Steering wheel shake and pull. KO2s to blame?

I saw that post earlier, i just don’t understand why Toyotas would be this sensitive to tire / wheel balance.

 

I agree. I ran 42psi for a while. It was a bit firm. I've since backed down to around 36-38psi. It feels just right for me.

 

38psi have worked out fine for my 265 sized KO2s. Good ride as well.

 

Not at all, the convo was super short. After explaining him the back story he immediately said “ if ORW can’t we can’t do much “ and that was it. Why would I be lying, I was ok paying the cost and I would have loved them to say, bring it and we’ll take a look. What kind of business will give this response? Lol

 

Update: after K02’s replaced with Wildpeaks P285/70/r17 I have had pretty smooth ride back home from the dealer and was happy that it was better but kinda sad that I had to let go the K02s which I liked better. So after that day I didn’t drive the truck for a while as I work from home then first time on the highway the shimmy is back as it was before, it was evening so the tire temperature might be the reason why it comes and goes. It seems like either ORW can’t balance the tires or there’s something else going on. Nevertheless I decided to listen one of the people that suggested bringing it to Discount Tire in Mira Mesa San Diego, now I am waiting for them to do road force balance and check if the lug nuts are long enough? Apparently this could also be the reason according to some folks and the service advisor that I just spoke to from Discount Tire. So I am documenting all these , I am ok with stiff ride but not ok with the vibrations at curtain speeds (50+ mph) I feel line I’ll stress out every time I get this vibrations rest of the time I own this truck. If nothing works out I’d not want to keep this car and will try to return it back. This is just me though. Some folks keep saying this is normal which I do not believe

 

I’m trading mine in…I’m with you on the stress pretty much every time I drive my $45,000 NEW SUV. Can’t be getting pissed of everyday on my way to work which pays for my vehicle. Getting a pick up truck now.

 

I can't say I would blame either of you if you decided to get rid of them. The tire/wheel shimmy should not be accepted as "normal."

There can definitely be some vibration associated with more aggressive tires. But, the actual wobble of the steering wheel is a sign that something isn't right.

I know I have said it earlier, but I have had shops that were unable to balance my tires properly. I wish everyone else could get it resolved by changing shops the way that I have.

I sure hope Toyota gets these things right on the 6th gen.

 

The places I tried I have used for service for years, I trust them fully when it comes to balancing tires, that’s cake work vs replacing pain the ass parts on rusted vehicles here in NY lol…mine 100% has a flaw. Glad my parents 2019 is working out for them though. I don’t hate the 4 runner at all, I hate the issue with it. Just hope my next choice of vehicle treats me right. Going a way I never thought I would have but I’m picky with my taste in vehicles. 4 runner was the last SUV I would buy. All others are to expensive and look well, like cross overs. I will miss this forum though!

 

You can still hang out after you trade it in . I'm on Tacomaworld all the time.

I'm planning on going a different direction with my next vehicle, also. But, It will be a second vehicle.

 

The wife will still be in the Toyota family with her RAV, which never gives a issue. I really would like the new tundra but it’s to new to be a Guinea pig for the new body and drive train trial and errors and can’t wait 2-3 years for that to settle out. I will be posting in The Who’s drinking thread I am sure haha!

 

Update: it’s about 600 miles after getting my tires balanced at Discount Tire Mira Mesa and no shimmy at all. Smooth as butter! Road force balance solved it. ( as of now if nothing changes but why should it lol )

 

Hopefully that’s all it was, the first tire rotation should be a sign to if everything is good. Mine was minimal then I had my first rotation and all hell broke loose shimmy wise. All 4 of my tires came from the port unbalanced but sadly never fixed my issue.

 

This is evidence that one of your rear tires wasn't balanced properly or was bad.

 

Or the 4 runner couldn’t handle the different tread wear in the front lol…balance has been ruled out on mine that’s why it’s going to be traded in soon.

 

When everyone complains of the shimmy I would like to get an idea of what everyone's version is. Mine is at 60mph, but only on certain roads. Also if I'm accelerating through 60 then its not present. Only if I stay at 60. If I never let go of the steering wheel I would actually not notice it. So my question to everyone, "is the shimmy so bad their arms shimmy as well??" Mine is an annoyance not a deal breaker because I would find a fault in every single vehicle that is way worse. I live in Texas and the roads around town never let me approach 60 and the highways would never let me reduce my speed to 60 so I can live with it. I love the 4R in almost every other way.

 

You can see my hand shake on the wheel with mine. The dunlops at the end did it from 50-72 mph, ko2’s can start at 55-58 and vanishes around 68 or so. It’s all random . Some days it happens some it doesn’t, some worse than others. Can be dead smooth I take a turn on a off pass on highway and then it activates.

 

Yeah that sounds way more random than mine with AT3's and mine is only from 60-62mph and not every time. I can live with it.

 

https://youtube.com/shorts/KSc0rLcp4Dk?feature=share

recorded with a old iPhone 7 so you know it’s worse in person

 

Mine is similar to yours and No, it doesn't jerk my arms or pulls left or right. It is just annoying to know the shimmy is coming between 50 to 60mph. But eventually it disappears as you go even faster or if you slow down. I think is the CV angles along with a sweet spot on the tires that makes this thing come and go. I even replaced the needle bearing for the ECGS as shown by many of the videos on the subject and still didn't get rid of the shimmy. On another thread that is going right now I will post this as well. Eventually i will just accept it and let go.

 

It could always be worse

https://youtu.be/JrNY3TE-9a8

 

But you don't even know your Road Force numbers so how can you rule that out?

 

Had successful balances first time around on all my new tires on numerous vehicles over the last 15 years except this one…it’s in the vehicle somewhere.

 

I always ask for my road force numbers to be under 20. They for the most part get them between 5 and 13. Smooth as butter and cold pressure is set at 36. 275/70/17 KO2

 

^ exactly.

 

Well, I need to learn this. What do the numbers mean? Degrees of? Or some tolerance between what and what? When ask around the places I go, and I mentioned road force balancing, people seem to think this isn't much difference than what they do with their standard machine. I appreciate the help here as this would be my last try at trying to get rid of the shimmy. Thank you all!

 

Find your nearest Discount Tire. Tell them that you want them to use a finger plate or a spider plate to balance your wheels and tires. This plate make the wheels and tires more center in the balancer than the center cone they typically use. Then ask them to wheel match the tires and wheels. This puts the heaviest part of the tire on the opposite side of the heaviest part of the wheel. That will get you somewhere near the below 20 road force number the closer to zero on the road force number the less wheel weights will need to be used and the more truer the wheel package will be. I run 36 lbs cold and I have my tires road forced balanced and rotated every 3500 miles. So far I have 33k on this set that is in the photo above. Toyotas are lug centric when it comes to centering the wheels on the hubs that is why they should be using the finger plate to balance your tires.

 

Never took my wheels off personally but why does everyone here say they are hub Centric if stock? And why would you really have to have them balanced every 3500 miles? All the tires and vehicles I had they were balanced once at purchase time, rotated every 5,000-8,000 miles, took me 30,000 + miles and I never had a issue in my life until this 4 runner…

 

I get the same thing that a normal balance is completely fine, then I bring up this shimmy problem that they never heard of, and say that I was told road force balancing is what is needed to correct it and they seem sorry for taking my extra $$$ for something that shouldn’t be needed, and didn’t and never will fix the issue with my specific 4 runner.

 

I believe our 4Runners stock wheels are “hub-centric.”

 

The rotation at 3500 is my preference as they are AT tires and don’t want any cupping. The wheels will say hub centric but they are also lug centric. The lugs are used to keep the wheels centered. The wheel shimmy is a normal that that the 4Runners have around 55-63 mph. The better balanced the wheels and tires are the less pronounced it is. There are times usually when it’s been sitting over night and the temps outside are cold. But not as pronounced as if they are not road forced below 20.