Vibration after new wheels and tires and numerous balancing

That seems to have been the cause. (not the pads, just rotors). I learned that when either yourself (or the inexperienced youngsters at your choice of tire shop) torque down your wheels way too tight and/or not in the proper star pattern, it can warp the shit out of your rotors. It's the only reason I can think of for mine being warped after only 40k miles and happened coincidentally very soon after I had new wheels and tires put on.

83 ft lbs in the recommended torque for the tacoma. When you actually do it to 83 it feels way too light though. I go to 85. Some impacts not dialed in for lug nuts can put near or over 100 ft lbs. That's what can warp your rotors.

 

I wanna say i have this same problem but never said anything about and thought it was normal since the day i drove it home from Utah (Got it used w/ 84k miles). The passenger seat shakes at any speed over 35mph I wanna say and little bit of steering wobble on the freeway. But the steering wheel shaking when braking I don't have. My mothers 370z does severely that but its due to the brakes, rotors/pads.

 

That's the best I can deduce. Rebalancing did not fix the shimmy (shop states that the balance was "perfect"). I personally then removed and reinstalled the wheels; did not fix the shimmy. Then after coming across this thread, I opted to personally install new rotors (and pads while in there because its good practice to put in new pads when installing new rotors or resurfacing existing), and the shimmy is gone. Almost 700 miles since the new pads and rotors and the steering wheel is as steady as can be at any speed 0-85mph that I've noticed.

So there is merit to what @Phich said about the rotors warping from incorrect install of wheels. Maybe the rotors were warped before but the more aggressive offset of the wheels (compared to stock) amplified the symptom? Who knows. Either way, I'm back to being a happy Tacoma driver.

 

Warped rotor would only be noticeable during braking. They will cause a vibration in the pedal.

 

I am not saying it was 100% definitely the rotors were warped and that incorrect installation caused it, but considering all I did was replace the rotors and that 100% fixed the problem, I'd say it's extremely likely that was the case.

 

How does torquing down lugs too tight cause rotors to warp when they have no contact with eachother

 

Definitely had this as a secondary. At first it was just light high speed vibration. Then I did changed pads and had the OEM rotors turned. That mostly smoothed it out for about 2000 miles, then the high speed vibration came back with vibration at braking.

 

I have no idea. Just kinda heard that thought the ether... I just have no idea how my rotors would warp at 40k miles...

 

They are two separate issues. The harmonic vibration that is felt either in the steering wheel or in the seat at certain speeds is caused by the wheels bouncing. This bouncing is cause by an imbalance that is most likely caused by tires or wheels, but could possibly be rotors or other drive line components. You see it in wheels and tires more because of rotational mass with the mass being farther from the rotation. It takes a lot more weight to cause a vibration on rotors or axles because their weight is close to the center of rotation. Warped rotors won't effect the rotational mass because the distance from rotation isn't changed.

This same vibration can be felt if the assembly is not rolling in a close circular pattern. "out of round" is typically caused by tires or wheels. It is also caused frequently with aftermarket wheels because they don't seat properly on the hub which means they won't follow a circular pattern as they rotate around the axis. It is also possible that a bent hub could cause issue. There is a trouble shooting pattern that goes from the most common - Wheels and tires to driveline.

The separate issue is warped rotors spin freely without notice until the pads are pressed against them. This is when you feel the pulsation in the pedal. You might confuse it with your truck shaking from the on and off effect of warped rotors.

What has been asserted here is that you are correcting the first issue by fixing the second. This in principal is not possible unless the rotors were the issue which is highly unlikely. What is likely happening is that when the assembly is disassembled and put back together properly and properly lubricated that everything seats properly and the tires roll smooth.

I would never suggest that someone replace rotors and pads as a solution to a steering wheel vibration, but if you are taking everything apart to clean it up, you might as well replace the rotors and pads since you have it apart because those parts are relatively inexpensive.

 

I really am at a loss too man. My truck only had 16k miles when I replaced the rotors. Its a baby. But now its a smooth baby again haha

 

This is interesting and seems to more common then I thought. I had a '19 taco that right after putting bigger wheels and tires on had a terrible vibration around 55 - 65mph. Above or below that it was totally fine. I took it back the discount tire to have them rebalance and they could never get the shimmy to go away.

Fast forward to a little over a week ago, I traded up to a '21 TRD OR and had the dealer swap the wheels so I keep the aftermarkets I had just purchased. And wouldn't you know it, zero shimmy, drives smooth as butter. I figured maybe the dealer just did a better job a balancing them, but maybe the kids at discount botched the install on the other truck.

 

Had a similar issue. Turns out there are different types of balance static and dynamic. Discount tire did not properly balance then with the right type of weights. Fixed the issue I thought it was the alightment as well. Make sure they apply the correct type of weights/balance for the right type of wheel..

 

I've said it before and I'll say it again. LUG CENTRIC ADAPTER is a must for the Tacoma. If the people balancing use the hub it will look great on the machine but will bounce all over the place on the truck. LUG CENTRIC !!

 

Same experience several years ago on my first set of duratrac . After several failed attempts by the tire shop, I went to Toyota and guess what, smooth as butter steering wheel vibrations gone at speed.

 

Because Toyota uses a LUG CENTRIC adapter !!

 

4wd? Lifted?

 

Road force helps too. Sometimes a road force balance will have you move the tires on the rim and fix a vibration problem.

 

Once the rotors are warped, sometimes you just have to replace them. Turning them might smooth them out but then they are thinner and more susceptible to warping. Do you do a lot of stop and go driving? We see it in vehicles that do deliveries or uber and of course people that are just hard on the brakes/heavy foot.

 

When I had them turned I still had no idea it was the rotors, I just thought it might be. I do little to no stop and go driving and had less than average miles on the truck at the time. Definitely not a hard foot on the brakes either.

Truly, I don’t even know if they were warped.
It’s a frustrating mystery.

It all started after going from 16 to 17” wheels. High speed vibration but no vibration while braking. Turned rotors and replaced brake pads and no vibration for about 2000-3000ish miles, then vibration again at high speeds and also while braking.
It was completely remedied when I installed new rotors. Going on almost 2000 miles on the new rotors and so far very smooth.

BTW, wheels were rebalanced three times: at Firestone once and at Discount tire twice.
Didn’t help at all.

 

I wont ever NOT use balancing beads on my tires again. My old trail rig that was also my daily driver got the balance beads. So awesome, the tires are ALWAYS balanced, and never need to be balanced again.