Very strange tire vibration!?!?!?!

This is super super strange! Got some new Goodyear's put on my 21 OR about 3 months ago and they were balanced and everything was great for 2k miles but then I noticed a shake starting around 60mph so I thought no big deal maybe I threw a weight or something. I had them re balanced yesterday and the shake was even worse after balancing. I drove it for about 30 miles on the highway and the shake never went away. It was worse. Wheel shaking back and fourth 60-70mph.

This morning on the way to work they were BUTTER SMOOTH! WTF?!?!? Smooth 50-85mph! How is is possible for me to have a shaking steering wheel yesterday for 30 miles strait and then today on the way to work nothing at all!

The only difference I noticed was it was much colder this morning than it was yesterday so on the way to work the PSI was lower 33-34psi range where as yesterday it was much warmer and the settled around 36-37 psi.

Is the small difference in psi causing a shake? I set up a roadforce balance tomorrow but now i might cancel it. I'm at a loss on this one! Could anyone shed some light on this? I'v never had an out of balance tire fix itself overnight lol!

 

Are those e rated tires? If so I’ve found that psi greatly affects how they’ll ride. I’d try just keeping an eye on your psi and seeing how they ride with different readings. With this time of the year when it’s warm during the days and cold at night it’ll fluctuate the tire pressure and that affects the ride quality in my experience.

it wouldn’t hurt to keep your appointment though that way if it keeps happening your shop will know and can maybe swap out your tires for new ones to see if that fixes the issue.

 

They are normal P rated goodyear wrangler adventurers. I'm going to see how it drives tonight on the way home but I still may have them road forced tomorrow

 

Play with tire pressures and rotate with balance 4Runner is very sensitive

 

Welcome to the 4Runner wheel balance club. Make sure you are getting them balanced with the proper 6 lug adapter as well.

 

I have the same issue. You'll never walk alone.

 

Ahhhh yes. Welcome to the check the weather in the am to see how your 4runner is gonna ride on the highway on the way to work club.

 

i agree and you can ask them to Road force balance them for you i have found that most AT tires have a high or heavy spot and it needs to be off set with the Wheel or rim for good balancing I have GY DuraTrac and keep them at 32psi

 

I have been going through the same issues recently. I had a set of BFG KO2's C Load installed and had issues with steering wheel vibration between 57 and 62 mph. Went back to the shop and had them rebalanced twice. Finally gave up on the KO2 and swapped them out for GY Duratrac SL. Occasionally I still have the same problem with the Duratrac, just not as severe. After reading many threads on this, I just said the hell with it. I love my 4runner and most of the time it drives just fine.

 

I got new tires last year at America’s Tire and they balanced perfectly. Smooth from 0-90 mph.

Last month I picked up a nail in the sidewall of one tire which couldn’t be repaired so I got a new tire.
It was the front left tire and I noticed that 60 mph steering wheel vibe. I took the tire back for a rebalance on a slow day. I told them to road force balance it and made sure they knew it was from a T4R so it needed that special adapter for their Hunter machine.

The tech took his time, dismounted the tire, checked it inside and out, remounted it to account for the wheel and tire weight differences, and it only took 3 oz to balance.
Now it rides smooth again.

Maybe try balancing just the two front tires and insist on road force and the proper adapter. Or try a different shop.

 

So I had them road forced Sunday morning and I drove it around alot and no shake or shimmy. They all came back under 13lbs of road force and they put the one that is 13lbs on the rear. The 2 fronts are 4lbs and 9lbs. I drove a good 60 miles Sunday. It was Perfect! Smooth as butter! SUPER HAPPY! Then on my way into work this morning I get the wobble again right around 60mph. . I just don't get it. Smooth as glass for 60 miles on Sunday and then the truck sits overnight and its shimmying again in the morning. Blows my mind. What is causing a super smooth ride on Sunday and then Shaking on Monday? I'v owned many vehicles over the years and this one is a true mystery to me.

Maybe a ghost is coming into the garage at night and peeling weights off the tires!?!?!

 

Are you in a very cold climate?
Some people have reported their tires develop flat spots overnight and they require several miles of slower driving to heat them up and “get round” before hitting highway speeds.

 

I'm in ohio so id say its not super super cold. It was 28 degress while I was driving to work so maybe it is the cold. I was only on the highway for 5 miles or so

 

If it keeps happening, you can try rebalance at a different store. I had a shop balance mine a few times, even with road force it didn't go away. Different shop got it perfect. Different machine and/or different operator I guess.

Edit, I have 285/70-17 KO2s, load C, mounted on SCS Ray10 wheels. They've rode smooth for close to 10k miles through all seasons of the year so far since that last balance.

 

Just drove 3300 miles on 33" Cooper Evolution MTs. They were butter smooth 99% of the trip on speeds from 55 mph to 80 mph and at 18 psi, 25 psi, 40 psi and 42 psi. Then I noticed three times in the past two weeks, I would randomly get steering wheel vibrations. Would last maybe 15-30 minutes, then go away.

The vibration thing with the 4Runner is just weird.

 

THE EXACT SAME THING I HAVE!! So I had these tires roadforced and they are smooth as butter but then at times I get a noticeable vibration around 60mph.

Today they wobbled on the way to work but yesterday they were very smooth the entire way. Same temperature and PSI and highway everything! Everything was the same except the day of the week. I have searched everywhere on this forum and the question why some 4runners do this remains unanswered. I would love if someone read this and knew what this is all about.

 

Mountainman said it best," The vibration thing with the 4Runner is just weird."

I've been reading all these posts since getting my 4 runner in May 2020 and it's true. One day the truck rides like a brand new cadillac, then next day an old beat box. I've been playing the tire pressure game alot. weird!

 

Nothing to do with vibrations, but I swear one day I'll take a certain route to work, and it feels like I'm driving a luxury SUV. Another time on the same exact route, and I feel like I can feel every grain of sand I'm driving over...

 

I understand alot of us have the same experience as me but the question still remains WHY!?!?! Why is the design of the 4runner predisposed to this. Why a steering wheel shimmy one day but not the other? Why a butter smooth ride on the way to work and they a shimmy on the way home on the same highway? is it the suspension that causes this? The steering rack? What is it!?!?!

 

Manager of tire shop that finally fixed mine has a 4R himself or newer Tacoma. I forget which. But he said he chased the issue on his own truck so he knew exactly what i was talking about and his guy fixed mine 1st try when no one else could. The steering shimmy is balance.

And yeah, nobody can explain why that I ever found. "It's just sensitive."

My 4R was perfect off the lot. Installed a lift and didn't even do an alignment. Still perfect. Changed tires, shimmy from he'll at certain speeds. Wheel balance and alignment tweaks helped a little sometimes, until the weather changed or something. It was finally a simple rebalance that fixed it for good though.

 

Do you still get a little shimmy when you first get on the highway until the tires warm up?

 

I was experiencing this with my stock Bridgestone's but after having dealer rebalance a few times it seems to have been eliminated for the last 5k miles or so. Curious if anyone that continues to experience this has ever tried Ride-on. I used this on my motorcycles and through 4 sets of tires never needed a wheel weight. For someone that is out of patience, may be worth a shot before losing your mind.

https://www.ride-on.com

 

Nope. Totally fixed.

 

I'm still getting the same issue on my 4Runner. Took it back to a different service of Toyota. Saying could not duplicate concern Even though they gave me a new set of tires. Asking them to check wheel balance and alignments. Totmacher, did you take it back to Toyota service or local shop to correct the issue by rebalance?

 

When I worked on trucks at the blue oval there were targets for vehicle sensitivity to tire/wheel imbalance (for both in-phase and out of phase inputs) and also targets for balance and road force variation for the tire/wheel assemblies (and it might be worth mentioning that the road force variation spec was more loose for Light Truck tires than passenger car tires). I don't know if the 4Runner is particularly sensitive to tire/wheel imperfections but the sensitivity isn't likely to change day to day.

One possibility for a vibration that comes and goes is that you have two tire/wheel assemblies with moderately poor balance or more likely moderately high road force variation. So when the high or low spots line up in phase (or sometimes 180 degrees out of phase excites the vehicle or steering system most) you may get a vibration but after the tire/wheel assemblies change their phase relateship like after you go around a corner the defects don't line up and you don't feel a vibration. So I'd still suspect the tire/wheel assemblies as the culprits.

When the vibration is only in the steering wheel and it's oscillating clockwise/counterclockwise (we called it "nibble") the vibration is worst when the forces (imbalance or road force variation) are 180 degrees out of phase between left and right front wheels. One thing you can try is just swapping the tire/wheel assemblies from front to rear.

You can't always " balance out" road force variation. It's caused by non-uniform tire stiffness. Competent tire shops can try to match up the "high" (stiff) spot on the tire with the lowest point on the wheel to try to offset the tire defect but if Toyota gives us nice round wheels then it would be harder to fix a problem this way...maybe our wheels are too good for some tires?!

Also just a comment that if you balance a tire/wheel assembly off the vehicle you also might have to take extra care to center it when you mount it because if there is excessive clearance between the wheel hub and wheel and you just let the wheel hang before torquing it down that can create an imbalance (due to the wheel not being centered) even if the tire/wheel assembly is properly balanced.

 

Not toyota dealer.
Tire shop. One location tried couple times including original mount/balance when i bought the tires. Different location of same chain got it right first try. (And no charge since still part of same chain of shops).

 

thank you for all the great advise! Sadly I’m still dealing with this issue. I had a Goodyear shop do my previous road force balance and I just had it at Toyota yesterday for yet another balance/ force match. Toyota assured me the tires I have are balance and nothing is out of round or defective. All tires road forced under 15lbs and they told me that’s good for an AT tire.

I may try rotating the front tires to the back and see if anything changes. Maybe I have a stubborn tire that’s up front causing issues. This is so frustrating

 

15 is not good enough. In spec sure, but not good enough.