Steering wheel vibration

[Forenaftrunner]

My new 4Runner V8 (900 miles) has a very faint vibration through the steering wheel between 63-67 mph. It's not there when I go either slower or faster. I brought it to the dealer today and they said it's within spec and completely normal for a truck-based vehicle. Interestingly enough, my wife's 08 GX470 has the same slight vibration and the Lexus dealer told me the same thing.

Has anyone else here experienced this?

 

[snowjay]

I have it! And have felt it ever since I can remember. I used to think it was because of a loose wheel weight one of my wheels had, but I got new tires put on and I still can feel it. I think mine is between 64 and 68 though.

It's ever so slight and you need a loose grip on the steering wheel to feel it. If you grip the wheel tight it "goes away."

I don't really notice it unless I'm looking to feel it.

 

[jpalaska]

It could be that you need a front end alignment, or at least have the front wheels rebalanced.

 

[Will816]

Try a tire balance as well.

Its funny, my wife used to have the GX and we could feel it through that speed, but we can't feel it in my 4Runner. If its not a tire out of balance or an alignment issue, it sounds like these issues all have the V8 in common (mine is V8, maybe I'm just lucky to not feel it), and are therefore all wheel drive. It may be something in the nature of the drivetrain that it can achieve a certain frequency at those speeds that causes the subtle feeling in the wheel. Something like that would be impossible to fix without a re-engineering of parts.

It never bothered us in the GX because our speed limits in Idaho are 55 and 75 and in Washington are 60 and 70, so we could stay out of that zone.

 

[snowjay]

I have a V6.

For me I think it has to do with the road I'm on. Road surface and direction of crown seems to be the culprit. Almost like some combination of things causes a harmonic imbalance somewhere. I can't feel it anyways unless I'm looking for it and when I am there are some roads that it doesn't do it on at all and it's smooth as glass all the way up to 75 and beyond.

 

[jpalaska]

I have a V6.

Road surface and direction of crown seems to be the culprit. Almost like some combination of things causes a harmonic imbalance somewhere.

A rough pavement surface will exacerbate a vibrating steering wheel in a vehicle which has its front wheels poorly aligned.

 

[Barefoot]

It's not completely normal, which tires does it have?

 

[hockenheimer]

I normally have my tires rotated and balanced each time I take my 4runner to a toyota dealer for an oil change. on the last visit I noticed that I had a faint vibration around 65-70mph. I thought at first that maybe the tires that came from the back had to somehow "break-in" but the vibration got annoying and I know it must have been the balancing since it was perfectly fine before the service visit. I took the truck back and the dealer rebalanced. It got a bit better but the vibration was still there nonetheless. I decided to take it to a tire place and I talked to them about the vibration and they asked me if it was balance correctly using a lug-centric device. I wasn't sure so I told them to check if it's off balance. Sure enough, all four tires were off balanced. I will still take it to the dealer for the oil changes since I want the log book completed by the dealer in case of warranty claims later on.

Just thought I share this story. In case it applies.

 

[mike508]

Vibration

In addition to not having lug centric balancing the problem may be that the tires are out of round and set up a vibration at a certain speed. I don't know the exact specification but it seems that I have seen that it should be less than 1/8 inch total runout.

 

[NCSCOTT]

This is a well documented issue. Going back to 03.

See sticky in Problems & Warranty section.
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2226

my 04 does it with 92k miles and Brand new tires. My 08 does it with OEM Dunflops w/15k miles.

My 08 has been Road force balanced multiple times and had 2 of the dunflops replaced under warranty @ 700 miles.

 

[NCSCOTT]

I have a V6.

For me I think it has to do with the road I'm on. Road surface and direction of crown seems to be the culprit. Almost like some combination of things causes a harmonic imbalance somewhere. I can't feel it anyways unless I'm looking for it and when I am there are some roads that it doesn't do it on at all and it's smooth as glass all the way up to 75 and beyond.

:iagree:

Exactly like mine.

Very cold overnight temps seem to make it worse for me in the mornings until the tires get a little heat in them.

 

[smokey7722]

I had this issue for a while and it ended up being a combination of tires at the time, the alignment being just SLIGHTLY off and the fact that one weight did fall off. Once I resolved all three I haven't had the problem since.

 

[CHR75]

YES! I swear NCSCOTT has this right.... I have not logged in for well over a year because I solved my issue and have done nothing except enjoyed my stock 4runner... I bought mine new back in July '07, and it had a HORRIBLE vibration around 65 to 70 (ish)... NOTHING Toyota could do (or Discount Tire for that matter) would fix it. I did my homework on this website, and figured out it was the freegin' tires the whole time! I had Dunlops on it when I bought it... After fighting with Toyota for 2 months, and taking it in 5 times, I finally fought my way to a new set of Michelins (free of charge)... drove off the lot and down the highway smooth as silk! Have never had another vibration since then! SWEAR! I promised I would log back onto this site and tell everyone I could so it would hopefully help them. I'm ticked I waited so long!