When I'm going 40+ MPH I feel a slightly bumpy ride, but 60 MPH and over, the ride is extremely bumpy. I've had the tires balanced/rotated twice, it has not helped. Alignment is not off. I feel no "bumpiness" through the steering wheel, mainly through the front passenger tire and gas pedal.

When I take my foot off the gas, problem disappears. I don't get any bumpy ride when braking.

I was advised to consider turning my rotors. Brake pads are still good, I've changed them but forgot how long ago. My TC has 73,000 miles. Tires show no wear on the tread.

Only mod: lowered on H&R springs. This does not feel like a bad shock, I've had that in another car.

Any suggestions?

Thanks - Jason

 

It would typically only be the brakes if you feel it in the pedal while braking. That would maybe be warped rotors or something.

But if it's while you're on the accelerator, I don't know. No CEL or anything, right?

 

x2brakes.

 

No CEL. I feel nothing through the brake pedal.

 

where did you get ur springs from?

 

I got them from a friend brand new in box. Not sure where he got them from. He totaled his TC before he could install.

 

are they H&R springs? or "H&R" springs......

 

I sort of had a problem like this with my old Honda Accord. I wouldn't describe it as bumpy, but you could feel something was off like a tire. The passenger head rest would shake at 55mph (the steering wheel would shake once my hands were off of it) and it would get worse as speed increased.

I found out that it was related to my CV joints going bad. (My car had 155,000+ on it) The way the told me to test it was to get under the car and try to twist the CV joints. There should be no play in them at all (Zero Movement). If the move even a little bit they could be going bad and you should have them checked.

I think the braking vibration is a separate issue from your other vibration (or bumpy ride).

I bet that your rotors need to be cut/turned to solve that issue.

Good luck.

 

change any maintanence parts like an axel?...

 

These are real H&R springs, lol. No work has been done on the axles except for replacing a torn boot on the driver's side. Thinking back, when I installed the brake pads over a year ago, I first used some sh**ty O Riely's brand for a week. Car still would not brake properly, and upon inspection, the contact patch was only about a 1/4 inch on the edge of the pad.

Changed to TRD pads and and no problems braking and contact patch is normal.

Maybe from that O'Riley's pad contact patch issue it f'ed up the rotor over time, requiring a cut/turn? My memory is a little slow today.

 

I would say that if you had bad pads on there that you should take the rotors in for inspections to see if they are good. They may be good.

If you put the brake on lightly can you feel it not braking evenly? Get it up to some speed on a flat smooth road and just very lightly increase your pressure on your brake pedal until you feel it starting to brake. Does it feel smooth or is it pulsating? Smooth you are probably fine and it may not be the brakes.

But if they start to pulsate under hard braking (something that would cause the rotors to heat up) you might have bad rotors. Something about the heating up and cooling down over time can cause spots in the rotors to expand under heat more quickly than other spots causing you to feel like you need your rotors cut/turned.

How positive are you that this problem is coming from the passenger side of the car? (I am not trying to doubt you) But I know if a torn boot is not caught quickly it can cause issues for your CV joints.
My brother found out the hard way and had to replace CV joints.

 

I'm not completely positive on the source of the "bumpiness". It feels like it's coming from the passenger side although the driver's sideview mirrow vibrates alot during this. I can really feel this in the gas pedal only during acceleration. There is also what sounds like a grinding noise coming from the passenger side when I turn, which I seem to only notice on left turns. I seem to have caught the axle boot in time as there was plenty of grease in there and the internal parts looked alright. Braking does seems a bit off, sluggish. There is no pulsating when braking. I'll have to look at the rotors again.

 

At first I was thinking like everyone else, the CV joint on the right front axle. But then I remembered that there were some posts about the wheel bearings. Right front wheel bearings causing the same exact thing. Turning to the left and bam! Vibration increased on the right front. Do a search for wheel bearings, tc forum only, and you'll find it. There have been a growing number of people who have had this bearing vibration and it's all from the right front!

Remember, the braking would feel suspect if the bearing is bad, the hub that's rotating on it would also be off axis, causing you to feel it to be a brake rotor. Check the bearings or if it's still under warranty, dealer will probably just replace it. And yeah this is a press in bearing car for the front ones. Hope that helps!

 

Well it sounds like he got it^. As soon as you said grinding noise when turning I suspected it was a wheel bearing. The grinding noise is a pretty classic symptom of a bad bearing.

 

I'm thinking the wheel bearing also from your info. and other post search. Gonna have to take it in to Toyota to check this to make sure. Unfortunately, I'm past powertrain warranty, damn. $349.00 for parts and labor, listed as 3HR job. This definitely is beyond my mechanical ability, which is limited to minor repair.

Thanks for all the help guys. I'm going to have to take this in for service.

 

you're welcome, keep us posted on how it goes. at least you're able to diagnose it!!

 

A couple of things:

1. I'm an idiot

2. Expensive lesson in taking care of problems as soon as they occur. I am poor however, and just got the money to fix all this s**t, tax return + savings handed straight over to Toyota. Fantastic.

3. Repairs to be done [due to waiting too long]:

a) hub assemble & bearing
b)Outer CV boot replacement - apparently I did not catch this in time and fix correctly
c) Driver side axle replacement - again, waited too long & F'ed up the axle nut as well
d) warped rotors & my pads are worn down

When I had the axle boot repaired the 1st time, we were not aware of the Toyota clamps that have fasteners/clamps that require special tools to clamp them together so we made it work. The axle nut was not tightened properly resulting in cross threading/loose axle which caused all the internal parts to move around quite a bit, then resulting in the devastation of my hub assembly, bearing, axle and rotor.

Not to make this a sob story, but the reason I waited is because I just got the $$$ to fix my car, should've borrowed $$$ earlier to do repairs, would've cost less. Lesson learned. It was my fault for letting it go. I'm an idiot.

I did like having an idea of what I was in for before I went in for service. I knew it would be expensive. I'm looking at a little over a grand for parts/labor.

Thanks again for all the help.

REPAIR YOUR CAR AS SOON AS YOU SEE AN ISSUE MY FRIENDS! - which you already know.

 

dont let toyota repair it... find a reputable mechanic in ur area and they'll do the work for probably less than half they would charge u at toyota.... special tools my butt...

 

I know Toyota is probably charging me more than I should pay, but I'm comfortable with the decision.

I found out myself about the special clamping tool/device for the CV boot clamps when my friend and I replaced it before. Maybe it's not a special tool, but my friend was a auto mechanic and has an extensive amount of tools and he was like WTF when he saw the clamps because he could not find the right tool to fasten these together.

 

hey don't beat yourself up too much. things happen, we're all hurting in this economy!

but now that you tell what happened, with your repairs it makes sense. sense that the wheel bearing and the rest had trouble since the axle wasn't doing well. I know that tool you're talking about the clamp for the cv boot, it's like a ratcheting tool that pulls that strap around and locks it in place.


but yeah glad you'll get it done right and then be done with all this stuff. don't forget that gotta have the camber redone after they take the camber bolts out (to get to the steering knuckle where the wheel bearing is).