I bought a 96 4 Runner (4 wheel drive) that suffered a slight fender bender, resulting in a very small and slightly noticeable dent in the bumper on the drivers side.

I noticed some vibrations and a rhythmic whirring sound from the driver’s side wheel area when driving 60 – 70. It was also pulling to the right. I had an alignment, and had the tire balanced and found a flat spot there. The technician told me there was a little play in my (upper?) ball joint but, but not that bad. I was still getting the same noise and vibrations, but attributed it to the bad tire.

Well I just got a brand new set of Yokohama Geolander at/s, and low and behold I am still getting vibrations from my driver’s side wheel, though I can’t hear a whirring noise anymore. The vibrations are now felt at much lower speeds, between 30-45ish, and seem to mellow out a little as I get faster. At highway speeds the vibration is intermittent, like every few seconds and then it mellows and comes back.

I’ve been researching like crazy and am thinking it could be the wheel bearings. I do hear a slight clicking when turning my wheel to the right, but I don’t have any grinding/squealing noises. I haven’t been able to lift the truck to check for play. The other thing I come up with is the ball joint, which I know has some play in it.

Are there other components that could be causing/aiding my problems? How much work is involved if I where to replace either the hub or ball joints or all of the above?

Thanks for looking.

 

Well a couple things. Since the tires are new, Im going to assume a good balancing was done. It could be also that maybe the rim got slightly bent. Next I would replace the wheel bearing considering it is a 12 yr. old vehicle.

 

Thanks for the reply.

I havent tried to have the tires rebalanced, I'm pretty sure its not a balance issue, because the problem is pretty much the same as with the last set. I dno't think the rim is damaged either. When the tires were replaced I think the rims ended up in different spots.

If I can get it lifted I'm gonna check the wheel for play. Is it possible for the hub itself to be damaged? Would that cause the same sort of vibrations.

Is there anything else I should check for that could be causing the wheel to vibrate (other than balancing)?

 

Did you try swapping the wheels around?

 

Oops, wrong thread!