Is slight steering wheel vibration normal with AT tires?

I've eliminated the following possibilities:

• wheels are hub centric, no hub ring needed
• lug nuts are ET style with plenty of thread engagement
• lug nuts are tightened in crisscross pattern and torqued to 80 lbft
• wheels and tires are balanced by a reputable shop that I use for years

I do feel a slight vibration via the steering wheel at around 60 mph only. Could it be the nature of those wildpeak AT tires?

I have Michelin Defender highway tires on my Tacoma (same shop did the balancing) and the truck rides smooth as butter at all speeds, but unfortunately they are 16" and won't fit the 4Runner to test

 

Some people have had balancing issues with wild peaks. It seems pretty rare, but it has happened. See if they can perform a "road force balance" at your shop.

If the shop that installed them cannot get them balanced properly, try going to a shop that specializes in 4x4s. I have had issues where a chain could not balance my tires, but my local off-road shop got them perfect.

4Runners are sensitive to off balance tires. But, a good shop should be able to get them perfect. Or, close enough that you don't have any vibration.

 

Road force balance helped with my Wildpeaks, but some roads just make them shimmy for some reason. Only vehicle I've ever owned like this. Still love my 4R.

 

I only get the shimmy when the tires are cold in the early morning, the issue subsides when they warm.

 

There should be thousands of pages of reading on the internet about the 4Runner steering wheel shake.

 

Join the club of the shimmy, scroll down and just look for the thread (s)

 

I have two sets of oversized tires on aftermarket wheels that are not hub centric. I have zero shimmy.

Anyone who is settling with shimmy or calling it a characteristic of the 4Runner needs to find a better tire shop.

 

2 offroad shops and discount tire, suggestions?

 

I would have thought a decent off-road shop would be able to balance your tires. What kind of tires? Size, load range?

I have heard of instances where a tire, or set of tires just couldn't be balanced. But, I have not experienced it personally. Maybe I've just been lucky.

Have you had them try a road Force balance?

I'm really curious, because I haven't had this issue myself. I have had shimmy, but a rebalance of the tires has always cured it.

 

thanks guys, I'm going to get the them road force balanced at discount tire sometime next week,

the shop I used specialize in sports cars, I had them mount and balance tires with aspect ratio from 45 to 35 with 0 issue whatsoever
Maybe those 70 series wildpeaks need more care to balance than those low profile tires.

Hopefully discount tires can get it right, it's Texas half their customers drive big trucks, they should be very familiar with them

 

If discount tire cannot get them right, do not be discouraged. As much as I like discount tire, the location local to me was unable to balance my tires.

 

I was the not so lucky one with my brand new 4Runner, on the way home from the dealer with just 10 miles on the odo, I got the shimmy on a dead smooth and straight 65mph road. Took it back yesterday and the service manager poo-pooed it, he said the road could be to blame and I told him my 32yr old/300k mile 4runner doesn’t do it on that same stretch. After he drove it on a new part of the freeway he admitted it had shimmy between 60 -70mph. It is going back in on the 14th to get balanced. It seems to be a pretty common problem. I kick myself for not getting it out of town and getting it up to speed on the test drive before accepting delivery.
A couple years ago I had to threaten the Honda dealer with the lemon law to get the wife’s CRV repaired correctly, hopefully I won’t need to do that here.
Obviously nothing is worn out.

 

I experienced occasional shimmy with the stock tires. Mostly between 60 and 65 mph. I really can't figure out what the issue is. Obviously, it is a regular issue for newer 4runners. But, I have never had a persistent issue ever since I lifted and switched tires.

I realize that it's a common problem. But, I refuse to believe it is an incurable feature of the 4runner.

 

I want to try new tires pretty bad, but I don’t have the $1000 bucks at the moment to toss into them. I wonder if my Dunlop’s just suck. I’m on the third balance and nothing has changed, my friend who works at a shop that does lifts and big tires all day was the worst balance for them yet (no road force machine) dealership & fox tire by me (road force on the hunter) seemed pretty identical. I just don’t understand how they could balance 35 inch ko2’s completely fine...but my Dunlop’s is just a no go? Just seems very odd.

 

That sounds frustrating. I got rid of my Dunlops due to crappy snow performance, so I felt a little more justified spending the money.

A friend of mine had a set of wild peaks that wouldn't balance. So, it's not only the Dunlops.

 

I always ran ko2’s on my old Tahoe and never needed a rebalance on any tire except when the weights fell off the one time i went to a different shop because of convenience...hit the highway all the weights flung off and every tire leaked. Took it to my trusted place for a decade + and had them take the tires off and start from scratch. If I drove in the winter I would have done it instantly, I drove in snow with the 4 runner once and god those Dunlop’s suck. Littlest throttle all the traction control abs bullshit activates. Needed to go into 4 wheel drive to get in my non sloped drive way with a inch of fresh snow hah.

 

without any extra weight in the back its always been super easy to break traction on slippery roads at low speed with my 4Runners when in 2WD. my 2001 gen 3 was the same way. tires help, but only to a degree.

 

yup. i couldn't get off my level lawn after it had rained w/out 4WD.

 

Agreed, but we are missing something on the cause, it shouldn’t be this prevalent. Hopefully we will find out someday and whoever does could possibly rake in some dough.
I was a nice customer during my 6 month wait for my truck. I didn’t rag on the dealer every week. I probably contacted the salesman every 1-1/2 months but if they don’t get this sorted things WILL change.

 

I got rid of my 60mph shimmy by adding air. I have 275 KO2s in E range, and Discount put them at 35psi originally. The air pressure link that gets passed around the forum recommended 42. I set them to 40 (42 when hot) and the shimmy has disappeared. It comes back after awhile, but I get my tires rotated/rebalanced and it disappears again for 5-10k miles.

 

Wildpeak at3w 285/75/17 E load, hunter road force balanced. Maybe they need a rebalance but it doesn't happen enough for me to care yet.

 

Air press. for some reason has an effect on what seem to be balance issues. On our Coopers, 38psi was the sweet spot when cold. Not that the tires shook much if any, after balance twice with the second being road force balance, there was a very, and I mean very slight steering wheel shake, checking the tire pressure found 32psi in them, with the addition of only 1.5 psi eliminated any shake. When they were aired to 37psi, smooth as can be.

 

I was persistent on the issue and they had the ‘Toyota engineer rep’ or whatever come in pretty much did a inspection and said he drove many 4 runners of that style and for being a ‘truck based SUV’ it’s normal and pretty much fuck off

 

Both times I had this issue it was a tire or 2 out of balance. I have 10 ply Toyo ATs at 35 psi and it rides smooth. I had Terra Grappler MTs prior to these and it rode smooth on those too. Do you have a big lift and a diff drop?

 

I have to guess there's some element in the suspension that makes them sensitive to off balance tires. There are so many threads about it.

I feel bad for anyone who can't get it resolved. I can't believe the dealers are just shrugging their shoulders and saying it's fine.

 

I'm running 265 70 17 Pirelli Scorpion Plus AT on mine and there is no steering wheel wobble.

 

Maybe they figured if it shakes long enough something is going to break or get screwed up, and they will get you in to work on it.

 

Another thing I remember is.. lots of our old 4WD's had straight axles, some with coil suspension, some with leaf springs, but most, if not all had a steering stabilizer shock, and when we put big tires and lift kits on there was an option of us putting on DUAL stabilizer shocks. My old Ford (1977) was doing the 'shimmy' and a buddy that worked at the Ford garage said change the steering shock and like that it was gone. I don't recall seeing a steering stabilizer shock on our Tacoma or on the 4Runner. Maybe it's due to the different type of steering.

 

My 1990 4R steering stabilizer is completely worn out, it is just a place holder and you can turn the wheel with one finger even stopped, it has zero wobble at speed, my 18yr old straight axle Dodge which are legendary for death wobble has zero as well. But my brand new ORP had/has it with less than 10 miles on it. There is something like (guess) the steering geometry tie rod length that is just the right length/strength/angle/tire tread to produced a harmonic vibration in the 60-70 mph range. Mine is fine under or over that.

 

My Tahoe has a very sloppy steering gear box and still doesn’t shimmy with nice ko2’s. This 4 runner thing is whack.