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Vibration mystery

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by slickvik, Jul 16, 2021.

  1. slickvik

    slickvik Junior Member

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    For the last few weeks I’ve noticed some vibration while driving. I got an alignment done, then balanced and rotated tires at sam’s, and finally got both cv axles replaced since they were seeping grease anyway. Mechanic said I need new struts but I don’t think that’s the problem. Also had wheel front bearings replaced 2 years ago (unnecessarily in retrospect). Car has 165k miles approximately and got 4 new pirelli P4 tires at 139k. My only guess is maybe the rear axle because of the alignment results?
     

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    #1 slickvik, Jul 16, 2021
  2. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    did it vibrate before the new tires?
     
    #2 bisco, Jul 16, 2021
  3. slickvik

    slickvik Junior Member

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    no. I just got the alignment redone today after changing the axles and the rear is much better, but the vibration is still there.
     

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    #3 slickvik, Jul 16, 2021
  4. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    could be a bad tire
     
    #4 bisco, Jul 16, 2021
  5. slickvik

    slickvik Junior Member

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    Yea I figured Sam’s would’ve denied doing any work if that was the case.
     
    #5 slickvik, Jul 16, 2021
  6. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    why, they have no control over defective tires
     
    #6 bisco, Jul 17, 2021
  7. edthefox5

    edthefox5 Senior Member

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    Probably bent wheel. Really easy to bend a wheel on this model. Over the years my wife has been able to bend numerous wheels.

    Even slight out of round you can feel it. I guess it’s hard to detect that on some tire balancer machines. Chased this for a lot of $ at one tire place next place found i had 3 bent rims fast by spinning the wheels.
    These bent rims had brand new tires on them from the last place.

    Best way to check is when at the tire shop spin the rear tires and watch carefully for run out or wobble. Should have zero. Then swap the fronts onto the rears and spin them.
     
    #7 edthefox5, Jul 21, 2021
  8. Another

    Another Senior Member

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    Another reason I buy my tires from Costco. Every 5,000 miles they rotate and BALANCE the tires for free.
     
    #8 Another, Jul 21, 2021
  9. slickvik

    slickvik Junior Member

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    What's the fix?
     
    #9 slickvik, Jul 22, 2021
  10. slickvik

    slickvik Junior Member

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    Sam's balanced and rotated but I still am having the issue.
     
    #10 slickvik, Jul 22, 2021
    edthefox5 likes this.
  11. edthefox5

    edthefox5 Senior Member

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    Hi there is no fix.

    I spent a lot of time in junkyards looking for wheels. Was just going to buy replacement mag wheels but found one at one place nice guy there made some calls for me and found 2 more all had minor issues and none could garantee they weren’t bent luckily they were ok. Think they were around $50 each.
    Junkyards here g2s are stripped clean. Popular car here.

    So now on all my cars when there is tire work I spin those rear wheels.
    These are small very light weight wheels easy to bend or at least easy for my wife.

    Other day I noticed a nice scratch from one end of the car to the other about mid door height. Pretty deep Like someone keyed it except it was ruler straight the whole side of the car end to end.

    I just shake my head.
     
    #11 edthefox5, Jul 22, 2021
    BuildingInspectorBrian likes this.
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