Steering Wobble Redux

After much reading here and elsewhere, finally started the build of our ‘17 T4R yesterday with a set of Method 305NV’s wrapped with BFG 275 70 17 KO2’s. Driving home from Discount Tires steering wheel started the dreaded wobble at 50ish mph and up to just at 60+.
Took it back today. After the third balancing attempt by the third tech, he excluded one tire that needed “too much weight” and put on another new one. Smooth as butter.
These wheels are “lug centric” but apparently CAN be retrofitted onto the Gen 5’s successfully. Despite other posts on the subject, am posting here for others’ future reference. Really liking the look. Suspension lift next on tap…

 

Glad to hear you got this resolved. I had a very similar issue with my 275/70/17 KO2's...First set of tires (4) wouldn't balance after 3 attempts by America's Tire. They ordered a new replacement set, claiming the previous set was out of round. They weren't able to balance the second set after two attempts...finally took it into a Toyota Dealer, and they were able to balance them. One tire required 8+ ounces of weights...

Long story short, I had the same wobble between 50-60mph, and dealt with it since April of this year. I wish I had tried the dealer route sooner, but my gut instinct is to always be weary of dealership techs, lol.

 

…..and, the 60mph wobble is back.
Three attempts to correct it. They discarded one tire on the last attempt to balance. No bueno.
Heading back to Discount Tire to try different manufacturer. Sigh.

 

Hoping it is not one or more of the wheels. Any reports(good or bad) on the Method 305NV’s on a Gen 5?
if it’s not the wheels, looking at Nittos, Falkens or Coopers as alternates to the BFG K02s we put on it a coupke weeks ago.

 

Just yesterday dumped set of KO2s for Toyos AT3.
After ~4000Miles and rotation - wobble in front axle - bad wheel was in back but after rotation appeared in front.
3 rotations did not help a lot.
Discount Tire (highly recommend this shop - they stand behind the brand) offered to replace with same set of KO2s but told me these are notorious for being out-of-balance.
So I asked to replace with different manufacturer - so far so good with AT3s.

 

Thanks for sharing your experience.
I feel your pain.

So did you also get aftermarket wheels with the BFG’s or was your KO2 wobble with factory wheels?

Although a 2017, my 4WD SR5 only has 16K miles. I took off the stock wheels and tires and had Discount Tire put on a set of 5 Method 305s and 275/70/17 BFG KO2s. 3 balances, they threw away one of the new tires and replaced it - rebalanced all and still wobble after 3 tries.

Trying to figure out if it is the tires, wheels or both?!!

 

I have purchased many sets Bf Goodrich KO's & KO 2's never had a problem with them, if they are balanced well you should not have any wobble.

In case your wheels are misaligned, the steering wheel itself may vibrate or shake. This is a pretty easy fix – just take your car in for an alignment, and the problem might be resolved. Hence, sometimes, the wheel (s) itself is responsible for vibration.

 

I just had an alignment done and it fixed my wobble. there might be a very faint shimmy but I think it's mainly me trying to find a problem at this point.

 

Thanks guys-
Unfortunately, just had an alignment Friday. And a 4th attempt at balancing (the shop that aligned specializes in off road suspensions, lifts, etc., so I asked them to rebalance.) No improvement :/

 

Most likely wheels are the problem, almost sure.

 

I have stock TRDOP wheels.
They tested wheels separately and found them perfect thus concluded issue is in the tire.
I replaced my Dunlops with KO2s after ~500 miles or so - did not experience any shake on Dunlops and later 4000 miles on KO2s (before balance).
After rotation is when issues started.

 

https://www.4runners.com/threads/2021-4runner-steering-shimming.21272/#post-265191

 

Gordonf and Roland-
Both of you have TRD stock wheels. I might have Discount Tire mount the KO2s on my stock rims and see if the wobble disappears, thereby isolating the Method wheels as the problem. Problem then is, what wheels should we go to? Perhaps stock TRDs which are OEM “hub centric”.

Alternatively, perhaps I will just have them swap tires to another brand. If the wobble persists, we can pretty safely assume it is the wheels and not the tires. But, if the problem disappears, well, problem solved.

 

Yes, TRD Pro stock wheels with 285's KO 2's C rated no problem on/off-road wonderful ride. If I remember correctly Bfg KO 2's 275/70/17 are only made E rated which is a heavy tire, I like the 10 Ply of the E rated tire. I don't think this should be the problem; I believe the rims are. A nice quality rim machined of billet are the Fuel rims Matte Black Vector Wheels.

 

I thought the Methods I put on were milled AN356Alum billet. no? https://www.methodracewheels.com/collections/street-wheels/products/305-nv-hd-matte-black

Wouldn’t the fact they’re not hub centric be potentially more problematic?

I can’t find any aftermarket hub-centrics that fit the 4R

 

First, I would try to put the TRD wheels with the Bfg's.

Yes, the Methods are milled.

Fuel made by MHT in CA, USA

http://www.fueloffroad.com/gallery/?make=Toyota&model=4Runner&brand=&search=

http://www.mhtwheels.com/fuel-forge...eels are,art Southern California machine shop.

 

We bought a new 2020 4 runner and vibration was pretty bad around 55-65 mph……took 3 weeks of force alignments and new tires but nothing worked so finally they sent the vehicle to a dealership with a master mechanic who took apart the front end and tested every part. The problem was faulty wheel bearings which were replaced and it went away. Toyota knows about this but will not do anything unless the dealership finds it and many of them have young inexperienced mechanics the do routine stuff mostly. We kept the Michelins…..lol!

 

I had a set of KO2s that had the shimmy at 52-57 MPH. Road Force balanced three times at three different shops, including Firestone and Toyota. After each visit, the shimmy was still there. Also had 2 full rotations, and the change in the shimmy was only slight. I bought a set of Nitto Ridge Grapplers, and the problem is GONE. Immediate fix. No alignment, no rim change, no not-shit. Just the tires.

 

This is my concern about not having my lift/wheels/tires done at Toyota when my 2022 comes in. I'm sure my local off-road place would do what needed to be done to rectify any problems with work I have done with them, but are they going to be as capable as the off road tech at my dealership?