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Pulls left, road noise

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  #1  
Old 02-22-2017, 09:59 AM
RetK9's Avatar
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Default Pulls left, road noise

I have an 09 Camry that has had a slight pull to the left for years and shaky stearing wheel. Dealer checked couple times but their idea of a permanent fix was a complete suspension replacement on my dime. Now I get suspension done about every 6 months for worse pull and stearing shake.
Ride started getting rough and could hear and feel every bump. I replaced all four struts, front sway bar, front and rear sway bar links, front control arms. Now the ride is smoother but I still can hear every bump on the road in the front and rear. The noise I hear when I hit bumps is like the sway bar links are bad but I have actually replaced the front links twice and the rear ones once.

Anyone have an idea about the constant left pull and bumping noise from the suspension?
 
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Old 02-23-2017, 10:48 AM
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Pulling to the left is not uncommon. Toyota has service bulletins on this.

Part of the repair involves installing camber adjusting bolts to allow camber adjustment. This may be what the dealer was talking about in taking the suspension apart.

Read the bulletins below which may almost be the same.

http://www.lastgreatroadtrip.com/wp-...o-one-side.pdf

http://scion.fsu-clan.com/pdfs/SERVI...S-SU001-08.pdf

This bulletins were extended to 2008 and 2009 vehicles by another bulletin. Ignore the vehicle applicable dates.

You could do some trial and error on your own with tires, air pressure, etc. Plus obtain and install your own camber bolts from Toyota or a third party.

Then have a shop experienced in difficult alignment work tweak the alignment.

Shaky steering when? When braking, on a bumpy road, always?

In the course of owning the car and dealing with the shaking. Were the tires replaced in the course of normal wear and thus eliminated as a problem? Have your tried moving the front tires (meaning their rims) to the back.

For bumping noise did you check out the sway bar links? When you replaced the struts, did you replace or inspect the strut mounts.
 
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Old 02-23-2017, 12:38 PM
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All 4 tires were replaced about 5K miles ago. Car pulled to the left and stearing wheel would shake at highway speeds before and after new tires were installed. I have tried rotating tires but had no effect. I also played with the tire pressure adding a few extra pounds to the driver side front and taking out a couple pounds to the passenger. Playing with tire pressure had no effect either. I will do some checking on the camber bolts you mentioned. I have never heard of them. It would be nice if I could get that to fix the pull.

I replaced the struts with the complete strut kit and replaced all 4 sway bar links at the same time. I also replaced the sway bar, sway bar bushings and front control arms. I would have thought the bumping noise would have been fixed with at least one of these but no luck. I still hear the noise with any little bump on the road. Considering I have to drive about a mile down a gravel road to get to my house, the noise is a daily problem.
 
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Old 02-23-2017, 07:29 PM
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The bolts are common for more cars. They allow making an adjustment where none was possible before.

If you still think is its a sway bar bushing. Wrap pipe tape around the area of the bar under the bushing.

How about exhaust hanger issues?
 
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