I rotated the wheels on my 2016 Tacoma TRD-OR; afterward, as soon as I hit 60mph, my steering wheel shimmies back and forth a couple of degrees and I hear a sound like a Huey. I can feel it through the whole truck. It's not "oh shit, pull over" bad, but it is very annoying.

I figured it was just that I needed a balance. I had them balanced at the Discount Tire (where I purchased and had the tires installed, along with new TPMS sensors), and while slightly better, it was still present. No change after a 2nd balance.

I'm assuming that if I had a tire off-round or a bent rim that they could detect that during balancing. I also figured that I would have been able to detect such an issue even prior to rotation.

Any other ideas?

Everything tight?

Wheel bearings checked?

Can't spell TURD with out TRD



Obviously on the front, put it on jack stands and spin the wheels for a look see. Shake them too as PHPaul said for wheel bearing check

You have dead spots in the struts.

Bad wear/'Cupping' on the tires that were rotated from the rear to the front?

How exactly were the tires rotated? Are the tires rotation direction dependent?

Only thing that comes to mind is that they are directional and you moved them to the other side of the vehicle and now they are pointing the wrong way rotationally - but i would guess shop balancing them would notice.

Only other thing that comes to mind is a damaged wheel or mud or similar caked where it shouldn’t be throwing things out of balance. Maybe an adjustment in alignment or chamber is needed? Have you verified that the tires pressures are right?

quote:

Originally posted by Mars_Attacks:
You have dead spots in the struts.

I’m not familiar with this.

I’ll get it on jackstands and check the bearings. As far as I recall, the treads are not directional and they were rotated from front to back on the same side. I’ll still check for any abnormal wear as well as large chunks of mud. My truck does get a bit muddy. I’ll also verify that the sensors are reading tire pressures correctly.

Good ideas so far.

My personal experience with Discount Tire balancing is that one must ask for "road force balancing."

I have also determined that the younger techs do not know how to look at the weights to be added, and say "hmmm, why am I adding 5 ounces in one spot?" This means that the wheel and tire combined balance needs are poorly matched. One must break the tire off the rim, rotate the tire 180 degrees, remount the tire, and try again. It is important to avoid concentrated weight locations.

Shimmy and Noise Whie Driving?

I’ve had that happen when my sister in law was in the back seat.

Go back to Discount Tire and have them balance using the lug centric adapter. This method uses an adapter with the lug holes on the wheel, rather than the cone style used in the hub centric method. For some reason the TRD wheels are not a true center with the hub. This is why a lot of Toyota owners are having trouble maintaining a good balance when the hub centric method is used. I always suggest anyone who owns a Toyota SUV, or truck use the lug centric method for balancing. This should fix your problem.

Search : Death Wobble.

quote:

Originally posted by bendable:
Search : Death Wobble.

Oh, come on! Everyone knows that only happens to Jeep owners.

quote:

Originally posted by ptruck:
Go back to Discount Tire and have them balance using the lug centric adapter. This method uses an adapter with the lug holes on the wheel, rather than the cone style used in the hub centric method. For some reason the TRD wheels are not a true center with the hub. This is why a lot of Toyota owners are having trouble maintaining a good balance when the hub centric method is used. I always suggest anyone who owns a Toyota SUV, or truck use the lug centric method for balancing. This should fix your problem.

Interesting. I hadn't heard of that before. I also hadn't heard of the road force balancing. According to the Discount Tire website, not all stores have it. I'll have to ask.

What about the tires themselves? I mean age, make, amount of wear?

Bought a used Tundra years ago, right away the ride was questionable. It came with larger tires, 3/4 or so worn. Some new Michelin tires took care of most of the issues.

We can ‘assume’ your wheels themselves are ok? The ride was good before rotation?

I just got done replacing the front struts on a Taco. They had dead spots from just driving on flat surfaces all the time. Made the front tires scallop out.

Even my Frontier had done this.

If you have the option available, try a different set of wheels. If the issue goes away, it is the wheels. If not, it is the suspension. Death wobble is most likely worn or soft bushings in the control arms. This issue can happen to any truck, but just too common on Jeeps.

A buddy of mine, at the urging of his mechanic, replaced everything on his Jeep's front suspension after chasing the issue. The mechanic started with the most expensive fix first. I wish we spoke beforehand.

quote:

Originally posted by Mars_Attacks:
I just got done replacing the front struts on a Taco. They had dead spots from just driving on flat surfaces all the time. Made the front tires scallop out.

Even my Frontier had done this.

I’m still not understanding “They had dead spots from just driving on flat surfaces all the time.”

That means at some region of their range of motion there’s no damping? How could driving on flat surfaces cause that?

quote:

Originally posted by Pipe Smoker:

I’m still not understanding “They had dead spots from just driving on flat surfaces all the time.”

That means at some region of their range of motion there’s no damping? How could driving on flat surfaces cause that?

Because of the very limited range of movement, the piston seals rub a spot into the sides of the cylinder wall and cause a dead range of dampening because fluid can flow by them until a range a proper seal is obtained, so yes. The most common problem with shocks on stiff suspension trucks.

quote:

Originally posted by Mars_Attacks:

quote:

Originally posted by Pipe Smoker:

I’m still not understanding “They had dead spots from just driving on flat surfaces all the time.”

That means at some region of their range of motion there’s no damping? How could driving on flat surfaces cause that?

Because of the very limited range of movement, the piston seals rub a spot into the sides of the cylinder wall and cause a dead range of dampening because fluid can flow by them until a range a proper seal is obtained, so yes. The most common problem with shocks on stiff suspension trucks.

Yup, seen that often, the shocks wear the most within a limited range in the middle.
When you move the old cylinders up and down, they will be stiff at top and bottom, but "loose" in the middle.

Is the truck lifted (beyond that which comes with the TRD package) or are there oversized/different offset wheels & tires? Either makes your row tougher to hoe.

As I understand it, the tires were rotated for the problem to present itself, then they were balanced and the problem persisted to a lesser degree.

Does the problem persist if the tires are returned to their original position?

Static or dynamic balancing wouldn't detect the contact patch of the roadway or if the wheel itself was bent/warped. Unlike the front end, caster and camber aren't an issue on a live axle.

Assuming there are no modifications to the suspension, is there any damage to the leaf springs or shackles/bushings? Is the axle splayed in any way? Seems you would be using the same struts, bushings, and dampers that were just fine before the tires were rotated.

Let us know what you find.