Dealer said can't diagnose heavy cabin vibration because I have aftermarket wheels and tires

Sign and trade! Honestly would want to follow the path of your clunker to see what they did with it. Be an easy CARFAX.

 

I'll definitely keep you guys posted. WA has VERY stringent lemon law policies, so they will surely move it to another state to wash the title, and resell it to some poor sucker, with like 5k powertrain warranty left on it.

 

They did set the toe which was horrible and needed to be adjusted or your tires would have been destroyed. However, as mentioned 1000 times, the problem is not your alignment. You did badly need one and they didn't take your money because they did fix something that was wrong. Looking at those numbers it is possible your tires are in bad shape and that could be the source of your problem. Any chance you can get some pictures of the tread on the fronts? If you have scalloping or wear patterns from the poor alignment, that could be the problem and if that is the case, there is nothing you can do. Basically if they look anything like this - https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ANeCJhNwOn4/maxresdefault.jpg that is the source of your problem.

Now my fans will call foul when I suggest this, but this is the one and only condition that I suggest the "chalk test". In this case, you are not looking to find air pressure, but you should do this to see how flat your tread is. If you do the chalk test and you see high and low spots, look no further, you found your problem.

 

My tires do look fine (tonered said same thing), but I picked up some chalk and I'll do the test tomorrow and post the results for you guys.

 

turn the inside of your tires and check for visual out of round.

I bought used truck once that would vibrate at 40mph really bad. I checked the tires pretty good but didnt see anything. At the tire shop\alignment they turned the steering wheel all the way
and sure enough it was visibly out of round big time. Bought a new set of tires and truck was trouble free.

Vibrations only come from a few places, tires -> shocks -> drivetrain.

You would have a hard time convincing me its the drivetrain.

 

I get it, but the fact that it started doing it recently on two entirely different sets of tires & wheels does point to the drivetrain. Since it's going to the dealer this morning, I'm going to do as tonered suggested and ask them to throw another set of wheels & tires on there temporarily to test it.

When I get it back, assuming I still have no answers, I'll start diving into everyone's suggestions.

Btw, one of the sets of wheels and tires had essentially brand new tires on there, less than 3000 miles on them.

 

brand new doesnt necessarily mean anything if they are out of spec from the factory.

do you have wildpeaks by chance?

interested to see what they say / find to say they least.

 

Nope, it was between Kumho Crugen HT51's and now blizzaks. Both ran great before the truck started vibrating like crazy. The Kumho's in particular had fabulous ride quality.

 

Ok update guys. I didn't have time to do the chalk test or anything like that, but it doesn't matter anyway. I took the truck to Rodland Toyota in Everett as recommended by tonered (thanks btw man!). Was pleasantly surprised for a change. Sure, I had to pay for a loaner, but on the other hand, they had skilled techs there who quickly spotted what the turds at Kirkland were apparently incapable of:

The wheels and tires were all severely unbalanced, requiring at least 2oz of weight a piece. In fact, some of them had missing weights (stick on's). Apparently, according to the tech, he suspects the place that did the balancing (discount tire, of course) does not calibrate their machine, which the tech says they do every morning at Rodland. And they probably didn't clean the wheels before applying the weights, which is why they fell off. Rodland says they use a cleaning solution on the mounting area.

Oddly enough, Kirkland was kind enough to tell me that there was dirt on the inside of my wheels that might be causing my vibration, but they were apparently unable to spot the missing weights.

So yeah, problem is now finally solved and I'm a happy camper in that regard. Very grateful for tonered's Rodland recommendation. Drop by any time you're in the area and I'll buy you a beer at the local pub (my fridge is mostly stocked with light lager's).

Also I guess the guys criticizing Discount Tire were right after all.

 

Glad you were able to get it fixed and your confidence in Toyota restored.

 

That must be sarcasm. I was happy with Rodland as they fixed that particular problem in a professional manner, but Toyota itself is never regaining my confidence after their behavior about the other issues the truck had and has..

 

You're welcome! I am glad that they helped you out. That work order will be very helpful for you.

 

Now you got it, tool bad you put yourself through all the anguish, before coming to that conclusion.

 

Hey OP,

I was at a local dealer here in TX and we were trying to find out what t force wheels I had and in this process I mentioned your issues.

The dealer told me that Kirkland is/was going about it in the wrong way, even with a law suit they should be bending over backwards to get you the best service....it helps them seem like angels in court. And even with mods they should still be able to do the basic diagnostic checks like ball joints, balance, bearing checks, etc.

My mother just told me she never takes her car to Kirkland, she goes to Bellevue and does not even like them much.

Just thought you should know that it is that Franchise not the rest.

 

nice update. I had a feeling it had to be the tires or wheels. good to hear

about time 3rd gen forum gets a happy ending

 

I get that. Why create customer resentment for yourself on an issue you're not even legally involved in? Kirkland wasn't getting blamed for a damn thing, yet there they are being Toyota's loyal little foot soldier and being nasty to me over BS. Now Kirkland has gotten the review they deserve, and Rodland is getting a really nice review on the site of their choice.

 

It's really that bad around here?

Honestly, joke's on me for not listening to the people here telling me that it's totally possible the tires and wheels were still unbalanced. But the irony is that had I taken them back to Discount for re-balancing, they'd still come out bad since they don't maintain their machine. So a good dealer or shop was really the only way to a happy ending here.

 

From what I have been told by some folks when I was up there last year is Kirkland is happy to take your money, but, they will not stand behind anything they do.

And if you ask about a known problem that is public knowledge, they get totally Saturn 5 rocket in the pooper butthurt.

Just keep all the conversations, emails and all that, just in case, could be the point needed to ensure a buy back goes through.

 

They sure are. I spent almost 2 grand out of pocket there, and yet slowly the relationship deteriorated as I asked for the warranty service I'm entitled to.

 

I know the feeling, I refuse to use Round Rock Toyota, Cedar Park, or Charles Maude Toyota
Here in Texas due to the lack of interest in helping locate parts or answer questions.

I now go 1hr south to a Toyota dealer in Bastrop just to ask about parts.... same dealer that told me Kirkland was wrong in the handling of you and your truck...

Sucks, but, sometimes a 300 mile trip is needed just to get the right deal...