89 Camry makes funny sound when going over bumps

SCMancini83 · 02-08-2005, 03:27 PM

My car sucks! I hope this makes sense, Whenever I go over a bump in the road the front end makes a clicking noise and it feels kind of rough. The sound kind of reminded me of a bad CV joint but it's only when I go over a bump. I had new CV joints put on 1-1/2 years ago and new struts put on 6 months ago. What could it be?

ThirdeYe · 02-08-2005, 03:53 PM

If it was squeaking, I would say Struts/Shocks... but I really don't know. Whenever I go over bumps in my Altima, it makes a squeaking sound, and a clunking sound as if it's bottoming out due to my bad struts.

SCMancini83 · 02-08-2005, 04:31 PM

Thats it. It's more like a clunking noise. My struts are fairly new so I don't think that's it, but who knows with my luck.

I've heard it might be the sway bar, wheel bearrings, and ball joint. (No idea what any of those are)

sierrawolfe929r · 02-11-2005, 08:48 PM

jack it up, stick a jack stand under it, and turn/wobble/screw with the wheel.
if you can't tell or if the noise is too faint, take the wheel off and do this. When you turn the hub (by hand, it is a little tight) there should be no abmormal noise. any intermittent/constant clicking or scratching noises would usually indicate a bad wheel bearing. Find out if the bearings in your car come in a hub unit or stand alone part. If they come n a hub, and you are feeling good about messing with your car, change it. This will involve removing the wheel, caliper, and hub assy. If you are not comfortable with that- don't do it (have it done instead) and DO NOT attempt to change a stand alone wheel bearing.

Carcass · 02-12-2005, 05:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SCMancini83

My car sucks! I hope this makes sense, Whenever I go over a bump in the road the front end makes a clicking noise and it feels kind of rough. The sound kind of reminded me of a bad CV joint but it's only when I go over a bump. I had new CV joints put on 1-1/2 years ago and new struts put on 6 months ago. What could it be?

I can almost guarantee u its a bad ball joint, or maybe a bushing on ur table. Ur best bet is to jack up the side u suspect is bad. Then grab the wheel in question at 6 an 12 o'clock. without moving ur hands around the wheel, leave em where i said, and push in with one hand and at the same time pul out with one hand. Have a friend looking BEHIND the wheel while u do this. He will see the moving part in question. U can repeat this procedure with ur hands at 9 and 3 o'clock, to see if u have a losse tie-rod and as well. This will get u in the right direction. Btw, don't remove the tire for this test, u need it to get as much leverage as possible. And oh yeah, don't jack the car up by the tables or whatever, jack it up as if u need to change a tire. Ex: just behind the front wheel, u need the jack out of the way for theses test and u don't want pressure on the lower table as to not falsify ur tests. Good luck, hope this helps.

jnemeth · 04-16-2005, 11:01 PM

when you had the struts replaced did you get new tops for them or did they reuse the old tops?

Diblue1121 · 04-17-2005, 06:51 PM

Quote:

Ur best bet is to jack up the side u suspect is bad. Then grab the wheel in question at 6 an 12 o'clock. without moving ur hands around the wheel, leave em where i said, and push in with one hand and at the same time pul out with one hand. Have a friend looking BEHIND the wheel while u do this. He will see the moving part in question.

You can also...with the car flat on the ground (no jack) push on the tires from the top with your foot, if they rock back and forth (kind of like wobbling) then you most likely have a bad bearing.

Another way to tell, is get on an access road, and listen while turning around in the U-turns for a sound from the sides closest to the highway, with your window down on that side of course. If you hear some strange sounds coming from the turns, it could be the wheel bearing...that's how we diagnosed which side the wheel bearing was out on our 90 geo storm.

It was a hub assembly bearing...and not very difficult for us to do. Your options with that type of assembly, are to either find another hub assembly, or buy just the bearing, and have a machine shop press it in for you. The bearings had here, were all bad, and it took me about 3 times having them pressed, to give up and hit the junkyards for one. Saved myself about $40 there, and it works GREAT!

And...as they said earlier, to remove that, you have to take off the tire, and the breaks and rotors, and then go for the hub assembly.

Fgreco · 04-17-2005, 08:23 PM

My dad has his berrings screwed up on the right side and it sound like a bad rubbing noise. I want to know they say it will take 500$ to repair the berrings. That sounds like an awful lot of money. He drove with them for a year now So they are really bad but, that bad? I dont know.

Also getting on subject I had to had somthing put in my car for 24$ in the back of the car it was sqeeky and it only happend when hitting a bump. HOpe that helped.

dodger65 · 04-17-2005, 08:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SCMancini83

My car sucks! I hope this makes sense, Whenever I go over a bump in the road the front end makes a clicking noise and it feels kind of rough. The sound kind of reminded me of a bad CV joint but it's only when I go over a bump. I had new CV joints put on 1-1/2 years ago and new struts put on 6 months ago. What could it be?

check the stabilizer end links and make sure the strut mounts aren't bad, or that the nuts didn't get tightened completely.