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Prius Prime Suspension Wearing Out Quickly

Discussion in 'Prime Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by Ian Griffin, Jul 18, 2024 at 1:11 AM.

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  1. Ian Griffin

    Ian Griffin New Member

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    Hi Prius Chat Team,

    I'm a new member, but I've been a lurker for the past 6 years. I am an owner of a 2018 Prius Prime and I just had to replace my suspension for a second time since I bought the car. The car has 138,000 km on it. The rear shock absorbers were replaced at 41,000 km, and the front and rears were just replaced again at 138,000 km the other day. I find they seem to wear out quite quickly. To give you an idea of my driving style; I am 200 lbs, travel solo 90% of the time, 10% with my wife who is also similar weight. I travel on pavement about 90% of the time, with 5% on graded gravel roads, and 5% on not very good gravel roads. I have used my car about 20-25 times for transporting 400-600lbs of materials from home depot, but otherwise the car is empty.

    I'd like to hear about your experience with your 4th gen Prius (regular or Prime).
     
    #1 Ian Griffin, Jul 18, 2024 at 1:11 AM
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  2. BiomedO1

    BiomedO1 Senior Member

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    why were they replaced? Shop recommendation or abnormal tire wear? If your struts are bad there should be abnormal tire wear (cupping, inside or outside tire wear) and you'd likely need a new set of tires to go with the strut replacement. Most suspension and wheel bearing issues happen on the right side of the car, from parallel parking, rubbing against the curb - placing inward pressure against the tire and curb , and jumping the curb.
    I believe most of us has good luck with OEM struts, though you may be an unlucky outlier.
     
    #2 BiomedO1, Jul 18, 2024 at 1:17 PM
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  3. Kenny94945

    Kenny94945 Active Member

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    138,000 km is about 85,000 miles.
    Post 2 asks great questions.

    FWIW
    In other street cars I notice suspension improvement when replacing shocks at 50K miles.
    I've read on Mazda Miata MX5 forums some feel shock degradation at 20K miles.
    With "racing shocks" monthly nitrogen recharges/ checks are prudent and oil changes at 5K miles always improve the suspension feel.
    Again, for what it's worth.
     
    #3 Kenny94945, Jul 18, 2024 at 1:52 PM
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  4. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    Yeah, second this. You "might" be the the dealership's cash cow.

    How are you with speed-bumps, say between slow-to-a-crawl and take-them-at-posted-speed-limit?
     
    #4 Mendel Leisk, Jul 18, 2024 at 2:12 PM
  5. Ian Griffin

    Ian Griffin New Member

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    The suspension was replaced as per my request and I came to the dealership on my own accord. The car was riding very poorly for the past 6 months. It's a truly night and day difference since it got replaced. It was replaced with OEM toyota shocks / struts. In terms of tire wear, yes I was starting to get cupping on the rear, and they said they were in quite a bad state.

    The total cost for me was $1632 Canadian for all 4 including the labour. The labour was about $600ish of the $1600.
     
    #5 Ian Griffin, Jul 19, 2024 at 12:20 AM
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  6. Ian Griffin

    Ian Griffin New Member

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    I take them pretty gingerly. I wouldn't call myself an aggressive driver.
     
    #6 Ian Griffin, Jul 19, 2024 at 12:21 AM
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  7. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    it sounds like something defective in the rest of the car is causing this. maybe have a good suspension shop look everything over.
    i haven't read of many others having early problems, if any.
    at least you got 100k out of the second rears and 140k out of the front.
    maybe the first rear replacements were defective.
     
    #7 bisco, Jul 19, 2024 at 2:01 PM
  8. dbstoo

    dbstoo Senior Member

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    Here appears to be the problem. The car is not designed for off road driving with heavy loads. The weight limit is posted on the door jamb. Post #1 says:


    I travel on pavement about 90% of the time, with 5% on graded gravel roads, and 5% on not very good gravel roads. I have used my car about 20-25 times for transporting 400-600lbs of materials from home depot, but otherwise the car is empty. That load, when added to the 200 LB driver and another 200 lb for the passenger is enough to destroy the shocks when driven on poorly paved roads.

    I would suggest that there is no problem with the Prius Prime if loaded as it was designed to be driven.
     
    #8 dbstoo, Jul 19, 2024 at 3:40 PM
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