When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
We see you replaced a lot of parts and the car might have needed them, but I think it best if you take it to a good mechanic and pay 1 hour labor for a diagnosis. Depending on where you live it can be $75-150, but I would think it worth it if you found out exactly what is wrong rather then continuing to throw parts at it. So many parts need to work together so the car feels right, this may be worth it to you. Did you do your own repairs or did you bring it into a shop? If you need recommendations in your area, I'm sure someone here can help. I hope this helps out and good luck!
We see you replaced a lot of parts and the car might have needed them, but I think it best if you take it to a good mechanic and pay 1 hour labor for a diagnosis. Depending on where you live it can be $75-150, but I would think it worth it if you found out exactly what is wrong rather then continuing to throw parts at it. So many parts need to work together so the car feels right, this may be worth it to you. Did you do your own repairs or did you bring it into a shop? If you need recommendations in your area, I'm sure someone here can help. I hope this helps out and good luck!
I've done some of the smaller jobs but for the majority of the work I've had done, and all the alignments, I've used 4 different mechanics....YEAH!
I also had the thought process of using different mechanics that someone would surely find what the others didn't....no such luck. They all literally seemed dumbfounded, (as if I'm not already), that by putting parts on or getting yet another alignment didn't fix this problem and then every-single-one-of-them all end things with the same "useful" advice: "Are you sure it's not just the wind you're feeling?" and "These cars aren't exactly smooth riders, you sure it's not just you?" and "Are you sure it's not your driving habits?"😡🤬😡🤬😡🤬😡🤬
I had a stupid issue with vibrations once and started throwing all these parts on it. I took it to the mechanics ready to have them put a new rack in at around $700 labor and $300 for the part. They easily could have taken the money and did the work but they did a few tests for me as a favor. It was the dumbest thing.......my wheels were all busted up and bent. Even though I wasn't losing air in any tire and I couldn't visually see it, that was the issue. I bought new wheels, had them mounted and the vibrations went away.
This is why I don't guess anymore and just take it for a diagnosis at a reputable shop. It sometimes comes out cheaper and I have a good shop to take my cars to when I don't have the time to do the work on my own. Maybe it would be worth your while to see if any of the members here know a good shop in Franklin TN where you are? In my experience, most mechanics just want to get you and your car out of their shop as quick as possible so they can collect money from the next customer. It's as hard to find a good mechanic as it is a good plumber.......Hope this helps out and good luck to you!
I had a stupid issue with vibrations once and started throwing all these parts on it. I took it to the mechanics ready to have them put a new rack in at around $700 labor and $300 for the part. They easily could have taken the money and did the work but they did a few tests for me as a favor. It was the dumbest thing.......my wheels were all busted up and bent. Even though I wasn't losing air in any tire and I couldn't visually see it, that was the issue. I bought new wheels, had them mounted and the vibrations went away.
This is why I don't guess anymore and just take it for a diagnosis at a reputable shop. It sometimes comes out cheaper and I have a good shop to take my cars to when I don't have the time to do the work on my own. Maybe it would be worth your while to see if any of the members here know a good shop in Franklin TN where you are? In my experience, most mechanics just want to get you and your car out of their shop as quick as possible so they can collect money from the next customer. It's as hard to find a good mechanic as it is a good plumber.......Hope this helps out and good luck to you!
You know, numerous times I had brought up my wheels being the issue because of subtle signs here and there but every time I was shut down and told that wouldn't cause anything like this...😑 I need to quit doubting myself and start listening to my gut in these ____ shops because 9/10 times, I'm usually right when diagnosing my car.
This has been the most drawn out, difficult, stubborn, and EXPENSIVE diagnosis I've ever struggled with. Ever!
I'm going to assume you have steel wheels. If Lulu is right and your wheels are messed up, about the only place that can happen is where the center disc is welded to the rim. The trick is how to test it...
What are the subtle signs you've noticed?
If you jack up a rear wheel, you should be able to spin the wheel the see if something is out of round - dented rim, bulging tire
Do both sides. You may be able to do it with the spare tire jack and wrench.
Now take a wheel off and have a look around the inside at the welds holding the rim to the center disc - any cracks??
Put the other end of the spare tire wrench in one of the wheel disc holes and try to lever the disc away from the rim... it shouldn't move.
The front wheels wont spin freely, so you will need to swap the front to the back, using the spare as a way to temporarily replace the front while you swap out the rears.
Do the same checks.
You have either found a problem, or found your wheels are not an issue.
- should start at 3:45 with the rim coming off a machine
The center disc is put in at 4:03 and all the flashing at 4:08 is a welding machine.
We are looking to see if these welds have failed
Sorry for the confusion, while I'm not saying your wheels are the problem, I'm solid in my recommendation that a good shop will be able to diagnose the issue. Give them some time to take it out, put it on the lift and check the most obvious parts and some parts that are not so obvious, like the brakes. Coming from the rust belt and questionable maintenance, frozen calipers could cause driving quality issues too. If you have a infrared thermometer available ($10-15 on amazon) you can check both rotors after a drive. They should be about the same temp and if one is hotter then the other, you know you have an issue there. I found that one of my calipers were getting stuck because water got into the slide pin boots and rusted the pins out. This caused my car to drift when braking and uneven pad/rotor wear. I had to take apart my brakes and clean the parts of rust, gunk and brake dust. Unfortunately you can't easily see inside the drums but the front brakes on our cars are more important. Again, I'm not saying this might be the cause for your car, but a lot of parts do have to work properly for a good quality drive. Hope this helps out. Thank you and good luck.
I know this is an older thread, but posting in case you haven't figured it out yet:
Professional mechanic of 8 years here. I generally shy away from definitively saying what's wrong without seeing the car, but I can almost guarantee you that your rear trailing arm bushings are the problem. I had a very, very similar issue on my '03 Echo (same frame and suspension setup as first gen XB). Darting around the road at highway speeds, wandering, rear end floating, riding rough, pulling in either direction seemingly at random, generally feeling like the rear wasn't connected to the front of the car, also felt wildly unsafe.
#2 in this diagram
Those bushings are the only "solid" point of contact between the axle and the frame, so if they're bad your rear wheels won't stay pointed straight; they'll move around freely, essentially allowing the car to be steered via the rear wheels, completely uncontrolled. As you can probably imagine, this will cause every symptom you described.
Mine were completely ruined at only 160k miles when I replaced them, California car so no rust. If you're on the originals at 200k+ I can almost guarantee it's your issue.
Unfortunately it's not exactly an easy or cheap job to replace them. I believe book time on them is 3.5 hours, and it requires special tools. Bushings are about $60 a piece (for genuine Toyota), plus the 3.5 hours of labor for a total of around $700 at $150/hr plus tax and shop fees.
Picture below of what's involved:
Have someone check them out asap, the car is not safe to drive when they're bad. I would also recommend finding a new shop than the two you've been bouncing between.
