2009 Toyota Camry LE - Rattling and Grinding sounds

[Stony Peat]

Hi,

We have a 2009 Toyota Camry LE that is one year old. It was bought
back in June 2008. It has about 17000 miles on it and now seems to be
making some "wobbly and grinding" sounds from the passenger side of
the engine. The sounds are pretty faint and could be mistaken for
sounds from tire hitting the pavement. But I think the sound could be
made by a loose pulley/belt either the main belt or power steering. I
took it to the dealership here in TX and they say they can't hear any
sounds. I requested that they drive with me in the car and I will
point to the sounds when I hear them. They have asked me to schedule
for that and I will next week. The sounds are similar to twirling a
yoyo with one holding the end of the string and letting the entire
length swing. It seems to increase when I speed up and dies when the
car slows. What could it be? The sound is faint but is there! Could
it be a loose belt, or pulleys or something that the dealership does
not want to fix?

Thanks for helping.

p

[Leftie]

If it only happens when the car is moving, then the prime suspects
are the right tires, rotor, and wheel bearings. If it's the rotor it
should get worse (or possibly stop) when you step on the brake.

[john...@hotmail.com]

Does the noise occur only when moving? Or when you rev the engine
too?

If it's moving then you can probably narrow down to the parts that's
road-speed related. For example, sticky brake caliper, halfshafts,
differential, etc.

If the noise occurs when you rev the engine, then it's not likely to
be brake calipers, etc.

Have the dealer hear it and document it. Because earlier 2.4L have
problems with the buzzing intake manifold and defective drive belt
tensioner. But I'd think those are fixed in 2009.

[ACAR]

On May 12, 10:55 pm, Stony Peat <x...@x.com> wrote:
> Hi,
>

>  I requested that they drive with me in the car and I will
> point to the sounds when I hear them.  

I suggest you also drive a brand new Camry with the technician if he
claims he can't hear the noise from your car or if he claims all the
sounds are normal. Usually, that's all it takes to make them pay
attention to you.

[john...@hotmail.com]

Why are owners getting rid of their 2009 Camrys so early? And with
vibration and noises at 17-18K miles? I've always wondered if they're
back to making cheap tin cans again.

[Stony Peat]

Thanks. I took the car back today and they insisted that they (their
technicians) will drive the car first. I said OK and let them test
it. They came back this time and said they could hear the sound and
they pointed it to the tires and said that the rear tires were cupped
and that caused the sound. I said that I heard the sound from the
right (passenger side) engine compartment. They told me that it
sounds like that but the sound is really the cupped tires in the rear
and that I had not rotated the tires enough times or once every 5000
miles. My counter was that I had rotated them but once every
6000-7000 miles and that I have had that done 2 times now (since the
car has about 17000 miles) and one coming up at 20000 miles. They
told me that putting 2 new tires on the back will fix the problem and
the sound will go away. They told me that Toyota warranty will not
cover the tires and that I will have to go to Bridgestone to get them
to give me new tires.

In a way, I can somewhat attest to what they are saying. We used to
have a 1997 Camry that made the same racket. Since my wife drove that
car, she was quite oblivious to the sound. I was really dumbfound
when I drove it one time and the sound was really driving me crazy. I
had it checked out by a mechanic who did the timing belt and he said
that everything was fine. I, then had it checked out by another
mechanic who could not find anything wrong. Since the engine was not
making the same sounds when parked, I assumed that it was road noise.
We bought new tires for it and the sound just went away completely.

I carefully inspected the thread wear on all the four tires. The
tires on the front have more thread than the ones on the back. I
wonder whether they are rotating the tires properly. It is really
suprising how much noise an improper rotation can cause. I intend to
follow the 5000 mile thing religiously from now on.

I have to convince bridgestone to give me 2 new tires for the worn
ones in the back. Considering the car has only 17000 miles, these
tires are really crap tires.

Other than some sound, will this cause any damage to any other part?
The service guy at the dealership says to buy new tires when the tires
wear out and that nothing bad will happen except for some noise that I
am hearing.

Thanks for all the responses.

stony

On Thu, 14 May 2009 17:28:40 -0700 (PDT), ACAR <gmw...@gmail.com>
wrote:

[dsi1]

Cupped tires will create a worrisome sound that does sound like a bad
bearing. This perhaps used to be more of a problem with the lightly
loaded tires in the rear ends of import cars some years ago. My guess is
that it's less of a problem these days with cars being so heavy and all.

Back then, the technicians could offer no solution for this except to
keep the tires inflated properly, rotate often and maybe change the
shocks in the rear. My guess is that the road conditions you drive on
has something to do with it. Not to mention your speed and tire pressure
and the interaction between your tire and suspension's natural resonance
to bounce like a basketball. It's a pretty complex problem and varies
from car to car and driver to driver. Just change your tires and don't
worry about it. :-)

[j...@jebswebs.com]

The tires on my 07 Camry were Bridgestones and all four had to be
replaced at 24,000 because they were bald. I started noticing the
problem around 17K and had the same cupping problem even though the
tires were rotated every 5-6K as required.

The tires Toyota is putting in new cars are much cheaper versions of
the tires the cars are rated for (I believe V-rated). I have heard
that all of the car manufacturers are doing this. They put on thinner
tires to save money and these tires have a live expectancy of about
30K.

Replacement tires from Bridgstone were in the $250 - 300 each range
from the dealer. I got Uniroyal Tiger Paws for $100 each from Sears.
They came with a 80K warranty. I've put about 20K on them and they are
wearing nicely.

Start saving your money and watching the papers for good deals.

~jeb