Steering Wheel Vib in Brand New 2012 - Stumping the Dealership

Hello,

Last week I just took delivery of my new 2012 Tacoma SR5 DCSB 4x4 Natuical Blue and I love it!!! Only thing is, it has a steering wheel vib in it around 105kms/hr and lasts till about 120kms/hr. I has had it from the start.

The first day I owned it, I called the dealership and mentioned it, they told me the tires just might need to seat drive it for 500km and if it hasn't gone away, come see us. I haven't heard of that before, but figured I would trust them. I was going back and forth to our trailer this week so I put 600km on it within 3 days.

Within that time period I inspected the tires and found significant side wall ripples. It has stock SR5 tires and wheels, 16" SR5 with Dunlop AT20 P245/70R16 on it. Looked to me almost like blown belts.

So I took it back to the dealership on Wednesday, they took a look at it and said:
"We rebalanced the tires, the vib is not gone, should be improved, however there is something wrong with those tires, I have never seen ripples like that before. I am going to talk to the service manager tomorrow about getting you a new set of tires".
The next day they called me and said:
"You need to take it to a Dunlop tire shop as they warranty the tires, not Toyota" and they gave me a name of a guy they use at a local tire shop.

So I took it to the tire guy who seemed very to be a standup guy and very experienced in tires. He has been a dunlop dealer for over 20 years, it isn't his prefered brand but says it is all round good tire, so I had no reason to believe he would be one-sided. He took one look at the tires, felt them and said, nothing wrong with those tires, not from the ripples, those are normal, it is where there overlap the plys to seam them together. He explained that dunlop has a pronounced seam, more so than other manufactures and this is my first set of Dunlops so maybe didn't notice. He did show me some random cars in the parking lot with both old and new tires of different brands and pointed out the seam. By far the Dunlops were more noticeable but they all had 2 ripples in them about 3" apart. He said that balancing isn't probably right on your truck and would call the dealership tomorrow and relay what he observed and would offer the service manager to help in anyway he could.

So I called the dealership today and gave them update, they asked me to bring the truck back in as they would take another look at it, but they aren't sure what they would be able to do to get the vib out as they have already rebalanced the tires, but will try again" This is first time now that I feel I am going to get the run around, due to the wording "aren't sure what they can do?"!!!! Come on this is a brand new truck, I am not accepted a steering wheel shimmy that makes your arm visibly shake at normal cruising speed.

I have not taken the truck back in yet but will do as instructed.

Any words of wisdom on how I shall deal this? I am playing nice but not sure how long I will continue to just "do as they say" without making some noise and this is new terriority for me because I have never had any problems with the 3 previous brand new Toyota vehicles that I have bought at the same dealership.

 

tell them to put new tires on

 

i work for a chrsler dealer and this happens all the times. they get flat spots from sitting on a lot... we road force balance them and must drive over 200 miles, if the vibration is still there we replace tires-dunlop should do the same. they should road force to see if flat spots are the issue

 

thanks guys for the quick feedback. What is road force balancing, haven't heard of it before... Do all dealerships and tire places have the ability to do that?

 

not all but most do- it simulates the forces of the road on the tire while balancing.

 

Personally, I don't think it's your tires.....there are literally THOUSANDS of complaints about this.....I have an 08 and it shakes HORRIBLY between 45-60.....I'm doing the drivers side busing replacement this weekend to see if it helps....Good luck figuring it out, Toyota has their thumb stuck (you know where) when it comes to this issue

 

if it comes and goes at a cvertain speed it usually means tires, but its possible its axle shaft,wheel bearing,hub. etc. could be alot of things.
but id start with tires

 

I am going with this explanation too. Similar to what I always have heard in the past: Out of balance = shaking/bouncing at all speeds

and slightly out of round (or flat spots) = shaking more noticable only at certain speeds.

 

cant we rotate the tires and see if that improves it? if the problem goes away, get new tires.

must be annoying to get a new vehicle with problems..no new car bliss.

 

first of all you cant (CANNOT) trust any dealership. the sooner you learn that the better off you are. these trucks are very sensitive to shaking. i will bet you money the dealer is balancing the wheels/tires hub centrically when they are in fact lug centric. they need to use a "haweka" adapter to balance our wheels the correct way. most places wont do this as it is more work for them and they just dont want to. i would bring it in and tell them to balance them lug centrically, but the LUG holes. dont take any of their bullshit about thats not going to help, it will. and keep us updated!

 

Process of elimination. Have the dealership borrow some different wheels and tires from another Tacoma on the lot, slap them on your Tacoma and drive it and see if the vibration is still there. If so, then you know its not tires...

 

I dont think its your tires. I have the same problem with my 2012. There is a large thread on this issue. I didnt notice it at first, but after reading the thread a few times I noticed my steering wheel shakes while accelerating between 25-40 km/h.

 

You got it backwards. 2005+ Tacoma wheels are supposed to be balanced hubcentrically - like 90% of passenger vehicles produced today. Prev-gen Tacomas and pickups were lugcentric and needed the Heweka flange-plate adapter.

 

While it's true the tires are warranted by Dunlop, it's very unusual for the dealer to send you to a Dunlop shop, unless the dealer lacks tire-mounting equipment.

 

Wheels or tires, keep forcing the issue, keep updating us here what they are saying, this is completely unnacceptable for a new unmodded vehicle. Suggest they let you test drive another truck equal to the one you bought and see if it does it too. If it doesn't then tell them to swap with you at their expense and let them deal with the problematic one. They won't want to do it but it will certainly light a fire under their ass to find out what is up with yours and make it right. Nothing less than perfect at all speeds when new is worth your money. Ask for loaner until they figure it out and ask about lost wages to spend your time chasing this. They won't do it but it will make them realize you are serious and will not accept their nonsense. Counter with your own nonsense, fight fire with fire. Good luck and you have a shitload of knowledgeable folks here to shoot down whatever bullshit they try to feed you, just post up.

 

This.

And this.

And some of this, too.

 

Thanks guys for all the input and the advice. I have made another appt with the dealership and this time the service manager is going to take a look at it.

Will keep you posted on what they say.

Thanks again everyone, really helps to have some knowlegeable advice around.

 

My 2012 Texas Edition was shaking pretty bad since the day I drove it off the lot. Took it in today to have the wheels rebalanced. Seems a lot better for me after that. Hopefully it stays that way, if not i'll be bugging the dealership until they fix it.

 

When I took delivery of my 2011, (same tires), I had the same problem. Toyota said tires needed balancing--not!!! They tried road force to no avail. At my insistence, they replaced my wheels and tires with a set from another 2011 on the new truck line. New tires and wheels required road force balancing before truck smoothed out. The tires are crap!!!

 

Why do you buy a vehicle and not drive it before signing the papers? When I picked mine up after delivery ( dealer had to order it ) I drove it for miles before I agreed to anything.