I have a 2003 Camry. Since I bought it, it has the following issues:
Shimmies at speeds above 70 MPH. This behavior is really weird. You sometimes feel a wheel vibration, and the Steering wheel is smooth, but then the Steering wheel starts to shimy and the tires become smooth. At one given time, it's either the wheels or the steering wheel.
At any speed, after I turn left or right, the steering wheel shimmies strongly when returning to straight possition.
Sometimes the Steering wheels produces a clunking noise, when braking or accelerating.
I have already:
Had all wheels aligned
Had wheels balanced a few times, even replaced with new Rims & Tires.
I noticed the Maintenance section lists checking the ball joints as a standard procedure, so it seems Toyota is telling you to check them often. Fairly easy to do. Lift that side of the car, place a wood block under the tire, lower halfway then use a pry bar and protective rag, beneath the ball joint. Acceptable play is zero. The Manual also shows how to replace them which I did, even though only one was showing play. Also found cracking in the control arm rear rubber and replaced them, also had seepage at one CV joint cover and incipient cracking in the other, so replaced the axles with Toyota remanufactured. The parts counter had a display extolling the virtues of Toyota remanufactured axles: right grease, remachined splines, fully balanced, parts subject to wear replaced with new, and perfect fit. Think I paid around $115 each. Tie rod ends were OK, judging by the test in the Maintenance section (steering wheel play). Seems the new hard plastic CV joint covers are nearly impervious to cracking now - some synthetic material. Used to get some progressively more violent wheel thumping under full acceleration over 90 mph, now completely gone. The most basic check for looseness in the front end is lift the car, support solidly on jack stands, put on a pair of gloves and yank on the tire with hands at top and bottom, then on the sides, see if anything is loose. There was also a procedure in the Factory Service Manual showing how to use a dial indicator to check wheel bearings for runout. I also checked them, but they were fine. Services were performed around 135,000 miles. That's fifty thousand miles ago now, and all still flawless. Since I plan on using the special tools only rarely, I purchased them at Harbor Freight. Tie rod end puller was less than $10. Bench vise for the ball joints around $35. Air gun around $50. Air compressor from Kragen $99. Write back if you get stuck. There are a few little tricks with the axles. The rest is actually quite straightforward if you follow the service manual step by step.
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