Weird steering wheel vibration

Long story short. I recently bought a Tundra. There's a slight shake I can't quite figure out. I have some forced wheel balance and it comes back good , all green iyn the monitor. When driving even on smooth roads it shakes a bit.. Whether acceleration or not, the a slight shake. I tried putting it in neutral as well, didn't smooth out The shake moves the steering wheel up and down. Sometimes it doesn't shake at all. I have not rotated the tires yet to see if it's changed but will when I have time.

As for the drive shaft, it doesn't appear loose or have any loose parts.

I might take it to a drive shaft shop next month to have them evaluate it.

 

Is it worse around 60mph or is it the same at all speeds?
Every time I have had steering shake like that, it was tire balance. Sometimes takes 4 or 5 trips to tire shop to get it right. Last time it was an old guy running a simple balance machine that finally got a smooth ride for me where the young people on new computerized machines could not.

 

It's the same. Low and high speeds. I have had it wheel forced balanced two times. The second time I actually watched them do it until it said "okay" and green on the monitor.

Maybe the weights came off.

 

Green on machine doesn't always mean it's good.
But if vibration feels same at all speeds, may not be balance. Not sure what it could be that isn't speed sensitive.

 

I'll probably go back and have them rebalance it. On very smooth roads or newly paved roads there is no vibration at all, on some surfaces that is uneven or not newly paved, it definitely shakes more. PNW roads suck to be honest.

 

Yeah....
After getting my Truck back from getting the SCer and exhaust installed I have a vibration in the wheel that wasnt there when I brought it in.
Not sure how that happened considering they had no reason to mess with the tires/rims.
Not gonna bring it back to them,they have a huge backlog although I may give them a call and see what they say.

 

Could be an alignment, rotors, or even something simple like not running enough PSI for wheels to factory spec. Could also have a bent wheel?

 

All good points.
- PSI, I have set it to factory PSI according to the door jam sticker, 35's all around, and 40. No difference.
- Alignment, haven't done it, but the wheel is slightly cocked to the right
- Rotors - no pulsating when braking but squeals in the cold morning with some humidity build up, I am looking to do pads next month and will check the rotor itself.
- Bent wheels, I am not certain the wheels all look good, no curb rash/marks or weird bends on the inside when observing it. Could a tire shop check for bent wheels?

 

Have you try rotating the tires? See if that changes.

 

Are you on stock suspension and wheels/tires? Alignment can cause those issues if yours hasn't been done in a while and the wheel is slightly cocked to the right. Worn steering rack bushings can also cause similar symptoms.

 

Not yet, they're heavy.. I don't feel like doing it but I will take it to discount tires and have them rotate it, I paid for their services. And maybe do another round of forced balancing.

Stock shocks, suspension, 67k, tires are nearly new when I bought it Michelin ltx at2 the same tires that come OE on TRD PRO (so I've read). For me to check the steering wheel bushings I will have to take off the TRD plate. I will take a look next month as I have a bunch of things I need to do maintenance wise. Thanks.

 

Yeah I would be surprised if it was a balance issue since those are the stock Michelin's, assuming there is no bends or cracks to the wheel. They're not a huge tire. Do you drive rough roads or recall hitting any big potholes recently? Bent wheel is possible but I wouldn't expect it from just regular daily driving.

 

nope, bought it like this. I did not hit pot holes or go on rough roads.

 

Yes, a tire shop can check for a bent wheel if they road force balance the wheel/tire. Highly recommend that.

 

Also, are the wheels hubcentric? Are they aftermarket or OEM?

 

OEM.

 

The road force balancer should be able to check for bent wheel. Didn't see mentioned, does it still happen if the tires are rotated and force balanced ? Could the tires be bad? In the past I had 2 sets of bad tires... Few months back I had a shimmy after I rotated my tires, first shop put over 6 ounces of weights on the tires, still shimmy,, the second shop I took it to had both machines, if the regular spin didn't take take of it , then they road force them, manager drive it before and after to be sure it was done correctly. Yes it can be frustrating..

 

It definitely still happens after road force balanced. Although it was better shortly after it, but now it feels it still shimmies. Maybe the weights fell off, they did say one of them was way off! RF shows 6.02/46 vs the other like .50/36. I don't know what those numbers mean.. maybe a tire person can tell me.

AI..


Those numbers on the sheet relate to road force balancing, which is a more advanced method of tire balancing that simulates how the tire behaves under real driving conditions.

Here’s a breakdown of what you’re seeing:

• LRF, LRR, RRF, RRR: These likely stand for tire positions—Left Rear Front, Left Rear Rear, Right Rear Front, and Right Rear Rear (possibly referencing a dually setup or a trailer).
• The first number (e.g., 0.50 oz or 6.02 oz) is probably the amount of imbalance measured in ounces. This tells the technician how much weight needs to be added to balance that tire.
• The second and third numbers (e.g., 36, 13) could represent road force values in pounds and possibly radial runout or another diagnostic metric. Road force values above 25 lbs can cause noticeable vibration, so values like 46 or 30 might indicate a need for tire repositioning or replacement.

Additionally, https://danthetireman.com/blog/article/what-is-road-force-balance

If at 40 mph ((64.37 km/h) speed (or more), and your steering wheel vibrates, this means your wheel, tire, or possibly brake assembly is out of balance. This vibration is typically felt when sitting in the driver or passenger seat, or through the brake pedal. Vibration at higher speeds can also be caused by uneven tread-wear. Static imbalance makes a tire/wheel assembly vibrate up and down. Dynamic imbalance causes the assembly to shimmy from side to side. Other tire issues that can cause shaking i.e. low tire pressure, uneven worn, and near bald tires.

 

New numbers. Found a problem with the rear driver.

Test driving it.

 

So much better! Not Cadillac smooth but better. At least no more shaking steering wheel. Body still shakes a little bit but that's probably the suspension

 

I had a heck of a time with a vibration issue. They said the wheels were fine. I changed wheels and problem went away. But mine were aftermarket. Psi helped a lot too. Happy your on your way to figuring this all out!

 

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It took three visits. Each time the numbers were different. That's so strange. Let's see how long this will last.

I also requested they rotate the tires.

 

The road force machine is only as good as the operator knowing how to use it. Especially if the tire and rim have to be force matched..where the tire is matched to the rim, by dismounting the tire , and rotating the rim to the proper match mark. This takes time, and I believe many shops won't do it..Time is money. I'd pay extra if needed,but many would not...https://youtu.be/iXHKvLvrw-g?si=6XfA1go4GkHFSFCG

 

If you had tires done at a big chain type shop, try a different location. That way you get different operator on different machine from last time. Tell them up front that other location tried to balance but you still have vibration through steering wheel.

My 4runner shakes a bit sometimes when tires are cold, after being parked overnight or longer. Usually it gets better after 5-10 miles. A rebalanced makes it better for a while now that I found a shop to do ok job at it.

 

Sometimes tires like E rated ones can get flat spots in the AM from sitting and go away with use.

I hope it all gets better. Sometimes it’s just the tire. Our trucks can be sensitive to any changes from what the engineers developed, especially going from a highway tire to an all terrain.

I had good luck with falken wild peaks.

 

This comment here is accurate.

it’s not totally abnormal too to have different numbers every time they spin them. Ensure to make sure the cold PSI is within specs first thing in AM too.

 

Glad it seems to have been resolved. If you still have a very mild occasional vibration I would also do a quick inspection of your U joints and carrier bearing. My center U joint went out and I recently replaced it and the carrier bearing. I had always had a slight vibration in the wheel at around 50-55mph for a while. Its gone now. I think it had been worn for a while and was contributing to the vibration until it completely failed.

 

I did go under and tried to see if the drive shaft or u-joint was loose. They're very tight. No play at all.

It doesn't really vibrate at only 50 and 55. It vibrates the second I start the car down my street. You can feel it shimmy shaking side to side. But after the last tire rotation and Force balance it seemed to be gone.

 

I went to two different shops total. The second time around I went to the same shop that did the previous which helped a little bit. First it was the right passenger that was off, this time it was the driver that was off.

The only vibration left is from the suspension being kind of hard. We hit bumps or uneven roads. Then you feel the shake in the truck not in the steering wheel. But it's a truck. Only way to get a softer ride is upgraded to the eibach from what some users on this form is telling me.

 

I'm certainly glad it's nothing worse than the tires. Other stuff will cost a lot of money to fix. So unfortunately I don't have spare sets of tires or wheels to test out. But it's good that it's just a balance issue. I would hate to chase after dry shaft or transmission problems.