Is slight steering wheel vibration normal with AT tires?

So, you had a shimmy with highway tires, and now you're switching back to highway tires to get rid of the shimmy?

 

I do not expect to fully get rid of it but at least try to minimize it. The tires that were on it weren’t that great but the shimmy wasn’t as bad as it is now.

I still have 9/32 tread on these tires so I think it will take me a while to get rid of them.

 

I'd just hate to see you get tires you don't really want, and still have issues. I just read through all of your posts in this thread. Obviously, you didn't give up easily.

I saw that you had them rebalanced at the dealership. Have you had them rebalanced anywhere else (I know you shouldn't have to). A chain couldn't get my Toyos right, so I went to an off-road shop and they got them perfect. I might try another shop before living with it.

 

I initially had them installed and balanced at 4Wheel Parts, then re-balanced at Big 5 tires (both in CA). This spring I had my alignment, rotation, and balance done at a local tire chain. Took it back and they said one of my wheels was wharped. Not surprising if you’ve driven any amount of time in Oakland, CA or the NE states with winter. Had local dealer road force balance them (only shop I could find with road force machine…called 5 different shops). Got a new wheel and took it to dealer to have it installed and road force balance. Helped but not great. Then messed with air pressure. Again, helped but not solved.

The frustrating part is we are a one car family so I am not the only one who drives this vehicle and it is our road tripping car. We drive it a lot. It also sucks that my ‘96 drove like a Cadillac and this one I can’t get right.

 

My shimmy wasn’t that bad and had my first rotation today, and on the way home on the thruway it was fing bad. I swear it has to be the shitty stock dunlops, I’m taking the gamble getting my 265/70r17 ko2s and hoping for the best tomorrow. I had 3 sets on my Tahoe and never had a issue, they are a good tire that has never let me down. I have faith!!!

 

I’ve got shimmy between 52-57 mph on my 285’s (nitto grapplers) this just started within the last month or so and I’ve got a little over 5k miles on the tires. (Tires/wheels/lift were all installed at delivery) I’m thinking I may need to take it back to the off-road tire shop that installed for the dealership and have them try to fix it. Do any of you guys know what PSI is best for these tires? I would love to try that first.

 

What psi are you at now?

 

35 all around. And I live in AZ where it’s suuuuper hot

 

For LT285/70/17's the pressure, based on the recommended OEM pressure and size, is 38. I run 38 on my 285 Toyo AT3's and it seems good.

For SL (P-metric) it recommends 26, but I don't think I would run that low

Here's the calculator I'm using:

 

Thanks so much! I appreciate the info!

 

Little off topic by a while ago I think I remember you saying you had a bit of a shimmy with stock tires and when you upgraded it went away? Is my memory true?

 

Yes. The shitty Dunlops had the standard ~60 MPH wheel wiggle. And, I've only had It with the Toyos and the Yokohamas when I have a clump of mud in a wheel, or when I lost wheel weights "somehow."

 

Thanks, calling my tire place now! The time has come.

 

I'm running 38 in sl rated, so I'd jack your up to 42 and test it out. If its to firm just lower psi to achieve the ride stiffness your after.

 

Wow that is exactly the way the Coopers (Discover AT3) behave with about 45k on the clock. I was thinking of changing to another brand when I read this.
Someone posted here an install of Scorpion tires? trying to find it, they look pretty good and his approach is same as mine. don't want any change just good grip for the occasional off road. Mostly country roads here for us.
The outer blocks do cup and the NAPA shop guy did alignment and balance and tire rotation. Yeah, made no diff. still wears this way.
So good info on understanding, it's just they way AT tires behave.

 

So dumb question, maybe cause I'm old school but here we go:
Rear tires straight to the front same side, just move them up.
Front tires move them to the back but opposite sides.
Will this alter or challenge the belts to be slung in the opposite rotation?

 

I think I finally got rid of the shimmy.

I changed Falken Wild Peak AT3W 265/70/17 to 265/65/18 Michelin Defender. I took the wheels and tires to discount tire for road force/dynamic balancing and tipped the tech $20 for taking his time and not scratching my wheels. He told me it's the best he could balance and if the truck still shakes, it's not the wheel balance.

I drove multiple times on the same highway where I would normally feel shimmy at around 60 mph, it is very smooth now.

 

I do not know. Good question. Perhaps that’s why Toyota doesn’t recommend that rotation pattern.

 

But practically every tire shop does it, and other manufacturers recommend that too.

 

I've been rotating mine so that they change direction on my last 4 sets of tires with great results. They wear evenly, and have great tread life.

 

99.99% of the time, all 47 billion "I have a shake on my runner?" Threads and issues are the tires mate. I stopped reading them, and replying to them, as they would get so fucking off the rails, over a out of round/not balanced decently rubber.

 

It's funny though, the tech asked me what vehicle those wheels go on to, I said a 4Runner, and he commented that he gets a lot of 4Runner vibration complaints and his opinion is that they are very sensitive to imbalance and also non OEM wheel specs.

That's why I decided to upsize the wheel size from 17" to 18" so that the wheels are easier to balance.
Also I went from -10mm offset to 0mm, not OEM but closer to OEM offset.

 

"The best he could balance" doesn't sound very good to me. It's either balanced, or it isn't. I definitely wouldn't take my vehicle back there.

They definitely are. I'm not sure why, and nobody else seems to know, either. But, if your tires are balanced perfectly, it shouldn't shimmy.

 

They way he explains to me is that it's more like a range of acceptance in terms of being balanced rather than a yes and no binary choice.
The following is just my speculation:

I don't know the specifics, but let's assume that the balancing machine they use has a threshold of 1.5% of acceptable vibration, and most installers in a hurry can balance it to 1.2%, and someone taking his time carefully placing the weights, massaging the beads, can get it to 0.8% something like that. So, to the machine, the 1.2% and 0.8% are both "balanced", but one has less vibration than the other.

I think it kinda makes sense because the weights they are using are pre-cut, and they can only choose a selection of what's available to best approximate it. For example, if they only have 1, 2, 5 grams weights available, they need to come up with 7.5g, the best they can do is just 7g. So there's always some level of imbalance left.

 

I get what you're saying. But, I don't think almost balanced is good enough. Maybe some shops are more meticulous than others. Maybe I'm just lucky, but both sets of my tires are perfectly balanced.

 

Quick update: Took Frankie back to 4 Wheel Parts (initially installed Bilsteins and tires in Oakland, CA) and had them balance and rotate, all good now. I have no steering wheel shimmy so I guess the other shops just couldn’t balance them correctly, including the $225 road force balance at the dealer.

If only I realized there was a 4WP here when I moved I would have gone their first.

 

Keep us updated, every time I had a rebalance it was fine for the next day or so and came back like a stray cat you keep feeding.

 

Frustrating problem! I get the 60mph vibration on the highway only occasionally, and I cannot figure out why. I live with it but, wish I could figure it out.

 

My Tacoma had the vibes. Turns out, my tires were shit

 

I fought these issues for a long time, stock Dunlops, KO2s, General Grabber. Nittos in stock size then worked at first but the wobble came back.

Michelin LTX AT2 solved my problems. That and a small shop with a good tech and the proper 6 lug adapter.