Following forum with interest -- very interesting, even for a non-geek car owner. Misalignment caused cupping on tires. Will replace those but was also told by an independent service place that my shocks and struts would have been affected and must be replaced. Any thoughts on this? How long do they usually last on Gen III?
How many miles on your car? Does it seem to ride ok and not too bumpy? These mechanics always try to get a few more dollars from you. I would think if the car is less than 60k miles, you shouldn't have to worry about the shocks/struts. Unless there are ride quality issues, just get an alignment with new tires, if needed
Info I found leans toward component failure. What kind of road condition does this go over? Potholes, railroads tracks, off road?
I so have new front strut assemblies on the way along with a pair of lower control arms with ball joints. Hoping the wheel bearings aren't bad... weren't last I checked... though the suspension on both sides and lower ball joint on the drivers side was starting to get shady. Driver side tire is starting to cup on the inside. Wishing there were retread or tire smoothing services. Will be interesting to see how performs with the new parts. Having one of those sucky moments where the tires are 80,000 mile tires and maybe 1/4 of the way used.
You can rotate them and see if the tire with weird wear evens out. Have you been rotating them at the recommended interval? do not know what interval Gen 3 says in the book, but for Gen 4 it's 5,000 miles. "Generically" I've always heard (and tried to comply with) 6,000 miles between rotations. Even being a little lax, I generally always get more miles out of a set of tires than they're supposedly designed to last - even driving on crappy potholed roads or rough road surfaces. NOT rotating your tires can shorten their service lives as well as even cars with good alignment will wear tires different depending upon what location their riding in.
Just did front strut assy and rear shocks on my 2011 at 230,00 still original ones. Quite easy except for removing all the stuff to get to the front ones. There are vids out showing the exact procedure for removal. For me in my garage it took longer to remove/replace all the parts then it did to replace the front. Rear were really piece of cake and the price was a no brainer for me.
I just noticed after rotating and balancing the tires. I think this is the second time since I purchased new. Will call in the morning to confirm. I'm thinking I'm going to mention this to Discount Tire since they've stated the tire rotation wasn't needed a few times when I went in to have performed each time in between oil changes and I know for certain when I stopped in one time regarding a low pressure indicator turning on not many miles after purchasing new... they plugged and aired up only that tire without checking the air pressure in the others. Drove for maybe a few thousand miles before realizing that tire was like 5lbs less that all the other tires. I keep thinking they're liable for screwing up my tires and I need to hold them accountable. I'm also thinking that might have messed up my drivers side wheel bearing too since was that tire and of course today I noticed the wheel bearing on the drivers side is starting to get some slop. Went into the Toyota dealership for an oil and oil filter change along with an inspection where I got under with the service guys and checked out with em also. Found the sway bar links looser than should be and everything else seemed OK... though we didn't have the tires up in the air which limits a true inspection with some leverage using a bar. Free rotations & balancing & plugging at Discount Tire, cost more at the Toyota Dealership I was at. Nothing leaking out of the shocks or joints. Rubber was great on the lower ball joints. Control arms seemed solid and rubber looked great. Well, I get back after realizing I probably don't need the new front strut assemblies and lower ball joints, jacked the drivers side up and found the play being side to side which means wheel bearings, or tie rod ends, from my experience. Didn't notice any up and down which would be the ball joints which looked amazingly well... though on the stock tire jack... I didn't feel confident with a breaker bar since the car wasn't stable enough. Thinking time for returns or having a parts stash. Actually, we were all surprised how good everything felt and appeared on the lift. Amazing to me and I hardly ever have washed the car to add to the craziness. The one service guy literally picked out a bunch of clay and rocks in my rear wheel wells. Reminded me I can 3D print mud flaps now with the MPSM V2. OK... anyways. Time to order or purchase new (or possible used low mileage which I doubt I'll find) wheel bearings and hubs... at least for the drivers side. Amazing at 237K and finally needs to be replaced. The front suspension did give an extra little bounce and not a stiff back to top position when pushed down on, so little loose. Those can be changed... though thinking not required just yet. What's the thoughts regarding the little/slight bounce versus pops back to the top stiff? Wheel bearings and sway bar links for certain are in line next. Possibly tie rod ends though those weren't observed to be loose.
