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Old 09-14-2003, 03:45 PM   #1 (permalink)
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Suspension/Steering Adjustments on Highlander?

I am the proud but disappointed owner of a 2003 Highlander Limited 2WD. Ever since I bought my car, there has been a pull to the left and the steering wheel was off-center. Such had been the case with my 2001 RAV4 and my 2003 Camry, both of which were fixed without issue.

My car now has 1000 miles on it. I have taken my car to Bell Road Toyota in Phoenix twice now for adjustment, and there is still a pull to the left, considerable bump-steer, and wandering on straightways especially at freeway speeds. On center, the steering feels disconnected and sloppy. They assure me that everything's "within spec." The service manager thinks I'm crazy and he sees nothing wrong with it. In a test drive of 4 miles I don't see how he could make that determination.

Upon researching my car's symptoms on the internet, it appears that the camber settings could be the culprit. I got a printout of the alignment settings from the dealer and the left front camber is at -0.3 degrees and the right is at -1.1 degrees. The rear camber is (left) -1.0 and (right) -2.1. For the record, toe settings are at an exact 0 degrees on both sides in the front and +0.16(l)/+0.17 (r) in the rear so I don't think toe is the culprit.

At first glance of these stats, it would seem obvious there's a bias to the right in terms of negative camber which would force the car to drift left. The problem is that the service manager says there is no camber adjustment on the '03 Highlander. Is this true, or could be he just be misinformed?

Anyone out there have more info for me? Am I on the right track?

Last edited by HiLander; 09-14-2003 at 03:47 PM.
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Old 09-14-2003, 06:28 PM   #2 (permalink)
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cam bolt kits

if it is in fact the camber you can buy cam bolts that adjust your camber. try cross rotating the two front tires and see if that fixes the problem. Also alignments are set to have a very small pull to the left to compensate for the road crown that makes the car want to pull to the right. The first thing i would do is cross rotate the two front tires, you might have whats called a radial pull.
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Old 09-14-2003, 06:36 PM   #3 (permalink)
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Thanks for the reply!

I will certainly have them swap the tires to see if it helps. I have an appointment with the Toyota factory rep in a few weeks so any ideas are certainly welcome!

So in your opinion, are the symptoms I suggestion possibly the result of the camber settings (if the tire swap doesn't do the trick)?
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