anothercamry

Also some people just post once to sell and then disappear as mm has said people do have busy lifestyles and just dont get the time to look at all the threads

i used to own a vl turbo. I spent hours and hours on www.calaisturbo.com.au and found that absolutely hundreds of others did also - admittedly there are quite a lot of idiots on there, but also a hell of a lot of smart people including mechanics, retrimmers, spray painters, suspension specialists, engine builders etc etc. So it's got nothing to do with whether or not people have busy lifestyles. If you want it bad you'll log on 20 times a day.

I put the difference between that site and this Camry section down to:

A. You can't really mod a camry B. Camry's don't appeal to kids. C. Camry's don't break down.

n00b questions:

Is it unusual for a car to require so much suspension work at only 150K kms?

Why might the suspension be so shot?

I don't have a lot of experience with suspension, but I have owned a fair few different sorts of cars, and the most any of them ever required was a few new bushings.

I totally agree with you there is some thing very wrong when a camry needs suspension bushes at 150klms they must have been on very very rough road for most of its life Dosent make any sense

Haydn

i reckon the damage to bushes was a combination of two factors. Firstly, that the car is sitting on 17inch 225mm wide wheels. While these are stock rims (GTP) they will wear the suspension out a lot quicker than stocko 15inch 205mm wheels. Secondly, i now know the springs have been replaced with standard height 'king springs'. These are harder than the touring model stock springs and would place additional stress on suspension components.

since starting this post and thanks to several very helpful replies, i have replaced the major parts of the suspension which were failing including, front struts (kyb inserts), wheel bearings, lower control arm bushes (front and rear), strut bearing plates. She handles a hell of a lot better. not all those bushes were worn out but whilst the car was apart and i could replace with polyurethane items i thought i may as well. Do it once and do it properly is a motto i've learnt the hard way with previous cars.

all up, to purchase and have fitted those parts, i'm out of pocket $1136. If anyone is interested in individual prices etc or help on where to buy (some parts were quite difficult to get hold of), please message me.

For the record, the engine mounts are showing some signs of wear, but still keeping the engine in place with no clunks etc. For the time being i've decided not to change them.

Go and see these people as they make the most of the bushes that Pedders would use anyway

Fulcrum Suspensions, 760 Fairfield Road

YEERONGPILLY 4105, Queensland, Australia

Ph: +61 7 3892 9000

Also the rear engine mount is not hydraulic, the front one is thou. Will only need an insert, but RH drive shaft needs to be removed as it goes through engine mount bracket.

I would recommend that you replace the rear struts/shocks at the same time.

There are NO radius rods in the Camry suspension so I would question what they have quoted you there.

What you have listed is a big job that is probably best left to a workshop/mechanic to do as they will have a host + hydraulic press.

Good info there. Thanks for that mate. Funny you should slap up Fulcrum's details, I've had the car booked in there for this sat morning since middle of last week!! They've done a lot of work for me in the past.

Seems my nice 'cheap' car was sold with a few problems which i need to get sorted out. shortly after purchase i started to notice some noises from the front end. Took her down to pedders for their $14 check and got told the bad news:

struts dead $440 (comfort gas) $240 (kyb)

top strut mounts $265, $62.80

wheel bearings $294, $76 (from bearing shop)

lower inner control arm bushes $115, $50.40

top engine mount $110, $77

rear engine mount $187.90, $80.50 (insert only) ** do i need the whole thing? is this hydraulic??

radius rod bushes $170, $24

rear trailing arm bushes $85, $65

*all prices are for one pair or one kit.

now pedders being pedders want to charge me over $3k to supply and fit all this stuff. some of the prices they quote seem absolutely ridiculous. However, they were good enough to show me carefully over the vehicle exactly what and why each component needed replacing. I've had a good bit of experience with suspension with my old VL turbo so have maybe close to half an idea what they were on about. I got to see for myself the torn bushes etc while it was on the hoist.

anyway above i've put up the cost of replacement parts as indicated by pedders. to the right of pedders prices i've put up some equivalent prices if anyone is intersted. These equivalent prices are best i could find from a fair shop around, not all parts are from the same place, so kinda like best of the worst lol.

anyone else that has done this stuff can they please advise how much time a mechanic might take to do this job? i've been told all sorts of things from 3hours to 7hours and labour fees from about $180 down to $88/hr. pedders want to sting me about $1200 GST incl.

many mechanics say 'we'll see how we go when the job gets started'. I don't like dealing with those places at all cos never know what the hell they'll end up charging.

for those that made it this far down the post thanks and apologies for long winded message.

oh, if anyone wants some cash/beer etc to do this job (you'll need spring compressors etc) please put your hand up!! i can give you a hand. i'm in mt gravatt brisbane.

my little thing with OD

if i'm pottering round town or in heavy traffic (stop/start) i drive with the OD off. I have noticed the car will reposed a bit quicker on teh gear changes if you need to give it the beans (like fast lane changes)

once i'm crusing along at a constant speed (freeway / open road) flick the OD on, so the gear box and motor relax and save some fuel. remember OD has no power behind it, so the gearbox will kick down if you give it a boot full.

Also, for those that are lucky and not have OD but have a auto, try this on for size. Family member of mine drives cabs in SA. everytime he comes to a stop, he knocks the auto into "N". I asked why, he explained that the auto clutch is still engaged and slowly burns the auto clutch therefore wearing the box out.

Just be carefull not to knock it into gear and then gun it. Wait for the box to engaged!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

my 2 cents

on the contrary, engaging N and clicking into gear puts more wear than just leaving it in D. the "auto clutch" is actually a torque converter - a kind of fluid pump. when the engine side spins, it forces transmission fluid against the fins on the transmission side and when you give it enough gas, the force is strong enough to move the transmission and hense the car. when in idle the revs are low enough that the brakes can hold the car still even when the engine is still running (this is why the car wants to move forward when you relax the brakes)

it's probably my reading skills but i cannot comprehend from your post why putting it in N weares the clutch/tranny more than leaving it in D ?

got the car last night. i'll post up some pics when i get round to it. just a quick question which may not be that easy to answer: how firm should the suspension feel? i guess with the low profile tyres and tighter suspension i'm gonna get plenty of feedback? or maybe at 150,000klm the strut inserts could be a bit tired...?

thanks everyone for your help. Looks like i've sealed a deal on this car, and cheaper than first thought! pick up monday

Mate, if you can source a GTP Gen 4 Camry... in General, you're doin fine. Only has 150k on the clock (around average) and looked after really well.

Check the aircon's all good... power steering, engine mounts... (they tend to go after 8-10 years)... the other parts that are common are merely cosmetic stuff (power windows, ceiling cloth sagging... door trims coming out etc). Check that the water pump was done also...

I reckon if I were in your shoes, I woulda bought that in a heart beat. Them GTP kits are rare as hen's teeth mate, and people pay lots of money for em.

You're buying a Camry mate... not much goes wrong with these cars :) Unlike Holdens or Fords... Hyundais or anything like that. If you service it regularly (5-10k) you'll have that car way into the 300-400-500k mark no problem.

ta for your reply. sounds like i've passed up a pretty good deal!! i'll get back in contact tomorrow and see what the go is. might go for another trip up there to check out the engine mounts and double check it's genuine gtp. the other stuff you mentioned all checked out fine. i didn't mention previously but the car also has 17's, heaps of tread on brand name tyres and decent stereo. it has carbon fibre accessories inside too, if that's worth anything.

I own a 99 Touring series and its a manual. My girlfriend has just purchased an automatic 99 Vienta VXi and it appears to be much quieter engine wise (almost silent). I have also noticed my air conditioning is quite noisy at times and contributes greatly to the noise from my engine however this is not present in the VXi.

My main question is to do with noise levels and is there any difference between a manual and automatic 1MZ-FE in this respect.

are you listening from the inside or outside of the vehicle? if you're inside, could it have something to do with the vienta having better sound deadening properties?

G'day,

i'm looking at purchasing a camry hopefully between the years of 1998 and 2001. v6 and if i can find one at the right price and in good condition preferably a 'touring' manual.

i have looked at a few, one in particular caught my eye. it was a 1999 Touring GTP, one lady owner (her father was a dealer at toyota), full log books. whilst driving it the owner seemed quite suprised when i gave it a few revs and by her body language i'm very confident she hasn't given the vehicle a hard time at all. it felt glassy smooth especially in comparison to my last car (vl turbo). there were no strange noises or clunks. body and interior is in beautiful condition except one power window was buggered (back left). I just want something which isn't going to cause problems as i don't have time anymore to be messing around a lot with cars. this particular vehicle has just had timing belt done and clutch replaced. apart from that would one of the many people here in the know kindly advise if through normal driving (i'm getting old so over flogging cars) what else is likely to go wrong with this car and at what kilometers? also is $8500 a good price?

thanks so much for your reply.