12' Taco Has The Shakes

Okay so I have a 2012 Tacoma DCSB Base with 23,000 miles. I originally had the factory stock 16" steel wheels with 245/75/16 Dunlops. Terrible in the snow and I hated the steel wheels and the steering wheel was shaking at most speeds (more so at faster speeds) and had a pull to the right. I replaced the wheels with 16" alloy wheels from a TRD along with 265/70/16 General Grabber AT2's. Same shaking issue. Brought it back to tire shop and they re-balanced and rotated the brand new tires and said some of the tires needed more weights. I told them about the heweka adapter or whatever it's called and they assured me the tires were properly balanced. Still shakes. Brought it to another place to re-balance just the front tires, they said they were fine and didn't charge me. Brought it to the dealer today and they drove with me and noted the steering wheel shake and it pulling to the right. They looked the truck over and couldn't find any issues with the suspension or axle or steering linkage. They said it's possibly due to the "larger" size tires I have on there and although they are Tacoma OEM size wheels and tires, they were not what came on base Tacoma and it may be messing with the stock suspension. I've had Wrangler Sports in the past where I put on huge a$$ tires with no issues on non-Rubicon and non-Sahara models. I paid the dealer for a 4-wheel alignment and I think they only did the front (I only got 1 alignment print out). The dealer wanted to put my old tires and wheels on but I told them I got rid of them even though I didn't because I know the wheel will shake with them because it did before and I didn't want to pay to have them mounted and balanced just for them to see. They offered to take the wheels and tires off of a used Tacoma they had on their lot but then they took that offer back. The dealer said to have the tires road forced balanced. I'm a little weary and do not want to spend anymore money on this and because I knew the previous set of tires and wheels did the same. I don't know what else to do or look at or if I should just go with having the new tires road force balanced and take it from there. I should have bought the Silverado I test drove before this. Thanks for any input!

 

Haweka adapter with road force balancing should get rid of your shakes.

But these 2 things are worthless unless you can find a competent shop. Not many shops know what a Haweka adapter is. Even some Toyota dealers don't.

 

^^ This.

Many of us feel your pain. Unfortunately you are dealing with the ignorant and in many cases using the adapter along with road force balancing is the only way to get a Tacoma wheel/tire combo properly balanced. Also make sure you start by using hub centric wheels or hub centering rings on aftermarket wheels,

I spent days going to different shops only to leave with the same imbalance problem. After adding up my time, and frustration level, I decided to purchase the Haweka adapter. It is kind of expensive but I take it with me to Discount Tire along with a box of donuts and the guys generally don't have an attitude using it. I always get balances as smooth as glass but it is the only way I found that works 100% of the time.

 

Sucks you went through all that and never had them road force balanced.

 

Yup, the 16 year old Toyota tech looked at me like I was an idiot when I mentioned it. Then he said because I'm using parts from another Tacoma and it may be messing with the ride. lol

Thanks! I'm using Toyota wheels off of another Tacoma.

I'm going to have them all done before this weekend. Mind as well throw away some more money. If it does get fixed using road force then I'm going back to my original tire shop and asking for money back. I just don't understand why everyone with a Tacoma isn't having this problem if most shops are using the correct balance adapter.

 

Rick8325, the Haweka adapter is a mandatory tool that Toyota dealers must have. Toyota dealers are also sent periodic memos that they must use the adapter along with road force balancing. IDK, maybe try another dealer or two. Also, I don't know if you have a Discount Tire or America's Tire any where near you but some of them have recently received a similar-looking adapter from Coates that is labeled "Toyota" on it.

 

I don't have those tire shops near me. I do however have about 10 Toyota dealers within a 30 minute radius from me. I will probably have a Toyota dealer road force balance these tires. Just stinks because I don't think it will fix this issue seeing how my previous tires and wheels were doing the same thing.

 

I worked with the tire shop at balancing my tires enough to know what is needed to eliminate the vibrations.

Like Taco 09 said, the Haweka and road force balancing are necessary.

Even if the tires balance out perfectly, they will still vibrate if their is too much road force. Our trucks are too sensitive to the amount of road force. I have found if the road force is over 40lbs the tires will still vibrate. Between 30 to 40lbs, their is a slight vibration that comes and goes but most people won't be able to notice it. Below 30lbs, no vibration at all, smooth as glass. Note: this applies for LT tires. With P-metric tires, it will vibrate if over 20lbs of road force.

http://www.gsp9700.com/search/findgsp9700.cfm

below is TSB for Haweka adapter.

 

Thanks for the info. I've shown the tire shops that TSB. I'm going to make sure this time around at the place I pick to do the road force balance.

 

This is not directly related to the OPs problem, but I think it is worth posting nonetheless. It is pretty long, but it has been a thorn in my side for over 2 years with (finally) a technical resolution and I think it might help someone else.

I bought a new 2012 DCLB 4wd SR5 in Dec 2011. Stock 16" alloys with 245/75/16 Dunlops. Right off the bat, steering wheel shake at 65+ mph AND general shake at those speeds - bottles in the cupholders, passenger seatback. You could put your hand on any surface in the truck and feel it. Took it back, tried to explain - rode with the technician. They tried to say it was "normal" - it was NOT. They balanced the tires. Was somewhat better and I drove it for a month or so, but just could not stand it, so I took it back again.

Went through the same song-and-dance with the service manager/technician. They balanced the tires again and it was a little bit better, but not much. Ever know when YOU know when something is not right mechanically? I knew there was something wrong. BUT, to try to get anyone to listen at a dealership was the trick.

I finally called Toyota at that number listed in the manual if you are having issues you can't resolve. They set up for a different dealer to look at it. They balanced the tires AGAIN. This time the steering wheel shake was almost totally gone, but the general vibration was still there. I complained about the remaining shake and they said that was "normal" and that I would need to go to arbitration for anything else to happen. I also specifically asked if they were road-force balancing the tires each of the three times they were balanced and I was assured they were (I now doubt it).

I just did not have the time nor inclination to fight with them anymore about this - at least for a while. I figured I needed to start looking at this thing myself. I jacked up each wheel and checked the tires and rims for any runout (just using a jackstand with a piece of wood taped to it). I could not see any runout in any direction on any wheel.

I always suspected that one (hopefully just one) of the tires was somehow defective and was causing the vibration/shake. Just the other day, I took the steel spare and swapped it for the most likely suspect (passenger rear). BINGO!!! All vibration gone - smooth as a passenger car. I suppose the alloy rim could be the culprit and not the tire, but it is most likely the tire. I put the alloy in the spare carrier and left the steel spare on to enjoy a vibration-free ride for the time being.

Now, I don't know if it is worth the grief to try to go back to the dealer to try to get Toyota to get me a new tire or just take it to a tire place and have them swap the "bad" tire on the spare rim and put the spare on the alloy and be done with it.

What is most frustrating about the whole thing to me (at least with the two dealers that worked on it) is the seeming lack of wanting to SOLVE THE PROBLEM and instead wanting to slot it into a standard service procedure. Sort-of "customer states vibration at cruising speed" (and disregarding the detailed problem description I included) means to the dealer "we need to balance the 4 tires." Somewhere along the way I needed to get through someone's head that something else was going on that balancing the tires 100 times wasn't going to solve. I was never able to do that.

 

pauln, well, you were hosed. It should be second nature for any tire guy to look at the wheels. Every one of their balance machines have devises to precisely check this, and if they really did do a true road force balance for you the machine would be screaming at them. So sad that the so-called experts fall short on the basics.

FWIW, I just got a '14 and both front tires were unbalanced from the factory. Knowing better to avoid the stealer, I just took my Haweka adapter along with me to Discount Tire and they road force balanced them as smooth as glass.

 

I've since had my new tires/wheels road forced balanced and it showed they were perfect and has since stopped a lot of the shaking but it's still there (the tire shop used the correct adapter). I've noticed the joint connecting the steering wheel under the dash behind the brake pedal is very loose but not loose enough for me to do the zip tie mod (it doesn't make the knocking noise but it wanders on the highway from left to right and I have the shake and vibration). The dealer blamed my bigger tires and different wheels (I'm using TRD 16" wheels and 270/65/16 tires) on my DCSB SR5 that came with steel wheels and Dunlops. The problem was happening with the previous set of wheels and tires as well so I'm finally ruling out balance issues. I might take out the spare and take it for a test drive with the spare in place of all other tires just to rule out any other wheel and tire issues.

 

Ask to see road force variation numbers. I bet there is too much road force and the tech does not feel like breaking the bead on the tires/rims to re-position tire to reduce runout.

 

They did break the bead on all 4 tires. 3 different shops said the tires were perfect. I'm going to agree. My stock tires and wheels did the same thing.

 

Rick8325, did it shake from new or did you get your truck second hand?

 

Used. With 8K miles. It seemed to have started after I got a flat and tire plugged on my front pass side. But my stock tires were rotated many times.

 

Rick8325, on my old truck, which was new at the time, I did all kinds of weird things to get the shakes out. There was a guy near me that had the identical truck and he let me borrow all his wheels/tires for a few hours. Shakes completely gone. After further work I isolated it to the OEM wheels. Incredible, a new truck with bad wheels. Probably the last thing one would think. Anyway, I just gave away the wheels and got some nice aftermarket and never had a problem.

 

Make sure the alignment is good. See here.

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-tacomas/99531-steering-wheel-shake-32.html#post8662663

 

Oh, was going to comment on your alignment sheet. If it pulls a bit it is likely because of the uneven camber, but it is not terrible. The rest of the numbers look ok to me. I don't think the slight variance in camber is causing the shaking.

 

It's not pulling anymore since the alignment. The joint (think it's called a rag joint) under my steering wheel behind the floor shroud is very loose. Not loose enough to wedge a zip tie in there but I think that is the cause. There's a TSB for a fix but a lot of people are saying it didn't help. My issue is more of a steering wheel shake and not a knock or so much of a vibration.