How to tell if struts are bad? - 2004 Toyota Camry

People will tell you to bounce on them. That's a valid test for shocks but not struts. See this post on how to test struts with a driving test.

https://ricksfreeautorepairadvice.com/how-to-test-struts-and-shocks/

Wheel bearing will hum when making turns to check the strut bounce the corner of the vehicle where the strut is should only bounce on own 2-3 times if keeps bouncing after u stop pushing on car then it,s bad

Hi,
Just to be safe take it to an wheel alignment company. It Might be struts. They make bad noises when they go bad, and are more than likely the culprit. It could also be the strut plate, it is the part that the strut bolts to at the top, and it bolts to the car. It allows the strut to turn when you turn the wheel. If it goes bad you will hear a clicking sound when the wheel is turned, and it will clunk around when you hit rough roads or bumps. Only way to check that is to take it to a good alignment shop, tell them what you think it may be. Some models you have to pull the strut to check it all out. Being a '96 it is probably a good guess it could use a set of struts anyway. 2 front struts and alignment.

jack car under controll arm put pry bar under tire and lift see if tire has pplay if it dose controll arm bushings and or balljoint is bad. look at strut if its leaking its no good or rock car up and down a few times if after you stop rocking it it bounces more than two times strut is bad. could also be upper strut plate

does it come from one of the front wheels?passenger side or driverside front?you may have a bad ball joint on one of those front ball joints.it could also be a bad strut on either front side. only an alighment can tell if it's a a bad control arm bushing or an 'a' frame bushing going bad. depending on how many miles your car has on it, and how rough it's been driven will determine the bushing life you have on 'a' frame bushings or the struts life left. i would start with the struts 1st. if you push up and dowm on the hood of your car, does it bounce up and down more than once? thats a good test for struts. if it bounces u good luck and thank you for choosing fixya.comp and down say 3 times after pushing it doen once, the struts bad.good luck and thank you for choosing fixya.com

If you see any leaks they are bad. If the car has over 100,000 miles then rest assured they need replacing. Unless you have the proper tools and knowledge this is best left to a pro. You can get seriously injured or killed when compressing the spring to remove the strut.

place your body weight over the strut and push the car up and down,a bad strut will give no resistance and will feel soft, as the car will do when driven over a uneaven surface.come back to me with result and i will tell you how to replace.adrian,,,,

front stuts need replacement, buy this point it would be both. you can tell most of the time buy if you hit a pot hole on the left and it makes a nosie thats the side. but after a few days of driving like this both are in bad shape and need replacement.

there is no bearing its just the strut, you can tell buy getting a jack stand and lifting the front and moving the tire side to side and back to front. usaly anything over 10-20 thouthands of an inch is bad, and that mean if you feel it it's bad.

but anyways to replace it you will need a sop, you have to compress your front srping in order to remove and install a strut.

Here is how to tell if you have bad strut on ANY car. Go to the corner of the car with the suspected bad strut. Start pushing down on the car to get it moving up and down. Keep pushing to get it moving up and down pretty good and then push down one last time and stop. If the struts are good, your car will bounce up then down and then stop. If it keep moving more than that, the struts are bad.