40 and took it for a test drive (dinner) and did not feel the shakiness! Down the road and back, there was no hint of it. I would be lying if i said i wasn't ecstatic inside but im holding it in cuz i know this curse comes and goes. I will post again sunday night with my driving results for the weekend.

I hope this is the solution for me. I honestly have never had my tires under 40 psi. I had my KO2 275/E tires at 44. Never had the shaky steering wheel until i went to the dealer for an oil change and rotation. Maybe they changed the psi.

Could it be as simple as under inflated tires?? Crossing my fingers.

 

[SoCalRunner]

Shaky Steering Wheel - FIXED

Well I’m glad to say this issue seems resolved for me. I drove about 100 miles this weekend running various errands and making a trip to the Austin airport (70 miles). On my trip to the airport I set the cruise control at 58, 59, 60, 61, & 62 mph and never felt the shaking. I did a gradual acceleration to 60 and an aggressive acceleration to 60. I also tried deceleration to 60 and never felt a shake. The whole time I was hyper sensitive to the steering wheel movement and I think I felt “phantom” shakes a couple of times but nothing compared to what it was like before.

I hope others that experience a shaky steering wheel @60mph will try this and report their results.

• I have KO2 285/70/17/C - PSI was @30psi but I changed to 40 (fixed the shaky steering wheel)
• Previously had KO2 275/70/17/E @44psi (never had shaky steering wheel)

Click here for KO2 Tire pressure chart
Max PSI

 

[Paul06Sport]

I had what I thought was a balance issue with my OEM Nitto tires ('16 TRDP). The dealership advised against balancing them, since they were just about shot anyway (45K miles). I replaced them last year on black friday, with Nitto Terra Grappler G2s, purchased/installed by NTB. They were great for quite some time, but come July the vibration was back.

I feel it in the wheel and the seat. I took it back to NTB in September, hoping I just needed to get them re-balanced. They allegedly did it, but nothing has changed. They told me there was excessive play in the tie-rod on one side, and they said I may have a bent rim. I'm planning to have the dealer go over them when I get my next oil change.

I've only been "off-road" once, and it was mild and slow. Even though I drive in MA, I don't think I've ever hit anything that would make me think I could have bent a rim, so I'm thinking NTB is full of it. I should be seeing the dealer in a couple of weeks, so I'll post my next findings.

I met a guy this weekend that mentioned something about the way our T4Rs are jacked up when having work done. Like if they jack it up via the wrong spot, it can permanently cause something to bend (u-joint maybe)?

 

[SoCalRunner]

Trouble shooting

Make sure you are in spec for your tire psi. If that is ok, try swapping the front wheels/tires with the rear. You can also have discount tire do the road force test to make sure tires are not bad. Welcome to hell!

 

[4gambler]

What i take it here is that tires or cheap tires or a hair out of round is the cause.

You guys already nutted the grease zerks on both shafts?

Does the "free" toyota care do this at 15k like maintenance schedule says to do or only if you request it?

 

[1jzgte]

What i take it here is that tires or cheap tires or a hair out of round is the cause.

You guys already nutted the grease zerks on both shafts?

Does the "free" toyota care do this at 15k like maintenance schedule says to do or only if you request it?

you can nut on your shafts by yourself

 

[jonezy00]

Same issue here, put on Bridgestone Dueler to replace the factory tires. We're about 14K into the new tires, and having the same issue. Around 50 mph, braking or accelerating we get the shake. We had DT do a rotation and balance this morning, but it's still present. I just found out about the DT road force balance test. We'll try that next.

'17 4runner Limited 54K