2022 with Steering Wheel Shake - Need Advice

I chalk this up to a quirk of the 4Runner. Mine has a little steering wheel shake at 55mph but it goes away quickly once the tires heat up.

 

Hi Freeze, this looks like your latest post here. Any update?
I just picked up my 22 SR5 with XP Gunner package 2 days ago. I have less than 200 miles on it and I am having the exact same issue. I haven't taken it anywhere yet.

 

I have a similar issue with a shimmy after messing with a new suspension. Apparently the geometry of these vehicles are very sensitive to any changes that are made after putting new wheels and even small lifts. I had a Tacoma and same issue around 50mph. I plan to take mine to a different alignment guy and just keep trying. I think it is safe to drive but yes very annoying given that these things are supposed to be new and with no issues. I think the guys at the dealer want to do as little as possible and send us all home.

 

I thought the 60 mph shimmy was a common trait of most 5th gens

 

It is.

My wife's '22 Tacoma is smooth as glass, not a shimmy, shake or vibration through the steering wheel....not so much with my '19 4Runner.

 

My 20 SR5 4x4 shakes at 60 to 65. Firestone aligned and replaced all four tires twice with $1,200 tires and road force balance all of them both times. They said it's not the wheels/tires and they don't see any issues with the front end.

I think the factory size wheels and tires and offset is too much for the front end design and parts I'm thinking about beefing up part by part until it stops just to figure out

 

What are your current alignment specs?

My '19 is perfectly smooth with both sets of aftermarket wheels and tires. I think I had some shimmy with the OEM wheels and tires.

What tires?

 

Our '22 was perfectly smooth from the factory at all speeds. Changed the wheels/tires and now there's a random shimmy at about 60MPH. It's not consistent, which is almost more annoying since it makes trouble shooting it that much harder. We had the exact same experience with our '16 as well. OEM - totally fine. Change wheels and/or tires = shimmy shimmy ya shimmy yam shimmy yay

 

2017 Gen5 SR5P here.

My experience, FWIW: No shimmy with factory original wheels and tires. None.

~60mph shimmy started immediately after exchanging factory wheels and tires for aftermarket Method wheels and BFG KO2’s.(Not only aftermarket, but larger).

Discount tire was great on their customer service after-the-sale with 3 rebalances then I had a roadforce balance done, then Discount tossed one of the KO2’s as out-of-round and replaced it. No change. Then they swapped KO2’s for Falken WP3’s. - rebalanced the WP’s twice. No change. Still shimmies at 60-65ish. Sometimes less than other times.

Based only on anecdotal evidence from the string I originally posted at the time, and from all the other reading I’ve done on this forum and others, I remain convinced that the change from hub-centric (factory) to non-hub centric aftermarket wheels, plus aftermarket wheel and tire size/weight, etc, might induce the issue.

I have decided to accept the issue in return for the wheels and tires I’ve chosen to put on my 4R. My opinion only. YMMV.

 

It's the Terra Grapplers in my experience, they wear terribly and shake at moderate highway speeds. (50-60)

 

This is definitely a common problem and from all the posts it is clearly not restricted to specific types of tires or wheels, suspensions, mods etc.

It happens on stock SR5s, ORs, Pros and Limiteds. So it happens on all three kinds of OEM suspensions, with a variety of OEM wheels and tires. And it is not consistently fixable with RoadForce balancing.

I did not notice any shimmy over 13k miles on my Limited OEM setup. But some people do get it with their OEM wheels and tires.

I started getting it after switching to TRD wheels and E Load tires — even though total weight was about the same as OEM (went from Uber heavy 20” rims to way lighter 17” rims).

A few balances improved the situation but did not fix it.

I then switched to much lighter AT tires, and while that’s been better still, I continue to have intermittent shimmy starting about 60 mph, but with no clue as to why. Temperature, road surface etc don’t seem to correlate at all.

I recently did a 300 mile highway trip and it didn’t happen for most of it, including when on asphalt that had been torn up in preparation for resurfacing. Then it happened for brief periods on what seemed like normal road surfaces. Had already driven about 100 miles, then it stopped for the next 50 miles. So it wasn’t correlated with tire temp. It makes absolutely no sense.

I have to think it’s a quirk of the steering rack or front frame. There’s just some odd road-surface-to-tire-interface combination that sets off quivers. Why some people report never having it is a mystery, but I have to think that some of them just haven’t noticed and some may simply be lucky.

edit: I really wonder if Toyota engineers know the answer but no one is talking!

 

I’ve read some people have played with the tire pressure. Anyone had any luck with that? I’m assuming it’ll never go away but just trying to find ways to make it less.

 

Mine seems to be coming back more and more on the warmer days now that spring is coming in full swing where I am...did it the last 3 days in the row but this morning was non existent. Seriously makes me want to trade this thing in already because I drive mostly highway. Learned quick this isn’t a good highway vehicle compared to my Tahoe.

 

I wanted to add amore aggressive tire but keep same size for my TRD - 245/60/20.
The local big independent tire shop owner wasn't willing to do it. He has a Toyota highlander.
He said the new 4Runner have a complex stabilizer system. Any changes to tire geometry would cause stability issues - which he wouldn't be responsible for.
Unless i take it back to Toyota for any issues that may arise.

At a crossroad now because i have my eyes on Toyo T3 AT - same size 245/60/20

 

If anything, adjusting the air pressure might cover up the issue some, but it won't fix it.

Aside from the steering wheel shimmy, what else don't you like about it?

 

Changing to a different tire does not change geometry.

What's funny is that mine is lifted, and feels more stable than it did with the mushy stock shocks.

The Limited has X-REAS, which could be what he was referring to. But, changing tires would have no impact on that.

 

I've had my 4Run for only a month, and I noticed the same wheel-shake described in this thread. After reading quite a few posts, I'd probably chalk it up to the car's "personality." I've owned a lot of cars in my lifetime and regardless of manufacturer, the wheel-shake occurs for a variety of reasons: cheap tires, faulty mounting, road irregularities, and on and on. I've had Hondas, Acura, Cadillac, lots of Toyotas. Mine came with the Dunlop AT 20, all season tire, rated and evaluated really for only 3 seasons. I wouldn't take them in the snow. I live in southern CA, so snow isn't an issue, until I go skiing next winter in the local mountains and Mammoth. Next fall, I'm swapping them out for KO2's or some similar AT beefy tire that can handle the mountain conditions. I've put about 1,000 miles on my new 4Run, so I may not be helpful.

 

Aside from the shimmy, And the paint being real sensitive apparently to any little thing that can and will scratch it I absolutely love it. Looks like a real SUV, doesn’t have a complicated engine or transmission, solid rear axle, it’s everything I want in a SUV with the exception of no V8 option. I am sure if I bought say a new Tahoe or ram truck, after a few years the issues that would probably arise would outweigh the random shimmy though, and value would sink once off the lot.

 

For what it's worth, I did have some vibration with the original tires on mine. I have two different sets of aftermarket wheels and tires, and I have never had issues with either one except for when I had weights come off in some mud, or when I have had mud cake in the wheels. Neither set is hub centric, and neither are expensive.

 

Would you mind tossing up here the wheels you have purchased, next plans to try to fix this shimmy is to have a place I trusted for years do the balancing, or purchase a new set of tires and see the outcome, which I would go with the BF Goodrich ko2’s, I had 3 sets on the Chevy and never had a single issue. Judging by the tires on your picture, if you don’t have a shimmy with that you did something right or are just lucky haha! They look pretty beast.

 

The ones pictured are Black Rhino Stadiums, 17×8.5, 0 offset with Yokohama Geolander MT's, 295/70/17 in load range E.



I also have a set of Pro-Comp 05's, 17×9, -6mm offset with 285/70/17 Toyo AT3’s in load range C.



I'm very meticulous when I mount the tires. I get all of the lugs started, and then work my way around getting them finger-tight while tapping the sidewall with a mallet to helping them center themselves. Then I lower it and torque them in the appropriate pattern. Maybe overkill.. . But, it works.

Lug centric seems to be ideal. But, I wouldn't let It limit my choices.


Edit:. Added pictures because pictures.

 

That set up in the first picture looks like it’s ready to trudge through whatever the hell it wants to. Looking nice!

 

@Thatbassguy. I have the TRD Sports with X-REAS. He looked under all the wheels before making the determination.

Cheers...

 

Thank you! The Yokohamas have been fantastic so far!

Either way, changing brand or style of tire does not change any sort of geometry. It can add weight, especially if you switch to an LT tire. But, that won't affect the X-REAS.

I would try another shop. It sounds like the guy is talking out of his ass.

 

I have found tires being warm makes a difference.

 

I still wouldn’t trade it in.

 

Like others have suggested try Road Force balancing. That has really helped my shimmy. Not perfect but close enough.

 

Agreed. I had an interesting experience though. Took mine for RoadForce at a big local Firestone, they ran each wheel on the machine and told me that none of them would benefit from a RoadForce balance, and in fact the specs were so good the machine would not even permit an attempt. But they said the regular balance could be better and so did that. While surprising, I figured they were being honest because the cost was a lot less. And they seemed like really good guys who cared.

Their regular balance did seem to help, but I still get the shimmy sometimes and like I’ve noted elsewhere it’s totally unpredictable. Does not seem correlated with temperature, PSI or obvious differences in road surface. Sometimes it happens on a certain stretch of road, other times not — on that same stretch.

I really think there’s some flaw in either the steering rack or suspension mounting parts or frame at the front end. There’s just some odd combo of road surface interaction with the tire that sends quivers through one of those things.

 

From a pure engineering standpoint, hub centric is clearly better because although you might be able to perfectly center a lug centric wheel, a hub centric wheel virtually guarantees it. My factory wheels are hub centric / factory balanced and I have no vibrations. My aftermarket wheels are lug centric / Road Force balanced and it's been hit and miss on the shakes for me.

 

Right.

But, being hub centric doesn't matter if the shop can't balance your tires.

And, as I mentioned, I have two sets of lug centric wheels and have had 0 issues with either one. It's not a matter of if I "might" be able to center them, because I always do.

As I said, hub centric is ideal. But, I wouldn't let It limit my choices. Plenty of folks are driving around with lug centric wheels and not having issues.