Side to side vibrations from hitting a pothole

DIAKPO

MEMBER
2002 TOYOTA RAV4
4 CYL
4WD
AUTOMATIC
210,000 MILES

Hi there. I recently changed my passenger side CV axle because of side-to-side vibrations from hitting a pothole. The problem greatly improved but I noticed a slight wobble when I drove. I took it back and they did front end alignment and balancing of all 4 tires. They checked all four tires and didn't notice any discrepancies. Again, the problem improved but I noticed a random wobbling at low speeds. I don't feel it in the steering wheel and I feel it more in my seat but not excessively. My mechanic says it my back right tire (out of round) but the tire techs say the tires are fine.
It's more of a whole car body wobble and it is random.
What do you think?

P.S. I drove it again and noticed it was still random and still a slight wobble but also on higher speeds but the common thing is always on rougher roads.
Smooth roads it rides like a dream.

Plus the tire techs suggested I grease the all the control arms.

6 Replies

KASEKENNY

MECHANIC
18,907 POSTS

If the vibration or wobble is felt in the seat or the body then it is most likely from the rear. I would suggest swapping tires from front to rear. If you then feel it in the steering then it is the wheel or tire. I assume the tire tech is just balancing the tires and saying that the tires are fine, but is he checking the lateral runout of the wheel and tire? If he performs a road force balance and it passes this then I would agree the tire is not the cause.

Since we have conflicting info it may be a good idea to get a third opinion so we can hopefully starting getting some people saying the same thing.

What is odd is that normally a vibration caused by the vehicle is there no matter what road you are on so the fact that it is rough roads that this happens makes it seem like it could be a suspension component.

The important thing is we get the tires rotated and then measure runout if that makes no change.

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Sunday, January 12th, 2020 AT 3:02 PM

DIAKPO

MEMBER
34 POSTS

Thanks so much. I do agree, I did think it was a suspension component. So I went to yet another mechanic lol. He says it's the back tire just like the original mechanic said. So I drove around again. This time I noticed that on slower speeds it wobbled and on higher speeds not so much. The reason I thought it was on rough roads was because I tend to slow down considerably on these roads, so it is more obvious. When on smooth roads I tend to drive a little faster.

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Tuesday, January 14th, 2020 AT 12:00 AM

KASEKENNY

MECHANIC
18,907 POSTS

Makes sense. Tires that have a wobble like this will smooth out at higher speeds because they actually expand with higher speed. Its like a rubber band that you spin on your finger. The faster it goes the thinner it gets.

I think now that you have two people that have looked at it and me on the internet that seem to agree, I think we chase down the tire. If you have a spare, swap it out for each one and see when it goes away or improves.

Thanks for the update.

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Tuesday, January 14th, 2020 AT 5:01 PM

DIAKPO

MEMBER
34 POSTS

Hi it's me again. I eventually changed the tire. I also did alignment and wheel balancing. I drove it (mind you this was after 2 opinions that the tire was out of round) and it is much better but still present. What could be causing this?

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Friday, March 6th, 2020 AT 10:42 AM

DIAKPO