hearing a weird noise? think brake dust (horses) not wheel bearings (zebras)

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by cnschult, Nov 5, 2011.

  1. cnschult

    cnschult Active Member

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    Come on guys, stop replacing expensive wheel bearings, every 40K-60K I take my prius to a brake shop for a free brake inspection, they usually charge me $25 to clean the dust that's trapped inside the rear drum brakes, which is what make the choo choo train sound.

    and don't think you can sit in a drivers seat and know where the sound comes from, sound waves are tricky and you are not a dog, the dust makes the noise sound like its coming from the front yet nothing is ever wrong up front.

    and those of you (including me) who use the regen system 99% of time you will get lots of rust up front. A mechanic that I trust with my life (literally, we go flying in his piper PA25) recommends a very hard stop every couple of weeks in order to bypass the regen system and knock off any rust that has accumulated on the rotors.
     
    #1 cnschult, Nov 5, 2011
  2. richard schumacher

    richard schumacher shortbus driver

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    Agreed, sounds in a Prius can be very misleading, but noise from brake dust in the drums? Even if true, so what? It sounds like the "free" brake inspector has learned how to clean $25 from your wallet :_>
     
    #2 richard schumacher, Nov 6, 2011
  3. SageBrush

    SageBrush Senior Member

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    "Weird" is not quite descriptive enough. Perhaps an MP3 recording ?
     
    #3 SageBrush, Nov 6, 2011
  4. ursle

    ursle Gas miser

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    Wow, I never realized it was brake dust making a 100 decibel+ sound at 55mph, or the dust itself causing the whole auto to vibrate at above 40mph, hmm, is this the same dust that's mentioned in "The Golden Compass", cool stuff, out of this world.
    After five years of use my rear brake shoes and pads are still like new, not enough dust to cause any vibrations or noises, yet;)
     
    #4 ursle, Nov 6, 2011
  5. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

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    Sound is one thing, but brake dust does not produce the vibration found with wheel bearings, nor does the Prius have drums up front. The OP's advice to check for brake dust makes sense, but the whole tone of his message is bad, suggesting that people are stupid for replacing wheel bearings. Wheel bearings do fail.

    As for braking hard to clean the brakes, a more effective strategy is to use neutral braking when the brakes need cleaning: shift to N, brake, shift to D and speed up, repeat as necessary. Braking in N forces the Prius to use friction brakes.

    Tom
     
    #5 qbee42, Nov 6, 2011
  6. edthefox5

    edthefox5 Senior Member

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    #6 edthefox5, Nov 6, 2011
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