My 2010 Prius had been very quiet until a few months ago, now when driving over 30MPH it sounds like a freaking swarm of bees are chasing me, its obnoxiously loud. No alignment problem, tires are good although mis-matched. Fronts are Ecopia's rears are conntinentals LRRs (bad wear only had to replace two from previous owner) The new Continentals are over 2000 miles broken in. Ive had the car checked out, everything is solid. I'm going to start using fatmat all through the trunk/spare tire area doors and maybe the floorboards too, its driving me nut. Help. This sudden change is making me hate the car.
Either tires or hub bearings going bad. Rotate tires to see if there are any changes to noise. If tires are not directional you can cross-rotate. I found cross-rotation reduces tire noise significantly. Also if it is bearings you should be able to detect it while the wheel up by rotating it by hand. It will give "sand in the bearings" noise (different from brake chirping) good luck.Speaking of fatmat Peel and Seal sold in Lowe's/homedepot is very much the same stuff and cost $16 per roll. You need roughly 1.5 roll for 4 doors. After doing the doors IMHO there's no need to do trunk, just floor panels and front wheel wells. With just doors and x-rotated tires the most prominent noise is from A-pilars.
Ecopia what? And what's their tread depths? EP20 get noisy once their tread is down to around 5/32" or lower.
Good call on the bearings! Rear right is grindy sounding. Rear left sounds good. I ordered a bluetooth OBD2 and downloaded torque, it will be here tomorrow. Hopefully it shows up in the error logs. Thanks! they look great, lots of tread I don't have a tread measuring tool. It seems to be the back right bearing. LOL I did that today at lowes, MLV that is 40mil and a 1/8" foam with aluminum backing over the MVL, I did the trunk and rear wheel wells. Not sure how to get to the front wheel wells, I do plan to do the doors and floorpans, I noticed under the rear seat there is not anything at all. Ill post a pic of the trunk. I did that cause when it was running smooth, the rear is where the highway noise bugged me. It cut down quite a bit of noise already. I used about 1/4 of the MVL in the trunk and the whole foam roll Im taking care of the wheel bearing first. Of course it should not. I was already planning to do the deadener before this, it just kicked it above getting a tint job.
if it is bearings there will be nothing in the logs. It is weak point of Prius, they are easy to damage. I'd bet PO clipped a curb with rear right wheel. Mine went bad on left side at ~120k. Entirely my fault clipped curb hard enough to loose wheel hubcap. Noise showed up 20-30k later. Not sure what the price now but back then I was happy to buy hub assembly for <$250. Dealer wanted $400. we just did the doors while replacing speakers. It was one of those things "I don't wanna do it, but we are there, so lets do it anyway". Took alot of tire noise out. BTW you don't have to wallpaper it. Just give a tap on surface and apply where it rings saves time and materials.
I suspected this has been discussed before. Another option if you wanna improve wheel wells and don't feel like taking seats/trim/carpeting off you can do spray on rubber coating from outside. Would need to take off wheel, plastic shielding and clean/wash of dirt prior. Quiet tires and cross-rotation pattern other option to lower noise.
I wish I had clipped a curb, then I know it was my fault, I assumed tires + break in, it was about that timing. Im at 116k, so maybe its just that time, I am not at all gentle with the Prius, I drive it like I used to drive my Silverado. At autozone the bearings were 103, not too bad, but I have an extended warranty, we will see if they cover it. If not I wil ldo it myself. I am hoping it shows up on the OBD2 because there is a sensor on the wheel bearing assembly, don't know what it is for though. Im just about due for a rotation I will need to do that when I do the bearings. I will do the doors soon, Im going to cover it fairly well, not 100% wallpaper like I did the trunk. That was just playing with it and getting used to it for the doors. seeing what I am getting into. Next time gloves for sure. my fingers have a tons of little cuts.
Good luck! we did the doors and rubber coating in mine and son's cars, but didn't feel like taking carpeting off at least until is decided on audio situation. Doing soundproofing and then taking carpeting/seat off to wire amp would be major pita. Well it is too cold now to work on it anyways. I don't recall if I had that many cuts, but needed more than one pair of scissors for sure. Nice to know that prices had gone down to $100, replacing bearing isn't that much work. Good luck!
made an appt with Toyota to get in for service today, time for that extended warranty to get put to use.
My wheel bearing was replaced (under warranty) and its running smooth The sound dampening in the back helps, its great, but draws attention to the firewall noise Doors are next though.
I got the Veepeak mini OBD II OBD2 Scanner Bluetooth Diagnostic Adapter, from amazon, but they updated my Prius while it was there so my logs were cleared. I cannot verify either way if the Wheel bearing errors showed or not. (using torque for android) BTW if it was out of warranty it would have cost 520. Toyota charges 200 for the bearing (rear) autozone has them for 103. So glad that I had easy care extended warranty. we just moved and are not fully settled in, my tools are in chaos and Im freaking worn out.
Without wanting to sound too argumentative, while, in general the process isn't too complicated to a semi-competent mechanic, it can be a real BEAR. Specifically, when I changed mine (after 120k miles), they were VERY, VERY difficult to remove. I had a slide hammer, and thought that would pull them out - but it didn't. It was only by a stroke of luck that I decided to perform the change at my Father-in-Law's house, who happens to have a full air compressor, and it was his air hammer that was able to help get the old hub assemblies out. Perhaps some of this was aggrevated by the fact that I live in New England, and the wet, snowy, and salty winters caused more rust between the hub and axle. Just a warning to anyone that might consider replacing the wheel bearings that the extraction thereof can be a bear...
Yeah EP20s still lots of tread, they were on the rear when I got the car, the front were on their way out so I never rotated them, just drove the front into the ground. I have continentals on the rear, the ep20s are now on the front, I noticed some slight feathering when that happened, but its normal now. the continentals are super quiet, Im happy with those. once the front ep20s crap out Ill have a matching set. the guys at americas tire are noting rotations just to keep my warranty on the continentals up. 65k IIRC. the trunk deadening helped a lot, I would say I've added about 10 pounds to the car so far. I cannot wait to do the doors and floors Yes, they are near identical to the autozone ones. (comparing stock to the bad part removed)
i just don't know of any way to measure manufacturing quality, if they aren't the same factory, so to speak. who knows, they could be better.
Get moog for aftermarket wheel bearing replacement. Expensive but autozone has them for 109.99 each they exceed all aftermarket brands. Come with a 3 year warranty, rest come with one. Although that doesn't matter the most important thing about wheel bearings is installing them correctly to the right torque pressure. None-the-less I suggest you get moog from AutoZone (because it's cheaper there) and I'm sure it will take care of the road noise you're experiencing it's not some crazy other noise it's actually road noise and this will fix it. (Usually rear ones make it sound like its all around) just try replacing the rears before you even think about the fronts that may resolve it all.
I replaced my right front wheel bearing because of noise. It sounded like I had a big set of monster murders on it. I have a video on YouTube on how to troubleshoot it. It wasn't hard to do and like others I choose the Moog bearing. I did take it to a shop to press and change the bearing in the knuckle. The knuckle is made of aluminum and the bearing of steel so they seize.
