CLANKING AFTER REPLACING SUSPENSION

Hi there, I have a 2010 Prius that I love to pieces. about 160k miles. Just had the entire suspension replaced at a local shop (not a Prius certified mechanic): both control arms, struts & shocks.

After the work was done I noticed a *thud* sort of noise with a vibration at the floorboard sporadically towards the end of braking. Almost like a bolt was loose in the undercarriage & was getting thrown forward. Not consistent & only towards the end of braking, when it did happen.

Returned to shop & they could not find the noise/found no issues. I continued driving noticing the noise still, till today (about 2 weeks later). This morning I drove car 15 min., stopped for about an hour, then drove another 5 min, was pulling up to a stop sign in a parking lot and heard a very loud clanking while braking still in motion, almost as if a stick was caught in the tire. I backed up (to get back from the Stop sign into the parking lot) and there was no clanking. Examined under the car, wheels, etc., nothing obvious.

Continued on & this loud clanking continued sporadically towards the end of braking for next 10 or so miles so I scrapped my plans for the day and brought back to repair shop & drove him around for 15 minutes. Clanking with vibration happened 1x as I pulled over to a stop, still seems to come from the front driver's side.

Rear brakes/rotars were just replaced. Front were done a couple years ago & haven't been recommended to be replaced yet.

What could it be? Should I take it to the dealer to inspect? I think at this shop, the good mechanic recently quit so maybe someone less experienced worked on my car. Extremely bummed, I need my car!!

Thanks for any input.

 

Thank you, I have been thinking about that since I picked up my car today. The son (not a mechanic, but he rode around with me the first time, and did observe the clanking once in 15 minutes), said his dad had just come back from driving it for an hour (!?) and didn't hear anything. 3 minutes after I left their lot I heard/felt the clanking so I don't find that plausible. The son also said they hadn't done any physical inspection all afternoon because the shop had been busy & they wanted a more clear idea of what the sound was before taking it apart and reassembling it. Meanwhile, this is two different half-days they've hard the car to resolve this (and two full days I've been dealing with it).

Thank you. As noted in my original comment, I did have the son (not a mechanic) ride with me 15 min & observed the sound once. When I picked the car up 4 hrs later, son said his dad (shop owner) had driven it around for an hour at various speeds, etc., and not observed anything. I don't find this plausible because I experienced the noise/vibration 3 minutes after I left the shop tonight. This evening just got a good 60 second audio clip when I was driving around a parking lot and the sound started up. I put my phone out the open window and the audio is pretty good. I will bring that in as they don't seem to be taking it very seriously. Otherwise, I do have another shop in mind to take it to which will unfortunately likely be at my own expense (unless they find something wrong with the parts/work, in which case I guess I'll present shop #1 with the receipt, probably in vane) ...

Sorry can you spell this out for me like I'm an idiot? Bring a digging bar and when the car is on the lift where exactly should I try to insert it?

Interesting thank you for your thoughts on this. I did find another thread about a similar complaint which turned out to be the bolts in the lower control arm connecting to ball joint were loose. I passed that info on to the shop owner. After having it there 2 half-days already, I really don't feel like dealing with them anymore, I feel like I've wasted a lot of time! But I have some audio this evening in a parking lot that is picking up the sound very well so I will give them one more shot before I get another opinion (at my expense, I'm sure!)

 

UPDATE
I took the vehicle for a second opinion. They did not find issues with the suspension. They found that the fasteners on both engine cover plates in the front wheel wells were missing, causing the plates to flap around. The noise observed was a metallic clanking sound. The 2nd shop said if all the suspension was replaced, these plates would need to be removed, thus shop #1 is responsible for them not being reinstalled correctly.

Can anyone confirm this? It seems logical to me based on where the plates are located that they would need to be removed to replace the entire suspension system. The sound (fingers crossed) has subsided, will continue to monitor
.
Shop #1 states they will split the bill with me for shop #2's work ($80) whether or not "they had come off for whatever reason during the work." Whatever, at least it's hopefully fixed.

 

Yes the 2nd shop secured the metal plates (with plastic "screws"!)
I know the plastic shield below the oil pan has been missing for a while, the quick oil change guys don't want to remove/reinstall it every oil change so it just fell off one day (*shrugs*)... thought the undercarriage guards were important for keeping sand, rocks, dirt, rainwater flooding out of the various parts but I guess not that important!
Thanks for weighing in.

 

Thanks very much. Brakes were a few months ago, but I included that info in case anyone was wondering the age of the brakes...
Haven't heard the noise again thank goodness because it sounded like the bottom of my car was about to fall out!