Help with 99 Camry

[njwrestler07]

Well I've posted a lot of stuff on this forum about my car, a lot of problems I'm having. Here's the story, I have a 99 Camry I4, just hit 59,000, I still have a bad front end shake since last year, Toyota, my step father's shop, and a few other shops cant figure it out, I think is the after market rims, so I'm putting the old steel ones back on this weekend to find out if the shake is still there. I was driving today in the heavy rain and wind and noticed my car feels a lot looser than normal, I think I have bad struts because it rides like a boat, but if I hit a bump or get a little gust of wind, my car is all over. The body roll seems kinda much at times too. I'm thinking I may need new sway bars, but I'm really not to great with figuring much out when it comes to fixing cars. Anyone have any ideas they can throw into the mix?

[fenixus]

if sway is the problem then check for any free play on sway bar end links (ones that connect actual sway bar ends with strut towers). they should feel solid when shaking. even good end links may allow some twisting movements, but not side to side or bottom to top.

maybe sway bar bushings are worn out allowing sway bars to move loose within brackets too?

I would seriously consider replacing all struts with either Gabriel ReadyMount assemblies from Autozone or Monroe Quick Struts from Advance Auto (or rockauto.com cheapest way but includes shipping).

keep us posted how the shake/vibration feels after you put steel wheels with other tires.

don't sweat it, you narrowed it down a bit so far, see how it goes with steelies on car. if no change then answer is clear, worn out suspension. if it improves significantly then aftermarket rims or tires are a problem.

[njwrestler07]

the only problem with the steelies, is that since the car was my great grandparents, and it only had 22,000 on it when i got it back in june of 2009, i think these tires are from 99 lol

[fenixus]

oh LOL a bit old I'd say hehe, but try them anyways, just don't exceed tire speed ratings please... or even stay at road/highway speed limits ... unlike all NJ traffic LOl

you just want to see if vibration/shake goes away, no more. don't do any serious road trips on them either

[njwrestler07]

i have to drive to philly saturday and sunday, 100 miles each way, so ill have to deal with the shake all weekend, i was thinking too, i wonder if the hub rings could be a bad fit, a guy i work with told me he went through 4 different sets with the rims he has until he got it right

[fenixus]

by saying hub ring you mean a hub centric spacer? if so then it may be very well the source of problem... normally you should not need anything like that with any OEM compatible wheels (14'' steels or up to 16'' OEM alloy rims).