'01 Camry Steering Vibrations

[BM-Power]

Hey all,

I have a problem with the steering of my 2001 XV20 Camry V6, I'm getting a steering vibration/wobble from 50mph to 60mph and over (80km/h-100km/h+). I did the allignment and balancing of all wheels (also purchased new tyres to try and fix the problem) and it still seems to affect the steering at those HWY speeds.

I also visually checked all the components underneath, the suspension and steering components seem to be in good order, I only found a minor tear in the steering rack boots, but I doubt that would be causing the problem.

Does anyone have any suggestions what could be causing the problem? Any solutions to fix it?

Thanks

[bolink654]

The last set of tires I had, I had the same problem. Had them balanced, but vibrations stayed. Once they wore out, I got a new set of tires, and the problem went away... never did figure out what it was.

[JohnGD]

What tires were the old/new?

[BM-Power]

Originally Posted by JohnGD

What tires were the old/new?

The vibrations were on old and new tyres. Both old and new are Bridgestone RE92 tyres, and all 4 wheels have the same tyre brand.

I think the steering wobble is more noticable with the new tyres than it was with the old ones (PS. even the old tyres had plenty of treat left, I only replaced them to fix the wobble problem)

Thanks

[thechrisman]

Weird, I had that issue with my 99' Camry V6 and it was fixed by getting a steering alignment done. Steering wheel now is off centre when the wheels are straight, just shows how much out of alignment it was

[BM-Power]

Originally Posted by thechrisman

Weird, I had that issue with my 99' Camry V6 and it was fixed by getting a steering alignment done. Steering wheel now is off centre when the wheels are straight, just shows how much out of alignment it was

Yeah I had to do the alignment/balancing the 3rd time because the tyre guys didn't get the steering wheel centered the previous time. But still, the wobble in the steering remained.

[Dave's]

I had one place that never could balance my new tires correctly. Had it done somewhere else. But I also had a set of tires which couldn't seem to be balanced after about 1/3 use. Finally one of the guys admitted they were having problems on that brand/model of tire with inner cord breakage. Tires looked fine even when on jacks but at speed they would basically go out-of-round/balance. It was strange because each time they rebalanced, the speed at which the problem occurred would change.

[BM-Power]

I took the car to the suspension specialis and they did the complete suspension check; it turns out I need a complete new steering rack (it has slight movement) and lower control arm bushings...total cost $1,300AUD.

I could expect this kind of problem on my BMW (weekend fun and ocasional track day) but not on Toyota...the whole point of using a Toyota for daily drive is because of their reputation for being bulletproof cars...and this to happen at only 75,000miles is a bit disappointing, even tho the car has been babied since new.

Were Camrys prone to have steering rack/bushings issues or was I just unlucky?

[thechrisman]

Originally Posted by BM-Power

I took the car to the suspension specialis and they did the complete suspension check; it turns out I need a complete new steering rack (it has slight movement) and lower control arm bushings...total cost $1,300AUD.

I could expect this kind of problem on my BMW (weekend fun and ocasional track day) but not on Toyota...the whole point of using a Toyota for daily drive is because of their reputation for being bulletproof cars...and this to happen at only 75,000miles is a bit disappointing, even tho the car has been babied since new.

Were Camrys prone to have steering rack/bushings issues or was I just unlucky?

You can't really expect the car to have no problems at all, however my mate owns a 2004 BMW and its been giving him problems ever since he had the car new. My 99' Camry had a steering related problem exactly like the one you described except it was fixed by taking it for an alignment :-) I think you've just been unlucky with the steering problem but overall my Camry has given me no problems at all that were expensive to fix. I would stick by it anyday.

[BM-Power]

Originally Posted by thechrisman

You can't really expect the car to have no problems at all, however my mate owns a 2004 BMW and its been giving him problems ever since he had the car new. My 99' Camry had a steering related problem exactly like the one you described except it was fixed by taking it for an alignment :-) I think you've just been unlucky with the steering problem but overall my Camry has given me no problems at all that were expensive to fix. I would stick by it anyday.

Yeah I think I may have just been unlucky this time. I use to own Corolla (again daily drive) and it never gave me any major problems, just the usual maintenance and sold it at 165,000 miles on the clock while still running strong.