Recently purchased a 98 corolla to commute with. Only criteria was 5spd and had to make double the mileage of my tacoma. The car does this perfectly. Very impressed thus far. 3 months and ive paid off 25% of the car just in gas savings. Now on to the issue.
Several weeks ago I headed out of town, set the cruise drove for 2 hours and when I slowed down to get off the highway I experienced fairly violant vibrations from the front end. I headed to a shop and had them balance the front wheels. They said one wheel was 3oz out. I guess this is alot? This solved the small constant vibration I had always had which I knew would. But the violant vibration didn't happen also. Now a couple days ago it came back. The thing that gets me is I can be cruising on the highway and everything is fine but once I let off the gas it vibrates then I get back on the gas and it goes away. If im in town the steering wheel jerks a good 20 deg in each direction. This vibration is random comes and goes.
I have a problem with my front end vibrating violently once I get over 60mph. Since I discovered it I have put on new tires (balanced), threw in new GR-2 struts, and got alignment done. All of those things I did as part of regular maintenance within the past month.
Now i'm concerned with the vibration because it's becoming worse and will eventually chew up your shocks. My buddy and I took a pry bar and checked all the bushings by putting pressure on them. I found out that my lower control arm bushings are worn and cracked (left side more than the right). To change those out I have to buy brand new control arms because Toyota doesn't sell individual lower cont. arm bushings (unless someone knows something I don't). When I change out the control arms I will also replace the ball joints, should be a $300 price range repair judging by RockAuto.com prices.
But I don't suggest throwing money at the problem unless you can pin point the problem first. In your case it might be a problem with the brakes, maybe even a motor mount. Your problem sounds similar to mine, but in my case I get the vibration like clockwork once I go over 60 on the highway, not just under braking at high speeds.
Also, I thought that my rims might be bent out of shape. To help test that problem I jacked up the front end, put it on jack stands, put the car in 'drive' and accelerated to 65mph (be careful with this if you're going to do it) and had my friend watch the wheels spin on the left and the right side. He said that the driver side wheel was wobbling, so i switched it to the passenger side and tested it again, and this time it performed fine. And that is how I was able to test the rims and determine that my lower control arm bushing on the LEFT side is completely shot and most likely that the wheel balance is fine.
More testing to be done in the next couple of weeks...
__________________ If everything is under control,
you're just not driving fast enough! '99 Corolla LE 1.8L 1794cc [1ZZFE]
Ok, I don't apply the brakes either and the vibration still persists. I just got back from the road and I was testing the problem with my friend. After pulling into the garage we had a sneaking suspicion that the motor mounts might be worn out. And I also noticed on the road that the vibrating seems to go away and stay away at speeds of 90mph+, which would make sense with worn out motor mounts because the engine maybe bouncing around in the speed range of 60-85mph, but when you're going 90 the engine is working hard to keep the speed constant and it makes sense that it is working hard enough for the pins that go through the motor mounts to get pushed back far enough to where the engine sits flush and doesn't vibrate. And I also noticed slight reduction in vibration under hard acceleration (again, highway speeds, I don't get any vibration below 55mph), which also makes sense because when you step on the gas the engine torques back a little bit and once again sits flush in its position.
We sat in the garage and pressed the brake with the left foot while switching between Reverse, Neutral and Drive gears and applied the gas peddle in each gear. He noticed that the engine was torquing back and forth and even pulled the radiator out about 3cm by its hose, which shouldn't happen. Then, we applied pressure to the mounts with a pry bar and discovered a lot of movement and free play in them. Also, there are cracks in the rubber in certain places and that is one of the big signs that the motor mounts are worn.
Test all these things! It's really hard to pinpoint the problem with vibration at high speeds because you can't simply get out of the car and see what is causing the problem and that's why I don't want to throw money at the problem, but I narrowed it down to 2 things: my bushing on the lower control arm are worn out and my motor mounts are crap. I wish I had the money at the moment to replace the mounts so I could tell you if that helped my problem, but for now I'm just ganna have to take it easy on the car until I save up some cash.
P.S. once I do the motor mount replacement I will take detailed pictures of the process and describe the end result. It's just ganna have to wait about a months. Parts estimate at RockAuto.com for 4 mounts is about $120 and the labor I will perform myself so that means another $30 for beer, so it shouldn't be too bad.
__________________ If everything is under control,
you're just not driving fast enough! '99 Corolla LE 1.8L 1794cc [1ZZFE]
I bought yellow no name brand Poly bushings off ebay for decently inexpensive a year or so ago. and i have been satisfied with them. search corolla bushings or something like that.
You must be talking about the cylindrical looking bushings, right? I need the circular, flat one that attaches the lower control arm to the frame itself. I called AutoZone, Toyota dealer, TRD, and RockAuto and they all say the same thing that once that bushing goes out you have to get a whole new control arm.
Nonetheless, could you post the ebay link so I can take a look at that bushing?
__________________ If everything is under control,
you're just not driving fast enough! '99 Corolla LE 1.8L 1794cc [1ZZFE]
i actualy found both of them, the rear cylinder and the front donut looking one. sorry i dont know the ebay number anymore, but if you look you will find it just as easy as i could.
I found the cylindrical bushing, but still no luck on the donut bushing. I'm curious to look at the pictures when you get them up.
You said the problem goes away when you press the gas, that sounds like the rear bushing on the front control arm.
Doesn't go away, but yes, it seems to vibrate less. Just to clarify, the rear bushing on the front control arm is the one that sits further away from you if you're looking at it from the front of the car? It's the round, donut shaped one as opposed to the cylindrical bushing.
__________________ If everything is under control,
you're just not driving fast enough! '99 Corolla LE 1.8L 1794cc [1ZZFE]
usualy when someone says rear when talking about a car, they usualy mean closest to the rear of the car. and why would you ask if it the donut shaped one, when i just said it was?
between the one you found, the rear donut shaped one, and the ebay number i gave you, wiich is the front cylinder one, that is a complete set. please dont replace on with out the other.
I was responding to Flashman's post. BTW, thank you for the help with finding the bushings. Usually when people say rear they mean toward the rear of the car, however usually is not 100%, so I really needed to make sure I'm on the same page as you guys. I've had parts/service managers tell me that these bushings don't sell separately from the control arm, so I'm sure you'll understand that when I found out that eBay offers a separate poly bushing that I wanted to make sure I'm buying the right one. I'm going to put both off the bushings on of course, and change out the ball joints while I'm at it. Car has 130K miles.
__________________ If everything is under control,
you're just not driving fast enough! '99 Corolla LE 1.8L 1794cc [1ZZFE]
i know it's gonna sound cheap, but on EBAY you can get a complete set of aftermarket (same quality as the parts store) ball joints, inner and outer tie rods, and endlinks for pretty inexpensive.
that will tighten your steering back up again. while your at it flush your powersteering fluid, and use the fluid from Toyota.
what your doing is what i did last year. any questions ask me.
Little bit of off topic information. i swapped out my old control ars for a set of 2002's with the tab for the sway bar. before i installed, i welded more metal to reinforce the tab, so it is stronger and less likely to break under the added stiffnes of the hotchkis swaybar.
Sounds good! I see you went for the whole project. But makes sense, might as well change out the end links, tie rods and ball joints while I'm at it.
I looked into the hotchkis swaybars, and although I am tempted, I don't have the money to spend on that at the moment. But can i keep my '99 control arms and if i ever decide to upgrade to hotchkis sway bar setup just swap them in? I guess I'm just not sure why you switched over to the '02 control arms.
And thanks, I might send some questions your way in about a month when I get around to doing this project.
__________________ If everything is under control,
you're just not driving fast enough! '99 Corolla LE 1.8L 1794cc [1ZZFE]
Bumping since I'm actually having the same problem. I'm pretty sure that it's my passenger side control arm since I hit a curb pretty quickly very late one night. The car starts bouncing pretty bad at around 55mph but starts to smooth out around 70.
I'm also thinking my motor mounts are worn as well. Not looking forward to the costs of this but my car has been so neglected that I'm due all this.
There's no way that the bushings on the control arm can be replaced? I figure the one is bent but I'd rather not go through the cost and trouble otherwise. Then again, two of them are $100 on ebay brand new so maybe it's worth the time and money.
Is it difficult to replace them? I'm a DIYer (aka cheap bastard) so I'd much rather not pay someone.
Bumping since I'm actually having the same problem. I'm pretty sure that it's my passenger side control arm since I hit a curb pretty quickly very late one night. The car starts bouncing pretty bad at around 55mph but starts to smooth out around 70.
I'm also thinking my motor mounts are worn as well. Not looking forward to the costs of this but my car has been so neglected that I'm due all this.
There's no way that the bushings on the control arm can be replaced? I figure the one is bent but I'd rather not go through the cost and trouble otherwise. Then again, two of them are $100 on ebay brand new so maybe it's worth the time and money.
Is it difficult to replace them? I'm a DIYer (aka cheap bastard) so I'd much rather not pay someone.
I replaced 2 motor mounts (front and right side) and they were easy to replace. I need to still replace the transmission mount and the rear motor mount. The rear motor mount is a big pain in the butt because you can't just unbolt it and then remove it. I think parts of the suspension will have to be dropped down to access it. The tranny mount (left side of the engine under the air intake box) should also be pretty simple.
I used a jack, put a piece of wood on the top part and raised the engine from different parts depending on which motor mount you're taking out. The beautiful part about it is that you don't need much force to support the engine.
__________________ If everything is under control,
you're just not driving fast enough! '99 Corolla LE 1.8L 1794cc [1ZZFE]
These are the 2 different bushings that go on the lower control arm, but you will have to take the old control arm to a tire shop or something and have them press out the old bushing and replace them with new. Also will be putting these on during Thanksgiving break. Should have some pictures and comments afterward.
P.S. I think to get the rear engine mount out I will need to drop the lower control arms anyways, so I'm ganna get 2 birds with one stone.
These are the 2 different bushings that go on the lower control arm, but you will have to take the old control arm to a tire shop or something and have them press out the old bushing and replace them with new. Also will be putting these on during Thanksgiving break. Should have some pictures and comments afterward.
P.S. I think to get the rear engine mount out I will need to drop the lower control arms anyways, so I'm ganna get 2 birds with one stone.
Thanks for the info bro. I'm going to order some control arms and just replace them entirely. Given that the bushings are $50 themselves and control arms are $100 for both on ebay, I'll just go that route.
Thanks for the heads up on the lower motor mount. I'll make sure I have that around and just take care of that given the logistics of it. My car has almost 180k miles on it and at this point, the parts are going to be worn out even if one or the other may not be the cause of my wheel vibrations.
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(unless someone knows something I don't). When I change out the control arms I will also replace the ball joints, should be a $300 price range repair judging by RockAuto.com prices.
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