Last February I bought a used 2007 Camary with 27,000 miles on it. It now has 36,000 miles on it. I was just told it needs new struts AND new tires. I suspect the dealership switched the original tires, and I didn’t notice when I bought the car. Can anyone explain how these things could be possible at such low mileage?
No, Not Me
Tires, maybe, but I don’t know if they’re worn out or damaged by a suspension problem.
I would get a second opinion on the struts. However, if you choose to replace them, get lifetime warranted struts, so that the parts become a one time expense for the life of the car. Struts are one item that require replacement only once or twice during the life of the car, and aftermarket struts are generally just fine and come with a better warranty than OEM.
This approach helps mitigate the costs and dissatisfaction with what has happened. I would expect the new struts to last far longer than what appears to have happened here.
Why do they say it needs struts? It would be extremely unusual for this to happen at 36k. Is there noise? That could easily be a bad bushing, not struts. And why do they say it needs tires? Are they worn out? I would be surprised if they went to the trouble of switching tires.
The 2004 Camry my Dad handed down to me needed new tires a few months ago at about 30K or 35K miles. I was, like the OP, astounded. The tire store man (Firestone) who sold me new tires said that the OEM tires were good only for about that much. FWIW.
If this car is a 2007 model with 36,000 miles, then the Bumper-to-Bumper Warranty should cover the struts, as well as everything else on the car–with the exception of the tires.
While it is not unusual for original equipment tires to wear out in 36k, it is HIGHLY unusual for struts to fail that quickly. Anyway–double-check the mileage limit for your warranty. Most run for 3 yrs./36k. Assuming that I am correct, if the struts need to be replaced, that would be on Toyota’s dime, not yours.
Oh, and you might be interested to know that it is a CAMRY, not a Camary.
;-))
Hard to say whether this is legit or not without knowing what the tire wear patterns are, what the ride quality is like, etc.
It’s possible the original tires could have worn out within 27k miles and many ho-hum production vehicles are not given top of the line rubber to begin with.
It’s also not unusual at all for dealers who take a low miles car in trade to send them out and get new tires installed.
Another possibility is that the car was previously wrecked, something is out of whack with the alignment, and it’s simply chewing up tires due to this problem.
If it is not covered under the warranty, why would you be talking with the dealer?
I’m waiting for the OP to verify his warranty coverage and to report back to us. This should be covered under his Bumper-to-Bumper Warranty!
It might need struts if the previous owner abused it. Does your suspension bottom out when you go over moderately sized bumps? Go outside and push down on each corner of the car. How many bounces are there until the car stops moving up and down?