Zacharias

I am prioritizing work I need to do on my new-to-me 1996. The PO's son had the car for the last year or so and nothing got done....


I have two noises in the rear end. On the passenger side, it's a clunk-clunk, could be the stabilizer bar link.


On the driver's side, it's nasty: hard metal-contacting-metal BANG when hitting bumps.


I am leaning toward doing the stabilizer links and the stabilizer bar mount bushings.


Am I generally on target or should I be looking at other stuff (for example, the strut mounts)?


Tks

JetsonES

I think you are on track. My car made horrible noises when the sway bar links went. I went ahead and took the opportunity to upgrade to a TRD sway bar while I was at it. Totally worth it.

Zacharias

Thanks for the info

808mcv20l

Anyone know if the 99-03 solara TRD swaybar fits the 97-01 ES?

I thought I read somewhere that it didn't fit, just wanted to make sure.

808mcv20l

swaybar links and bushings is where I would start as well.

Replaced all of them in my 99 Camry and my sisters 98 Camry, her rear was horrible, made clunking noises over every speed bump or rough patch in the road.

replaced with Moog links and Energy suspension, no noises after that.

Just FYI, the rear Links are Same fore both sides, however the fronts have different Left and Right sides, they are the same for 97-01 Camry, 97-01 ES300.

JetsonES

The moog replacements are great, I appreciate the fact that they have flats for a wrench and zerk fittings for lubrication.

Zacharias

The Moog rear stabilizer bar links have zerk fittings?


Wow, I thought zerks were something we mentioned in stories to youngsters now....

mmatheny

Could also be the top strut mounts in the rear.

JetsonES

Sad to see zerk fittings going the way of the dinosaurs, they are so handy.

Kauz

Common problem with Lexus/Toyota strut mounts. Had the same issue with our ES300 and RX300. It sounds much worse in cold weather.

-Kauz

Zacharias

Ok thanks for all the input. Have spoken to my wrench and we are going to put the car onto the hoist and try to narrow stuff down.


The car had the rear struts done in the last year or two but I forgot to ask if the mounts were done too. I would suspect not.

Zacharias

Probably about the last thing someone could have thought of....


The left rear stabilizer bar bushing bracket rusted through and the bar is hitting the tub over bumps.


Welcome to life in the rust belt.


Honestly, the car is very clean overall underneath. But that particular area would have benefitted from some rust protection over the years.

JetsonES

Well howdy do, I just had the same problem crop up yesterday. The sway bar brackets sheared in two. It is probably the result of the stiffer sway bar I installed, the design of the sway bar mount on these cars isn't all that great and I suppose is not up to the task of a stiffer sway bar. The klunking is loud and was worrisome until I got out and looked.




Broken mount on drivers side.





Intact mount on passenger side.

Zacharias

Ouch. On your car rust isn't an issue, either.


On the 2ES the bracket is bolted directly to the body tub.


My next Lexus will if at all possible come from either a 'dry' state or at least somewhere in Canada where they don't bathe the cars in road salt every winter....

JetsonES

I believe that a sway bar bracket should be bolted directly to the chassis or subframe. I don't know why they chose the geometry they did but it is insufficient in higher than stock load applications. I didn't like the looks of it when I installed the bar and my instincts were correct. Oh well, relatively minor in the scheme of things but the noise was alarming, sounded like something was slamming around in the trunk or a strut mount had gone bad. Seeing the broken bracket was quite the relief, because it sounded extremely bad.