After driving our 2015 Camry XSE for the last year, we feel the suspension is too stiff. I guess it is for the "sport" crowd, but we do not like feeling bumps on 3 to 5-hour road trips. What is the best approach to softening the suspension? The dealer says they can put in suspension components from the XLE for a couple grand. What should I focus on to soften the ride, shocks, struts, springs?
View 14 RepliesI picked up a 2014.5 SE V6 a month ago and the car has been great overall. But the suspension is stiff especially over rough roads as many of you already know.
I've searched around and there's talk about swapping strut/shock parts with an LE/XLE or different tires but I can't find how much of a difference it made.
BTW, the tires are new Yokohama Avid Envigors.
Can't say I noticed it on the test drive but when we went to Costco last weekend and drove slowly over the speed bumps it seemed like the rear suspension had no give in it at all. Also noticed it whilst out driving tonight.
View 3 RepliesI just got a 2013 a few months back. Love the car but the only thing that bugs me is the stiff suspension. I heard the 11 and 12 cars have softer suspensions and they stiffen it up again for the 13s? I'm not planning to track the car much if at all? Stock 11 or 12 springs? Aftermarket?
View 13 RepliesI bought the car in Nov. It's now pushing 90k miles. From getting to know the car to me the suspension feels stiff. Front and rear for the most part. I need to put new tires on it and i'm sure that contributes somewhat to quality/feel and road noise.
However, (and it seems to be getting worse) when going over bumps in the road I can almost hear a prominent clunking noise from the rear. It's not extremely loud but I can tell it's there. Like I said it's not very loud but too me something back there is going out. I'm not sure what kind of suspension is back there.
Didn't notice this on the test drive, but as soon as I started living with my Santa Fe (about 3-4 weeks now) I can't believe how harsh and rough the ride is. Very very uncompromising over all road irregularities - even those you can't even really see. 2013 Santa Fe Sport?
It's so bad I've been searching for aftermarket struts and shocks to replace what must be garbage OEM parts - but nothing seems to be available for it yet.
Slightly into my drive, my car begins to vibrate in what feels like the front end as well as in the steering wheel. At first it started when I was at high speeds on the highway but now it happens as lower speeds (like 40 mph). It does not happen at a specific speed only (so I don't believe it is a balance issue). Also, it doesn't happen all the time...sometimes it only lasts 5 minutes and sometimes it lasts longer. My tires are fairly new and recently checked for uneven wear, I've had an alignment and balance done so now I'm confused about the difference between issues with the following parts: struts, tire rods, rotors, or CV joints.
View 2 RepliesI've had the stiff ride issue with my 2005 gx470. Took it to three lexus dealers and finally the vehicle is fixed. Hats off to Lexus of Maplewood, St Paul, MN. Their shop foreman persisted and found after several days troubleshooting; a speed sensor was the culprit. My ride is much smoother over speed bumps without the need to cycle through the height adjustment.
View 14 RepliesJust recently purchased a used Toyota Camry , i love it. So far everything is great about it, only negative part is that i feel when i turn the steering wheel like a knocking sensation and you can also hear it. Its not the normal grinding sound other people are experiencing. It feels like theres something loose in the steering column. Also while I am driving i can hear like a thump on the right front suspension. normally this sound when i am going over bumbs. Is this like the shocks or something?
Just in case i have a 2008 Toyota Camry SE.
I have a 2006 F250 Lariat CC FX4. I bought the truck with 68,000 miles about 3 months ago. This is my first 4WD and I'm wondering if I need shocks.
I know how to check on a car but this suspension is too stiff to push down a corner so how do you test? Or do you just go by the age? At freeway speeds when I hit a bump I get a bit of a shudder that makes me wonder if the axle is hopping.
If I were to replace them are the Rancho shocks OK for a replacement? I will spend very little time off road and mostly use this truck for boat towing and hope to buy a travel trailer down the road.
The needle in temp gage on my 2005 Toyota is now facing the opposite direction. This happened right after the most recent oil change. Is this a gauge or a sending unit problem?
View 11 RepliesI have a 2012 Camry LE with about 85K KM and had my alignment done and noticed that my steering feels very stiff. When i turn it left or right I can feel it very stiff. I never thought much about it until I drove my dad's 2014 Camry which has 10K KM on it and the steering is much smoother and feels lighter. We both have the Michelin Primacy MXV4 tires and my tire pressure is around 35 psi or slightly less.
Is it normal for the steering to feel tight? When I drive the car, there is no vibration and is very smooth. I don't feel like it pulls (it never did even without it). Should I take it back to the dealer to have it looked at?
I have a 2002 Camry LE V6 with 200K on it and have noticed that the steering feels very stiff while driving and turning. I have checked the fluid, air pressure on tires and that is fine.
View 5 RepliesI've test driven a used 2003 (155K) I'm considering purchasing. But the clutch is so stiff, especially compared to my 93 Accord. What makes a new clutch, pressure plate a throw out bearing so hard to engage?
View 9 Replies4 cylinder Japan built camry se manual trans ... 158k miles
Steering got stiff/lumpy driving to work today...trying to figure out if it's the rack or the pump.
Pump isn't squealing but makes a tiny bit more noise when turning left or right(when parked)...but I'm not sure its more then normal.
No leaking fluid. Fluid reservoir is filled to the correct level. No torn boots etx.
Steering feels fine driving straight down the road but when turning it's gets stiff and harder, esp going right.
I own a 2015 camry SE - 4k miles on it. Right from the second month I felt like the brake was stiffer and I always felt like I am going to rear end the vehicle in the front. Last one month it became really worst. The pedal feels lot stiff and I have to press hard to bring to a complete stop. Brake is not very responsive. I feel like its still rolling even after applying the brakes and I have to apply the brake very hard to come to a stop. It looks to me like there is a response delay between applying brake pedal and actual stop. I used to drive a Civic and this is my first Toyota so I am not sure whether this issue is common in camry.
View 6 RepliesI have a 2008 Toyota Tundra which is vibrating intermittently about 5 to 10% of the time. I have had the tires rotated, and balanced, plus the front end looked at by a dealer. Still does it.
View 1 RepliesThe driver's side rear suspension on my wife's 1998 Toyota Corolla LE completely locks up when the temperature (read-out from dashboard) is below 30-degF... every little crack in the road feels like the earth is splitting in two and jars my spine. The car becomes almost undriveable. However, above 33-34 degrees, it goes back to being perfectly driveable (as driveable as a 240k mile car is expected to be). I've replaced the front and rear linkages and rotated the tires to try and rule out the wheels... no change in behavior. I just need this car to last another year... really not worth replacing the suspension.
View 5 RepliesI have an '04 TRD Doublecab 4x4. I first started hearing a "clunk" upon acceleration, but only occasionally. It started getting worse and would happen pretty much every time I accelerate (although it never got louder, just more frequent). It usually only happens after a full stop (or near stop like in stop an go traffic), and I'd hear it pretty much right when I step on the gas. It seems like it has something to do with the A arms moving forward and back. When you accel, the rear wheels push the vehicle, essentially "sucking" the front wheels back slightly. When in 4wd, the noise is still there. It is quite obvious it's coming from the front right corner. I'm usually pretty handy with a wrench, so I decided to swap the upper A-arm bushings and upper ball joint (ball joint was leaking grease). Noise is still there. I ran out of time/motivation, so I took it to the Toyota dealer.
Here's what they did: -replaced front right coil-over, said it was "loose". That didn't work, so they put the old one back on. -tightened bumper etc..., didn't work. -then they removed the REAR drive-line and put it in 4x4 and drove it around. They say that "fixed" the problem since the noise went away. They were pretty adamant it was the drive line, but I didn't believe them since the noise is OBVIOUSLY coming from the front right. It just seems odd that it'd be the drive line. I took it home and tried what they said, I took the drive line off and drove it around in 4wd. They weren't lying, the noise went away. But since a good friend has an identical truck (but an '03) I switched our drive lines and the noise came back (HA! I was right!!). Driving in "front wheel drive" (no drive line) makes the front wheels "pull" the truck forward, vs in rear wheel drive, the rear wheels "push" the truck, and thus the front wheels will move backward slightly because of wheel/bearing friction.
I think it has something to do with when the front wheel is forced "backwards" but as far as I cal tell, all the suspension components are intact and show no signs of looseness. I can now occasionally hear the noise when under slight accel going over studder bumps like street reflectors or something (but only rarely, it's almost impossible to duplicate that on command. Makes me think a suspension piece is loose (shock/spring or loose bushing), but I NEVER hear the noise under braking, and rarely hear it on those studder bumps (and only for a split second). If it were a loose bushing, wouldn't I hear the clunk under accel AND decel (A arm moving back and forth)??? So I'm basically stumped (so was the dealer!). Ball joints appear fine, wheel bearing has no slop (that I can tell), and it has brand new upper urithane bushings and a new upper ball joint. I KNOW it's not the shock/spring, b/c I even swapped the left/right, and the noise is still there (and didn't move to the other side).
So I started a "quick" strut job on my mothers 98 Toyota Sienna last weekend, after many complaints about a rattling noise on the passenger side while driving on semi smooth roads. I got in and found that the CV boots were gone, and there wasn't much grease in the boots, all the ball joints were loose, and the wheel bearings were starting to grind. So since the car is at 225,000 I ordered the parts and took Friday off. I started the job, and also found out that the inner tie rod boot was completely full of ATF(This cars power steering fluid). There was a massive 2 day struggle with the CV axle being rusted in the motor mount bracket. But I finally got it all replaced and back together.
So all told I ended up replacing the following parts; Power Rack, Inner Tie Rods, Outer Tie Rod Ends, Rear Lower Passenger motor mount, Strut Mount, Lower Ball Joints, CV axles, Wheel Bearings, Lower Struts, Upper Strut Mount, Fuel Filter, Brake Pads, Brake Hardware, Oil Filter, and the Oil. I got it all back together and just finished the test drive ONLY FOR THE NOISE TO STILL BE THERE!!!!! What did I miss? What could it be? Is there something simple I could have done wrong to continued to have the rattling noise? Also the steering wheel is off 20 degrees to the left, I could handle that, but its not my car and my mother says it needs to be fixed... PS I am planning on taking it in for an alignment, but it does drive straight down the road as it is.
I fill my gas tank to 100% but I don't pump it again and overfill it like most people do after the pump stops. I then proceed to start the car. Initially it revs up and starts fine but when it revs back down to idle it does a rough idling (and sometimes it stalls). To get around the stall, I would restart and rev the engine to 3000 rpm for about 2 mins and it would be fine enough that I can drive away without it stalling but after a mile the rough idling stops and everything is back to normal. I replaced the PCV valve and it worked for about a year but it all came back again. I am stumped and every mechanic gives me a different reason and none of the reasons are even definite. It's one of those "lets try this and see what happens". One more thing, the car runs fine. It only happens when I pump more than 75% of the tank.
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