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Old 03-18-2020, 02:48 PM
Jonsie Jonsie is offline
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Default 2007 Camry

Hey fellas- friend of mine has a 2007 Camry XLE, @ 75K miles. Car has an intermittant "rumbling" coming from the rear, not loud, best heard at lower speeds. Toyota service specialist is telling her it sounds like struts need replacing (the conversation was over the phone, with no physical inspection).
Anyone have some knowledge regarding this problem?

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Old 03-18-2020, 03:10 PM
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I don't know anything about that specific car, but a rumbling noise is often caused by a bad wheel bearing.

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Old 03-18-2020, 03:56 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Stuart View Post
I don't know anything about that specific car, but a rumbling noise is often caused by a bad wheel bearing.
That. And for some reason Japanese cars seem to have issues with rear wheel bearings.

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Old 03-19-2020, 03:17 PM
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...and occasionally it can be the tires. Look for cupping. Then bad struts.

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Old 03-19-2020, 04:25 PM
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Jonsie - my wife's 2006 Nissan Altima had the same issue a number of years ago (@ 80 K miles). On her car it sounded like growling, and I initially thought it was cupped tires from an alignment issue. Turned out to be one of the rear bearings. I did both sides and replaced with new Timken units. Quiet as can be after that.

Very easy to do - only 4 bolts hold the assembly in place (once all of the brake items are removed). At the time, I also did pads and rotors since everything had to come off anyway. A year after that, I did the rear struts. That may be what your friend is hearing on the Camry since, with the wheel bearings, it would get louder with speed (mine did big time) ...

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Old 03-19-2020, 06:30 PM
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Not saying that it's absolutely a wheel bearing, but a quick check is they often make more noise when going around a curve in one direction or the other, depending on which bearing it is.

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Old 03-19-2020, 08:30 PM
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I just went through this on my wife's Vibe, (same as a Matrix or a Corolla). Jack up the rear wheels and spin them by hand, you'll probably find on that has tight spots as you spin it by hand, or you'll hear a rumble. You'll need a rear hub bearing assembly, buy a Timken unit as the cheap chinese crap will be rumbling again in less than a year, bought mine on Amazon, but they weren't expecting any more until April.

The hard part is going to be removing the hub assembly from the rear suspension. The center rusts into the hole in the rear suspension and it doesn't come out easily. Now I've made my living turning wrenches for 40 years and have never run into a hub bearing that was stuck like this one was. There is a solution, and a video here about it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4pygRExlus

I wasn't going to spring for $130 tool for one use so I made my own from plate and square tubing scraps. Amazon has them starting at $108:

https://www.amazon.com/hub-buster/s?k=hub+buster

No matter what you do it's a PIA job, but it solves the problem of the rumble in the rear. My wife was pretty happy to not have the noise any longer. If I ever have to replace the right one I at least have the tool I made, and the knowledge of how to get it apart. BTW, if you DIY, make sure to support the backing plate and hub assembly so you don't break the steel brake line like I did when it drops off of the suspension. Have fun if you decide to DIY, you'll get a workout.....................

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Old 03-19-2020, 11:51 PM
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Thanks guys, for your responses. Car is going in tomorrow for service, car is in FLA, I am back home here in NJ after our vacation. The tires were fine. I remember the noise was more of a rumble, vs. a growling like a bearing would make. Noise did not get louder with speed. I'll let you all know how this turns out.

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Old 03-20-2020, 12:04 AM
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I'd be willing to bet it's the hub bearing, it's a common problem in these cars.

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Old 03-20-2020, 10:57 AM
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Well, whatever the problem is, I hope it gets fixed correctly today. Car is going into dealer today at 11. She is a single woman, hope she doesn't get taken advantage of at the dealership. I can say that on the way to Fort Myers airport from Punta Gorda ( maybe 30 miles) she was going 75-80 MPH down I-75 (heavy foot). I am guessing the bearings would have been screaming after that trip? When we did get to the airport, and back down to 15-20 MPH, the intermittant thumping was back, same sound level as before trip

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Old 03-20-2020, 11:28 AM
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Same symptom and sounds as my wife's Vibe, at low speeds, waah, waah, waah, as speeds increase the frequency does also. I had to wait on the part from Amazon and she continued to drive it, it actually took a couple thousand miles from when it started to when I replaced it. It got just slightly louder during the duration. Even though it had tight spots when rotating it by hand, there was no excessive play if grabbed on the outside of the wheel.

I'm guessing the bearing grease had dried out, but there was still enough there to keep the bearing cool and not cause rapid wear. As I said, pretty common on import rear hub assemblies.

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Old 03-20-2020, 03:45 PM
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Could be a strut bearing also. Sounds awful in the car but not dangerous.

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Old 03-21-2020, 12:56 PM
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If it has a rear sway bar it could be the sway bar bushings or links. Is it constant or over bumps?

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Old 03-21-2020, 04:28 PM
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You said the noise doesn't change with vehicle speed, which sort of takes it in the direction of the upper strut mount or stabilizer links. Another possibility on a 13 year old car is a heat shield that is beginning to fall off. It's common for them to fall partially down and rest on the exhaust system. When driving and when going over bumps they can make an awful racket. Any decent repair shop should be able to fix this correctly. Agree wheel bearings would have been my first guess.

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Old 03-21-2020, 08:32 PM
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Noise was not constant, and while slow speeds over smooth roads. At highway speeds, wind noise drowned out any noise from the rear. I'm told it's the struts, and apparently they're not bad enough to fix now. Thirteen year old car has only 75K miles, I suppose if the service people thought it would be dangerous to drive, they would have pushed to have the struts changed. On our way to the airport the car rode fine.

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