Another creaking/clunking thread...!

Dear all,

This is a first post from a chronic lurker! I've enjoyed reading the wealth of information on this thread and I am indebted for some of the hints and tips I have received.

I own a 2004 Prius Generation II (70,000 miles) which is very well behaved and has thankfully never caused me any problems - I love it dearly!

However, over the past few months, I have been hearing an odd noise coming from the driver's side when setting off from standstill. From inside the cabin, it sounds like an initial clunk and then a scraping noise. From outside the car, it sounds like creaking. I can only hear this on the driver's side.

I have had the discs and pads changed and the noise has remained unaltered. The CV joints were also changed a few months ago (at the time, I could hear bilateral clunks on steering i.e. the typical worn/damaged CV joint noise) but this noise has started after that and does not sound anything like a damaged CV joint.

The noise happens when I set off from standstill after stopping with fairly hard braking (or if I've just been in reverse). It doesn't matter whether the steering is turned or not, the clunk/creak still occurs.

The noise is present in both electric or petrol engine mode. The suspension was inspected by a mechanic a couple of days ago, there is no play in the system or any obvious visual cause for the noise. Mechanically, everything looks fine.

This video demonstrates the noise from outside the car:

The noise appears to be marginally louder when the wheel is turned:

It sounds like a clunk from inside the cabin. In tho view, there'll be two noises at the start, the first is when I release the footbrake and the second is the 'clunk'. It is very subtle and you may have to turn your volume up to hear it so apologies for that.

I'm sorry for the thesis/tenuous long post but the noise is driving me bonkers! Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for getting to the end!

 

Thank you for your replies, Goldfinger & Patrick.

I returned to the mechanic today and he noticed two things:

(1) A metallic clip in the CV joint was broken and he replaced it. I'm not entirely sure which clip but he told me one when locked the joint?
(2) The metallic backing plate medial to the brake discs and pads was in contact with the brake discs. He pushed this back.

The scraping sound seems to have resolved but the 'clunk' noise still persists although rarely now, mostly when I turn the wheel to the right and pull away from standstill (after braking hard to stop). The noise is not always reproducible. Maybe it is the engine mount? I'll have a look again when I have an opportunity.

Thanks again.