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.

 

I'll chime in.

2023 ORP, truck came with the matte black TRD SEMA wheels and factory Dunlops. Had the steering wheel shake almost immediately after taking delivery. Luckily I had already purchased a set of new gen TRD Pro wheels and new ATs to throw on prior to buying our truck since we were actually supposed to take delivery on a different vehicle that never showed up. Got the new set up mounted and balanced, the shake had decreased immensely and now 2200 miles later it's pretty much completely gone.

Was it the tires? Was it the wheels? Was it incorrectly balancing? Who knows, but from the research I'd done it could be any of the three or the combination of all.

And for those curious here's my current setup:

OEM TRD Pro Wheels P/N PTR56-89210-F2
265/70/17 Yokohama Geolandar G015 AT
Truck is bone stock otherwise

The thing I found the weirdest was that our 4runner is not the first we've driven. I've rented a 2018 OR and a 2022 OR before on long extended road trips. We've also test driven a 2019 ORP when considering to buy CPO, and also a 2022 SR5P. None of the other 4 trucks we've driven had the vibrations.

 

I reported above in this thread that I had started to get a slight shimmy at 55mph - 60mph.

Truck is lifted 2" and runs 265/70-17 KO2s which I religiously rotate front to rear every 5K. Truck tracks fine, so did not expect alignment issue.

Tires have 36,000 miles on them and are at 8/32nds tread depth all around. No uneven wear conditions.

Took in today for rebalance and sure enough they had worn into an out-of-balance condition. Four wheel balance took 30min drop in visit and no cost since I bought the tires there.

Problem solved.

Disclaimer: Just posting anecdotal data point for consideration. Not claiming this is the answer to all problems.

Jason

 

Two weeks ago I took delivery of a new 2023 40th anniv model and it had steering wheel shake from the moment it left the dealership principally around 63 MPH. The dealership was able to correct this with a road force balance. FWIW I'd periodically experience the same with my 08 4R on OE FJ wheels and BFG ATs - balance always corrected this.

 

Whenever I exercise the four wheel drive system I notice the shake/shimmy goes away for awhile which makes me believe it might be the needle bearing. Mine has done it randomly since I bought it new last November between 55-60 mph. Doesn't really bother me though since I used to drive a Silverado lifted 9" on 37s, steering wheel/passenger seat constantly vibrated in that thing lol

 

Not a solution: are we starting to think the matte black wheels are more prone to getting a bad balance?

 

New Wildpeaks and the vibration is gone (for now).

 

If it goes away in 4x4 then it’s def the needle bearing & you need to order from ECGS for the replacement. Buy the gasket when you order it too

 

I’ve owned a 2020 4runner for a few years now. Started getting slight steering wheel vibration at 17,000 miles. I took it in and was told one of the tires was damaged, out of balance, and was the culprit. I decided the time was right to install a 3inch lift with new methods and 33” toyo AT3’s. Following install and fresh balance/alignment, however, the shake was worse. Mainly between 55-65 mph. I tried rebalancing, realigning, road force balancing the new wheels and tires at numerous shops and had no luck. After reading as many forums as I could find I decided to just deal with it. I did so for the next 30k miles until my tires were ruined from the constant vibrating which got worse over time. Finally, I took it to a local off road shop. The owner recommended new Toyos since the current ones were thrashed, and Total Chaos UCAs. Before signing for these recommendations I did a quick inspection and discovered my driver side outer tie rod end was also shot (not sure if it was a cause or a symptom of the front end vibration). I went ahead w the new tires, UCAs, and replaced both outer tie rod ends. Fresh balance and alignment and the steering wheel shake was completely gone. It’s been about 1k miles and it still drives better than new. Hope this helps someone else dealing with this annoying issue.

 

I wish I had bought TC UCA over SPC!! That sounds like a nice suspension!

 

My grey SEMAs,on my taco, had no problems with wildpeaks. My black SEMAs, on my 4Runner, do seem worse but their older. I have an older pair of duratracs on the 4Runner too & they fucking suck ass. Loud & shit ride, probably only 30k miles

 

What's wrong with the SPC's?

 

I bought them when they had a bad batch of bushing & it was like pulling teeth for them to own up & replace them

 

I had this issue with my 2022 SR5. Bought it used and the dealership replaced the factory tires with GeoDrive brand. Took it back three times and the fix was a new set of Michelin Defender LTX. Made a world of difference. Not sure if one or more of the tires were defective or just that low quality.

 

I finally found the answer , if you have aftermarket wheels ,get the hub centric rings .60 bucks at your local tire shop . They ordered the parts for me , I got a wheel rotation and balance . Shake is gone. I had this problem for 2 years and couldn’t figure it out . Hope this helps anyone that is really annoyed with it .