New member - Steering wheel vibration solved

Picked up a 2016 Tundra with 31K miles on it in March. I've owned Toyotas before but never a pickup. Hello and welcome to my first post.

The day I bought the car there was some vibration in the steering wheel at roughly 65 mph. The dealer re-balanced the wheels and that helped a little, but not a lot. It was particularly bad when the car was cold.

Took it into to a Discount Tire and had them road force balance. Again, helped slightly, but it did not go away. I drove it for the next couple months and it continued to get worse. Doing some research on this forum I saw a number of posts on this subject, many were not resolved so I figured I'd put down what I found out.

For starters, there is a TSB on this: http://www.toyotaproblems.com/tsbs/Tundra/2016/,
#T-TT-0404-16

The balancing of the wheels didn't do much to solve it, so I figured it would be rotors/pads and in my case it turned out to be a combination of the two. The dealer offered to resurface the rotors for free and put on new pads at no charge. I bedded them properly immediately upon getting the car, and the problem is gone for the time being.

Ideally I would have gone for a new and upgraded rotor, either Stoptech or even Cryo, and better pads, but for the no cost route this was acceptable.

In andy case - if you are having the steering wheel vibration and the balancing is not solving it, this is one place to look.

 

Welcome from Colorado.

 

Thanks and welcome from Colorado

 

Had the same issue and they did the same thing for me as well.

 

Welcome from Ohio!

 

Another Colorado welcome!

 

Great first post! Welcome from Las Vegas!

 

The tsb says vibration during braking. Was yours vibrating while not braking?

 

Welcome from CA

 

Welcome from WI

 

At first when I got it, it was not vibrating during braking. However that changed and in the past few weeks the vibration started to happen when braking more and more often to the point it started to clearly become an issue not only at 65mph but also slowing down.

 

Thanks! Not sure how much I can add going forward, but thought this would help.

 

My home state. But I have to ask - Steeler Nation????

 

Welcome from Texas!

Thanks for sharing!

 

Yup, Steeler Nation lol. PA is my home state, I grew up a couple of hours north east of Pittsburgh.

 

Welcome!

 

Welcome from Arizona.

 

Sorry to hear that. Actually love the Steelers as a franchise, love even more that we beat them in the SB!

 

Thanks for the info. Welcome to the forum.

 

Welcome from Texas, thanks for sharing

 

Welcome from Nevada, thank for the info

 

Welcome from Ca.

 

Thanks and welcome. I have the issue right now but it’s usually at 55 and not when braking. Multiple sets of wheels/tires and it’s not fixed. I wonder why a rotor would cause this when not braking?

 

Welcome from AZ

 

Just a follow-up on this. Took a road-trip and logged almost 3,000 miles since I posted this on the 19th. Ran smooth as silk the entire way at all speeds. I'm calling this one a solid fix - case closed - the rotors and pads were definitely the culprit!

 

Going to revive this thread after a year as the vibration is back....

So - when I posted this fix, it was after I had the rotors turned and new pads put on. I assumed it was the rotor turning that solved the problem. When the vibration started again, I decided to solve it by upgrading all my rotors to Stoptech Drilled/slotted. They look better, work better, and who doesn't want better braking right? It is an easy/rewarding job.

To my surprise - with the new rotors installed the vibration did NOT go away.

So it has me wondering - could it be the OEM pads? I can't fathom how brake pads could make the car vibrate - but that seems to be the only possible way?

My plan - going to have the wheels rebalanced, and if that doesn't solve it, going to swap out the pads to something better. Frustrating.

 

Brake pads are not going to cause vibrations on the highway. Don’t waste your time chasing that down. You need to focus on actual items that affect the stability of the front at speed, like tie rods, upper and lower control arm bushings. Possibly even a bent wheel. Either way, your brakes are not the issue.

 

Thanks, and welcome from Oregon. Interesting reading.