Vibration related to XREAS?

[JungleJim]

I drove two new 4Runners yesterday. The first was a Limited V8. I felt no vibration of the steering wheel.

Then I drove a Sport V6. It had a lot of vibration in the steering. The salesman thought it might be due to flat spots on the tires from sitting too long in one spot. He said it should smooth out as the tire temperatures increased while driving a few miles, yet it only seemed to decrease slightly.

The brand of tires where different on the two vehicles and the Limited did not have XREAS. I'm just trying to determine why the Sport had so much steering wheel vibration?

 

[toto]

The tires seem to be a more logical explanation than X-REAS.

X-REAS is a system that varies the stiffness of the shocks under certain driving conditions, so it should have no effect that would cause vibration in the steering.

I've learned to bring a tire gauge along to the dealer and check tire pressures before evaluating the ride on a test drive. The tires are usually over-inflated, making the ride more harsh than it really is. In this case, they may have been a bit low, emphasizing the flat spots.

I think there have been several posts about the tires not being balanced properly from the factory, so there's another possible explanation.

 

[03 Limited]

I drove two new 4Runners yesterday. The first was a Limited V8. I felt no vibration of the steering wheel.

Then I drove a Sport V6. It had a lot of vibration in the steering. The salesman thought it might be due to flat spots on the tires from sitting too long in one spot. He said it should smooth out as the tire temperatures increased while driving a few miles, yet it only seemed to decrease slightly.

The brand of tires where different on the two vehicles and the Limited did not have XREAS. I'm just trying to determine why the Sport had so much steering wheel vibration?

I had the same issue but mine was used, i just rebalanced the tire and i was done.

 

[Paul2660]

Steering Vibration is almost always due to balance of the tires, on the Front. If you your rear tires are out of balance, you will feel it in the seat most times.

As for flat spots on the tires, (I love salesmen), I can't see that being the problem either. If you have visible flat spots, then you would need to air up the tires to get rid of them. BTW depending on the year model, if the tires were low enough to show a flat spot, then the inflation monitoring system should have shown it. I am not sure when Toyota started using that.

Paul C

 

[toto]

I've had tires develop flat spots even though they were properly inflated. If the vehicle sits for weeks, then it happens. They're not visible, but you can feel them as a vibration. After a couple of days of regular driving, they're fine again.

 

[bsl888]

SE comes with Dunlop AT20's which many disliked. I think the Dunlop's side wall is not very rigid and at the factory recommended inflation pressure seems to allow too much lateral flex. I found that when my SE Dunlops are inflated at 36 to 37 PSI, the vibration goes away. Just my own observation.

Was the Limited you test drove came with Mich Cross Terrains? Those are good tires. Anyways, the X-REAS should not be the reason for the vibration.

 

[JungleJim]

Thank you all for the responses.

The tires on the SE were about 36 psi.
The tires on the Limited were over-inflated (about 53 psi).

Expected to like the XREAS better, but I couldn't get past the vibration.

 

[JungleJim]

I'm trying to remember some of the posts I've read concerning this....
Does it seem to happen more on the SE with the Dunlops?
Or is the frequency about the same among the various models and tires?

 

[bsl888]

I forgot to mention that when I purchased my SE, I test drove 4 different SE's. Out of the 4, two of them had quite a bit of vibration on the steering wheel at highway speed. The sales guy even noticed. I just finally picked the one that had no vibration problems. I think I read in other posts that some people have the vibration issue with their SE.

Before giving up on the X-REAS, try and test drive other SE's. Maybe wheel balance is especially sensitive with the Dunlops AT20's.

 

[CHR75]

Hey guys, new to the forum... Joined specifically for this topic you all are discussing right now. I bought a '07 SE about 6 weeks ago (with Dunlops), and it had steering vibration from the day we drove off the lot & down the highway. I've taken it back now 5 times, and the dealership cannot get rid of it yet. I keep looking for more and more info on this topic and I'm learning quite a bit... but no fix yet. I will keep everyone posted as to what happens next; I just picked it up from the dealership an hour ago, and I'm awaiting Toyota Corp approval to replace ALL my wheels and tires with new/different ones. We'll see what that does! In the mean-time, I'm going to play with the tire pressure and see what that does over the weekend.