Steering wheel Shake

Balance your tires that's it

 

^ that is from someone who probably didn't read all 7 pages of this thread. However that said a proper balance does a lot to help. But I believe that the issue also heavily lays on what tires you are running. Read up on the duratrac's and you see alot of complaints about balance issues/vibrations. But it is very rare to find any issues with BFG AT's or Michelin tires. Cheaper tires lead to more problems. Lack of proper(!) balancing and alignments also does this.

 

So I finally found time to put the new brakes and rotors on the truck last week. I bought the good old Brembos and the Hawk Ceramic pads. Once I got these babies installed, I noticed a vast improvement in the steering wheel. I was careful to torque the lugs (bought a torque wrench from Sears) to 85 lbs. I won't lie, it still had some shake, but it wasn't near as bad. So I was sitting in the garage yesterday pondering the Toyota steering wheel seizure when a thought hit me. What if I eliminated all play in my hub rings? So I pulled the wheels off and wiggled the hub rings inside the center bore of the rim. Sure enough, there was still a little play there. I pulled a Mr. Wizard and grabbed the ghetto black electric tape. I wrapped the outer edge of the hub ring until it was snug inside the rim center bore. I needed a little effort to pust the hub ring down in the center bore of the rim. I added just enough tape to allow the rings to sit inside the rim bore without falling out when I stood the tire up to install back on the hub. I eased the rim/hub ring assembly back on the hub and torqued everything down. Wow! No shake...zero. I drove home with an ear to ear smile. I had finally conquered the Tacoma steering wheel seizure. So give this easy tip a try if you have hub centric rings and they don't fit snug inside the wheel bore. Wrap the rings with electric tape (take your time and wrap evenly) until you have a snug fit in the rim and trim the excess off with a razor. I have learned through trial, error, research, and just calling friends in the tire business that Toyota built these trucks extremely sensitive on the front ends. There can be no play in the rim to hub junction. This is why Stock wheels are built HUB-centric with non-conical style lug nuts. The center bore relationship between hub and wheel are crucial for a smooth ride. Additionally, I have found that even with the Hunter 9700 balancer, the Haweka adapter, and a competent technician, you can still get the shakes. The Hunter 9700 has a default tolerance of 25 lbs on the road force variation. The Tacoma can shake with road force measurements as low as 12 pounds! So even if a road force measurement is taken, the machine still shows greens on the tolerance with measurements as high as 25 lbs. When the tech sees green, he assumes the wheel/tire assembly is good and balances without breaking the tire down and spinning it on the rim. So if you guys pay for the road force balance ($60-100 bucks), even if the machine shows green and no brekdown is required, make sure to have the tech do the complete breakdown and set the tire and rim up before continuing to the balance of the tire. Its your money, and I know it seems anal, but make that shop earn that money. You need the road force measurements as low as possible, especially on the front end of these trucks. These things along with the other posts I have put up have brought me to a place where I enjoy driving this truck again, even with aftermarket tires and rims. I hope you guys can find the same. Until later....Happy wheelin'!!! Oh, and Merry Christmas everyone!!!

 

My 2005 Tacoma developed this steering wheel shake right after I upgraded my wheels and tires from the OEM set up. Wheels were nothing special XD SERIES Addicts 17x9 with Nitto TG's. Same complaint as most others posted with my 'shake-range' being 45 to 60 regardless of road surface conditions.

Well, I put my truck in for some minor service and inquired about the steering wheel shake. A couple of the techs I spoke with were sort-of familiar with this issue, but none had ever seen it. I asked them to start at the "bottom" and we'd work up from there. I had them do a wheel balance all around then road test. Apparently this was all I needed. Since I ordered the wheels/tires already mounted, they likely weren't balanced properly (had this happen with a set of aftermarket Corvette wheels/tires I bought).

Prognosis; all 4 wheels removed, remounted, and rebalanced and there is no more steering wheel shake up to 100 mph. For reference, my suspension is all OEM and original from day one. Have just under 42,000 miles on the truck as of this post. Other than wheels and tires I had added a truck top, but this was after i had already had the new wheels and tires, therefore it didn't contribute to the shakes.

I've read every post in this thread and it seems there are many solutions to the problem. Chalk one more fix up to a Toyota dealership $49.95 wheel balance.

 

Damn, so that's why it always goes back to sucking after rotating, balancing, or getting new tires.

At least I now know. Thanks.

 

so let me get this straight....just to make sure im on the same page as everyone here...

i did not read ALL 7 pages, i skimmed through about 4-5 pages..

the reason this thread was made a sticky was just to point out several different causes of steering wheel shake, be it U-joints, aftermarket wheels not being correct hub size, tires are difficult to balance etc?

i found out just now that my aftermarket wheels have a bore size of 108mm..vs the stock size that someone pointed out on here that is 106mm, i get a slight steering wheel shake at 45-60mph, so basically this could be my problem? not the steering wheel tsb?


(i just want to make sure im up to speed on this thread is all)

Thanks

 

This is my take on the issue. I have 108mm bore on my Countersteer Offroads, ordering rings this week. I will post back the results.

 

I just had new tires and wheels put on and my tire shop only had 3 tires so they installed one different tire on the right front. Could this be my problem? it does it around 55 mph.

 

alot of it depends on what kind of tire your running on. i had 35x12.5 bfgoodrich and i had the same problem and got them balanced and realigned many of times. i recently got a the same size but toyo mud terrains and there is no shake at all.ive gone up to 90 and still steady steering wheel

 

I have a 2011 and only 600 miles viberated first time on freeway, took truck to dealer they balanced again and then I had a shimmy. Third time they tried the same but viberation was still there. They replaced 3 tires and said they were out of round. has been fine since then. They also replaced drive shaft but I know it was only to recover some warrenty time from factory.

 

Hub-centric rings... truly a good investment for aftermarket wheels. They serve to help correct the rim match up to the hub which is a solid place to begin when trying to diagnose steering wheel vibs / feedback.

Obviously rings are not going to fix issues with bad tires or a faulty balance jobs, but they do serve to provide a solid foundation to begin eliminating possible causes.

So, tis good answer Toast... the most applicable advice to the question posed by mmadej87. One I would have made had you not already.



FWIW, alloy wheel (lugs) are also prone to becoming loose after initial install and should be re-torqued after the vehicle is operated. This holds true whenever you change a single tire or rotate all four. Check 'em and snug 'em up after you run 'em.

 

where is everyone getting their hubcentric rings from? i would assume they dont need to be high quality, considering a member on here used electrical tape as his rings...

 

Going to give these a shot.

Gorilla Automotive 108-106.1 Wheel Hub Centric Rings (108mm OD x 106.1mm ID) - Pack of 4

http://www.amazon.com/Gorilla-Automotive-108-106-1-Centric-106-1mm/dp/B0032HQJ7G

Technically they won't fit as my wheels are 108.3 and the hub is 106.25 but we'll see. For $20 it's worth a shot IMO.

 

I picked up a set online from Discount Tire Direct... that was a while back tho. I'd bet they could provide a source you could buy from if they didn't have them on hand for purchase.

 

for 1/4 of a mm, im sure a piece of sandpaper can fix that, just be sure to sand it evenly! lol

 

What exactly is everyone's definition of Vibration and Steering Wheel Shaking?????

Shaking- Uncontrollable Crazy Acting Steering Wheel?

Vibrations- Uncontrollable Movement throughout vehicle?

 

i have had issues with steering wheel shake/ vibes since putting on aftermarket wheels and tires. Most were cured by the previous fixes, good alignment and multiple road force balancing and i have hub rings for my wheels. But once it got cold i developed a vibe between 30-40 mph, the steering wheel doesn't shake, but its more of a pulsating thumping in the wheel. For the longest time i thought it was the tires and i kept getting them rotated and road forced to no avail. I was on the verge of getting new tires when i decided to put on my old stockers (265/70/16) to see if it was indeed the tires as the stock setup had never given me any problems and of course, the same exact vibe was there even with the old previously problem free wheels and tires. So this alleviated one headache and created another. Thats when i went to the redneck toyota guy close to my house, when the truck was put on the rack (with someone running it so the shaft would spin haha) and me and another guy looked at the DS, you could visually see the rear portion of the shaft oscillating a little bit. We checked and greased all the u joints, wheel bearings, tie rod ends, and ball joints all fine and i even replaced the steering rack bushings and got another alignment done by toyota and the vibe remains....SO long story short, i'm 90% positive it is just my drive shaft loosening up as it gets cold, since the vibe decreases in intensity when it gets warmer. I ordered the CB drop bracket from Brian Claunch at street tacos to see if the lowering of the CB will help tighten up the driveshaft, i'll found out sooner or later.

 

I have a small problem like this when the tires are cold and the truck's been sitting overnight...once they warm up it's OK. Figure it's a mini flat spot on the tire from sitting. Anyway thought I'd pass that along FWIW...Rick

 

do you have a front spacer lift? when i put one on mine my tire guy told me my camber is set out as far as it can go and its still not right. with the tires pitched in like that it causes some bad pull and a bit of shake at around 60mph...for the price it was a good deal but im gonna have to upgrade to a better lift soon

 

i have alleviated most of my low speed vibes by just tightening the bolts on my carrier bearing...very simple. The bolts prob loosened up some over 160k miles and all it needed was for the shaft to be tightened up to the frame some to alleviate play when its rotating. There is some still there, but 90% of it is gone and it rides like a new truck on the highway. I'm just keeping a 14mm wrench/socket in my truck to periodically tighten it once a month to make sure it stays good