4Runner shimmy lemon law issue sign up

Rebalance complete. Supposedly one of the fronts had some wobble so they moved it to the back. Still can’t get TPMS to go out. Still a shimmy, but I’d say it’s a 40% improvement, though I’ll put more miles on the “rebalance” this weekend. Think I’ll see if the dealership will balance/align it under the CPO warranty (doubtful) or at least shut off the damn TPMS light. Can’t say I’m thrilled, but I’ll live with it for now. I really hope these tires work out.

 

That happened to me... so Discount tire did a road force balance on all four tires. Two of them were bad, they put them in the rear... so I test drove first and when there was no vibration, I rotated the tires, so now the bad ones are at the front, and it started vibrating. I called them and they replaced one yesterday which was supposed to be the "baddest" of the two.. today I called them again because I feel the steering wheel vibrate/shake at 60mph. They ordered another one and am now waiting for their call. If you have a discount tire account, you can actually log in and check the order.

 

Holy shit…sounds like we’re in the same boat. Seriously contemplating telling the k02’s to fuck themselves.

 

That shimmy is almost always a balance issue. I think part of the problem is that tire guys are similar to alignment techs, they think if they get a number in the "green", then it's good, but then sometimes it's not good enough.

KO2s are known tough to balance on 4Runner. I even heard a salesman in tire shop recently talk customer out of getting KO2s and going to a cheaper tire for his 4R instead because they see so many KO2s that they can't get to ride right on 4R.
It took multiple attempts and 2 or 3 different shops over the span of nearly a year to get my K02s to not shimmy at 60mph. Been 2+ years I think now riding smooth since they finally got it right.

 

That’s insane. I feel like after one or two light off road sessions the tires would need to be rebalanced, then you’re back to square one.

 

Of my three 4Runners, my current one is the only one with a shimmy. (You hit 55-60 mph and it's got a vibration that will crack your teeth) The Toyota dealership blamed "our bad roads around here" and balanced the tires. It made no difference far as I could tell. The past few weekends we've loaded the 4Runner up with retaining wall blocks and mulch, etc. while we work on some landscaping projects. No idea if that has something to do with it, but its gotten much worse the last couple of weeks.

 

Ha I’m not affiliated with a dealership. Just a happy Toyota customer for 20+ years.

I will say my 4runner does have the vibes at the slightest sign of uneven wear on the edges of the front tires. Rotate to the rear and flip sides and the issue goes away immediately. So, definitely a tire/balance issue.

 

I think there’s a similar problem with Wildpeaks. Much discussed on the Tacoma World forum.

 

Thanks. Thought the problem might have improved with lighter tires.

Changing the stock suspension and tires on these 4R’s is often times a crap shoot.
Hope you got rid of the “shakes” for good.

 

I guess I am lucky. I have 21 ORP with stock Dunlop’s and have not noticed any issues at all.

I debated getting a more aggressive type looking tire but I think this makes that decision for me.

 

Michelin AT’s might be a safe bet.

 

I wouldn't let this discourage me from getting the tires I want. Side note; if you drive anywhere where it snows at all, you are going to want to throw those Dunlops right in a dumpster.

But, I'm on my third set of aftermarket tires without any sort of shimmy problems.

 

Thanks for the tip. Yeah I am a bit odd in that I won’t be driving mine in the winter (stored away) and don’t plan to in rain. I bought it tow my fishing boat. So it’s usually in garage unless it’s a nice day.

 

I had 3 sets of ko2’s in a LT E on my Tahoe and never EVER had a bad tire or balancing issues, I don’t blame the tires.

 

My parents had the dunlops on the 2019 with no problems and went with a Michelin AT and also had no issues.

 

I respectfully disagree, I think the difficulty of getting tires to balance on our 4Rs is just a symptom. These trucks should not be this sensitive to a ever-so-slightly out of balance tire. IMHO it has mechanical roots such as CV geometry which explains why some shimmies go away after a lift or maybe defective hubs or steering rack. It seems to occur at certain speeds but not slower or faster, which to me points to something other than just a balance issue.

 

Fully agree, there is something else stirring the pot.

 

Same here.
I’m sticking with the stock Dunlops for the warranty issue if nothing else. It will eliminate the possible dealer argument that I caused it by switching tires.

 

I switched tires, nothing changed except better road feel. Shimmy still there.

 

Third attempt at balancing right now for these k02s. Discount Tire rep says he keeps ample on hand for this very reason.

 

Maybe they are discounted because they get the shitty tires in hopes people won’t complain

 

When I spoke to the rep yesterday about the vibration (Yesterday they changed the first of two very bad tires, today they changed the second bad tire), I also asked if the tires they installed on mine are new and not returned because I notice there were no "hair" on all of them, he replied yes reluctantly... and he actually offered to order three new tires. But I said just change the second bad one as I didn't want to complicate things. The two new tires have "hair" so they are definitely new. So far it's vibration free now... fingers crossed.

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Edit to add:
I didn't have a problem with the E load they installed the first time.

 

It’s weird but my KO2s are perfect despite everyone complaining about them.

My factory Dunlops had vibration so they warrantied it with Goodyear Ultraterrains. Then I went through 3 sets of Goodyear Ultraterrains because I still had vibration problems. Then they let me exchange for BFG KO2s and they are perfect on the 1st set.

 

Just to update this thread with my problem, I asked DT to rotate the one tire on the wheel and redo road force balance. It did solve the problem after that. But I drove to Flagstaff this week, and the problem is here again, but not as bad as it was.

 

My KO2s were not to blame at all for the shimmy I experienced. Crappy balancing attempts by dealership and Discount Tire were the problem.

 

My truck doesn’t have the shimmy (stock tires and suspension) knock on wood. But I think you’re on to something here. I think some experimentation is in order. For those that have the shimmy maybe try rotating the tires, or maybe remove one, rotate it a fraction of a tun on the hub, and bolt it back on.

 

This must really be a post-Covid production issue. I've run 5 sets on various vehicles and had zero issues. I'm guessing they had production issues trying to get the most popular SUV A/T tire they make out fast enough. Maybe they ran tires in older molds for too long? Weird.

 

Which Geolandars? I had a set of the G015's on my '03 and I have a set of the MT's currently and haven't had any problems.

I hate to say it, but I wouldn't count on DT or pretty much any chain store to balance bigger tires properly. Did they show you the road force numbers after they balanced them?

 

When I had my 2000 Toyota 4 Runner (in the olden days) this was a issue. Back then it was hub centric vs lug centric balancing. Is this still the same issue? I have no clue, just posting this up here on the off chance that it helps...

Steve

 

Balancing with the proper lug centric adapter certainly is important but there are some folks here that have had luck getting tires balanced on a cone. I was fortunate to find a good local shop with a lug centric balancer that knew all about 4Runner balancing issues.