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Thudding sound that increases with speed

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by agill, Jul 17, 2006.

  1. agill

    agill New Member

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    Hi everyone,
    i tried to search if anyone had a simliar problem yet, but did not come across any such post.
    I have an '06 Pkg #3 that i took possession of in late January. I have not put many miles on it yet, just close to 5000 miles so far. Got my first oil change at a little less than 4000 miles.
    Since last week, i have noticed a faint thud-thud sound while driving, and its frequency seems to increase with the speed of driving. Generally when i drive i have my radio (and in this heat) AC as well. I first thought it was just the unevenness of the road, but then i turned off all other sources of sound and heard this sound. Normally, when i drove the car with radio and AC off earlier, it would be dead silent if it was running off the electric engine only.
    It seems to be that it is something related with the tires, and i have checked my tire pressures and they are fine.
    Has anyone else experienced something like this, and if yes, then what was it due to.
    I have scheduled an apointment with my dealer for the coming Monday.. thats the earliest he could give me.
    I hope it is not something major.
     
  2. Skwyre7

    Skwyre7 What's the catch?

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    My wife had this, or something similar, happen with her car. It was due to the tires being "pitted" or "cupped". The tire place said it could have been caused by a number of things such as poor alignment, improper inflation, etc. They said it could also be just a bad tire (it was only on one tire).

    Hopefully it isn't too serious or too costly to have fixed.
     
  3. agill

    agill New Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Skwyre7 @ Jul 17 2006, 02:51 PM) [snapback]287693[/snapback]</div>
    Yeah i hope there is nothing serious.
    One more thing that i have been thinking about is that there is a lot of construction going on near the place where i live, and a lot of the roads are dug up and then filled with pebbles/gravel before getting tarred up again. I hope something has not struck the underside of the car (like some tube or pipe) and is causing some problems. Seems unlikely to be related but who knows.
    Does your wife fill up her tires to the recommended pressure or higher ?
     
  4. hyo silver

    hyo silver Awaaaaay

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    I've had a rock stuck in the tread before that made a sound similar to what you're describing. Can you tell where the noise is coming from? You might have picked up some debris from the local construction. If there's any wobble or vibration that also increases with speed, you might want to check the tire balance. Sometimes a rough road can knock one of the balancing weights loose. Let us know what you find!
     
  5. Skwyre7

    Skwyre7 What's the catch?

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(agill @ Jul 17 2006, 03:59 PM) [snapback]287698[/snapback]</div>
    We keep them at the recommended pressure. I guess I could pump them up a couple pounds higher and get better mileage, but she only drive 4.5 miles to work and back. We take the Prius every else, of course. :D
     
  6. tumbleweed

    tumbleweed Senior Member

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    I think it's a good thing you are taking it in, it could be a lot of different things some of them not so good. Brakes, wheel bearing, almost anything that turns. I had a similar noise in my Honda and it turned out to be a tire, something wrong with it internally and it had to be replaced.
     
  7. bwilson4web

    bwilson4web BMW i3 and Model 3

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(agill @ Jul 17 2006, 02:08 PM) [snapback]287658[/snapback]</div>
    Hopefully the dealer found it. If not,

    1) drive by the roadway at the front of strip mall late at night when there is no traffic and with the windows closest to the mall rolled down, listen -- you should quickly be able to identify which side it is coming from

    2) determine if it is directly proportional to tire rotation speed and not something like a seat belt or other object stuck in the door

    3) in an area free from traffic and with a flash light, put car in park, off and inspect the inside of the tires; move car forward 1/4 turn; repeat inspection until inside of tires have been inspected. Be sure to look at tread for foreign object(s)

    GOOD LUCK!

    Bob Wilson
     
  8. kDB

    kDB New Member

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    it's a stretch, but did you happen to have any windows down when this happened?
     
  9. Rogust

    Rogust New Member

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    Has anyone else experienced something like this, and if yes, then what was it due to.
    I have scheduled an apointment with my dealer for the coming Monday.. thats the earliest he could give me.
    I hope it is not something major.
    [/quote]

    I heard a thumping just like yours, so I ran my hands around each tire, rolled the car forward a bit and checked the rest of each tire. I finally found it on the last tire checked. I had picked up a 4" nail that went through the middle tread crosswise...yeah crosswise across the tire. It didn't penetrate the tire, just the tread sticking up. It was the weirdest thing ever. I wish I had taken a picture of it.
    It thumped just like yours. Fortunately I could just yank it out and keep on going. I hope your's can be resolved easily. Check for nail/screw/stone carefully.
     
  10. donee

    donee New Member

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    Hi All,

    Same thing here this morning. Thud-thud-thud. Turned out to be 1/4 inch thick by 60 degree long patch of tar on the left front tire, about 1/3 the way across the thread and around the edge. Got out the Leatherman tool and picked off as much as I could this morning. Enough so that the car would not shake at above 45 mph! The hot temps around here, and the low temp patching tar they use apparently caused this problem.
     
  11. agill

    agill New Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(donee @ Jul 17 2006, 06:51 PM) [snapback]287814[/snapback]</div>
    Thanks everyone for your suggestions.
    I did give the tires a cursory look and there did not seem to be anything, but have to look more closely and then forward the car by a quarter turn and then check it again. It was already getting dark by the time i got a chance to look at the tires.
    To reply to someone's question about whether i heard the sound when the windows were open... the answer is that it did not matter. I can hear the sound whether the windows are closed or open.
    Usually i would revel in the silence the cabin provided when the windows were shut and i would be at a red light or even driving in electric only mode. But this is a sound that definitely increases in frequency when the car is moving at a greater speed.
    Moreover, it is not a loud thumping sound. It requires one to strain his ears to hear the sound over the other sounds the car makes while it is in motion. I guess, having driven the car for a few months now, i am used to the "normal" sounds it makes and therefore can separate this sound from the other sounds the car makes.
    I will check the tires again first thing tomorrow morning.
     
  12. bwilson4web

    bwilson4web BMW i3 and Model 3

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(agill @ Jul 17 2006, 10:47 PM) [snapback]287967[/snapback]</div>
    I didn't explain that the purpose of the strip mall building front is to serve as a wall to reflect the sound back. Any wall will do but usually the front of a strip mall has essentially a flat facade long enough you can roll along and hear the reflection. This makes it easy to identify which side the noise is coming from.

    Bob Wilson
     
  13. agill

    agill New Member

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    Ok folks
    so here is the update on my problem.
    So last week i did take a close look at my tires as some forum members suggested, and true to their word, there was a small nail in one of the tires with a flat piece of aluminium attached to it. It was on the inside of the Passenger side front tire. So, i replaced that tire with my spare, got that leak fixed, and put the tire back on the car. I still continued to hear the low oscillating sound while driving at speeds above 30 on flat pavement. More prominent on the highway at higher speeds. Once again, the ride is smooth, its just that i keep hearing this low toned, sort of thudding sound that increases in frequency with speed.
    So i took the car in to my dealership yesterday (I had an appointment), and went on a drive with one of the techs. He also heard the sound and thought it to be related with the tires. Drove back to the dealrship, hoisted the car up and did a very careful inspection of all tires. Nothing visibly wrong. He did mention however, that there was a certain degree of "feathering" going on. Now i have only 5040 miles on the car, and he thought that kind of feathering should not come up so soon. They checked the alignment of the tires and found it to be fine. So he suggested i take the car to a nearby Goodyear dealer, because the OEM tires have a warranty.
    Took it to the Goodyear dealer and he says that i should rotate the tires about every 3000 miles, not 5000 or not every other oil change as my dealership suggests. Now this seems weird to me. How is it that i start hearing this sound suddenly 2 weeks back. I mean, if it was due to the uneven wear on the tires then it should be a gradual process... should'nt it.
    I am going to get my tires rotated and see if that makes any difference.

    In the meanwhile.. any suggestions from all you nice people out there ??


    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(agill @ Jul 17 2006, 02:08 PM) [snapback]287658[/snapback]</div>
     
  14. tumbleweed

    tumbleweed Senior Member

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    I think you should find another tire dealer and get a new opinion. Your tires should not show any wear to speak of at 5K miles if you have no alignment problems.

    Rotating your tires every 3K miles is ridiculous, even the 5K recommended by Toyota may be over doing it a bit. It is possible you have something wrong with a tire that won't show up through visual inspection. When I had a similar problem I found it by replacing the tires. Of course it could be something else that your dealer didn't find.

    My suggestion is don't give up on it, you need to find the problem.
     
  15. flyingfysh

    flyingfysh New Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Skwyre7 @ Jul 17 2006, 02:51 PM) [snapback]287693[/snapback]</div>
    Alignment isn't expensive to fix (~$100 or less), but even new cars will go bad quickly if you don't have it done.

    If a tire is starting to have a tread separation problem, you need to have that replaced. That would cause noises. Don't take chances.
     
  16. chayashida

    chayashida Junior Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(agill @ Jul 25 2006, 03:04 PM) [snapback]292211[/snapback]</div>
    When they patch a tire, they typically clean out the whole, and stick in a piece of rubber and glue it in place in the tire. It'll wear down as you drive. I'd check the tire you had patched and see if you see a small piece of rubber stick out where the nail was. I suspect that is what's causing the noise.

    Feathered wear on the tire indicates an alignment problem, but I can't tell how severe it is. (He might be grasping at straws to give an explanation.) Checking the alignment was the right move. Alignment can go bad all at once, though, especially if you hit potholes or curbs. Unever wear can happen "suddenly" as a result. Since your alignment checked out okay, that's not the problem.

    Despite what the Goodyear dealer says, 3000 miles between tire rotations is ridiculous. If you rotate your tires, I think you'll only move the noise to a different location.

    Anyway, I don't think you're hurting anything. I'd still see if you can get the tire replaced under warranty, though.

    hope this helps,

    Chris