Banging in rear which seems to be comming from the struts.

Your insurance co will if you get in an accident, No Pay.........

Ref to the 'wide-body' Camry rear suspension:

The rear stabiliser does not *appear* to be a critical suspension component ie it doesn't have a dual role (as in being a locating member for the lowestrut mount), so removing it is feasible for test purposes,..but I wouldn't go on a longish trip with it like that as the whole balance of the vehicle is upset, especially thru corners.

Jason

After my 89 Camry was stolen, I replaced it with a 98 purchased from a private party with only 65,000 miles. It had a thump or bang that was coming from the left rear when going over bumps. I thought it was coming from something loose in the trunk (that is why I ignored it during the test drive) but it was still there after everything was removed (after I purchased it). I removed both rear wheels so I could get at the suspension parts and give them all a good shake. You could duplicate the sound by grabbing the left rear suspension arm (the one with the turn-buckle) and giving it a shake. The bearing was defective and had play in it. This part appears to have a needle bearing in it and not a rubber grommet like the sway bar or stabilizer bar. I had to purchase it from the Toyoda dealer--$120. It is very easy to replace. Perhaps this is your problem.

Mike D

Check out the rear suspension arms. I would jack up the rear, remove the wheel and grab the various components and shake them to find out which were loose. There are two suspension arms per wheel and they do not appear to use rubber grommets as the bearing--rather they appear to be some type of metal bearing. If they are worn, you will get a banging when you go over bumps that appears to be coming from some ill-defined area in the rear. Replacement parts are only available from dealer and you have to replace the entire arm.

Mike D

I've recently noticed this thumping sound on a new '04 camry. Started at around

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Dan You replaced the struts 3 times, did you change the strut upper mounts too?? last fall I replaced all 4 struts on my 97 with Monroe sensatracks, and within a month after that, I started hearing the same kind of noise you describe(all was quiet before the change)a month ago I replaced all 4 struts again(didn't like the ride)and this time I replaced the upper strut mounts too. No more banging, and the ride is back to the way I like it. It's alot of work to replace the mounts(as much as to replace the struts)but I think that(in my case)that is what stopped the banging. JerryR

My apologies for posting without seeing the thread before this point. I just want to make sure that all bases have been covered. I had a pounding noise from the rear a little while after I struck a truck exhaust system in the middle of the road. It turned out that whatever holds the exhaust pipe had broken loose and the noise was from the exhaust system moving around. This probably isn't your problem, but I use as an example that noises are often not from where they appear to be, but from something not immediately suspected. It's always a good idea to find the best mechanic you can, for he may fix the problem for a few dollars that would accidently be fixed by a major repair job.

snipped-for-privacy@att.net Rochester Minnesota USA

You probably checked this but any loose items in the trunk? low air presure in my spare made some noise as well as the compartments on either side had stuff banging around in them.

Some of the answers but not all.

1. The origional struts were replaced because they would freeze during the winter around 30 degrees. By that I mean NO strut action. They wouldn't move. I had Gabrial installed and the strut upper mounts were also replaced. That is when the banging started. After troubleshooting, I found the rear sway bar bushings were worn and the rear sway bar did bang. Good, got parts from dealer and replaced the bushings. I though all was fixed but NO, still banged.

Took car to firestone dealer that did the install and the replaced all

I then spent some time on the web and with the mfg. I had the dealer replace the struts with KBY struts, still bangs. This entire sequence has taken me months of time since I have had to let the car at the Firestone place so Mfg rep's can look at it.

I, as well as the dealer have removed everything from the trunk as well as the rear seat. Still bangs.

An interesting note. The temp in New England today is in the 90's and the banging has almost not noticable. This has led me to thing of something rubber as mounts or bushings. The dealer and I have been under the car looking for anything loose or damaged. No luck.

The damn car still bangs.

I want to thank all of the responders for their suggestions. I will be adressing the bearing issue and will remove the sway bar to totally eliminate it from the equation. I have an uneasy suspection that the upper strut mounts may be the ultimate cause of the banging. I'm willing to bet the repair people did something wrong during the first installation and have repeated it during the additional installations. I hope I'm wrong here.

Thanks for the input.

After all the things you have checked and replaced, it's time to try and simulate the conditions when the car makes this noise and at the same time observe and identify where the noise is coming from (hopefully with the dispensation of the car-noise-demon in the sky :-)

If you get a helper to stand in the trunk and get the rear of the vehicle bouncing, it may reproduce the noise.

This has allready been mentioned, but the exhaust system touching the body at certain times when the car's body is at a specific angle can make a loud banging noise.

Try rocking the rear of the car sideways,...I've found at least 1/2 of wierd noises can be reproduced.

good luck.

Jason

Yep, Had my daughter drive the car over a mildly bumpy road when I had the rear seat out and could focus on where I thought the noise came from. I could wiggle myself into the trunk and listen. Again, I believe it comes from the struts area. But as you say, the noise could be comming from someplace else and transmits itself to the struts area.

I have had the car on ramps and talked my wife and daughter into getting into the trunk and bouncing up and down to simulate the motion which makes the noise. I was underneath the car listening and looking for noises and unusal actions. No luck, just as quiet as a church mouse after I changed the rear sway bar bushings. But the car still bangs.

I have forced the entire exhaust system in as many ways as possible from the rear to the front. No luck in making any noises, except that I broke the flexible exhaust coupling which cost me $150 to get replaced. The car still bangs.

This one is really hard unless you have a number of folks willing to rock the car. My wife and daughter were unwilling to attempt the rocking motion. I attempted to rock the car a little when the car was on ramps by bouncing up and down on the dooor stll while holding on to the door. My daughter was under the car looking and listening. She didn't like being under the car and I didn't really try to agressively rock it. But still banging noise when in motion on mildely bumpy roads.

How were you able to rock the car and look and listen underneath it?

P/s my 99 camry or 90 Stanza, or 91 Tracer, or 92 Roadmaster doesn't bang on the same roads.

Thanks for the luck and your suggestions. This is really beginning to frustrate me.

Dan

So that's where you need to focus. They were fine until the Gabriel struts and strut mounts were replaced. Either the struts are the wrong part number for your vehicle - Toyota usually has a number of different struts depending upon exact application. Or you just hapened to get a defective new part in the strut mount. Or as you suspect, the installation was flawed. Sorry to say, but I've never had much confidence in having tire dealers doing alignment or suspension work.

Just a thought. Have you checked your rear wheel bearings?