Steering wheel shake???

2017 TRD Pro with Readylift +4 lift. 35x12.5R20 Falken Wildpeak AT3s. After install of tires about 6k miles ago I noticed a significant steering wheel vibration. Took the truck back to tire shop and had tires balanced again. Was told that due to imitation bead lock design they had to static balance them and it wasn't as easy as conventional balancing. Moving forward everything seems smooth...except on random occasions I get a bad shake in the steering wheel after initial startup. Seems like after 5-10 miles it goes away and it's smooth from there on. It's got me puzzled because when I really notice it is when I leave work after truck has sat 8+ hours. Pull directly onto highway, wheel shakes for 5 minutes but by the time I hit the interstate it's smooth. It's almost like the tires have flat spots from sitting and have to "warm up" I don't notice it if I leave home, drive side roads for awhile then hit the highway. Very puzzling to me...any ideas?

 

flat spotting

 

I have run mine in brutally cold weather after sitting all night and never had an issue. How much air are you running in these tires? I have mine set at 42lbs. Have you swapped from to rear? Any difference?

 

What Joonbug said...

 

My brand new 20” wildpeaks do the exact same thing, seems like they are out of balance (bad steering wheel shake) for the first five miles after it has sat for a couple days then smooth as butter.

 

I’d be leaning towards flat spots

 

Falken Wildpeak AT3s ... I read somewhere on this forum recently that they are bad at flat spotting ...

 

Well as annoying as it is I'm glad to hear that. I'll deal with the flat spotting over front end issues etc. Thanks guys.

 

This. My Nitto Ridge Grapplers will do this too if I don't drive the truck for a few days.

 

Wow, just had my rotors checked because I have vibrations. Thought it might be my tires but wasn’t sure. I also run Wildpeaks. Good to know it’s not my brakes.

 

Worn out rotors can cause this as well. I was convinced my '16 needed new ball joints or shocks recently. After turning my rotors three times they had had enough and the steering wheel was shaking all the time. Got new front rotors and smooth again.

 

My '16 does this with stock 18" wheels/tires. I live within .6 miles of the interstate and when I would go to work I was often convinced I had slung wheel weights or they were grossly out of balance. I thought there was no way it could be shaking this bad from over night only to have them ride smooth as butter in the afternoon even after sitting all day. The ambient temp can play a big diff in my experience too, especially if you road force balance your tires.

 

My 18 does this, it’s not the tires in my opinion. I have ran 3 different sets of wheels and tires and all do it. I just chose to live with it, goes away quickly.

 

Tires with nylon cords built into the carcass will flat spot like that.


I had a customer with 285/45/22 Bridgestone Duelers on a Chevy 1500.
We balanced them multiple times and he kept coming back saying they felt like they were flat spotting because the vibration would go away after warming up.
We switched him to a set of Michelin Defenders in the same size and because they have cotton cords vs nylon cords his issue was resolved.

 

How does one find out what tires have nylon vrs cotton cords? I’ll try to make sure my next set are cotton.

 

I noticed this on my 2019 with only 1700 miles the other day I parked it overnight outside and drove it the most morning when it was cold. Like everyone else, it went away after the truck warmed up.

 

The sidewall of the tire will tell you.

 

My 18 Crew does this also and it drives me nuts, my 15 Tacoma did it so much that after several attempts to balance the tires I traded it for the tundra.