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Toyota Camry: Problems & Solutions - READ ONLY

5279 messages,  Last post on Aug 22, 2006 at 2:43 PM

You are in the Toyota Camry Forum.

What is this discussion about? Toyota Camry Solara, Toyota Camry, Sedan

Messages Page 33 of 529

#314 of 5279 Reply to Steering wheel vibration #311 by phuang

Jan 30, 2001 (11:32 am)

I had the same problem for years with my 1994 V6 Camry. After I had the tires changed and a break job done at a local tire store at 25000 miles, the vibrating steering started to appear at any speed over 50 mph. I have done at least 20 wheel alignments and 20 tire balances at many different shops and changed the tires 4 more times. I was even told that the tires were out of round and the steel wheels were out out round and had them replaced but the problem never went away. The more money I spent on the problem, the more other problems started to appear like vibrating break, Klank noise when go over bump and turning, burning smell from tires. I never had a smooth ride since the 25000 mile time till recently at 125000 miles. So last 5 years I had to live with the bad steering vibration and other related problems. However, the steering vibrating problem is much less when I have my winter snow tires on (I have a set of wheels and tires for winter use).
 
Toyota dealer did not offer any help when I asked them to examed the car in many occasions , all they did was re aligned the car and re balance the tires and I still had the same problem.
 
About 4 month ago, the 1994 Camry developed another thumping noise on top of all the problems I had. A small wheel alignment specaility shop first suggest that I may have wheel bearing problem. When I went in for the replacement of the wheel bearing, they say it is not the wheel bearing. They then reexamine the car and found one of the strut had a leak, so they changed the struts and did the alignment and balanced the old tires. All the problems I had is now gone. Now the steering vibration is gone except when I drive over 90 mph, then there is a slight vibration which the mechanics say is because the tires have a wrong wear pattern due to the old bad alignment.
 
This alignment shop does not have the fancy alignment equipments and computer print outs but they solved my problem. So maybe you need to find a good alignment shop. The mechanic told me the steering vibration is caused by bad tire balance.

#315 of 5279 to: phuang .(VIBRATION) by juno33

Jan 30, 2001 (7:18 pm)

Thanks for the reply. If it has nothing to do with the steering wheel assembly and more on wheels/tire balancing, would changing to alloy/new tires help solve the prob? I just hope it's not a major axle problem. Would anybody know a good reliable alignment shop in the Central Jersey area? I had it aligned at a neighborhood machine/tire shop and at Pepboys.

#316 of 5279 Survey on Pre 1997 Camry by mack20

Jan 31, 2001 (6:29 pm)

After looking at all these posts, it seems like the Camry made before 1997 is better than the newer ones!
 
Any reasons why? I heard something about Toyota scaling back costs etc.

#317 of 5279 mack20 by 210delray

Jan 31, 2001 (8:41 pm)

Well, maybe...or maybe not.
 
My '97 LE 4-cylinder has been quite reliable, and now has 66K miles. I did have leaking valve stem seals, but these were replaced under the powertrain warranty. I have not had ANY problems with wheels, tires, alignment, or vibration.
 
But I'm lucky in that I have access to a tire balancing machine at work, so I do all tire rotation and balancing myself.
 
It's only been aligned once, and that was after it was hit in the side by another car in a parking lot. The right strut was bent and had to replaced, requiring the alignment.

#318 of 5279 Factory Stero system by alpanian

Feb 01, 2001 (3:18 pm)

Seems like I am not the only one to have steering wheel vibrations and alignment problems despite numerous alignments and a tire change.
 
However, I am having a more urgent problem on my 98 Camry at this time. I have the factory tape/CD stereo system and last month it stopped working. Unfortunately I couldn't figure out how to get it out and check it myself, so I took it to the dealer. I am picking it up tomorow. If the stereo is broken, I am considering not getting the Toyota model, however, the shape of the factory model seems to be larger than car stereos sold in electronics shops. Can I fit a regular Sony car radio/CD in the Toayota Camry? This would be much better (cheaper) and I could service it myself with any future problems.
 
Thanks for any input.

#319 of 5279 98 Camry shimmy continues by anderson18

Feb 02, 2001 (6:56 am)

As of last massage with a shimmy at 65, I took the car to two different Sears stores to rebalance the new Michelins purchased there. I failed to mention that in recently purchasing the car, (22k miles) it came with Inke aftermarket wheels. The last store rotated and rebalance and it seemed to help. The vibration in the steering wheel is not really visible but is felt 68mph to 73 now. If there are tapes laying in the compartment they will begin to rattle. Am I being hard to get along with, by requesting Sears to get all of this shemmy out. The car pulls slightly left, is it possible that this would have anything to do with this problem? So this is the question, Do I pursue or do I live with?

#320 of 5279 re: 98 Camry shimmy continues by brucer2

Feb 02, 2001 (7:18 am)

The problem may not be balance. When the tire/wheel is on the balancer, it should be checked for running true: no movement up/down side-to-side. If it's not true it can have perfect balance, but still shake the car. Causes can be that the tire may not be seated properly on the rim, tire is defective or the wheel has too much runout.

#321 of 5279 Re: Re: 98 Camry shimmy continues by phuang

Feb 02, 2001 (8:41 am)

Yes, there are many factors in tire-steering vibrations. But in may case (post #313), I had been given all kinds of excuses. I think the real problem is that some tire shops don't know what they are doing.
 
The more money I spent on it, the more other problem started (vibrating break, burning tire smells, klanking noises etc). I think they screwed up my car so much that even when I bring in the tire manufacture to deal with the tire shop, nothing can be figured out. The manufacture just told me not use that tire shop any more because that tire shop does not know how to mount tires, do alignments and balancing tires correctly. I even brought all new tires and all new wheels and had them balanced from TIRERACK. All I need is to bolt them on. Even that did not help because the car is screwed up so much.
 
Actually, when mounting the tires, the wheel and the tire has to be mount correctly, I remembered that the manufacture re told me that the new wheels have marks and all new tires have marks that they have to line up when mounting. Most of the tire shops don't even know that.
 
Maybe you can call the tire manufacture rep and have them speak to the tire shop before they screw up your car like they did to my.

#322 of 5279 Steering wheel vibration by juno33

Feb 03, 2001 (1:56 pm)

I came across this recall bulettin from Toyota.. could this be the culprit?? Recall date is 1999 but parts manufactured from 94 are included. Would this include '97-'99 models?...
 
   Year of Recall: 1999
  
   Manufacture: 1999
  
   Manufactured: FROM 1994JUL TO 1998JUL
  
   Component: STEERING:WHEEL AND COLUMN
  
   Summary:
Vehicle Description: Passenger vehicles. The steering wheel set nut may not have been sufficiently tightened causing steering vibration and looseness. This can result in a loss of vehicle control.
Dealers will tighten the steering wheel set nut. Owner notification began Nov. 30 1999.

#323 of 5279 Steering wheel vibration by phuang

Feb 03, 2001 (4:16 pm)

I did received this recall and went to the dealer right the way. The dealer told me they tighten the nut but it did not help (I also complained about the steering vibration at the time and they again did the alignment and balance).

Messages Page 33 of 529

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