Thoughts needed after curbing

Hey All,

I am in need of some thoughts and advice.

Two days ago I was making a left out of a parking lot and curbed the car pretty hard on an island (right front passenger side wheel), idiotic I know. I managed to scrap the front bumper and catch part of the middle of the car as well.

I had to replace the tire but was told the wheel was fine other than the scrap. The tire is holding air no problem and it was balanced out I was told, although I don't see any wheel weights but do see where the old weights were prior to the tire swap.

The issue and concern I am having is now I am getting a sound above 25 mph and above, more prominent at highway speeds. The sound is similar to what you'd hear when driving over highway grooves but it's consistent and is what I believe louder when steering is slight angled, exiting or going on overpasses.

The car alignment appears to be fine. The car without any steering input or assist, drives in a straight line and brakes in a straight line with no issues.

I put the car on jack stands and looked for play in the wheel hub but there was none. I put my hand on the coil spring and rotated the tire while in N and there was no vibrations whatsoever, perhaps it needs to be loaded.

Aside from the sound I am also getting some vibrations but not in the steering column or wheel but rather in the area where the dead pedal is floor is. The issue is that the hit was on the passengers side and not drivers side.

Just wondering if the hit was hard enough to cause some sort of mechanical damage to engine/drive train? The car drives fine other than the sound and that minor vibration I get.

Thoughts or ideas on what I should do next?

 

Checked pretty much everything I could think of. Took it to a couple of mechanics. One couldn’t hear it and the other picked up on. The one who heard it looked at tire wear and advised me to get alignment done. I also swapped out the curbed wheel with one from a friends Prius to see if it made a difference and it helped. I think my alignment is off perhaps by the tire wear he pointed out and the hit tweaked it some. He also doubts it’s mechanical. The car runs smooth no jerkiness. I’ll take it to get alignment and consider getting a new wheel or picking up the used set someone has on sale here for the price of the new single wheel.

 

Have not driven it for an extended period of time, any thoughts to the experts out there.

 

Yeah the sound def changed after alignment. I still think my wheel is tweaked though. I threw it on the back end and its less noisy. I'm also thinking the Toyo's are just too noisy as well. Much happier with the car overall though.

 

The center I was speaking of is shown in the picture where the reflection of my head is visible. Not the actual center or the car.

 

@Kenny94945 the mechanic said a wheel bearing would be audible at low speeds not just high speeds so he's ruling that out.


@vvillovv Pic #2 is the front bumper passenger side, same side I hit the curb. I beat the bumper up first and then jacked up the wheel.

Pic #3 is the bottom molding/trim about half way on the rear passenger door, towards the seam between front and rear door. No dents at all on the underside, just scrapped it. Doors open and close fine. I fixed the molding now so there's nothing vibrating there.

@Zeromus Wheel weights are correct as I had the tire shop balance them all out at time of alignment. I'm not sure what to think at this point.

There's no vibration on the steering wheel or wheels for that matter, the vibration seems near the dead pedal but there's nothing there, the car took the hit on the opposite side though that's what tripping me out.

@Zeromus you've got a Prime, do you hear anything running in EV mode on a smooth surface. A noise like the car would be running on a long grooved/patch of road? The vibration is def less but it's still there. I don't normally hear the radio in the car so it kind of bugs me but perhaps its just one of those things I didn't notice before I curbed it and it's always been there. Obviously if I put the radio on, the sound is drowned out.

Maybe it's been there all along but I'm just now picking up on it or my hearing is super sensitive?? I'm used to road noise and wind, etc. I know the car has its nuances. The car on HV mode with the AC sounds like a cow mooing and maybe this is just another one of those things.

 

I drove a regular Prius Hybrid, 23' model but cannot replicate the sound because under load the car is loud, engine noise that is.

 

Passenger faintly hears noise and doesn't sense vibration. On newer asphalt I can hear it and feel the vibration on cement roads not so much, very minimal. I'd really have to be keeping an ear out for it. Everything is on the left side though, while the curbing was on the right.

 

Thanks for the reply. I'll do some more crawling around under the car, otherwise I'm going to chalk it up to it's all in my head.