Steering wheel vibration Poll

[vondy21]

Has anyone had this resolved yet?

I'm about to take my stock (minus tires) 2017 TRD Off-Road to Discount Tire this week for the 3rd rebalance. Last time they told me my tires were wearing uneven because I had not been rotating them. That's BS unless the dealer was skipping that at my Toyota Care services.

Discount rotated them to the opposite side and said they would wear evenly and the shaking would stop. This did not happen.

I'm guessing either they don't know what they are doing, don't have the right equipment, or it's a 4Runner problem that can't be solved by them.

I'm getting the shake between 60-70 mph. Braking amplifies the shake at those speeds.

30K with Michelin Defenders.

 

[daytonaviolet]

I’ve watch tire guys use the balance machine and often times most of them don’t even know how to use it well. Most of them don’t even know there’s an option to put weights on the inside of the wheel, two locations. Inner and outer on one side. This will give you then best balance.

 

[badattitude]

All Toyota truck wheels need to be balanced with a hub adapter. TSB is attached.

 

[mteolus]

First balance and rotation I got vibration. Took it back and fixed. Second time I got vibration. Got it re-balanced and better but still got vibration. Will be taking it back for a 3rd time.

Not sure if this is a common theme, but mine are BFG C load 285s. I read in another topic some people having balance problems with BGF C-load tires.

 

[tm965]

First balance and rotation I got vibration. Took it back and fixed. Second time I got vibration. Got it re-balanced and better but still got vibration. Will be taking it back for a 3rd time.

Not sure if this is a common theme, but mine are BFG C load 285s. I read in another topic some people having balance problems with BGF C-load tires.

ive had my 33s balanced what seems like 10 times over the last two years or so. the most recent balance has been the best yet but its not perfect and the vibrations show up between 55-65 depending on the day/weather. I've noticed they tend to show up when there has been a significant temperature swing while my car is parked in a garage.

also every time i've brought up the haweka adapter, both dealers/independent shops have looked at me as if i have 3 heads.

 

[mteolus]

ive had my 33s balanced what seems like 10 times over the last two years or so. the most recent balance has been the best yet but its not perfect and the vibrations show up between 55-65 depending on the day/weather. I've noticed they tend to show up when there has been a significant temperature swing while my car is parked in a garage.

also every time i've brought up the haweka adapter, both dealers/independent shops have looked at me as if i have 3 heads.

I am going to print out that PDF and bring it with me next time.

 

[tm965]

Update- I’ve been fighting this issue for over a year and I’ve finally resolved it completely without rebalancing my tires. I had my lower control arms replaced with dirt king LCAs last week as my bushings were pretty shot and had too much lateral play. Now my vibration issues are completely absent. No more shimmy between 55-70. No more cabin vibrations. No more vibration through the steering wheel. No more pulsation from the brakes at higher speeds. FINALLY resolved.

I suspect that the rubber bushings used on the 4runners are simply too soft or allow for too much play as I had this issue very shortly after purchasing the vehicle new.

 

[honda99ex]

6 years and almost 100k in

To this day it is super disconcerting when the shimmy and wobble presents itself, especially under braking. Maybe it's cause I carry a heavy load and trailer a bunch but makes me sick. I live in an urban area with crap roads and a lot of people so not a lot of room for error at speed.

I was just wondering if they had resolved this since my wife loves the truck and aside from some niggling issues (f*ing horn hasn't worked in years and radio reboots like 5x a week) the truck has been solid for what I put it through. We were contemplating purchasing a more recent model year but maybe not... I figured I could go used GX / FJ but I guess those are affected too? Tundra? Tacoma?

I have gone through 3 different set of tires. Stock Bridgestone, Hankook Dyna Pros ATMs and General Grabber Winters. I use the same OEM rims, meaning every year I swap and remount and balance the tires twice. I find it hard to believe that in doing that, no rim and tire combo ever ended up being smooth enough to eliminate the shimmy completely. It gets better but definitely still there. I do find that on the winter tires when it gets warmer and the tire goes softer in the relative sense the wobble is WAY worse. Perhaps sidewall strength has something to do with it??? truck is lifted Dobinson's in rear mildly more so to account for trailer sag, and Bilstein's 5100. Will put on some 5100s in the front when the stocks go.

 

[DallasTRDPro]

I remember going into a dealership about 6 months ago to test drive a 4R. They didn't have the TRD Pro so I drove a Premium I think. I didn't know all the models at the time. It had a shimmy at 50mph and above. Then I drove a TRD Pro Tacoma and it didn't have a shimmy. I walked out because I didn't want a truck. Fast forward to a month ago and my Jeep had death wobble so I traded it immediately for a TRD Pro. It doesn't have a shimmy and hopefully never will. It would be gone. I don't love any vehicle that much to put up with things that can't be fixed.

 

[4FL]

No vibration or anything, even with different than stock tires. 60k miles on it.

I saw that death wobble I think on a Jeep a while ago. He was in the left lane ahead of me, we are doing about 40, and all of a sudden the front tires started wobbling like crazy, and he slowed down quick, but then resumed speed sort of right away also.

 

[4roffroad]

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.

This is a great question. Also seems like most people to not experience right away. Any folks with Limited or Pro's having the issue?

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

 

[85GT-79FJ40]

Honestly I think it has more to do with the OEM control arm bushings being excessively soft than anything. Unfortunately we don't have bunch of options to fix that yet.

Mine didn't do it until I switched out to Method wheels and 285's. I ran my stock wheels with 2 different sets of 265's and even with wheel spacers-no problem. Although they definitely flat-spotted. I'm on my third set of 285's since May. Probably 8 wheel balances including 2 road force. I currently have the new Toyo Open Country AT3's and they are nice and smooth except for occasionally between 55-65. Although I just rotated them tonight after doing a body mount chop and took them from 32 to 35 psi. No vibrations at all on the way home. But I don't expect that to last.

 

[cognus]

4gambler beat me to the punch here - i had recently been wondering the same since a good bit of time has passed since I last read this thread.
My earlier observation was that a lot, probably a majority, of the people reporting shake/vibe/squiggle here and bedeviled to find a remedy had aftermarket something: bigger wheels, oversize tires, lifts, partial 3rd party suspension, etc and 4wd. But, as I've experienced on 4th gen 2007 sometimes it is just the people and equipment in play at the tire shop. I had new tires, done 2 at a time about 6 months apart, and both times i had to make way too many trips to discount tire. They admitted they could find nothing wrong, and I paid my alignment guy again to do the job knowing he would say there's nothing wrong, and was right. FINALLY took to a different Discount that had done good work in the past in a nearby town, and bingo!. won't take anywhere else now. But everything on my 2wd is oem except bilstein struts all around - the basic one made to replace oem.
kumho crugen tires [very quiet btw]
But the shimmy on the 5th gen is keeping me away from them....

 

[vondy21]

I'm starting to wonder if, at least in my case, this is not a tire issue but a rotor one. Like others my shaking starts around 60 mph and goes away past 70.

The shaking is enough to see it in the steering wheel.

When I brake at those speeds, the steering wheel looks as if it might fall off!

So I get the amplified shaking while braking in the wheel but nothing pulsing in the pedal.

Can warped rotors cause the shaking at speed and during braking but no pulsing in the pedal?

I'm not driving as much these days since working from home but if I do I cringe having to get up to highway speeds.

Seem like after a road force balance it gets better but soon returns.

Truck as around 35K on it with no upgrades other than Michelin Defender LTX.

 

[Doughboy]

Bought my 2019 SR5 with 7,000 miles on it have the same Shake between 55 and 70 thought it had to do with the soft suspension replaced.suspension upper control arms Wheels and tires now it's worse. Can we get someone out there to engineer an aftermarket
steering dampener for 4runners

 

[Doughboy]

Just found this notice its says stock tires

 

[Hans Moleman]

Just found this notice its says stock tires

Yep it's the tires. My 2018 had the same problems with the Dunlops. Too bad it took Toyota this long to acknowledge the problem.

 

[Doughboy]

Replaced with 265 Goodyear still shook. Now have 285 firestone still shaking.

 

[vondy21]

Yeah I drove right to Discount from the dealer to put my Michelins on so only drove the stock tires for about 10 miles.

If I could find a shop that really knows how to balance and has the correct tools I would pay some good money to see if that fixes the issue.

What's crazy is how many opinions are out there yet nobody has seemed to solve it.

We have:
Tire Balance
Bad Tires
Bad Wheels
Bad Rotors
Needle Bearing cassette in the driver's side transaxle
And something about changing the alignment specs

 

[85GT-79FJ40]

Honestly I think it has more to do with the OEM control arm bushings being excessively soft than anything. Unfortunately we don't have bunch of options to fix that yet.

Mine didn't do it until I switched out to Method wheels and 285's. I ran my stock wheels with 2 different sets of 265's and even with wheel spacers-no problem. Although they definitely flat-spotted. I'm on my third set of 285's since May. Probably 8 wheel balances including 2 road force. I currently have the new Toyo Open Country AT3's and they are nice and smooth except for occasionally between 55-65. Although I just rotated them tonight after doing a body mount chop and took them from 32 to 35 psi. No vibrations at all on the way home. But I don't expect that to last.

Seems to be lasting.... I took it on vacation last week and it was 4.5 hours each way with no shimmy in the steering wheel at all. Knock on wood it's gone. But I'm still swapping out the control arm bushings once I can get my hands on a set of whitelines. Currently on backorder.