Help: Rear suspension weird noise?

[petetomo]

I took my car to Midas for the classic Camry rear suspension noise. It was as everyone has described, load at slow speeds and disappears on the highway. Midas told me I needed new rear struts and that it would cost $700 to replace them! What a bunch of crooks!

First of all, the struts have only 60K on them which isn't that much. Secondly, the dealership only charged $510 when they did this repair a few years ago and dealerships are notorious for being the most expensive for repairs. Thirdly, the struts they were going to put on were Monroe which cost $70/each max. That means that at $700 for a 3.5 hour repair, they were charging $160/hr! Lastly, when I read this forum, I changed the bushings and the noise disappeared.

Thank God I smelled BS when I heard it and didn't have Midas change the struts. I am not trying to badmouth the whole Midas chain. I have had several repairs done at my local Midas (North Plainfield, NJ) and I have always found them to be reasonable and friendly. But heed my advise and avoid the Midas in Nanuet, NY.

Thanks everyone for helping me target the true problem and saving me bundles of money.

[kingpin5]

Originally Posted by kingpin5

Well, I am having tough time getting the parts. I ordered the parts at napaonline and they cancelled them on me saying they are backordered.

Good news. I got my problem fixed. I got the rear bushings, that i had tough time finding at Napa or AAP, at the dealer for $10 a piece.

The rear ones are real easy to replace. You will need to put the car on the lift though.

The ones in the front are more difficult. You will have to remove the axle for easy access.

Took about 30 minutes for all 4. (5 minutes for the rear).

The car drives great now.

By the way, before you start blaming any of the repair shops for not detecting the problem or fixing it, keep in mind, even the most experienced mechanics will find it hard to diagnose. Thanks to this forum, I was able to get this fixed, although i ended up replacing the struts first..grrr...

I also got the other famous oil leak fixed at the same time. I hope I am set for the next 100,000 miles or more..

Thanks again.

[mrtwo]

Congratulations. BTW, you are not the only one who have their struts fixed first. haha

[rubs]

I also have structs/mounts replaces for 400$ and still the same issue. somehow this part is not easily available. It will be great if someone can specify the exact part name (BUSHING - SWAY BAR BRACKET if this is not correct), and if can tell me the part number for 1998 camry that will be great. They have all these different kind of categories (which one is needed):

Sway Bar Bushings - Your Vehicle
Sway Bar Bushings - Universal
Sway Bar Bushings Greasable
Sway Bar Bushings Non-Greasable

Thanks
--rubs

Originally Posted by mrtwo

Congratulations. BTW, you are not the only one who have their struts fixed first. haha

[kingpin5]

rubs, like i said above in my post, contact the toyota dealer for the bushings. they are not expensive. i had a real tough time finding them at Napa, Autozone or Advance Auto Parts. infact the dealer could special order them too, if they are not in stock, if i am not mistaken - alteast that's how it worked for the nissan parts.

[nick bamberger]

I had same problem, needed sway bar bushings. I just replaced both the bars. The rubber wears out and causes noise. It's hard to tell if there worn or not by looking, but they have the symptoms you described.

[KenRosier]

I have this exact same problem with my '96 Camry. I had all new struts installed and the noise remained. My mechinac mentioned the the problem seems to be in a plate that the stut mounts to that has an alongated hole. I asume that this is the same thing as a strut mount but I'm not certain. The noise is very servere and had progressively gotten worse. It sounds like your going to loose you rear end on rough roads at speeds of 25 to 40 mph.

[mgahan]

Originally Posted by hz0405

Thank you. I bought two sway bar bushings from NAPA and will try them this weekend.
A few weeks ago an autoshop mechanic told me the problem was the sway bar link. The Teflon bushing at the end of the link is worn. It would cost $60+ for the link and $40 for labor. I will try the $12 sway bar bushings first and hope it will work.

Just a quick FWIW. I am a very amateur mechanic with most of my experience limited to oil changes and the like. I decided to replace my stabalizer bar bushings and I'm amazed on how quiet my 98 Camry rides now.

The hardest part of the job was removing the stabalizer bar from the stabalizer bar links. The nut was somewhat rusty, but with enough penetrating oil and the use of an allen (hex key) wrench to hold down the ballstud, it eventually came out.

None of the local auto part shops had the bushings in stock, so I purchased them from the Toyota dealer at a little over $9.00 (USA) apiece. The bushings slipped on the bar nicely, but I did struggle a little with getting the stabalizer back on the car. The first time around, I had the bar ass-backwards ;-(.

Overall, with jacking the car up and putting on stands, the job took a a little over three hours, but I tend to work slow (A oil change will take me up to an hour).

Thanks for everyone's ideas on this. I feel like I'm driving a new car again.

Mick