2000 LE Questions Regarding Suspension and Mods

[DIY_Apprentice]

All,

I would like to start out by saying Hello as this is my first time owning a Toyota and posting to TN. I own a 2000 Camry LE Automatic with Cruise Control, I believe that means I have a 5fse engine, but the cruise control may change that. I used to own a 1992 Saturn SL2, which was a real beater , anyway I have done a couple repairs: Serpentine Belt, and the Lower Left Control Arm on that car, but otherwise I am pretty new at this stuff, hence DIY_Apprentice so please recognize this if you wish to help. I would love to learn more.

My questions are as follows:
I love everything about my car except that there is a loud clunking noise in the rear of the vehicle everytime I go over a sizable bump or hole, or when I turn sharply. Now I have read probably every Gen 4 Suspension Post on TN, so I know it could be bushings, struts, rsb, etc. and have also read that replacing the rsb and rear suspension may be just what is needed, however everyone suggests TRD or Whiteline, my question is if I don't necessarily want the car for "performance" but for good handling and smooth ride, what parts should I replace and what parts would be suggested?

Second, I live in MN where it gets -40 in winter occasionally and there is salt salt everywhere, are there any mods/upgrades that I could do to decrease the impact of driving in winter?

Lastly, what is the best oil for my vehicle, and why do you think so.

Disclaimer: please be specific and could someone explain to me what the difference between struts, springs, shocks, etc. is.

I know this is an exceptionally long post, but any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

FYI: 65,000 Miles, Car's original home: Arizona, Budget: $1500.

[chronoti]

i will say 1st go for the monroe quick struts, it will improve the ride and the clunk could be a bad bearing in the strut plate

if you still want a tighter ride then go for the rsb

5w-30 since it's winter, 10w-30 in winter

you have a strut style suspension, short story the spring sits around the "shock" and is mounted to the outer casing of the strut

[DIY_Apprentice]

Thanks for the reply.
I very much appreciate the skinny on struts,springs,shocks.

I will look into how to properly perform the monroe upgrade as well as the rsb. Does it make sense to do them both at the same time?

Would you recommend Conventional, Synthetic, a Synthetic Blend?

Also, is there any mod I can make to protect the undercarriage of my car from Winter Salt and Snow? Thanks again for your help.

[DIY_Apprentice]

Bump

[ONE_to_HATE]

what's good!

for the clunking noise, our cars are generally loud when it comes to the suspension- even if you change them out, it'll help but it would'nt be mercedes quiet.

if yr planning to modify.. grab tokicos, if just a beater kyb's are excellent.

rsb's make quite a difference in our cars as far as turning and body lean goes.. definetly a must have.

oil wise, our engines tend to run hotter than the normal 4 banger.. so i suggest a synthetic oil because of the higher breakdown temperature.. for me i use royal purple.. but its overkill for majority because i actually beat the bajeezes out ov this car.. before that, i was using castrol syntec which was a synthetic blend.

i don't really have a problem with salt on the roads because im in cali,. but i suppose you can use the roll-on/spray on bedliner for trucks on certain parts of the undercarriage? .. idk- just a suggestion.

good luck and welcome to the boards!

[DIY_Apprentice]

Thank you both for your help, and patience with my noobiness. After some more research this is what I am thinking.

Replace the rsb with TRD or Whiteline. At the same time replace the rear struts with Monroe quick struts and switch to Mobil-1 Full Synthetic. I have also heard some good things about Rust-Proofing, but I will need to look into this further.

Do these sound like reasonable changes? Is it possible to simply replace the strut mounts or does everything need to be replaced? Also, are there better after market strut mounts I could buy? (I think the strut mounts are probably my issue). Thanks again.

[DIY_Apprentice]

Bump

[bigbird]

that looks like a sound plan.

i have herd that the KYB mounts are the best, but ive never used them. If thre is anything that needs to be done to the suspension its better to wait and do it all at once. suspension work is tedious and sucks if you have to remove it several times.

if you can get the car up you can rust proof yourself. in many cases they just use a slightly modified spray on bed coating.

['_']

I can also vouch for the TRD RSB. You won't be disappointed. As for oil, I just use Mobil 1 Full Synthetic 5W-30.

And welcome to TN!

[KiDGiB]

Just wanted to add, the TRD RSB has two settings, street and track. I personally like track setting.

[DIY_Apprentice]

Thanks everyone. I will look into rust proofing myself as well as the TRD rsb which has gotten huge support from what I can tell.

My last question is, if I were to replace the strut mounts with the KYB ones, should I still go with the monroe quick struts, can I even do that or do the monroe ones replace everything in one fell swoop? Or should I go with a different shock spring combo?

Can I replace only the rear suspension if I am happy with the front suspension or do I have to do all 4 at once?

(I don't want the rear suspension to be too stiff and I want to keep the stock height if possible. Winters would really suck otherwise.)

Thanks

[chronoti]

the monroe quick strut does everything in one swoop

well if your going to hold stock height your not really going to replace the springs hence the monroe will do just fine (new spring stock height) but it will have a mushier(better than it is now) not as tight ride as if you used kyb or tokio struts, but if you use those you need to but the other mounts and dust boots