Bumpy feeling while driving

Hello!

I have a 2023 limited Crewmax, non trd with the 20” wheels.

when I first bought the truck it drove perfect for about 4 months, I got a flat tire and had it patched. Shortly after I started noticing vibrations in the floor board and in the back/base of the seat. I had the dealer do a balance on the tires, it was slightly off and they fixed. It seemed fine for a few days and now it’s back to feeling bumpy. Even smooth flat roads feels slightly bumpy, it’s hard to explain as not really a “vibration” but almost going over small bumps in the road, or driving on gravel it’s super annoying.

today i just had the tires road force balanced. The one tire (that had a flat came back at 24, the rest were in the mid teens which they said was normal. They rebalanced the tires and everything checked out. I’m still noticing the same issue.. it’s uncomfortable to drive, my legs resting against the seat can feel the bump/vibrations.

im stuck on what it could be? Would a road force balancer find flat spots on a tire, or something that I could be missing?

The ride quality is definitely drastically different then before the flat, but it seems like the rear end is where it is coming from and the flat tire is currently on the front. I don’t feel really anything in my steering wheel?

 

What tire pressure are you running? This plays a significant role in small bump compliance.

 

It’s been at 35 cold all around, which is the door sticker. I’ve also tried different pressures, 36 front - 33 rear. And I’m tried lower pressures as well.
Wouldn’t tire pressure just be when hitting bumps, not bumps on a flat surface?

 

Try 34 cold all around. It made a huge difference on my truck. Also, try a different pressure gauge. Yours can be off a couple pounds (not unusual) which will make a big difference in ride. 35 cold means that the vehicle has been sitting for at least a couple hours and the temperature outside is about 70 degrees. As the temp outside changes, so does the tire pressure reading. There are actual charts that show outside temps vs tire pressure readings. Google "tire temperature charts" and you'll find them in Google images.

 

Does the vibration get worse at higher speeds? How about braking?

Get under the truck and try to shake the rear driveshaft. Bad u-joints can cause vibrations.

Was the flat on a front tire? If so, did you drive any distance with the flat? That can cause alignment problems, which often lead to vibrations.

Do you have a full-sized spare? If so, you could temporarily swap it for the repaired flat tire. If the problem persists, that would rule out the repaired tire as the problem.

 

Braking doesn’t do anything, it’s almost at any speed over 15 or so. It almost feels like you are driving down a road with a ton of small divots and you get a slight shaking feel in the floor board and I can feel it when my legs are resting against the seat. It’s sort of like a vibration, but more of a shake feeling. It’s not severe, it’s just enough to cause an annoyance while driving.
The flat was in the rear, and now is in the front driver side. I can’t really feel anything crazy in my steering wheel so I almost want to rule out that tire.. something still seems off with the rear. I feel like if it was in the front I would feel it in the steering unless it is just sending it through the floor board instead.

 

I’ll try that out. I’ve been trying to experiment with different pressures so I’ll try 33 or 34 all around.

 

Was the flat caused by an object or impact? Bent wheel? I assume since patched it was an object. How many miles on the tires? If fairly low and wheel is not damaged, replace patched tire, rebalance and check.

 

They might not have balanced or mounted the tire properly after the patch. I'd start there. If that's not it then, depending on what caused the flat, you might have a damaged belt in the tire. If that's the case you'll need to replace it.

 

Do you have rear air suspension?

 

bent wheel seems like it would be a possibility. with 20 inch wheels its more likely to happen compared to 18s since the sidewall is less.

 

I got the tires rebalanced after the flat, the dealer said it was off and added weights. When I took it home all was fine, then 4 days later it started back up again.. which is super strange. I just had the tires road force balanced today and nothing seemed strange according to the tire shop. They added an ounce or so of weights to each tire.
I tried different pressures, etc and nothing helps. If the flat tire was bad, wouldn’t my steering wheel be shaking really bad? Or could it just possibly transfer through the floor board. That’s where I’m stuck as well, the flat tire was in the rear, now it’s in the front and nothing has changed in terms of the ride quality. I also feel “bumpy” at pretty much any speed. Yes it gets worse at highway speeds, but it’s even at 20 mph.

 

It's frustrating that you couldn't just take it into a dealer under warranty and expect an honest inspection. They'll just tell you that it's normal or blame it on the people that did the tire repair.

 

Have you tried remounting the tire? Maybe it's falling apart inside?

Somewhat related, but not really. I have a wheel that shakes a little while cold. I was able to isolate which wheel because I rotated them and vibration moved with the wheel. It's not bad, but somewhat uncomfortable. It was from Sam's club. They refused to inspect wheel and only redid balance. Deutsche bags, I'm a plus member!!

Anyways. Wheel shakes a little, but if I move it backwards, no more shakes (at the steering wheel). Also, it doesn't happen on all roads. And seems to happen more when cold tire, just leaving home.does that make any sense? maybe I'm a little crazy..

 

I went to the dealer first, it didn’t fix it so I went to a national tire retailer to road force (the Toyota dealer doesn’t have one) so when I take it back and they try to pull something on me I don’t think so just frustrating I can’t figure out what it is, and really don’t want to spend a grand on new tires lol

 

I asked earlier, but you didn’t reply. Is your spare the same size as the other tires? If so, it will confirm if the problem is with the repaired tire, or some other issue. Assuming you can change a tire.

Matt.

 

Hi sorry I missed this, are spare tires even balanced appropriately? I would think they wouldn’t be smooth. I did actually do this when it was on the back when I first noticed this issue, it still felt bumpy but I wasn’t sure if that’s due to an over inflated spare or it not being balanced etc

 

Maybe you are just getting old.......

 

I don’t think that’s accurate, I’m in my mid 20s