Rear wheels have too much play

[hdsalinas]

Guys I need help

Ever since I got my corolla a couple of months ago, I have been having problems with the rear wheels. If you firmly grab a tire and shake it you feel some play like if it was loose.

I have had it checked and all they tell me that the wheel lugs are loose. They tight them out and the problem seems to get fix but a couple of weeks later its back. The rear seems to wobble or shake when going over potholes.

I think that it may be the wheel bearings in the rear hubs but someone told me that if it was not making any noise it was not the wheel bearings.

Could you guys help me diagnose the problem?

Thanks

BTW, The car has the stock steel wheel. tires are 195/xx/14 (i will confirm tomorrow)

[|PuNiSh3R|]

Maybe you have bad threads on your lug studs.. ? seems kinda wierd that all the studs would be bad heh

[Tofuball]

That is a very strange problem! First, check to make sure that the lugs havent come loose, and if not, we can move on to other possabilities.

[hdsalinas]

I replaced the log nuts and again the problem seemed to disappear only to reapear after two or three weeks. last night I took a hubcap off retightened the lugs but it still had some play.

I tried moving te tire with one hand while grabbing the strut with the other to see if the strut moved too. The strut did not move only the wheel.

If you grab any of the rear wheels at say, 2 and 10 oclock and move it in and out and it makes a a "clunk" sound. One wheel seems to have less play than the other.

While driving i dont hear any growling noice or anything. maybe only the "clunk" that I mentioned before when the car runs over road imperfections.

I am taking it saturday to get the whole rear axle checked. I just want to have an idea of what could be causing this. So any ideas could help a lot.

[wunderboy]

Try replacing your studs and lug nuts.

[hdsalinas]

Try replacing your studs and lug nuts.

I have replaced the lug nuts already but not the studs. I might have to change it.

But could it be the HUB itself or the wheel bearings?

[soulibrium]

change the studs first..they are cheap and easy to replace! the hub is $$$ so do one first. make sure they torque at rite specs. about 80ft.lbs

[REN69]

Bad or worn out wheel bearings maybe. I'm starting to think you bought a lemon mi amigo.

[hdsalinas]

Thanks guys. It could very well be the studs (I hope)

The other day I had the drum brakes inspected (everything was fine) and I told them about the problem I was having. They took the drum out and showed me the wheel bearing and it did not look bad. We checked to see if it had some play and it did not but I thought that without the weight of the car and tire on it one could not tell if they were really fine.

Anyways, I do remember that they had to break a stud to get the wheel off. The thread on the stud was so messed up that it was impossible to get the nut out. They replaced that single stud but left the other original three in the hub. Now the wheel that had one of its studs replaced has less play than the other.

Also, the nuts seem to get loose by themselves. I replaced the lug nuts already but I guess that it could also be the studs.

[hdsalinas]

A lemon?

Toyotas are not supposed to be lemons

Well let me see,
Since I bought this car in Nov03 with 93k miles on it, I had to replace/purchase:

- Left front wheel bearing
- Front brake pads
- Air filter
- Sparkplugs
- Sparkplug cables
- Aligned and rotated tires
- Rear license plate bulbs
- 1 Rear wheel stud
- Rear lug nuts
- Radio Antenna
- New Alarm system
- Floor mats
- Hubcaps (the last owner had really ugly ones)
- Right rear door power doorlock motor.
- Dome bulb
- PCV Valve, (just preventive maintenance, I dont think it was bad)
- Belt Tensioner Pulley, my mechanic thought that it was broken, it turned out that it was not..
- Belt Tensioner Support, (the little "shock absorber like thing" - it rattles a little , I have the replacement already -weekend project)

I am still not done.
In the near future I need to change the

- Tires,
- Engine oil
- Transmission oil
- Flush radiator
- Get the windows tinted
- Do a complete detail.
- And fix whatever is wrong with the rear wheels.

[REN69]

It's not neccessarily the car.. but usually the driver. Could be whoever owned it before you, didn't really service it properly or maybe it was in an accident. Remember I'm central american too... I know how people treat their cars down there.

[hdsalinas]

You are right, Is hard to find a car here (even brand new) without a single dent

Besides I dont think he did more to the car than change the oil. I have found a bunch of little things here and ther that only took me minutes and love to fix.

Other than that the engine is responsive and smooth as well as the transmission and steering.

All the problems that I have had have been minor. And with proper maintenace and care I will have corolla for many more years.

[REN69]

True.. I remember one of my relatives having an early 70's Toyota Hi-Lux pickup truck, 500,000 either Miles or Kilometres.. can't remember.. hehehe.. it was pretty beat up outside but the car kept going and going.

[micro214_kp61]

are you using an aftermarket wheels and not the original? coz sometimes if you're using a set of wheels that has a universal or double bolt pattern it doesn't sit as perfect as the oem wheels. maybe it's not hubcentric. or maybe the studs are just all messed up like the one that was just replaced. i doubt it's the wheel bearing coz you can hear a whinning or grinding sound, your mechanic would have easily detected that when the drum brakes were checked. if you replaced the studs, put a new set of lugnuts too. i would just to be sure. goodluck man!

[hdsalinas]

micro,

I am not using aftermarket wheels. I am using the original black stock wheels that the car came with. As for the wheel bearing, I dont hear any weird sound coming from the back.

I am really getting convinced and crossing my fingers that all the problem resides in the studs.

I will keep you informed.