Rumble / low-freq Vibration from passenger side

[FireLikeIYA]

Hello. I have been noticing a rumbling noise coming from the passenger side of my 2002 Camry LE for approx the last 20K miles. The car currently has 120K on it. The car has drum rear brakes. The noise is a low-freq low-pitch rumbling. It ooccurs randomly but usually under the following condidtions:

• When slowly accelerating from a stop until reaching approx 15mph.
• When making a constant speed left hand turn (as in driving around the neighborhood at 25mph).

I am having a hard time isolating exactly where the noise is coming from. It is not a quiet noise but due to being just such a low rumble that makes it hard to distinguish the source. It is obvious that it is coming from the passenger side but I cannot tell for certain if it is the front or back wheel. I have had family and friends in the car and they seem to think it is coming more from the rear wheel.

I have lifted the car for a quick check to see if I could rock either front or rear wheel and they seem fine. I have spun the tires while the car is lifted and I can only hear the rear passenger shoe swiping on the drum slightly but other than that it sounds fine. I lifted both sides of the car for comparison.

I originally started to notice the sound after putting Hawk Ceramic front pads on the car and attributed the noise to them since they are a little more aggressive than OEM. The more I drive the more I realize this is not the case. My rotors also start to warp after little mileage (15K miles). I replaced the rotors when I put the Hawk pads on but the rotor warping has been going on for a long time and cannot be attributed to the Hawk pads. I have a feeling that whatever is making the noise has something to do with the rotor warping.

I am considering buying a new rear wheel hub assembly. I would rather check my hub assembly before doing so since they are expensive. Can someone tell me how I would do this? Does anyone have experience with these symptoms, and, if so, any recommendations? Any help is greatly appreciated.

[new echo owner]

Only at low speed? What kind of tires does the car have? Did you torque the wheel lug nuts?

N.E.O.

[FireLikeIYA]

Originally Posted by new echo owner

Only at low speed? What kind of tires does the car have? Did you torque the wheel lug nuts?

N.E.O.

Yes and no. It is about 90% at low speed. I notice it every once in a while at higher speeds but at higher speeds it is random and under varying conditions (turning-going straight-etc). It is very strange to me. I have had a wheel bearing go out before on another vehicle and it was a 100% of the time rumble noise. This is random and oddly enough I am hearing it occur less and less in frequency (It is not getting quieter I just dont hear it as often now). I almost always hear it in the two scenarios listed above. My step dad borrowed the car one day and he said he thought something was seriously wrong with the car and then he drove it again and the noise was gone..... and then he rode with me somewhere and he heard it again... etc. etc. etc.

Tires: BFGoodrich Touring T/A - My step dad thought it may have been the tires but the noise... It just doesn't seem like it would be to me. It still comes from the same general area after I rotate the tires.

Yes, I always torque the wheel lugs. I believe they are suppose to be torqued to 75 ft-lbs but I usually torque them between 100-110 ft-lbs and recheck after 100 miles.

[new echo owner]

Have you check the rear brakes lately? And the adjustment of the shoes and the parking brakes?

If it is coming from the rear, there isn't really that many parts back there that would cause noise when the vehicle is moving.

Torque the wheels to a higher torque spec, can't really said whether that is good or bad, but if you are having brake pulsation problem and you can't really find anything wrong, I would definitely think about that.

N.E.O.

[FireLikeIYA]

Originally Posted by new echo owner

Have you check the rear brakes lately? And the adjustment of the shoes and the parking brakes?

If it is coming from the rear, there isn't really that many parts back there that would cause noise when the vehicle is moving.

Torque the wheels to a higher torque spec, can't really said whether that is good or bad, but if you are having brake pulsation problem and you can't really find anything wrong, I would definitely think about that.

N.E.O.

Thank you for the help. I had ignored the rear brakes since they have the original shoes (with a lot of meat left) and have never been touched. I went ahead and took the drums and rotors in to have them turned. I always thought drums were fairly robust and didn't realize that they can get oblong. Turns out my drums were starting to do just that. I was also under the impression that they were self adjusting. Turns out that was another problem I had as I have recently found out that the parking brake adjusts the rear drums on the Camry. After adjusting the parking brake and turning the drums my Camry stops much better. The sound is basically gone and the car stops much flatter (It has always had a lot of nose dive and I thought it was normal after reading bad reviews about Toyota brakes). Thanks again!