Other wheel or tire problem on the 2003 Toyota 4RUNNER
When other wheel or tire problem gets reported
Owners of the 2003 Toyota 4RUNNER report other wheel or tire problem at a median of 120,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 100,000 miles and a quarter after 160,000 miles, from 10 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 60,000 miles. It is the 12th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 75,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 185,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 108,200 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
When the reports scatter this far, the mileage is telling you about how these cars were driven more than about the part itself.
0% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 74,500 miles | 100,594 miles | 122,177 miles | 162,250 miles | 182,700 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Putting it right typically runs $200–$1,500 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 18 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2018, at a median of 10 miles, and latest on the 1997 at 185,000 miles.
By volume the 2003 is the worst of them, which makes this a problem of this specific year rather than of the model as a whole.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
I purchased this 4runner in march, 2015. I began to notice a vibration in the steering wheel at 63mph. I thought it was brakes, I had brakes and rotors surfaced on 3/12/15. Still vibrating! So I figured it was a simple balancing issue, I took it on the same day to have it balanced. It started vibrating and shaking worse! I had the same mechanic re-balance and rotate the wheels/tires. It road the same. They turned me to the toyota dealership because they have the road enforce balancer. I took it to toyota to have them test drive first, they claimed it was indeed out of balance. Toyota balanced. I drove it and it was shaking like a leaf at 32-70mph. I had toyota re-balance again! I drove it again and it remained worse. They informed me that they didn't know what else to do. I left thinking that it was my wheels and or my tires because in my mind toyota knows best! I went to where the tires were bought, tires are 3 months new. They informed me that this same 4runner had been brought in by the previous owner with the exact same issue. They pulled the wheels off and pulled me aside to show me how excessive the balancing weights were on…
I purchased this 4runner in march, 2015. I began to notice a vibration in the steering wheel at 63mph. I thought it was brakes, I had brakes and rotors surfaced on 3/12/15. Still vibrating! So I figured it was a simple balancing issue, I took it on the same day to have it balanced. It started vibrating and shaking worse! I had the same mechanic re-balance and rotate the wheels/tires. It road the same. They turned me to the toyota dealership because they have the road enforce balancer. I took it to toyota to have them test drive first, they claimed it was indeed out of balance. Toyota balanced. I drove it and it was shaking like a leaf at 32-70mph. I had toyota re-balance again! I drove it again and it remained worse. They informed me that they didn't know what else to do. I left thinking that it was my wheels and or my tires because in my mind toyota knows best! I went to where the tires were bought, tires are 3 months new. They informed me that this same 4runner had been brought in by the previous owner with the exact same issue. They pulled the wheels off and pulled me aside to show me how excessive the balancing weights were on…
I'm an owner of a 2003 4runner and have researched the issues involving the paint on the wheels pealing. I have found that it is an issue with several, if not all wheels that toyota uses on their 4 runners and other trucks. Why does toyota continue to sell and use a wheel when they know it is defective, and why aren't they correcting the problem by issuing refunds, or repair services? The defect leads to the wheel being corroded and eventually compromises the integrity of the wheel's strength. The safety of the wheel is a big concern of mine, especially since the problem continues to get worse. Sincerely, [xxx] information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6). *tr
Also reported on the 2003 Toyota 4RUNNER
Other body or interior problem
Rust or structural corrosion
Other suspension problem
Control arm, ball joint or bushing failure
Other brake problem
Radiator or coolant leak
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 13 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does other wheel or tire problem happen on the 2003 Toyota 4RUNNER?
Across 10 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 120,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 100,000 miles and a quarter after 160,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other wheel or tire problem on the 2003 Toyota 4RUNNER?
13 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.2 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed