5th Gen Steering Wheel Shake: SOLUTIONS ONLY

Yeah, I don't think they're the G2s. They wouldn't have been my first choice of tire, and they already seem kind of loud for a light AT. I've had swampers on a truck before, so I'm not especially offended by some noise, but I would expect better road manners from them.

 

Hey, I'm new here but after dealing with a shake/vibration this forum was a lot of help. So I figured I post my problem/solution here to help someone else.

I have a stock 2012 4Runner Limited AWD with 205,000 miles. New Brakes and new tires within the last year. I recently purchased it from a coworker and everything was great... until about a week later. A vibration started coming through the steering wheel and pedals, even the seat too just barely. Then it developed a steering wheel shake when braking and only when braking >50% or so. The car had no sway or pull and would go as straight as the road would let it. The vibration would stop completely when the steering wheel was about 5-10 degrees right but worsened upon straightening out or turning left. This all appeared and worsened over the course of a few days driving to and from work.

I ended up parking it until I had some time off. I was outright shocked when I fired up my '97 7.3L F350 and it drove and rode smoother than the 4Runner.

I jacked up the 4Runner and checked the front end for any play. The ball joints were good, steering was tight, no obvious brake problems, smooth and free spinning wheels, CV axles were good and I shook the hell out of the wheel checking for bearing play. All just fine.

So I jumped through myself trying to find an alignment shop but I ended up making an appointment, I did however get the wheels balanced. Only one wheel was even slightly out and that was a rear.

Running out of time I just sent it on a hunch, wheel bearings. It had been in the back of my head but too many symptoms didn't add up or pointed to other issues that I wasn't willing to just throw money and (more importantly) time at fixing something that wasn't broke.

Well it was broke, the front passenger wheel bearing came out in pieces. The driver side wasn't as bad but the grease was definitely nearing its end of life if not past it. The passenger side was original and the driver side must've been replaced at some point, evident by the gouge from a cutoff wheel on the hub shaft.

Needless to say this fixed my vibration and steering wheel shake when braking.

I did it all myself, reusing the stock hubs and pressing off/on the bearings. BluePit looked cool and all but I wanted OEM and didn't want to drop $700. So if anyone has any questions go ahead and ask away.

I will say this has left me with one problem that the car didn't have before. The damn occasional steering wheel shake around 60 that apparently is common on these vehicles with the added bonus of what feels like a rub that seems to be RPM dependent.

I blame that on the wheel balancing I had done and I'll get that done again with the alignment appointment later this week.

Thank you all for keeping such a good community, I've read a lot on here in the past weeks and I'm glad to have joined.

 

Welcome to the forum.

 

Have a 2021 SR5 with blackout package and TRD Pro Black wheels. Got some new Nitto Recon Grapplers, love the tires, about as noisy as snow tires or less, handle great. Ryan at Plymouth MN Discount Tire was super helpful in fixing the 60-70mph shake on the brand new Recons. He said, after the first balance was off, that Black wheels can "trick" tire balancing equipment cameras. All four tires were off after 1st balance, but Road Force balance on the 2nd attempt, eliminated about 95% of the high speed shake.Beware of black wheels, it might throw off balancing equip is the lesson learned today.

 

Absolutely spot on, JQ! There is no fix. Years and years of posts about this issue and they keep coming in droves to this very day. If there were an actual known fix that worked 100% of the time then a 2023 would not be rolling off the assembly line with the exact same problem on mile 1. Nobody has “truly” found the fix for this problem. And a “fix” is not doing 3, 4, or 5 different things at once and it may or may not get better. That’s called rolling the dice. Accept it, or don’t. But it sucks.