[braxton011]

I have a 2014 (7 years old) Sequoia w/ 80K miles.

The steering wheel shimmy on two occasions: pretty apparent when hitting a bump going at moderate speeds-highway speeds, and has a very very slight vibration while going down the highway AND I apply slight pressure to one side (not enough to really turn the car, just to add tension to wheel).

I don't care too much, I'm just worried my new tires are going to get ruined.

The struts have minimal oil leaking (just enough for a few inches to look wet). The upper ball joints are leaking pretty good but seem tight still.

Steering rack mounts are strong, sway bar links and lower ball joints are dry and tight. Literally nothing wrong with the rest of the suspension. Brakes are slightly warped but not bad (slight vibration when I really hammer on them).

What can this be? I have air suspension and I'm trying to hold off on struts (almost $2K to replace all 4). They also dont seem to be leaking bad so I should be able to hold off until 100K miles.

Do you think upper ball bearing can be causing this?

 

[Vykanos]

Quik-Struts are now available from Monroe and Gabriel, springs included for less than $100 apiece, I just did mine in two hours, no trouble. Jack up the front wheels and jiggle, you may have a bad bearing or something else. If not I’d rotate the tires and see if anything changes, then you’d know it’s in the tires.

 

[braxton011]

Quik-Struts are now available from Monroe and Gabriel, springs included for less than $100 apiece, I just did mine in two hours, no trouble. Jack up the front wheels and jiggle, you may have a bad bearing or something else. If not I’d rotate the tires and see if anything changes, then you’d know it’s in the tires.

Thanks for the reply. I saw a ton of struts but none of them are compatible with air suspension. Wheel bearings are good, tires are brand new, alignment was just done. I don’t know what else it could be.

 

[Vykanos]

Deb

Thanks for the reply. I saw a ton of struts but none of them are compatible with air suspension. Wheel bearings are good, tires are brand new, alignment was just done. I don’t know what else it could be.

Thanks for the reply. I saw a ton of struts but none of them are compatible with air suspension. Wheel bearings are good, tires are brand new, alignment was just done. I don’t know what else it could be.

Sorry, I was under the impression the air struts were rear only.
Still, rotate the tires and see if it changes. Balance jobs are often imperfect, I’ve had to have at least two jobs redone in the last fee years.

 

[NCSCOTT]

I say balance. Make them road force balance them. If you live in an area with Discount Tire locations, My son worked for them for 2 years, they will always rebalance for free if you purchase the lifetime balance, which is included in their normal installation price per tire. After the fact, last I knew, it was $20-25 per tire.

I have 168K miles on my 08 with all original ball joints, in fact the entire suspension is original except for the Bilsteins and 1.5" Coil spacer in the rear. I changed the shocks/struts around 131K miles to Bilstein 5100s. I reused the original springs in the front & back. My ball joints look similar to yours and are still tight. Even running 35" x 12.5" tires the last 37K miles. Just because your struts are clean up inside the covers does not mean they are leaking. If they do not feel oily, they likely are not "leaking". However when I replaced mine they had no rebound left from the gas charge. It had leaked out at some point.

Do you need the air suspension? Switching to coils Maybe this thread will give you some more info.

Best of luck..

 

[samuel1ross]

I have a 2014 (7 years old) Sequoia w/ 80K miles.

The steering wheel shimmy on two occasions: pretty apparent when hitting a bump going at moderate speeds-highway speeds, and has a very very slight vibration while going down the highway AND I apply slight pressure to one side (not enough to really turn the car, just to add tension to wheel).

I don't care too much, I'm just worried my new tires are going to get ruined.

The struts have minimal oil leaking (just enough for a few inches to look wet). The upper ball joints are leaking pretty good but seem tight still.

Steering rack mounts are strong, sway bar links and lower ball joints are dry and tight. Literally nothing wrong with the rest of the suspension. Brakes are slightly warped but not bad (slight vibration when I really hammer on them).

What can this be? I have air suspension and I'm trying to hold off on struts (almost $2K to replace all 4). They also dont seem to be leaking bad so I should be able to hold off until 100K miles.

Do you think upper ball bearing can be causing this?

I have a 2008 Sequoia SR5, 2WD. I do a lot of towing with this vehicle and have become very familiar with the truck. From your description, it sounds exactly like what happened to my truck also. In this case, it was the front rotors. In some scenarios, if the rotors get really hot from braking, the steering wheel will wobble. It is intermittent for me and only occurs when the brakes are being depressed if the rotors are hot. just my $.02