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I recently noticed several problems with my 2019 Diesel Land cruiser J150 (called Prado elsewhere):

  • When I go straight and let go of the steering it goes left fairly hard, have to constantly apply pressure to keep it centered
  • When I am going exactly straight, the steering wheel is actually at a noticeable right angle
  • When I go >40kmh, It starts rattling. Rattling at 80kmh is sometimes very intense

I bought this car brand new and haven't changed the AT tires yet, It's now at 70k km. I have used these tires year round.

I guess the rattling will go away after changing tires?

Which services should I get given this situation?

Is this something that just has to be adjusted every couple of years, or is this something that might be warranty related?

How urgently should I fix this?

I don't remember hitting anything hard, curbs here and there has definitely happened. Once at speed.

My Land cruiser has the hydraulics package, not sure if this is relevant.

Edit: tire condition: enter image description here

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  • You've done 70k km on those tires? What's their condition? Can you post a picture of the tire surface?
    – marcelm
    Commented Feb 26 at 12:22
  • @marcelm I added a picture of the tire surface.
    – user1721135
    Commented Feb 26 at 17:15

1 Answer 1

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I think you have 2 separate problems, both due to having hit a curb:

  1. The pulling to the left and the wheel not being straight sound like a problem with your alignment. If it was just pulling to the left having a sticky brake caliper on the left side could be an issue, but the fact your wheel isn't straight when you are going straight means a brake problem is unlikely
  2. The vibration issue is likely that a wheel has become unbalanced, or perhaps you dented a wheel when you hit the curb

The solution is to take it to a tire shop that does alignments, have them do a full alignment and check the wheels' balancing.

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    @user1721135 Depends. If the wheel has a dent and possibly a crack as a result of the dent, you should get it fixed asap, otherwise you could have the wheel disintegrate from under you while driving. Also: the misalignment will mean additional wear on tires and bearings. In the interest of saving money in the long run, you should get it looked at now.
    – arne
    Commented Feb 26 at 7:02
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    I'd take care of it now for sure @user1721135, I would not wait until summer. If your alignment is badly out you could wear your tires unevenly and need to replace them sooner. You gain nothing by waiting, you only have various ways to lose more, and increase the risks.
    – GdD
    Commented Feb 26 at 8:50
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    I always take my cars to the same tyre shop near where I live and have a good relationship with the people who work there. Last year I hit a pothole at 70 mph on the motorway, throwing the alignment out and losing some balancing weights. They were kind enough to rebalance the wheel for nothing and charged minimally for the realignment. It shouldn't be a long task for anyone who knows what they are doing so the charge shouldn't be too bad, but that could be location dependent.
    – ThaRobster
    Commented Feb 26 at 9:10
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    If your alignment is very bad your tires could get bald in some spots, leaving you will less traction in wet weather. Pulling to the left is a safety issue, how much risk depends on how bad it is. If your wheel or tire is damaged then it could fail at speed, which could lead to a serious accident. All these add up, how much risk there actually is I cannot say. It may be fine for the next few months, it may not.
    – GdD
    Commented Feb 26 at 16:29
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    @user1721135 - Answering your points, having to constantly fight the vehicle to keep a straight line and as you put it "very intense" rattling over 80kph are both safety issues, plus intense rattling like that can cause other components on the vehicle to fail or wear excessively quickly. Your interior trim fittings almost certainly won't ever be the same. For something which should be relatively inexpensive to address and the potential severity of the safety impacts, this isn't something I would be comfortable ignoring for several months if this was my own vehicle.
    – ThaRobster
    Commented Feb 27 at 9:56

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