Help with a mysterious bump!

[TA373]

Hi,

I'm a VW owner, and general car nut, but my lack of Toyota knowledge has led me here, in order to help out a friend from work...

On to the description of the problem...

I have a friend at work who's got a mysterious noise (thump) when driving over small-ish bumps/dips. There's a slight virbation noticable on acceleration.

The car is a '94 Toyota Camry.

She just got new tires put on (needed them anyway)
Alignment done
Motor mts replaced
Brake pads in rear replaced, fronts are fine
Struts checked...visually
All fluids ok...

Pretty much stumped on this...I figured that this might add up to someone on here...

Thanks guys,
m.

[rezzle]

I am not a mechanic but I think the problem could be, but not restricted to any of the following;

Broken or loose or worn shock or shock mount
Worn CV joint.
Loose or worn ball joint
Loose lug nuts
Loose brake caliper or brake pads (some after market stuff
doesn't include all the parts, springs/clips in the kit. Brakes
will still work but may rattle.)
Loose engine mount
Loose hood hinges mounts or misadjustment
Screws missing from or a broken splash plate under engine
Loose or improperly mounted battery
Wrench or other debris in heater intake just under windshield
Gremlin
Dead cat under hood

[JohnQ]

My car used to vibrate around 40-50 mph.Got new tires, engines mounts, wheel allignment ,and tire balancing but still vibrates.So they checked the axles and one of them was bad.The guy said it's recommended to change both with new ones.So I did that..paid 250 parts and labor for the axles.My car is fine and runs great.
Hopes this helps .

[Phi]

The two problems could be completly independent of each other.

Thump might be warn bushings or strut mounts

Vibration might be cured with a tune-up or throttlebody cleaning.

[Chico]

im gonna say its the ball joints cause my friends galant was making a thumping noise on bumps also so i would check those out

[jwa276]

its gotta be the strut mounts, same thing happening to me

jon

[skperformance]

yeah i say strut mount bushing also my car does this also more when cold or colder
like a little tapping noise

[jwa276]

Originally posted by skperformance
yeah i say strut mount bushing also my car does this also more when cold or colder
like a little tapping noise

yep, originally i was lead to believe that my side skirt was making the noise, like it wasnt on there tight enough. now its fasted really well and the noise has persisted

jon

[BLUEMEANIE]

Originally posted by jwa276
its gotta be the strut mounts, same thing happening to me

jon

me too. rear strut mount.