2001 Toyota Camry Car Troubles (steering, brakes)

[bballsk8er333]

Hi I am having trouble with my 2001 Toyota Camry LE 185k Miles, (most highway).

The front wheels squeal and hesitate and lock up when i turn sharp, especially when i dont give the car gas while turning. It seems to get worse as the weather gets cooler. I looked it up on google and some say lube, some say replace....but i just dont know. The problem is mostly annoying but i got scared when i went to turn on the road at +- 30 mph and it locked up .

Also, my breaks are grinding or sounds like (grind) smooth (grind) smooth when im driving, and when breaking constant grind. I think it may be the pads, but my bro is almost certain they are the rotors.

Thanks for the help.!

[bigbird]

the grinding noise sounds definatly like the rotors. and that lock up problems could be a number of things.

when was the last time u changed/inspected the pads and rotors? do the brakes lock up when u apply the brakes in a turn or do that just lock up by themselves when u turn the car? is there a constant grinding noise?

depending on when the last time the rotors and pads were replaced it sound to me like ur on bare metal and warping and possibly gouging the hell of the rotors.

[bballsk8er333]

Thanks for the ideas. The pads were replaced at 120k. The pads don't really "lock up" but rather grind when i break, and erratically ( only like 1/10 of the wheel rotation) give the same sound. in essence it sounds like if u put a Playing card on the spoke of a bike...except the sound is grind.

Only problem is when i go to a mechanic...he says he fixed the steering, but never has. Do you think it could be the power steering pump? my bro seems to think so, (prob is he lives 500 mi away :O )

[Kep]

I can see the power steering system producing a squeal but I can't think of a way that it could lock up the wheels. If you can duplicate the squeal with the car standing still it would point to the power steering mechanism. Bad breaks (pads and/or rotors) could explain locking up or grinding feel and a squeal. Warped rotors often give you a pulsating feeling at the break pedal that you can feel. However, with the ABS systems today I'm not sure if you would notice it as much.

My favorite suspicion is worn brake pads. If you have gotten down to bare metal it would explain the grinding feeling and in a turn the pad backing plates might be able to shift enough to either squeal or lock up the rotor. I let my pads and rotors wear down so much once that on a turn the pads actually fell out of the calipers.

I would strongly encourage you to resolve this ASAP and not to drive to agressively in the meantime. Initially you could pull off the wheels and visually check the pads. Warped rotors are more difficult to see.

If the pads and rotors look OK then look for any bright areas in the wheel well where the tire may be rubbing (an making that squeal when you turn - unlikely but look anyway). Look at the brake calipers for shiney spots (same idea, just metal on metal rubbing). Finally, look real hard at the CVC joint area for wearing rubber and black rubber dust. I can't see how this might cause a squeal but it's the only other area that I can see moving during a turn. If you have jack stands you could try to repoduce the squeal with the wheels up and in gear but be very cautious.

Kep