Vibration at highway speeds

[luck123]

I have an 09 Highlander with about 500 miles on it...so fairly new. I rarely drive at highway speeds (ie. where posted limit is 100 Kph here in Canada or approx 65 mph). I mostly do city driving and secondary roads rated at 80 kph or 50 mph.

Anyway, I installed some Ichiba bolt on wheel spacers, which are hub centric. The stock wheels are then centered off the studs.

The first time I drove between 65-70 after installing the spacers, there was no vibration. Then today, I was on the highway again, driving between 60-70 mph, I was getting vibration in the body and the steering wheel, and the vibration would consistently alternate....ie. approx 1 mile of vibration, then approx 1 mile no vibration, all while going between 65-70 mph

Appreciate any knowledgeable advice on whether my spacers are the culprits (seem most logical) or if possibly something else?

Cheers.

[to_fire]

Luck,
hmm...difficult w/o actually doing the touchy feely thing. I'm assuming you didn't have any vibration @ speed with the stock rims? Also assuming the tires are new (no cupping, feathering) and bearings/ball joints are okay.
I see the spacers are hub-centric on your axles, but how are they on the wheel side? Tight? No play? Mounting surfaces completely clean? Can u check run-out with a gauge?
The other thing might be wheel balance. Not just normal balance, but also weighting towards the edge & towards the middle of the rim. Maybe the shear force from the spacer is amplifying a vibration you didn't notice before? Have u tried a high speed balance with the wheel/tire on the HL? Maybe see if u can find a good tire shop that's worked with spacers before..good luck...
to_fire

[luck123]

thanks to_fire,

Lots to think about. Answers to some of your questions:

I did drive a couple of times at highway and did not notice vibration, but may take spacers off and try again.

No issues with tires....only 500 miles so to early to tell if other issues at play.

There may have been a small amount of play between the spacer hub extension and the stock wheel, but would have to remove to check.

I would rather avoid balancing on-car because that means everytime I swap out tires or rotate, I have to dish out $45.

Have sent an email to Ichiba but no response yet, which in itself, is not exactly giving me a warm fuzzy feeling.

Cheers.

[to_fire]

if the spacer/wheel contact is a bit wobbly, you may be able to shim the space with some brass stock to tighten it up and see if it works...kinda labour intensive though...are u shure you're gonna rub without the spacers?

[luck123]

Thanks, but I don't want to have to get into shimming spacers. If it is the spacers, then i want new ones, especially after forking out close to $250 for the set.

I did notice that my tires were overinflated by the dealer (35 front, 34 back), so I reduced the inflation to 2 psi above recommended, ie. to 32. Made a huge difference in the vibration. Now it is only barely noticeable, but still enough to bother me on a brand new vehicle. At some point, I'm going to have to pull the spacers off and re-install the wheels with no spacers and test, just to rule out improper balance of the wheels.