Ugh, steering wheel shake in brand new TRD sport?

Why would you not drive it on the highway on a test drive? My dealer gave me and the wife the keys and I told him we would be back in about 45 minutes to an hour. They said fine. We took it down dirt roads the city and the interstate.

 

You should have gone to another dealer.

 

Mine don't.

 

I had this same problem on my truck when it had 40 miles on it. Took it back in and they checked balancing, said it was fine, and couldn't recreate the vibration.

I was pretty pissed that I'd wasted a trip to the dealer and they hadn't found anything wrong. On the drive home, vibration was gone. Either they lied and adjusted the balancing or just removing and reinstalling changed something. Now up to almost 15k and still no vibe.

 

Wow, hopefully I will have that same luck! Thanks for chiming in.

 

It's more of a dcsb thing I've noticed, but since I've put my lift and tires on, I don't notice it anymore or it is very minimal

 

Maybe a bad batch of tires. Some of the Dunlop's do that until you run them awhile to get the flat spot out of it. I think there is one nylon ply in them and that will make then do that until they warm up from driving.

 

The Tacoma has too light duty for front end parts. Even with unbalanced tires it should not shake. The tires will hop but the steering wheel should not shake, but because of light duty parts they shake.

 

I had the same issue with my 2013 DCLB. The Dunlops that came on the truck were rubbish. I had one tire replaced the day after delivery because of suspected belt damage to the tire causing bulging on both sidewalls. They swapped the spare in and took a week to get a new tire. I also had the vibration at 65 to 70mph, could have mixed a can of paint in the passenger seat. The lads at the dealership tried to tell me it was because it was a truck it drives different, assuming I never had a truck before.....

Long story short, after several trips to tire shops trying to get the tires to behave, I dumped them. I put on a set of the Michelin M/S 2 and the truck is very smooth and much quieter.

I am now going to engage with Toyota see what they have to say. The tires were junk, not sure if that is the case with all the Dunlop AT20, there certainly is not much praise for them.

I know not everyone can drop $800 on new rubber, we shouldn't have to given the price of the truck. It was the tires in my case.

 

I've never had any dealer tell me that. Total BS. I always take a 30-40 mile test drive before I sign the paperwork--rural highway, freeway, & around town. When you don't take a long test drive, you are simply asking for trouble IMHO.

 

Second that. Also, I drive the truck I plan on buying- not one 'sitting out front'.

 

My my '13 DCSB had a slight wheel shake during the first 50 miles. Right around the time i was getting ready to take it in to have it looked at it went away and has not returned 5K+.

Matt

 

Oh for the love of God I hope this happens to me also. The only dealer close to me is the one I have no faith in.

 

Yes, without a doubt!

 

Hi Guys,

It's been while since my last post on this issue, but I wanted to update on my 2012 Tacoma Sport Double cab.Toyota of Escondido has failed to solve my steering wheel shake issue, they actually will not help me anymore since they have been unable to duplicate issue. Service manager was going to try and get authorization to replace tires , but I guess no luck.

I'm gathering that even if our Tacoma's in question don't do this all the time it's still a wheel balancing issue. The dealer says if it was a balancing or Alignment issue it would happen all the time.

My Tacoma running Dunlop AT20 which I believe could be the culprit, properly
going to try Michelin after these wear out I'm currently at 13,000 miles. I just think the dealers should pony up and take care of there customer, in my opinion I believe Toyota knows about this issue, but just wants to sweep under the rug with excuses and BS.

I wish all good luck, but this my last Tacoma this issue has just been a God awful nightmare .

 

You're joking. That would have been the end of the sale right then and there.

I don't know if you can take it to Toyota Carlsbad but they seem to at least be somewhat on the ball; they insisted I take it on the freeway (which I would have done anyhow) for starters! Salesguy didn't have an issue with me winding it up to 80, either. As you know, that's the de facto speed limit here in lovely San Diego.

And yeah, the stock tires are shit and likely are the source of the problem. I'm waiting to save up a bit of cash because I want to replace the tires and wheels at the same time. I recommend Michelins, my truck's a road truck and not a dirt truck, and the Michelins have been superb for that purpose on every truck I've ever owned.

Glad I did not go to Toyota Escondido. That was an option.

I might add in response to other comments that this vehicle drives like a limo even with the stock tires, no shake at any speed and I've wound it up over ninety. My only beef is with the shit rear leaf springs, but I knew about those going in.

 

Not joking in the least bit. I even inquired about letting my wife drive the FRS because we were considering trading in her G37 for one.....guess what they told us?


And I quote, "IF we are allowed to let you test drive one it will be the tester model that everyone else gets to drive." Absolutely in no way, shape, or form will they let you drive the FRS that YOU will be driving. It blew my mind.

If anyone just can't believe it give a quick call to Toyota of Atlanta. I didn't even talk about trading for the FRS after that. They keep telling me that I will be getting an online survey and that it will help them a lot if I give them good scores. I appreciate that, but I'm definitely going to let them know that I was dissatisfied with the test drive protocols they have.

 

Oh, I believe you, it's just that...Holy shit. I'm speechless. They need you far more than you need them. Give them zeroes on the survey and explain why. That may get something done for you.

What you have sounds like an alignment issue more than anything else, but it could also be shit tires. Might be time to take it to a good LOCAL mechanic. My local dealer is actually pretty good but the only time they'll see me is for oil changes. I have a guy and he does the work on my vehicles, end of story.

BTW, the FRS is a fucking ball. My wife bought one from the same dealer about a month later, they sent a guy to drive to another local dealer to get the color she wanted, and we test drove that. Probably put two hundred miles on it before we decided to buy. They didn't care, those cars sell. I didn't think I'd ever be envious of my wife's car compared to my truck, but truth be told, I kinda am. It's not the fastest car I've ever driven (that would be a Tesla) and it's not quite the most maneuverable car I've ever driven (that would be a 911) but it's a nice sport combo that's 90% of those two cars at about a fifth of the price.

Seems I got you and Tech1 mixed up, sorry about that. Tech1, get yourself to Toyota Carlsbad and see if they'll help you.

 

Hi Guys,

I sent an e-mail to Toyota of Escondido they have agreed to test drive my 2012 Tacoma sport dbl cab October 3rd to try and duplicate, I'm leaving it over night
hope they can duplicate if so they will consider installing new tires.If they do nothing I will try another dealer or just replace Dun-flops when they wear out.


Thanks for all the input

 

Would they not allow you to drive a technician around to duplicate? I'm wary of letting a tech deciding whether or not he feels the issue.


Anyway, figured I'd add a data point. After I played around in 4wd the shake and pull was completely gone for a while. After a few days the shake and pull came back. Don't know if there is any correlation but I'm going to see if I can get it to go away after using 4wd again.