Slight Vibration and Float Feeling in Steering Wheel

I recently put some new wheels/tires on my OR and rarely ever drive because I WFH. I finally had a chance to take the truck on the highway and I noticed two things:

1. I get a slight vibration in the steering wheel from 60-65mph. When below 60 or above 70 the vibrations go away

2. Steering feels kind of “floaty” at above 60mph. Like it doesn’t feel “planted” like how it does if I am just street driving at 30-40mph

Just hit 1600 miles on the truck and 200 of those are with the new wheels/tires. I know that the vibration is most likely related to tire balancing but I don’t know about the “floaty” feel that I get. I didn’t have any of these issues when I had my OE wheels/tires.

Wheels: 17” SCS Ray10 -10 offset
Tires: MT Baja Boss (265-70-17) bought and mounted at DiscountTire
Suspension: No lift, stock OR suspension

Does anyone know if that “floaty” feel is normal with negative offset wheels? Or a general idea of what I should look at?
Should I bother with trying to get the wheels/tires re-balanced again or is it going to make very little difference?

 

I don’t know about others experience but I once installed spidertrax 1.25 inch spacer on my stock off road with 265/75/16 tires. It’s similar if you have a negative 12 offset wheels . I hated how it drives. It’s just what you said . Seems to float oh freeway speed. Took it off and sold the spacer after a few days. The only difference is I didn’t feel any vibrations on the steering wheel at 60mph . My guess is it’s just the nature of the negative offset wheels. Another thing is it rides like crap. I can feel every bumps on the road. Rides like the tires are overinflated.

 

I assume it's never been aligned, so you have no numbers to post. IIRC I read here that alignment was warranty covered for 1 year. Might be worth checking that out. Floaty feel *can* come from a couple of alignment quirks.

But if you did not have these sensations prior to the wheel / tire package, that's 98.732% your issue. A re-balance should stop the shake unless there is a faulty tire.

Then you might need an alignment whiz to dial out your float issue.

 

For the floaty feeling...
If you haven't had an alignment; get one. The factory alignment is not the best and everything has had a chance to settle in by 1,600 miles.

Negative offset adds positive scrub...
Positive scrub makes the tires toe out more when driven...
You added about 1-3/8" of positive scrub...
You'll want at least +0.05 toe-in

Did you get E-rated or SL tires?
What pressure?
Did Discount mount them as assymetrical tires? They are marked "OUTSIDE"...

 

Nope, hasn't been realigned at all. I'll have to make some time to get it realigned and along with getting the tires re-balanced.

I got the XL-rated and they did mount it with "OUTSIDE" being on the outside.

 

Along with the toe, to compensate for the scrub radius change you change ask for more camber, say 0.8*+ along with 2.0*left and 2.5* right caster and you should be good to go. Scrub radius change would for sure be my first suspect plus the increase in positive camber will help prolong your front end suspension from the offset increase of the wheels

 

What pressure?
Should be about 31 psi for 116XLs

 

I also say alignment.

A road force balance might also help with the vibrations.

Try finding an off-road shop that does alignments. I got my first few alignments done at a normal wheel and tire place, then found an off-road shop that specializes in Toyotas ironically. They were able to get it aligned so it rode smoother than before.

 

Those MTs are pretty aggressive right? The treadblocks are designed to hug mud not pavement. That "could" be part of the floaty problem. But definitely get the balance rechecked

 

mud tires tend to float a bit. a little vibration/float is normal with off road tires on pavement.

 

Finally having some time to bring the truck to get an alignment done tomorrow. What kind of numbers should I be looking for? I saw some numbers being thrown around in earlier posts and I know ever truck is different.

Camber: Need slight positive camber?
Toe: +0.05 toe-in on both sides?
Caster: 2.0 - 2.5 on both sides?

Again, I am on factory suspension with no lift and all I have are SCS Ray10 -10 offset and wrapped in 265/70/17.

 

my front tires are wearing pretty badly on the outside edges. Got 26500 miles on them and the nylon threads are starting to show in between the tread blocks on the outside edge. my steering wheel is offcenter by about 2-3 cm but I thought that was an adjustment for the road crown. dealership said the alignment was okay at my first service when I noticed my steering wheel like that. kind of disappointed in the OEM tire treadlife. i got the Firestone Destination LE2s.

 

Have you checked your wheel bearings? My 2002 had a issue like that at speed and it was due to the wheel bearing on one side.

 

This all started after I put on the new wheels and tires. I am going to see what the alignment numbers are, get a re-balance, and then hopefully all is good.
I was just curious what kind of camber, toe, and castor numbers I should be shooting for or should I just let the alignment guy do his thing.

 

Sorry, can’t answer the alignment question. I just know that my new wheel bearing job went bad within 1000 miles and I had a serious tracking and float feeling when I was driving home from a long trip. Service center found that the wheel bearing on one side was shot and replaced them for free.