I developed a whump-whump-whump tire noise about 4 weeks ago on a set of 3 year old ecopia ep422s. It was rapidly getting worse, so I took it in to my tire shop and asked him to check the cars alignment. It could have been a shifted belt, but I suspected more. The manager said the tires had flat spots due to misalignment and the misalignment was due to the rear bushings. The rubber had separated allowing side to side movement of the rear axle. Also the car could not be aligned without replacing them. Very believable as I recently replaced the front control arms for the same issue. The car has known Buffalo NY salted potholes all of its 10 year 144k life. He was not able to find aftermarket bushings so Toyota parts. Bushings. $99.98 each New bolts. $18.60 each Labor $272.00 4 wheel alignment. $78 New ecopia ep422 plus. $454 Wow, other than the severe pain in my wallet the car handles great. I realize new tires a big factor, but the car feels tight and no clunks. Here's a picture of the old bushings. They had to mangle these with air tools to get them out, but you see the separation.
