Whump, whump noise - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

northstar40601 · 01-18-2011, 12:32 PM

I am getting a whump, whump, noise from what seems to be the passenger side front. I hear one whump about every time the wheel goes around one time. I took it to a mechanic I trust who checked it out and said the low-quality front brake pads someone installed at the last brake job may causing the noise and that he could not find anything else wrong with it.
Today I were replaced front brake pads (with Wagner thermo-quiet pads) and the noise is still the same.
I have been hearing this noise for about the past 2,000 miles or so.
The car is a 1999 Corolla w/90,000 miles, auto. trans.

Anything anyone can suggest is appreciated.

fishexpo101 · 01-18-2011, 05:15 PM

If the noise is keyed to tire revolutions, first thing I would have done is to rotate the suspect tire off that axle and see if the noise is still present (swap front tires to rear, and rear swapped to the front).

If the noise disappeared, then you've isolated it to that tire/wheel combination - could be anything from a bent wheel to out of round/flat spotted tire. Sometimes tires getting close to the wear bar will have their belt joint attenuate the sound different, get noisier as the tires get older. Sometimes this indicates a broken belt in the tire - look for any significant bulges on the tire sidewall, sometimes shows up as waveness in the sidewall. Look for signs of dry rotting, severe cracks and checking on the rubber material - if the tires are more than 6-10 years old, they could be too dried out/stiff for safe operation.

If the noise did not go away after swapping the tires - then I would suspect an issue with the hub, wheel bearing, suspension (lower ball joints, tie rode ends, struts, springs, upper strut mount), brakes, etc. Visual inspection to start, then diagnose a bit further to see what the primary culprit was. If those usual suspects don't turn out anything, then I'd move to looking at the transaxle as the source of the noise.

northstar40601 · 01-24-2011, 01:15 PM

Thanks, fishexpo, this gives me a great list of things to work through to try to find the problem. You have helped.

ohspizzill · 04-14-2012, 03:45 AM

Did you ever find out what was wrong? i have the same issue.

KeMBro2012 · 04-14-2012, 10:59 AM

When my Accord did this, I checked everything fish said to check and it turned out to be my wheel bearing.

At any rate, it's definitely something on that list, so just follow fish's advice and you'll track it down with minimal expense.

To the mechanic who said it was cheap brake pads,