Prius leans left

[Frayadjacent]

Originally Posted by yardman 49

Hello Fray:

Could you elaborate on this question? Are you refering to my kitchen remodeling project, or how the Prius handles??

Corner balancing is adjusting the suspension so that each wheel carries the correct portion of weight. Not sure if there really is a way to corner balance a Prius.

[hobbit]

Try getting a feel for how much force it takes to deflect a
corner of the car up or down a quarter or half inch. It's not
a whole lot of force, really. And it's got some stickiness
as a general rule.
.
The motors side of the engine/transaxle is significantly heavier
than the engine side. You also have more of the steering gear
on the left side of the car, and pedal assemblies, and probably
a few other things that realistically make the car left-heavy.
Then you pop in a driver, and yer definitely listin' to port.
.
When I load up my car I try to put heavier things over on the
right to balance against my weight and the existing offset, but
whether or not I accomplish that doesn't affect handling at all.
.
Really, I wouldn't worry about it. Try measuring some other
types of cars, they might be similar.
.
_H*

[yardman 49]

Originally Posted by hobbit

Try getting a feel for how much force it takes to deflect a
corner of the car up or down a quarter or half inch. It's not
a whole lot of force, really. And it's got some stickiness
as a general rule.
.
The motors side of the engine/transaxle is significantly heavier
than the engine side. You also have more of the steering gear
on the left side of the car, and pedal assemblies, and probably
a few other things that realistically make the car left-heavy.
Then you pop in a driver, and yer definitely listin' to port.
.
When I load up my car I try to put heavier things over on the
right to balance against my weight and the existing offset, but
whether or not I accomplish that doesn't affect handling at all.
.
Really, I wouldn't worry about it. Try measuring some other
types of cars, they might be similar.
.
_H*

Agreed. I'm not going to worry about it now. When I first really noticed it I was bothered, thinking that maybe it was a problem specific to my car. But then I started this thread, and KK immediately directed me to Toy08's thread. This forum really is such a huge help, especially to new owners.

After reading Toy08's thread, it was obvious to me that many Priuses had the same lean, so I decided not to worry about it. And what I discovered yesterday while at the dealership for an alignment further confirmed that fact (actually, even an '09 in the showroom had it).

It certainly doesn't seem to cause any handling issues with my Prius.

[Mike Dimmick]

Originally Posted by hobbit

The motors side of the engine/transaxle is significantly heavier
than the engine side. You also have more of the steering gear
on the left side of the car, and pedal assemblies, and probably
a few other things that realistically make the car left-heavy.
Then you pop in a driver, and yer definitely listin' to port.

Mine seems to lean to the left a bit too, and it's right-hand drive! I guess the iron cores on the motors' stator are pretty heavy, while the engine has an aluminium alloy block and head - and of course it's bored out as well.

I reckon the 2010 will be better balanced, given that the engine is larger - more weight on the right-hand side - and they've reduced both MG1 and MG2 sizes, and removed the silent chain over on the transaxle side.

[RadioMan]

This is extremely odd and not OK. My 2010 II leans 1.75" lower after taking out groceries etc.... and stays that way until I drive it un-loaded for a while. That's wacked. The car has almost no ground clearance to begin with. What - is there thermopedic foam in the suspension?
Does it affect driving? Don't know but will test it. Someone- somewhere- has an answer to this. Pre-load spring settings? Compensation for off-center weighting in the drive-train? Active load-balancing? Oatmeal-filled shocks?
What is happening here? I'm going to the dealer again today just to show them this is real.

Bob-Hot Springs

[2009Prius]

Originally Posted by RadioMan

This is extremely odd and not OK. My 2010 II leans 1.75" lower after taking out groceries etc.... and stays that way until I drive it un-loaded for a while. That's wacked. The car has almost no ground clearance to begin with. What - is there thermopedic foam in the suspension?
...

I saw a maybe related phenomenon on my 2009. I drove up and parked on ramps made of solid wood. I added jack stands as back up for extra safety. I inserted shims to fill the small space between the jack stands and the bottom of the car. Later I lifted the car a little, all tires were still on the ramps, then lowered the car back. Then all the shims became quite loose and stayed loose, as if the car had somehow floated higher up a few millimeters after being lifted and lowered back down. Maybe there is some large friction in the suspension.

[yardman 49]

Originally Posted by RadioMan

This is extremely odd and not OK. My 2010 II leans 1.75" lower after taking out groceries etc.... and stays that way until I drive it un-loaded for a while. That's wacked. The car has almost no ground clearance to begin with. What - is there thermopedic foam in the suspension?
Does it affect driving? Don't know but will test it. Someone- somewhere- has an answer to this. Pre-load spring settings? Compensation for off-center weighting in the drive-train? Active load-balancing? Oatmeal-filled shocks?
What is happening here? I'm going to the dealer again today just to show them this is real.

Bob-Hot Springs

Hello Bob:

Please let us know what the dealer says. I would have thought that by the G3, that Toyota would have had this corrected. That may have been an erroneous assumption on my part.

Best wishes,

[uart]

Originally Posted by Mike Dimmick

Mine seems to lean to the left a bit too, and it's right-hand drive! I guess the iron cores on the motors' stator are pretty heavy, while the engine has an aluminium alloy block and head - and of course it's bored out as well.

Here in Australia our cars are also right hand drive (we also drive on the left side of the road) so I guess that slight imbalance is probably a good thing. I've never measured mine for a left lean, but I'm pretty sure that it isn't going lean left for very long after I plonk my 240 Lb fat arse in the drivers seat.

Ok on a serious note, I'm pretty sure they also drive on the left in Japan and so would also use right hand drive vehicles. Since the Prius was originally designed mostly with the Japanese market in mind perhaps that would explain the choice of weight distribution.