Steering wheel shake and pull. KO2s to blame?

2021 TRD Premium. 750 miles. E load range BFG KO2 265/70/17.
I have a consistent steering wheel shake at 50-65 mph and a constant pull to the right. After 2 alignments, multiple wheel balancing, road force tests, and 5 new tires run at psi between 32 and 50. It's been to the dealership 5 times. They can feel it but don't know what else could be wrong. They've checked drive shaft and say nothing is bent in the suspension. ANY ideas. ??
They say BFG KO2s are too heavy and not recommended for a 4runner

 

Same issue with my KO2s but not too bad. They get better when they warm up after a few miles or in the summer time.

I have C load, trying to avoid unsprung weight and the heavier the tire, the worse it can be.

 

Yeah, it's probably the tire balance.

Did it do it with the stock tires?

 

Sounds like your KO2s could be to blame. Some report good luck with KO2s, others not so much. It’s costly, but if it’s causing a lot of frustration, I’d swap them out for something else.

 

Maybe the dealership isn't very good at what they're doing? I have 275/70/17 in E load and have no vibration. I did after the initial install, but a re-balance fixed the issue.

 

Lots of posts on the forum about this kind of shaking after switching to larger or heavier tires. K02s are often mentioned in these posts. Also Falken Wildpeaks. The 4Runner may be more sensitive to wheel balance than some other vehicles. (Or maybe not?) Regardless, you're gonna risk balance issues when you increase the rotating weight and/or circumference of that weight by switching to heavier and/or taller tires. I'm no fan of dealers, but think your dealer isn't being unreasonable when they point out that your truck is not really meant for this kind of tire.

That said, many people here have had good success with upsizing to heavier and taller tires. Some brands seem to be more problematic than others. And within a brand, some tires are worse than others.

If it was me, I'd be looking at an aggressive and well-reviewed tire that doesn't weigh so much. For example, do you really need E load?

Per the specs on Tire Rack, the E load version of this 265/70/17 tire is a whopping 9 pounds heavier than the C load version. 53 vs 44 pounds. That's a heck of a lot to have to balance, especially with that much sidewall.

$332+ BFGoodrich All-Terrain T/A KO2 Tires

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/Spec...O2RWL&ef_id=YHSqgAAABNxM5Vx1:20210412201600:s

 

The operator gets lazy and really does not want to take the time to dial them in (close enough) in his mind, it’s lunch time. I used to balance tires, some of them take a lot of finesse and patience. Do it right the first time and you will not have all the comebacks.

 

No it’s the 4Runner that is the problem search wheel shimmy and you complaining for every tire manufacturer
Try increasing tire pressure my sweet spot is 38 on my falken wildpeaks but my winter setup with blizzaks did the same until I increased pressure
J

 

1 out of 3 sets of KO2 I had the issue, I say it's shop issue.

Next day I went to my regular Discount tire shop and did a tire balance again. It was solved. To my experience its tire shop's fault not knowing how to balance.

 

road force balance at a reputable shop is your friend.

 

This is a cut and paste from a member named ahtoxa11 on the other forum. I haven't tried this personally, but it might be worthwhile for those having persistent issues:

Many, including myself, have run into issues with steering wheel shakes right around 60 mph with both stock and after market tires/wheels and all sorts of tire sizes.

This may not work for you, but through trial and error I'll share what worked for me and hopefully this will help you.

There are three key things here to get the balance right.

1. Road force. Most know this, but make sure the shop checks it.
2. Adapter plate. Make sure the shop uses these instead of the cone adapters. This is important for Toyotas

Now for the most influential factor in my case:
3. On some Hunter machines, there's a program that's called "Smart Weight". If you're struggling with balance, ask the shop to turn it off. . For me, the above points 1 and 2 were perfect but the steering still shook. Everything, even the alignment was checked and yet I had shimmies and shakes.

Turning off "Smart Weight" and rebalancing resolved the issue immediately and seemingly consistently (twice now on different tires and thousands of miles apart). I'm not an expert on what that program does, but apparently it's counter-productive for balancing in some cases, at least.

My work was done as Discount Tire, so likely the DT around you will have the same Hunter machines.

 

Lots of good advice here. My first post was well responded to. Glad to know the 4 runners can be finicky. My wife has a 16 SR5 Premium that rides great with none of these problems. Toyota dependability is what made me jump from Jeep.

 

Do you have it leveled or lifted by chance? I removed my bilsteins today and the steering wheel shake went with it.

 

Yep, its the tires. You didnt have it before right? Welcome to the chase of getting them, or not, balanced correctly,.. or, running the best air. Mine (they all do) is worse in the morning, or when cold, gets better here and there. I just dgaf,...


Edit- also, why anyone would think, their 2021, Toyota, has a damn thing wrong with it, blows my mind. Chances are slim to none.

 

@Smoky69 I recommend trying to get them balanced at an off-road shop, or at least a different tire shop.

My LT/C 285's were purchased at an off-road shop and were silky smooth until I lost some weights. That shop was booked up so I had Discount rebalance them. The wheel still jiggled, so I took them back to the off-road shop a few days later and they are perfect once again.

I don't know whether these guys are just more patient, or maybe they are just better with heavy tires. But, I currently have LT/E 295 MT's at ~65# apiece and they are balanced perfectly.

 

Just purchased a 2021 Venture Edition two weeks ago. The KO2's that came on it shimmied on test drive. Asked dealer to balance them before I purchased the vehicle. They took it back to service and balanced them twice, including a road force, still vibed between 50-60 mph. They ended up completely swapping with the wheels/tires of another Venture on the lot that had Wrangler Duratrac's. Problem solved. Drove like butter.

 

Sometimes a balancing issue is more of an issue with the installer than the tires themselves. If you run into that situation again, it might be worth taking the vehicle to a reputable shop for balancing.

Welcome to the forum!

 

I'm running E-load 265/70-17 Toyo A/T IIIs and they are smooth as butter up to 80 mph, which is as fast as I'll take my lifted 4Runner.

It's the KO2s.

 

Known about issues with bfg ko2 for a while now. Im just gonna stay away from them. Great looking tire though.

 

Balancing issues aren't actually typical with them. You just hear more bad experiences as so many have run them.

They are actually very good tires for some folks. I had a set for 30K miles and they were great at almost everything I threw at them.

I wouldn't avoid them over complaints from 5-10% of their users.

 

balancing issues are the only bad things people really complain about them. I came from Tundras.com has I used to have one for years and that’s all anyone would complain about. I hear you though.

 

Tundras are nice!

I just like to mention it because I think they get more bad press than they deserve.

Also I've had tires that a chain store couldn't balance, but my off-road shop got them perfect. Sometimes it's the guy doing the balancing more than the tire.

 

Couldn’t agree more about the hate. It’s mainly about the lack of tech. I didn’t care. I could sleep well knowing that my truck will start the next morning. Hence why I stated in the Toyota fam. Especially going to the 4runner.
And I would only go to a specific 4x4 shop to get my alignments done. Especially since I would run heavy off road tires and it was lifted.

 

I'm not a K02 owner but it seems that I was watching a YouTube off-road guy? And he said that the older KO2's were awesome but he had heard several owners having problems with the new ones.

Not sure, maybe they changed something in the manufacturing process.

 

I have heard some rumors as well, but I also know a bunch of guys who have them and love them.

One thing I've heard that makes sense is that the heavier rated LT versions use a harder rubber compound, which could explain some of the issues with wet traction and snow traction.

Mine were LT/C and the rubber seemed pretty soft. Balanced perfectly, and had 80% of the original tread after 30K miles.

 

Mine are about a month old , C rated K02s. So far they feel soft,grippy, comfy, quiet, and they balanced perfectly on the first go. Maybe it’s because I have the white letters?

 

chicken ;p

 

I'm having this issue with my 275/70/17 BFG KO2's. Shimmy/shake starts around 55mph.

Had the tires/wheels Road Force balanced at America's Tire when initially installed. Two weeks later I was back, they claimed all four tires were off balance...that round solved the problem, but it's been just over 1000miles and the shake is back. Going in again on Saturday...

 

I just bought my 5th gen and it came with Ko2s, I absolutely hate them. I have Falkens on my third-gen and they ride much better on the road and off the road.

 

Load range E?

What load range?

Just curious. It seems like the load range E versions get more complaints than the other versions.