Wheels rebalanced several times, still shaking steering wheel!

Truck is on stock suspension, no lift at all.

Picked up a set of 5 KO2's 3 months ago for a killer deal that I couldn't pass up, plus the opportunity to move from hella stiff E loads down to a C load (they are the KO2's that come with the new Rubicons - even lighter than other C load 285's).

Had them mounted in March, noticed some shake in the steering at 60-80mph. (I don't usually drive over 70, I just wanted to see if it would stop at higher speed).

Called the tire shop and took them back. They rebalanced them and told me they were all slightly off on balance. Great thanks.

Steering wheel still shaking.

Gave up on them and took it to the Toyota dealership this morning... had them rebalance all four as well as the full size spare in the bed. Great. Truck comes out 90 mins later, drive it on the highway to get back home. U-turn back to the dealership. It's WORSE.

Get back, technician rides along with me. Sees the steering wheel shaking pretty good when I let it go doing 55-60... He takes it back in...

2 hours later comes back out with a grin on his face and wants to go on another ride. Says two of the tires were slightly off and that he must not have got them to sit on the machine correctly...

It's immediately obvious that it's better now than his first attempt... but really not what I'm hoping for. Even my E loads didn't shake like this...

After spending half the day at the dealer I just say screw it, this is as good as it's ever going to get. Drop him off, take off and drive back home. It's essentially back to square one. Not worse, but no better than it was when I took it in this morning.

The exciting part is I'm driving across the country starting next week... 5,000 mile journey... this is going to be less than pleasant if I can't find any improvement...

Any thoughts? Tires are not out of round and this was not present with previous set of tires, so I don't think it's the truck. Both front bearings are brand new and rotors don't seem to be warped...

TIA

 

It sounds like it could be your needle bearing. Have you done the 4hi test to check? I know you're on stock suspension, but needle bearings can still go bad.

 

I think KO2’s have a history of balancing issues.

 

Was it there prior to the tire change? If the answer is no, then it’s the tires.

 

X100

 

It could be a bad belt in one of the tires. Had it happen with my first car, and no amount of balancing ever got rid of the vibration.

Might be a long shot theory, and I hope it's something else (cheap!) for you

 

I just can't imagine these came off a brand new Rubicon - that that Jeep would have this same vibration and their dealer would just say "yep. these tires it comes with just have issues balancing. sucks to suck."

 

You can’t compare a solid axle set up with a steering gear box to a ifs with a steering rack. You have to remember any vibration in the tire wheel combo on the Tacoma is directly transferred into the steering rack and right up the steering column. Hence sometimes it’s a pia to get rid of steering wheel shake.

 

At work we occasionally return new KO2's for non-balancing issues.

 

Maybe it came off the “brand new rubicon” for a reason? Sometimes you get a killer deal only to spend more money. Good luck.

 

Not the case. They are pull offs from a Jeep dealership where half their trucks are lifted and fitted with larger tires on delivery. This guy is constantly sellings sets of 5 for less than half price.

 

I haven't, I'll try that in a few when it stops raining.

 

Any brand of tire will have some tires that are hard to balance, it’s just what happens.

Ive had 2 sets of KO2s my other 2 buddies had 2 and 1 sets, we had 0 issues balancing. I’ve had C and E load.

My duratracs were hard to balance and required a lot of weight.

You can read the same about wild peaks, toyos, good year etc.

 

Not the case with me and 2 of my buddies. I balanced my set when I got them about a year ago and still perfect.

 

Rotate the tires around to see if the shake moves with it. If you still have your stock wheels and tires, throw them back on and see if the shake disappears.

 

E load isn't even noticeably stiffer than a C load tire

Just do a chalk test and set the right tire pressure.

Personally I wouldn't have bought the KO2's.

 

Dude, E load is way harsher ride than C, huge difference. My e load KO2s were like bricks at 35 psi. Even the wife who knows nothing about cars, noticed right away when I installed my C loads.

 

I myself don't notice a huge difference between my SL Wildpeaks and E rated ST MAXX's. There is a difference though, but not huge.

MPG's though, yeah maybe we won't discuss that.

 

I ran E load on my Tacoma (Falken Wildpeak 235/85/16) and run E load now on my 4Runner (Cooper S/T Maxx 255/85/16).

I've received compliments on both vehicles and how smooth the rides were/are.

 

I beg to differ. I've done the chalk test with all my tires. The moment I drove away with the C loads for the first time it was an absolute breath of fresh air. My wife even noticed it the first time she rode in the truck. Maybe not noticable to you, but to me it was NIGHT AND DAY.