98 Camry vibrating at high speeds

[desmondfox]

98 Camry LE.

The car begins to vibrate periodically producing irritating vibration sounds all over every minute or so when I go to speeds over 40 or so and stay on the same speed for a while. The noise seems to originate from under the hood and travels to the doors making them really noisy.
I really need to know what this is due to soon, I don't want it to get any worse.

FYI, i recently got most of the 60k stuff except for the timing belt done.

Thanks,

DFox

[nmikmik]

I'd start looking at your tires first. Assuming they were rotated at 60k service. Who know what could of happen then, lost weights, worn out tires in the "new" spot.... Did you start getting this vibration right after the 60k service of before that? Who did the service?

[Brian R.]

Check your lug nuts for torque. One or both your front wheels may be loose. Wouldn't be the first time someone rotated the tires, then hand tightened the lugs and forgot to torque them.

You might have damaged one of your tires internally. If you damaged a belt or had one slip, it can make unpredictable bumping or vibrating.

Both these are important to eliminate as possible problems.

[trexx85]

check the tires, i read over at tire rack.com that alot of folks were having this issue with cheaper tires and only switching to better ones slightly corrected or fixed it.

[Brian R.]

what caused this problem in those tires? Out of round? Belt problems?

[trexx85]

it was tire balance issues, the tires all either were out of round or had heavy spots.

[desmondfox]

yes, the rear (previously front, now rotated) tires do have some bald spots. I am thinking of getting them changed. The current front tires have quite some juice in them... should I replace all 4 tires or replacing 2 would suffice?

Thanks.

[Brian R.]

If the front tires are almost new, then just replace the rears with the same tires as in the front.

If the tires in the front are more than 3/4 used, I would replace them all. Don't forget the alignment no matter how many tires you replace.

[desmondfox]

thanks.

just replaced 2 tires ... noise problems gone... and the throbbing post-long-drive headaches.

[Brian R.]

You're welcome

[NYMitch]

According to "Click and Clack", there is a factory service bulletin EG-94-002 to replace motor mounts with softer ones. Search www.cartalk.com