NOISE

[Solorange]

In my case, I have a 99 Solara and had noise every time I went over a speed bump or pothole. It was the upper strut bushing. They were replaced at 17k and again at 38k. Both under warranty. As has been said a bad design and I still have the noise on the driver side front strut. I will have new bushing put in when I change my struts. Only have 80k now so will be a while.

Everybody I have known who had this problem had to replace the strut bushing to get rid of the noise.

Yeah my dad 1998 Toyota Camry had the problem on the front passenger strut.
It was the strut mount bearin'....

For my car it had 2 different noises in the back. lol.
1. My TRD RSB poly bushin' need some white lithium grease. [makes a creakin' noise].
2. My poly R/C/A bushin'. [makes a squeakin' noise]. I just have to put some white lithium grease where it meets wit the frame mount.

I can't decide now which one of you are right. Whether its the upper strut bearing or the upper strut support. So I had to go back and check my receipt. The receipt says upper strut support, but my gut instinct says its actually the bearing. See when I had this problem I took it too this hole in the wall toyota shop that does really good work near Cincinnati. They didnt have an up to date computer system so the mechanic just writes in what ever description he wants for the parts so he may have meant the bearing. But they do nothing but fix and do body work on Toyotas and they also sell toyotas too. I remember talking to the mechanic and he mentioned that it was the bearings which where made of plastic and over time wear through and then it clunks on bumps when it hits the strut tower. But seeing how I dont think toyota is dumb enough to make a plastic bearing nor have I ever heard of a plasttic bearing he must have been talking about the metal bearing wearing through the plastic upper strut mount. LOL im typing this as I think about it. Anyway he said it was a common problem in camrys 97-99 and on 99 solaras. He said every 97-99 camry/solara they sold he had to fix that problem. He said toyota fixed the problem in 2000. So I guess maybe me receipt is right. I bet the upper strut mounts were plastic and the bearing wore through it. Toyota fixed it buy changing that upper strut mount to metal. Either way if your a do it yourselfer you will see the problem when you take it apart. Hopes this helps all of you.

[Anik321]

I am having quite the same issue. Now for those who care, my '99 has over 130k on it (i bought it w/ 70k) and I am pretty sure the suspension was never worked on. Since I wanna do this right the first time .. can you guys recommend which:

1. strut mount.
2. strut.
3. springs.

I should go with?

I am looking to get some work done so I can have this baby running quietly for atleast another 2 years. Thanks guys.

[woa_its_j3ff]

well honestly man it's hard to just tell you, you'd have to try checking all of them. springs i doubt, but usually for me i'd check strut mount first, then check your spring/struts.

[Sentinel]

It could also be the front sway bar links, but probably only if you had some jerk work on the suspension and not tighten them properly.

Seeing as MY car eats upper strut mounts. (needs new ones now) I'm going to go with that.

[redgen1]

Strut mount bolt...

pop your hood
locate the strut mounts (strut bar connects both sides)
tighten that big nut, 19mm a little tighter...

+1 I doubt it can be anything else.
Back when I had my car's suspension stock my strut mounts made my car make a thunk sound as if there was a giant brick hittin my car every time. Make sure you tighten and in my opinion torque it down a bit to the proper settings. let us know man.

orrr the strut cap... according to the last toyota tech that looked at my car, i lost both of mine and same sh*t happens... the strut bolts are tight enough. tokico's are comin in the spring with my tax return heh

[Anik321]

whoa_its_j3ff,

guy, I meant which brand mounts, springs etc to go with. (not which part I should replace). I am thinking of doing the whole bit.

I hear Autozone or Advanced auto sells a whole pre-assembled kit from Monroe that you can simply drop in after taking out the old assembly.

Is this true? If so I would not require a spring compressor.

I am not looking for serious performance - just something that improves ride quality and cornering slightly. This babys seen over 130k .. so its time I put in the money and time to get it back to running smooth.

[Solorange]

I am having quite the same issue. Now for those who care, my '99 has over 130k on it (i bought it w/ 70k) and I am pretty sure the suspension was never worked on. Since I wanna do this right the first time .. can you guys recommend which:

1. strut mount.
2. strut.
3. springs.

I should go with?

I am looking to get some work done so I can have this baby running quietly for atleast another 2 years. Thanks guys.

Check and see if the fluid inside your struts has run down the side of it. Thats one way you can tell your struts are blown. And if they bounce excessively. If your getting a lot of clunking noise its your upper strut mount. As jeff said it probably isn't your springs, but I guess if something really stands out then that may be the problem.