Heavy Vibration on 2016 Taco' Lightbar

Caliraisedled is awesome!

After the install I have really heavy low end vibration noise, the same noise that a tire rubbing the wheel well makes, but only starting at 30 m/hr.

I was able to get a ton of stuff at a great deal during the July 4th sale. I got Southern Offroad to install the 50 inch curved lightbar, all is good so far. The light is pointed right at the end of the hood, and I guess that's ok but I had imagined like 100 yards ahead. No biggie.

Does anyone have insight on getting rid of the low end vibration noise from hell?

 

Wonder if the wind is catching an off-angle of that lightbar and causing the housing of it to vibrate. Might try adjusting the angle a tad to see if that isolates the issue, then you can finagle it from there

 

Sounds about right. I had that issue when I first mounted. I have since moved the brackets up higher and onto the weatherstripping. Vibration gone

 

I didn't do the original install, what do you think the chances are that Southern Offroad will do the adjustments?

 

My guess is that they'd love to help make a good paying customer happy!

 

Have no clue whatsoever. It really depends on the fab. The guy I usually go to is in Montclair/Upland and he'll do fixings at hourly rate. Moving it yourself isn't really an issue. The hardware side should be doable on your own, provided you know what you're doing

 

I just spoke to them, and they're willing to do some adjusting. The whole of the assembly, from bottom of lightbar to the top is below the top of the vehicle. A question for someone with the same lightbar, where is the location of yours and whats the noise factor above 30 m/hr?

 

Light bars are very prone to making noise. You've got a blunt object in the airstream that Toyota set up in wind tunnels.

 

Lol. Yes, but I have heard of others with the same light bar, and if they were having the same noise as I am, they wouldnt have the light bar long, because it's shaking everything, rattling all the little parts, and I cant see anything in the rear view because it's a giggly mess.

 

Are you getting the vibration from just the bar, or is your roof also vibrating (drive down the road and put your hand on the headliner to feel for vibration). I had both vibrations with my bar, though mine is mounted differently and smaller. I put sound deadener on the roof and support structure between the roof and headliner. I also installed a visor which got rid of almost all noise/vibration but required modification.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/oe-roof-rack-light-bar-mount.437349/

 

I've ridden in a few vehicles with roof bars. They are all loud

 

Here's an update on the noise machine:

I was able to reduce the overall noise by about %20 with a small strip of foam, inserted between the sunglass tray and it's rear cradle counterpart (roof mounted, stock). That one rattle caused the most annoyance, and its now gone. It's not a permanent fix, but it's much better with no effort. PICS BELOW

I installed a Blackvue dr650gw-2ch dash cam, and when I hid the wires under the edges of the roof panel, it gave the panel more rigity and kept it closer to the body of the truck. This accidental fix also absorbed some noise.

There's still a good bit of vibration, but it's well within the acceptable range.

 

Further update: Angling the light bar towards the sky a bit also took care of some more vibration.