So my 2012 Camry with 125k started making a droning noise starting at 55mph, seems to die down above 70 mph but it's fairly loud between 55 and 70. I thought it was a tire so I took went back where I bought them (Costco) and they checked the balance on all 4, said it was fine. So then I'm thinking wheel bearing but couldn't tell which wheel it was coming from so I jacked up the back end and spun the wheels with my hand, didn't really hear anything but if I tried real hard I MAYBE heard a little something on the driver side. Then I put the front end on jack stands and put it in gear and let the front wheels turn while feeling the shock/spring for vibration but both sides felt fine. So now I'm stuck with trying to diagnose the noise. Any suggestions?

 

Was the noise there before the tires? If not,try rotating the spare in one corner a time to determine if the noise goes away.

Take the car out on a decent road having quiet pavement. At the speeds when the noise happens move the steering wheel slightly left then right to transfer the cars weight from one side to the other. Determine if this increases or decreases the noise.

 

Thanks Joey. The tires have been on the car for 2 years/25k, the noise started about 2-3 months ago and seems to be getting worse. I thought about swapping in the spare but it's a lot of hassle, was hoping for an easier way but I guess the easier ways didn't work. Forgot to mention that there are no other symptoms, no vibrations in the wheel or floors. No pulling left or right, no unusual tire wear. It drives fine except for the noise.

 

Forget about rotating the tires for now as thought the were new!

If Costco checked the balance they inspected the now worn tires and would not have worked on them if they were damaged or worn out.

Tires can get louder as the tread wears down, nothing new about this.

Find a section of road that is quiet as some types of pavement will cause more road noise then others. If noise goes down on a quiet section of pavement it would appear to be a tire issue.

Wheel bearings tend to make roar when they start to go bad and it get worse. If the noise gets better or worse it might be related to road pavement and tires wear.

 

So my wife gets in the car this morning for the first drive after my testing and several dashboard lights are on, I assume its due to having the car on stands and in gear with the wheels turning. Anyway how do I reset these lights? ABS, brake and a few others .

 

Its best not to engage the drive wheels in excess or at speed when they are off the ground. The issue is front suspension hangs down at a more acute angle then normal and the rotation can damage the CV joints.

The ABS system can reset if the problem is solved. As you state the problem appears to be the ABS sensors were picking up wheel rotation but the car was not moving . Have spouse drive car as normal and determine if the the ABS system resets itself. Tell them that if the lights are on there is no ABS so drive with a little more care.

Resetting the system requires connecting an OBDII tool to the car. Its not a big deal but the scanner needs to be able to reset ABS codes and some are cannot. Not sure if there is any back door way to do this such as jumping two terminals on the ODBII plug.

If the ABS light is on then other dash lights may come on as SOP per the cars computer programming. This doesn't mean there are a host of problems and it can just be one.

Drive car and determine what happens.

If you have the cash might invest in a decent OBDII scanner that can read both OBDII and Toyota codes. There are setups that even use Bluetooth,. One repair can pay for the scanner.

 

All the lights went out after 1 block of driving. Still trying to figure out the noise but I think its probably a tire

 

Choose a quieter area of the road since different types of surface produce different levels of road noise. It would seem that there is a tire problem if there is noise on a peaceful stretch of roadway.