93 XLE Camry Wheel Vibration at High Speeds

Hey all, just wondering if someone out there could help me out. Within the past couple of months I've noticed that the front left wheel produces a vibrating/thump noise at any speed between 45-65 mph. When taken over 70, the noise seems to go away. Also, when the wheel is pulled to the right, the noise seems to get worse. Furthermore, I have had the front tires replaced and re-aligned and have had the CV boot and drive axle on that side replaced (b/c mechanic said that was cause of problem). Sadly, I have yet to get rid of the problem. My next best guess is that the strut damper is dead and that I will need to have it replaced. Although, I am hesitant to take it in for that going on just mere speculation. So if anyone on here has had problems similar to this or might know what is causing something like this, please help me out.:banghead: :banghead:

Given that you have already replaced the axle/cv joint, my best guesses are that wheel has lost a balancing weight and is out of balance, or the tire has developed a bulge, or the belts inside the tire have shifted. It could also be a bent wheel. I would take the car to a tire shop and ask them to check all these possibilities and rebalance the tire/wheel combination. One other possibility I can think of is a warped brake rotor on that side. Do you feel any vibration in the brake pedal when you brake from these speeds or even slower speeds? If so, disc runout can be checked with a dial indicator.

Mike

If you check all the things mentioned by Mike and still have not resolve the problem you should probalby go back to that mechanic: I have heard that remanufactured axles rarely match the OEM's. Let him check it again.

Good luck,
Sam

I would presume you have rotated the tires front to back. If not see if it makes a differense. If it does, there's a good chance the wheel you moved to the left rear is warped. That can also be checked using a dial indicator. Are the control arm bushings and connections ok. How about the ball joint. Next logical step would be the struts and mounts. Unfortunately many times you can't see a strut is bad until a new one is installed. Just one of the joys of car maintenance.

Or try putting your spare on the left front.

Here's a good primer. Just click on the subjects on the right column. http://www.autozone.com/servlet/UiBroker?ForwardPage=/az/cds/en_us/0900823d/80/16/60/ad/0900823d801660ad.jsp Click on the diagrams to make them bigger.