Am disgusted. 72K miles on car. 2 years 8 mos old. new tires at 44K miles Sept 2011. increasingly LOUD tire noise. Tire Kingdom is telling me struts are bad, evidenced by feathering on all 4 tires.
Toyota says seals not broken, so they say "new tires." this really sucks. $1200 for new struts. since i cant afford new tires, will still hear noise. they just won't get worse due to "bad struts." how is it possible to have bad struts after 72K miles?????

Feel free to PM.

thanks.

 

How the hell can we tell you how you’ve screwed up with your car when you don’t tell us any of the mods you’ve done to your car. What springs do you have on your car? What swaybars do you have on your car? What size wheels do you have on your car…including offset. What tires do you have on your car…include size, make and model.

 

I just bought my car "off the shelf" from Toyota. I'll need to look into the wheels that I purchased later. maybe this is the wrong forum for me. I haven't upgraded my vehicle in any way.

 

is it while you're driving or only on bumpy roads or what? try and find a nice smooth flat road and listen at different speeds. also drive next to walls, buildings tunnels, ect. and report what you hear so we can better help you. also wouldn't hurt to go to some other shops that do free diagnostics

 

Return the car! You don't even know that changing your whels is modifying your suspension system. This is the wrong forum for you...this is for car guys.

 

2tCornot2tC, chill man not everyone grew up learning about cars. When I bought my tC I couldn't even tell you how to change oil. If you aren't gana help out then don't say anything at all.

 

One quick question. Where is this 1200 for new struts coming from. That seems a tad on the way to expensive side to me.

But yes, describing the noise will better help give you input into possibilities.

 

Ok. I had the SAME exact situation this past summer. "Off the shelf" tC, new tires with around 8k on them, and they cupped like crazy. I rotate every 5k religously, anD the tire shop said it was bad struts too at 60k. Took it to Toyota (extended warranty) and they stated that the struts were fine. Got that in writing and went back to the tire shop. End result, ALIGNMENT......

Apparently the tC needs frequent alingments as they go out easily. Got it aligned, new tires, 17k miles later, no issues.

Update*** 4 weeks ago, I started getting road noise again, took it in to the tire shop, bent rim, replaced the rim, saved the tire, and all is good again.

The strut thing is an easy blame, primarily because the shop has so much $$$ to make off from it. Keep in mind that when they change the struts, they also usually align, so all points get covered, especially if you get new tread, then they balance too.

Check your alignment first, it is much less expensive.

BTW, the tire shop told me it was struts because they saw a single strut with fluid at the top weeping. According to Toyota, this is totally normal for wear and tear. My question still has yet to be answered though. How do gas struts weep fluid?

Again, check your alignment first.