QuestionQUESTION: I was wondering if you had any info as to ride height specs for above vehicle. I can't find anything listed in Alldata or the Haynes manual.
Some quick background: it's an automatic with 218000 miles. It sometimes (lately, seems to be more often) scrapes on the bottom when going over bumps, sometimes even just speed bumps in parking lots. It had all 4 struts replaced in Jan 2006 & feels like they're working ok; ie car doesn't keep "bouncing" when going over bumps. It's more prevalent when several people are in the car; but it will sometimes do it with just me driving alone too. I looked underneath & couldn't see any exhaust components or anything sagging. I had a local Midas inspect it just to be sure I wasn't missing something but they also had the same conclusion.
So I'm guessing this is just caused by increased weight on the car vs a mechanical issue. But, I'd like to measure the ride height of the car, if I could find any specs, just to be make sure I don't have a defective spring, given the age & mileage. Visually, the car doesn't appear to be sagging. Any chance you have any info on those specs? Or any other thoughts? Thank you for any insight you can provide.
ANSWER: Austin,
Is it a tire scrape or a clunk? Its most likely the rubber bushing
mounts on the rear anti-swaybar. 90% of the time it is misdiagnosed
as struts. With miles and age its a common
thing on Camrys, the rubber gets hard and the hole in it wears
out of round. They are easy to replace and inexpensive, (dealer
part only). Don't attempt to replace until I tell you how to do
it.
Best way to see if car is sagging, pull up along side of another
in a parking lot and glance at both cars. Camrys don't sag unless
to much weight or busted spring.
Tim,
ToyDoc
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: I replaced the rear stabilizer bushings around March 2005, to resolve a different noise that was clearly coming from them. Shortly after, I also replaced the front stabilizer bushings, more for preventative maintenance. Front & rear struts were replaced in 2006. The noise is a scraping/grinding type sound & it's obvious that the car is bottoming out. It's only been doing this for the past 6 months or so. It doesn't happen all the time, but 99% of the time when it occurs, there are multiple passengers in the car. So, unless you can think of something else, I'm guessing it's probably just weight related & that I'll just have to go extremely slow over speed bumps, etc.
AnswerAustin,
92-96 Camrys in general aren't made to haul a lot of weight. If you put 4 or 5, 40 pound bags of salt in the trunk the body will drop down a few inches.
I have no idea how many people your talking about, or the total sum of weight. When you have several people in a Camry it will bottom out! Look in the owners manuel for max capacity. The only way around this is heavy duty struts.
Tim
