2020 Steering/Alignment issue?

Morning everyone!

I got my wife a 2020 4Runner SR5P in October of 2019 and immediately had a set of Falken Wildpeaks installed in the stock size, no other modifications.

The last few weeks my wife started to notice a shimmy in the steering wheel around 55-65mph but nothing terrible, so I took it to a local shop to have it balanced and rotated. They said all 4 tires were off but only slightly.

However now the steering wheel shimmy is still present at 55 and anything over 65 has a noticeable vibration throughout the whole car. She’s saidthat the whole car feels off now, seems much more squirmy at highway speeds almost like she’s fighting with the truck to stay straight, it seems heavier or something like the steering is way off. Almost bouncier, I’m not sure how to put it.

I have an apt today to bring it back to the local place, could them balancing the tires somehow thrown off the alignment? Would a weird alignment even cause all these odd issues?

 

Check air pressure? If the tires were fine at the begining they could need road force balance. Discount tire has a machine. the shimmy is usually tires on the 4runner. I read long before purchasing and test drive at 60 prior to buying. One dealer had 2 identical runners. 2st one had the shimmy and sales guy said it was the road. 2nd runner, same road, same speed smooth as butter. I bought that one and I guarantee the dealer just put the other back in the lot

 

Let me know what they say. Mine does something similar but I run stock tires at the moment but have a lift. I was also going to check the needle bearing.

 

Get rid of the Falkens. I tried 3 sets all same issue. Both with4 ply and one set 10ply. All did the same. I contacted Falken they recommended to switch to a different tire. They know there has been a lot of issues on the toyotas with them.

 

Tire balance. Alignment can exacerbate feeling but it's tire balance. Go to a different shop. I forget how many times it took to get my bfg tires balanced correctly. Maybe 3 or 4 or more at my usual shop. Finally tried dif shop and shimmy was 100% gone. Manager of shop that finally got it right owns a 4R himself that had had a shimmy and said the midsize Toyotas can be troublesome to get just right.

 

In my experience these symptoms have always been caused by the tires. Alignment problems don't tend to do this. The tires weren't balanced well enough and/or needed to be Roadforce balanced so they are right at high speeds under stress. Sometimes there's just a problem with a tire that can't be fixed by balancing. Also, sometimes a tire and a car just don't match well. The normal vibrations the tires produce at certain speeds just happen to interact with the normal vibrations of the car -- "sympathetic vibrations." Nothing is defective, it's just bad luck. I had that on a Land Rover. There was a certain long stretch of highway I commuted on where there'd be this weird shimmy/vibration that you wouldn't get on other surfaces, or on that surface with other cars. So, unfortunately the only fix may be new tires. Especially if it continues after roadforce balancing.

 

heard a lot of complaints on toyota forums about this exact problem. usually shows up at highway speeds.

 

Update on this: had it balanced 2 more times and once at a Toyota dealer. All of them are saying it’s balanced but each time they would say the last person didn’t balance it right. Doesn’t make a sense, either way, vibration and wheel shimmy is still there at highway speeds.

I called tire buyer last night to see about either doing a warranty claim on all four or something. Waiting for a call back on that, not expecting them to comply but worth a shot. I’ll try falken direct if tirebuyer doesn’t come through. Super annoying

 

See if you can find an off road shop or ask locally specifically about road force balancing. It truly makes a difference on AT and MT tires. I put nitto ridge grapplers on in 285 and my steering wheel is still at highway speed.

 

I’ve been trying to find a place that will do a road force balance with no luck. I’ve heard this will most likely fix the issue and would absolutely love to give it a try. Anyone know of any in CT?

 

I got a guy if you want to drive down to PA to do it

 

Hey Alex, Where is the place in Pa? Thanks.

 

York County. Hanover offroad and accessories. They are part of the hanover autogroup and used to be integrated into the Toyota dealership. He knows the 4runner and tacoma pretty well and has been great to work with

 

Thank Dude!! Yeah been thru there numerous times. I assume it’s in Hanover pa. There no place around me that does road force.

 

Yup in hanover.

 

Looks like that’s about a 5 hour drive for me and with a shimmy/vibration, that would be an uncomfortable 5 hour ride haha

I called a few places around me and Firestone said they do road force balancing but I’m a little reluctant on using them but I guess at this point I’ve got nothing to lose

 

Its more about the equipment than the people in this case so hopefully it will work out for you.

 

I had an issue with one of my K02s that even roadforce couldn't balance out. Had vibrations at 55-60 mph. Called Tirerack and they sent me a new tire and that solved my issue.

 

Mine did this at stock tires and now with new falkens. From reading around, the Toyota wheels are very sensitive to balance. I had road force balance done with new ones, still have it, although intermittent. Going to try to take some air out as this helped the factory tires, having said that if that fails will go back to shop i had it done with and have them give it another go.

 

It may be the people as much as the equipment. The machine shows green and button pushers think it's good enough but sometimes you need an operator that actually knows what the numbers in the green box mean to get it right. That's true for alignments, balancing, and a lot of other subjects sadly. Old guy doing a basic balance resolved my steering wheel shake while kids doing roadforce balance failed repeatedly.

 

Road force balance didn't fix it, its still present unfortunately although slightly improved, seems to level off a bit after 62ish but still not right. I got in touch with tire buyer where I purchased them but since I'm no longer within 1/32 of the tire tread, I'm basically SOL. They offered me 15% off on new tires. Dissapointing since they only have about 4500 miles on them but nothing I can do. Going to try one other place I found here in CT to try and get them balanced again. Hoping they can get it done but this will be the 5th time so I'm thinking its never going to be right but guess we will see!