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Grinding noise from front end during fast U-turn

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by firedoug, Apr 9, 2014.

  1. firedoug

    firedoug Junior Member

    Joined:
    Mar 11, 2014
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    Location:
    Corona, CA
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius Plug-in
    Model:
    Plug-in Base
    Coming to a left turn signal I was anticipating it turning red on me, and I drove into the turn lane briskly 30mph and then applied brakes as I made a u-turn. It sounded like a cross between dragging the front air dam and metal on metal brake grinding as I made the turn. Stopped immediately and did not scrap the air dam and all front end components checked out okay. Car is driving just fine now, has only done this once. Search all over and can't find any info on anything like this.... Anyone have any ideas?

    Will be following up with dealership too.
     
    #1 firedoug, Apr 9, 2014
  2. BZzap!

    BZzap! Senior Member

    Joined:
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    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius
    Model:
    Two
    Do you have 17" rims with low profile tires? I would suspect the your aggressive u-turn probably resulted in compressing the front suspension enough to cause some tire rub on the inner fender liner. With the wheels locked in a tight turn and the suspension fully compressed, this could be just what happened.
     
    #2 BZzap!, Apr 9, 2014
  3. firedoug

    firedoug Junior Member

    Joined:
    Mar 11, 2014
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    Location:
    Corona, CA
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius Plug-in
    Model:
    Plug-in Base
    Yea I was thinking along the same lines as you.... But I checked the inner fender liner for evidence of tire rubbing and found nothing.

    I have the standard 15" alloy wheels that come stock on a Prius Plug-In Base model.
     
    #3 firedoug, Apr 9, 2014
  4. BZzap!

    BZzap! Senior Member

    Joined:
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    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius
    Model:
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    One more thing to consider is the wheel lock stops. You may have been up against the stop while the suspension was jousting. Makes a horrible noise.
     
    #4 BZzap!, Apr 9, 2014
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