2005 Toyota Camry SE V6: Upgrade Diary
![318543]( "318543")
This post is intended to help anyone else who's interested in modding their Gen-5 Camry. I first got this Camry when I relocated with my family from New York City (where we had no need for a car) to California in 2019. I transferred offices because in addition to our 1-year-old, we discovered we had another baby on the way. Since it was only my wife and I in New York—my family is on the Central California coast, and hers is in Japan—we decided to move to where we’d have more help. This coincided with my Dad buying a new RAV4 to replace his 148k-mile 2005 Camry SE V6, and he very generously gifted the Camry to us to help us get settled on the West Coast.
My pre-COVID commute was an hour each way from our house in the Silicon Valley to my office in San Francisco, so I got to know the Camry pretty quickly. The refined 225hp 3.3L DOHC V6, shared with the Sienna minivan, Lexus ES sedan, RX SUV, and others was clearly the car’s best quality. It took me a while to get used to the Camry’s fluffy-light primary controls, particularly the numb, vague steering and squashy brake pedal, not to mention the shift-flaring 5-speed automatic and long, sluggish throttle tip-in. But its sophisticated noises, combined with the quiet, comfortable interior and near-perfect ergonomics, gave it a luxurious feel not too far off from our other car, a W210 E320--and unlike the Mercedes, the Camry is not an expensive car to tinker with. Which, of course, is what I immediately began to do.
Stage 1: Cleanup
![Image]()
With all due respect and gratitude to my dear Dad, he’s not really a car guy, and the Camry had not received a whole lot of cosmetic attention over its 15 years of service. Those years of ungaraged parking in the Monterey Bay area meant the Camry was wearing a deep topcoat of congealed pollen, dirt, pine sap, oak leaves, and other vegetative detritus inside and out.
But given this car came with a pretty sharp combination of Lunar Mist paint and 2005-2006-only 17” gunmetal-grey alloys, I wanted to clean it up. I started to detail it during my little one’s naps. The black leather interior cleaned up beautifully. The exterior did not—it’s still got a lot of scratches and scrapes to address, but freshly-painted bumpers come in at about $1,000 each, so I’m not planning on dumping that kind of money into cosmetic enhancements for an old car.
Stage 2: Basic Maintenance
![Image]()
Mechanically, the Camry’s essential maintenance schedule was all up to date. But on my commute—mostly on I-280, a winding 80 mph freeway--I got the sense things still weren’t quite right. The steering was extremely light and vague-feeling, even for a Gen-5 Camry, with no on-center valley and almost no road feel. In contrast with our E320, there was no tactile reassurance that the car would go where you pointed it—you just steered where it visually looked like the car should go, and it generally sort of went there. Mostly. It wasn’t what you’d call confidence-inspiring.
The first stop was for a front-end alignment, which, at the time, seemed to work wonders. The steering became much less fuzzy, though it was still far too light and delivered more kickback than actual feedback from the road—an annoying combination of numbness and rack rattle that I’ve noticed on all Camry-based Toyotas of this vintage (Solara, Highlander, Lexus ES, RX, etc).
Next was a quick check of the tire pressures when I stopped for gas. Ouch. There was 20 psi in the front-left tire and 36 psi on the front-right. After setting both to 34 psi, the steering became noticeably crisper again, with better consistency and even a hint of road feel. Lesson learned: Gen-5 Camrys are extremely sensitive to alignment and tire pressure. If you haven’t checked one or either lately, and are looking to improve the drive of your Camry, these are the easiest and cheapest places to start.
Stage 3: Suspension Basics
![318569]( "318569")
With the car back to the correct specs, I was starting to sense that there was some leftover potential in the Camry the way it left the factory. I’d read that the SE’s springs and/or struts were tuned 10-15% stiffer than other V6 Camrys’, but to me, this was kind of the worst of both worlds: the car bobbled stiffly over small pavement imperfections, but still floated and bounced over big dips. Also, the car’s non-standard, greasy, skittish all-season Goodyear tires were doing it no favors.
I’d had good luck with Eibach Pro-Kit springs in the past, so I bought a set that lowered the Camry 1.6” and stiffened things up significantly. At the same time, I had KYB GR-2 struts installed, which are essentially OEM replacements but are supposedly a bit stiffer than stock (though it’s unclear if this just means they receive the factory SE valving or something even stiffer). Lastly, I had a set of wider 225/50R-17 Michelin Pilot Sport 4S summer tires put on, and threw in a K&N air filter.
The springs and tires transformed the car. And although the improvement in primary control feel was less than I’d hoped, it was definitely tangible. The Eibachs’ tight, snubbed-up ride motions keep the car bobbling busily over lumps in the pavement, but the motions are generally well-controlled, harshness is minimal, and the car stays firmly hunkered-down on wavy freeways that would have set it bouncing like a trampoline before. The front end still feels just a bit oversprung and underdamped when cresting big bumps at highway speeds, but body lean and brake dive are almost nil even in quite enthusiastic street driving.
The wider summer tires made the Camry’s steering significantly sharper and more precise. Driving back from the shop, the car felt like its steering ratio was 20% quicker than before, and it rode the freeway like it was on rails, tracking uncannily straight. The hints of road feel that had previously emerged became clearer, too. However, these wider, stickier tires do hunt around more over grooves and road crowns, and while they added a bit of heft to the steering, it is still too light for my tastes.
For those with a similar use case, I can recommend the Eibach springs without reservation. They delivered exactly what I wanted. I’m less certain of the value of the KYB GR-2s, but I’m not aware of any other options for anything approaching sport-tuned struts for these cars. Meanwhile, although the Michelins on my car might not be for everyone, upgrading to summer or ultra-high-performance all-season tires will absolutely provide dramatically stickier cornering, a more neutral feel, and shorter stopping distances for your Camry. As for the K&N air filter, it really just added intake noise.
Stage 4: Suspension Enhancements
![Image]()
At this point, having opened the Pandora’s box of aftermarket mods, it was easy to imagine some next steps to improve the car. The stiffened suspension had made the Camry dramatically better to drive, but had also brought out body quivers over potholes and trim rattles in the interior (the sunroof on my car surely didn’t help). And while cornering grip was much improved, the stock Camry’s persistent understeer continued to give it a plowing feeling in hard turns.
So, on went a Megan Racing front strut tower brace and TRD rear anti-roll bar. The biggest change from these mods was how much more solid and smooth-riding the chassis felt. The brace definitely adds rigidity—these cars came with a strut tower brace from the factory, but the stock one is a heavy and surprisingly thin piece that connects to only two of the three front suspension tower bolts. With the new brace, the ride felt more solid and settled, interior rattles were much reduced, and the steering improved yet another notch, with a subtly crisper action and slightly more solid feel of the road. I had low expectations of the new brace, given that the car already had one, but having felt the difference, I’d absolutely recommend the Megan Racing brace to anyone as a cheap and easy way to improve the car.
Since I added the strut brace and rear sway bar at the same time, it’s tough to judge their value independently. But the TRD bar definitely nudged the chassis towards a more neutral balance. The bar has three settings—mine is on ‘Street’, the least aggressive setting. Even so, it clearly makes the car happier to grip and accept extra steering lock around decreasing-radius freeway on-ramps. Best of all, it hurt the ride quality not one bit. That said, the bar’s effects only seem noticeable in very spirited driving over very twisty pavement. Maybe it’d pay off if someone is looking to autocross their Camry (lol), but It wouldn’t be the first purchase I’d make if I was just starting to improve the car.
![Image]()
Stage 5: Chassis Bracing
![Image]()
As a general rule, increased body rigidity improves every aspect of a car’s performance. With this in mind—and after seeing the positive effects from the Megan Racing front strut tower brace—I started to research other parts to stiffen the Camry’s chassis.
It turns out that Malaysia-based Ultra Racing makes quite a number of chassis braces for the Gen-5 Camry, and sells them internationally for quite reasonable prices. However, as I learned, some of these parts will fit, and some won’t, depending on your car’s spec and where it was assembled—there are a surprising number of regional variations in the Camry’s manufacture.
Three parts that fit—and delivered benefits all out of proportion to their modest purchase prices—were Ultra Racing’s four-point lower subframe chassis brace, two-point mid-chassis brace, and two-point rear chassis brace. The first installs under the front suspension cradle; the second installs between the chassis rails ahead of the fuel tank, and the third installs under the rear bumper. The result was that the Camry went from feeling like it had 150,000 miles on it, to feeling like it had fewer than 50,000. The structure felt much tighter, quieter, and more solid, and the braces subtly sharpened up responses to every control input, from the gas to the brake to the steering. Its straight-line tracking on the freeway is actually quite exceptional now. I can’t recommend these braces highly enough--especially if you're prepared to bolt them on yourself, it's a huge improvement for very little outlay.
![Image]()
Stage 6: Next Steps
At this point, I think I’ve taken the Camry about as far as it can go. I have no delusions about it being a real sports sedan—its weight, FWD, open differential and total lack of lateral support in the front seats are bigger handicaps than anything that could be remedied with more mods.
The car is already quick enough for what it is and for my purposes, so I don’t plan on any powertrain mods either. I like the idea of installing the TRD muffler to free up the V6’s smothered exhaust note, but it’s pricey ($800+ including labor) for what would essentially be a cosmetic upgrade. I’ve mostly made peace with the Camry’s sluggish throttle response and shift-flaring automatic, but would still be very interested to know if there are ways to improve either.
Likewise, the Camry’s stock all-disc brakes seem to work as well as they need to on the grippier chassis. I’ve gotten the hang of modulating the Camry’s squashy pedal now—the Michelins made a huge difference in accuracy--and by all accounts, even the TRD and other aftermarket pads and rotors don’t do much to mitigate the system’s built-in sponginess.
But, as usual, once I’ve started playing with a car, it’s difficult to stop. I’ve got a set of Whiteline bushing kits for the steering rack and front control arms burning a hole in my pocket, which would add the 0.5 degrees of caster angle that the Camry sorely needs (and is otherwise non-adjustable). But I’m holding off on installing them until comprehensive front-suspension work is required, because the labor costs are otherwise difficult to justify. When I get around to them, I’m hoping these will finally deliver the subtle steering weight and on-center feel improvements I’ve been seeking all along. I’ll update this thread if and when they’re installed. (Or if I just break down and buy the JDM Toyota Crown or Chaser that I really want!). In the meantime, I hope anyone looking to improve their Gen-5 Camry finds this helpful. It’s an excellent, comfortable cruiser with a lot of untapped potential in stock form.
This post is intended to help anyone else who's interested in modding their Gen-5 Camry. I first got this Camry when I relocated with my family from New York City (where we had no need for a car) to California in 2019. I transferred offices because in addition to our 1-year-old, we discovered we had another baby on the way. Since it was only my wife and I in New York—my family is on the Central California coast, and hers is in Japan—we decided to move to where we’d have more help. This coincided with my Dad buying a new RAV4 to replace his 148k-mile 2005 Camry SE V6, and he very generously gifted the Camry to us to help us get settled on the West Coast.
My pre-COVID commute was an hour each way from our house in the Silicon Valley to my office in San Francisco, so I got to know the Camry pretty quickly. The refined 225hp 3.3L DOHC V6, shared with the Sienna minivan, Lexus ES sedan, RX SUV, and others was clearly the car’s best quality. It took me a while to get used to the Camry’s fluffy-light primary controls, particularly the numb, vague steering and squashy brake pedal, not to mention the shift-flaring 5-speed automatic and long, sluggish throttle tip-in. But its sophisticated noises, combined with the quiet, comfortable interior and near-perfect ergonomics, gave it a luxurious feel not too far off from our other car, a W210 E320--and unlike the Mercedes, the Camry is not an expensive car to tinker with. Which, of course, is what I immediately began to do.
Stage 1: Cleanup
With all due respect and gratitude to my dear Dad, he’s not really a car guy, and the Camry had not received a whole lot of cosmetic attention over its 15 years of service. Those years of ungaraged parking in the Monterey Bay area meant the Camry was wearing a deep topcoat of congealed pollen, dirt, pine sap, oak leaves, and other vegetative detritus inside and out.
But given this car came with a pretty sharp combination of Lunar Mist paint and 2005-2006-only 17” gunmetal-grey alloys, I wanted to clean it up. I started to detail it during my little one’s naps. The black leather interior cleaned up beautifully. The exterior did not—it’s still got a lot of scratches and scrapes to address, but freshly-painted bumpers come in at about $1,000 each, so I’m not planning on dumping that kind of money into cosmetic enhancements for an old car.
Stage 2: Basic Maintenance
Mechanically, the Camry’s essential maintenance schedule was all up to date. But on my commute—mostly on I-280, a winding 80 mph freeway--I got the sense things still weren’t quite right. The steering was extremely light and vague-feeling, even for a Gen-5 Camry, with no on-center valley and almost no road feel. In contrast with our E320, there was no tactile reassurance that the car would go where you pointed it—you just steered where it visually looked like the car should go, and it generally sort of went there. Mostly. It wasn’t what you’d call confidence-inspiring.
The first stop was for a front-end alignment, which, at the time, seemed to work wonders. The steering became much less fuzzy, though it was still far too light and delivered more kickback than actual feedback from the road—an annoying combination of numbness and rack rattle that I’ve noticed on all Camry-based Toyotas of this vintage (Solara, Highlander, Lexus ES, RX, etc).
Next was a quick check of the tire pressures when I stopped for gas. Ouch. There was 20 psi in the front-left tire and 36 psi on the front-right. After setting both to 34 psi, the steering became noticeably crisper again, with better consistency and even a hint of road feel. Lesson learned: Gen-5 Camrys are extremely sensitive to alignment and tire pressure. If you haven’t checked one or either lately, and are looking to improve the drive of your Camry, these are the easiest and cheapest places to start.
Stage 3: Suspension Basics
With the car back to the correct specs, I was starting to sense that there was some leftover potential in the Camry the way it left the factory. I’d read that the SE’s springs and/or struts were tuned 10-15% stiffer than other V6 Camrys’, but to me, this was kind of the worst of both worlds: the car bobbled stiffly over small pavement imperfections, but still floated and bounced over big dips. Also, the car’s non-standard, greasy, skittish all-season Goodyear tires were doing it no favors.
I’d had good luck with Eibach Pro-Kit springs in the past, so I bought a set that lowered the Camry 1.6” and stiffened things up significantly. At the same time, I had KYB GR-2 struts installed, which are essentially OEM replacements but are supposedly a bit stiffer than stock (though it’s unclear if this just means they receive the factory SE valving or something even stiffer). Lastly, I had a set of wider 225/50R-17 Michelin Pilot Sport 4S summer tires put on, and threw in a K&N air filter.
The springs and tires transformed the car. And although the improvement in primary control feel was less than I’d hoped, it was definitely tangible. The Eibachs’ tight, snubbed-up ride motions keep the car bobbling busily over lumps in the pavement, but the motions are generally well-controlled, harshness is minimal, and the car stays firmly hunkered-down on wavy freeways that would have set it bouncing like a trampoline before. The front end still feels just a bit oversprung and underdamped when cresting big bumps at highway speeds, but body lean and brake dive are almost nil even in quite enthusiastic street driving.
The wider summer tires made the Camry’s steering significantly sharper and more precise. Driving back from the shop, the car felt like its steering ratio was 20% quicker than before, and it rode the freeway like it was on rails, tracking uncannily straight. The hints of road feel that had previously emerged became clearer, too. However, these wider, stickier tires do hunt around more over grooves and road crowns, and while they added a bit of heft to the steering, it is still too light for my tastes.
For those with a similar use case, I can recommend the Eibach springs without reservation. They delivered exactly what I wanted. I’m less certain of the value of the KYB GR-2s, but I’m not aware of any other options for anything approaching sport-tuned struts for these cars. Meanwhile, although the Michelins on my car might not be for everyone, upgrading to summer or ultra-high-performance all-season tires will absolutely provide dramatically stickier cornering, a more neutral feel, and shorter stopping distances for your Camry. As for the K&N air filter, it really just added intake noise.
Stage 4: Suspension Enhancements
At this point, having opened the Pandora’s box of aftermarket mods, it was easy to imagine some next steps to improve the car. The stiffened suspension had made the Camry dramatically better to drive, but had also brought out body quivers over potholes and trim rattles in the interior (the sunroof on my car surely didn’t help). And while cornering grip was much improved, the stock Camry’s persistent understeer continued to give it a plowing feeling in hard turns.
So, on went a Megan Racing front strut tower brace and TRD rear anti-roll bar. The biggest change from these mods was how much more solid and smooth-riding the chassis felt. The brace definitely adds rigidity—these cars came with a strut tower brace from the factory, but the stock one is a heavy and surprisingly thin piece that connects to only two of the three front suspension tower bolts. With the new brace, the ride felt more solid and settled, interior rattles were much reduced, and the steering improved yet another notch, with a subtly crisper action and slightly more solid feel of the road. I had low expectations of the new brace, given that the car already had one, but having felt the difference, I’d absolutely recommend the Megan Racing brace to anyone as a cheap and easy way to improve the car.
Since I added the strut brace and rear sway bar at the same time, it’s tough to judge their value independently. But the TRD bar definitely nudged the chassis towards a more neutral balance. The bar has three settings—mine is on ‘Street’, the least aggressive setting. Even so, it clearly makes the car happier to grip and accept extra steering lock around decreasing-radius freeway on-ramps. Best of all, it hurt the ride quality not one bit. That said, the bar’s effects only seem noticeable in very spirited driving over very twisty pavement. Maybe it’d pay off if someone is looking to autocross their Camry (lol), but It wouldn’t be the first purchase I’d make if I was just starting to improve the car.
Stage 5: Chassis Bracing
As a general rule, increased body rigidity improves every aspect of a car’s performance. With this in mind—and after seeing the positive effects from the Megan Racing front strut tower brace—I started to research other parts to stiffen the Camry’s chassis.
It turns out that Malaysia-based Ultra Racing makes quite a number of chassis braces for the Gen-5 Camry, and sells them internationally for quite reasonable prices. However, as I learned, some of these parts will fit, and some won’t, depending on your car’s spec and where it was assembled—there are a surprising number of regional variations in the Camry’s manufacture.
Three parts that fit—and delivered benefits all out of proportion to their modest purchase prices—were Ultra Racing’s four-point lower subframe chassis brace, two-point mid-chassis brace, and two-point rear chassis brace. The first installs under the front suspension cradle; the second installs between the chassis rails ahead of the fuel tank, and the third installs under the rear bumper. The result was that the Camry went from feeling like it had 150,000 miles on it, to feeling like it had fewer than 50,000. The structure felt much tighter, quieter, and more solid, and the braces subtly sharpened up responses to every control input, from the gas to the brake to the steering. Its straight-line tracking on the freeway is actually quite exceptional now. I can’t recommend these braces highly enough--especially if you're prepared to bolt them on yourself, it's a huge improvement for very little outlay.
Stage 6: Next Steps
At this point, I think I’ve taken the Camry about as far as it can go. I have no delusions about it being a real sports sedan—its weight, FWD, open differential and total lack of lateral support in the front seats are bigger handicaps than anything that could be remedied with more mods.
The car is already quick enough for what it is and for my purposes, so I don’t plan on any powertrain mods either. I like the idea of installing the TRD muffler to free up the V6’s smothered exhaust note, but it’s pricey ($800+ including labor) for what would essentially be a cosmetic upgrade. I’ve mostly made peace with the Camry’s sluggish throttle response and shift-flaring automatic, but would still be very interested to know if there are ways to improve either.
Likewise, the Camry’s stock all-disc brakes seem to work as well as they need to on the grippier chassis. I’ve gotten the hang of modulating the Camry’s squashy pedal now—the Michelins made a huge difference in accuracy--and by all accounts, even the TRD and other aftermarket pads and rotors don’t do much to mitigate the system’s built-in sponginess.
But, as usual, once I’ve started playing with a car, it’s difficult to stop. I’ve got a set of Whiteline bushing kits for the steering rack and front control arms burning a hole in my pocket, which would add the 0.5 degrees of caster angle that the Camry sorely needs (and is otherwise non-adjustable). But I’m holding off on installing them until comprehensive front-suspension work is required, because the labor costs are otherwise difficult to justify. When I get around to them, I’m hoping these will finally deliver the subtle steering weight and on-center feel improvements I’ve been seeking all along. I’ll update this thread if and when they’re installed. (Or if I just break down and buy the JDM Toyota Crown or Chaser that I really want!). In the meantime, I hope anyone looking to improve their Gen-5 Camry finds this helpful. It’s an excellent, comfortable cruiser with a lot of untapped potential in stock form.
