Damage caused by right side rolling over road hazard?

i have a 07 Prius with 79,000 miles. i got it in january 2007, car has been perfect, minimal problems over the years, just routine maintenance, ever since i got the car, i have appreciated how well it runs and how well it drives.

On March 29, i ran over a road hazard with both right side tires, it was a hard metal object, had to drive kind of far to get to the emergency turn out place. Both tires were destroyed. Tow truck driver said he almost ran over the thing, took me back there to make photos of it, maybe insurance will cover?

He towed me to a tire shop close to home, American Tire Depot.

i knew which tires i wanted but they're discontinued. they're available but had to be ordered, would take about a week, i needed my car, my dog had a long worsening illness going on, so i went home to google tires and look at reviews and try to find something like the discontinued tires i wanted, Good Year Assurance Triple Tread all weather.

After googling, i was still very unsure, the second set of tires i got in 2012, Hankook, i was never happy with because it seemed like the air was always going out of them, they were squishy and soft, not holding the road though tire shop said no leaks. i was worried about getting stuck with another set of problem tires. Eventually i chose Yokohama Avid Ascend GT and they were put on the next morning. they did an alignment.

After getting the car back, i was driving on the freeway, fast lane, no traffic, long drive, i forgot all about the tires, other things on my mind, when i noticed i had to keep correcting the steering, the car was veering both left and right, not in an extreme way but something it never never did before, it felt weird and kind of unstable like it was sliding around on the tires, and i remembered that i just got new tires so i thought that was the reason it wasn't feeling right.

i know zero about mechanics of cars, it's hard to describe, my dog was going downhill with a long chronic heart thing, and it was getting worse and worse, so it was hard to try to figure out the car problem, i took it back to the tire shop and they checked the alignment and said it was fine.

It continued to feel really bad when driving, my attention kept getting drawn to the way the car felt, not like any tires i ever had before which i never gave thought to, like they weren't resting flat on the road, kind of hard feeling, the steering felt maybe loose, it's hard for me to describe, i'm just giving un-expert verbal impressions.

About a week after my dog died, late April, i called Yokohama first week of May. The guy said take it back to the tire shop and get measurements and find out if anything besides the tires could cause it.

At the tire shop, a mechanic drove the car with me as passenger, i could feel the same odd feeling as when i was driving. He said he could feel it too. Then they did another alignment on it . After it was done, the sales guy who sold them to me said that i had a leaking rear shock, and that could cause what i was feeling.

Could rolling over a road hazard object cause a rear shock to leak?

Could a leaking shock cause the change in how my car feels, the steering tightness and deterioration of functioning?

They gave me a print out of the new alignment that showed before and after the adjustment. Something called Caster before adjustment shows (i’m guessing L and R) -1.97 degrees (in red text), -1.18 degrees in green text. Next , something called Camber before adjustment shows -0.36 and -0.38, both in inches, and both in red text. Everything else before adjustment says 0 degrees and is in green text.

After adjustment it says Caster — -1.97 degrees in red text same as before, and -1.14 degrees in green text. For Camber it says all 0.00 degrees in green text. Everything else same as before adjustment.

That was on 5/8/19.

After getting the second alignment and being told about the leaking shock, i knew i had to have it checked by a mechanic. I had a trustworthy good communicating mechanic for many years, but about a year and a half ago, he was gone and i haven’t found another one, so that is stressing me out more than anything.

i went to see a body shop owner who i trust based on really good experiences. i told him what was happening since the road hazard and the new tires, and asked him if he had a mechanic he trusted. He acquired a couple of Priuses a couple of years ago and loves them. He gave me the name of a guy. He didn’t drive my car but he said there was no way it was the tires. he said maybe when i ran over the road hazard some damage was done. He said he didn’t think the car was unsafe.

I haven’t gone to the recommended mechanic yet, his business card says Cadillac service, and says they work on other makes and models, i wonder if it makes a difference if whoever works on it is experienced with Prius, the mechanic has been doing it for 30 years.

Or i wonder if i should go to the Toyota agency where i went before as the best way of making sure i have the right parts for the car, given its age.

Does anyone have any experience or knowledge or theories about what could cause my car to not drive anything like how it was before i got the new tires put on? Are there a lot of different kinds of damage rolling over a road hazard could do? that’s what i’m afraid of, that it will turn into something where i could get a repair done and it won’t fix the problem.

thanks for any info

(i'm trying to include photos of the gnarly thing i rolled over, not sure if it will work, looks right in the preview)

 

yes, i got 4 new tires, it was time to replace the previous ones.

it can wander at any speed, it doesn't always wander. it's easier to experience it at higher speeds because of cruising over distances, but i need to correct the steering even at slow speeds, under 25, the tire shop mechanic got it up to maybe 40 and it didn't wander, but on a side street with close together stop signs, he remarked that he felt it (not necessarily wandering but something doesn't feel right--sorry to be so vague. it feels like the car isn't rolling on regular tires, none that i've ever had before, it feels kind of hard, and as if the tires don't have a wide surface resting on the ground--this is very subjective but he said he felt it, while we weren't talking, he was concentrating)

it has about 79,000 miles

i believe the shocks are original, i've had the car since 28K miles and never replaced them. i've never been told there's a problem with them.

The yokohama guy asked me to call him from the shop. He talked to the sales guy who told him the measurements (tread wear). The sales guy told him the shock was leaking. They got off the phone and i called the yokohama guy back, he was on another call and would call me back in 15 minutes. so i sat and waited at the tire shop where i had already been for over an hour. After waiting a half hour, i called back. He said to try out the car and if it still had the problem talk to a mechanic about it, and if it's not a problem with the car, i could call him back, he said we could get a second opinion.

 

When i first got the car back after the tires were installed, the receipt says they were all 35, which is the mfg recommendation.

i checked the pressure at some point in the following week or so after googling about the symptoms. dog situation was chaotic and distracting. when i checked it, one of the front tires was 38 and the other was 33, and the back ones were closer to even, i want to say 36, but i hadn't looked at the original receipt so i thought they put the higher pressures in, maybe it's my gauge. i wrote what i got down but i'm not sure where right now, it's not in the folder for tires. i checked them several times to confirm and i kept getting the same results.

i took the car back to the shop after checking the tire pressure and they made them even at 35 again.

So the last i know, they had just put them at 35, and they did the alignment last week (tire pressure not noted on the print out i was given).

i want to check them again later today.

I found a mechanic and am going to go meet him and make an appointment probably for next week because i don't have tomorrow--unless he thinks it's quick.

 

duplicate post

 

Thanks for these ideas and opinion, i'll print this up and take it with me, i have a japanese car mechanic i think will be good, i'm going to go over there now and see if he'll drive it up the street and back and see if he can feel it, and if so, does he know? could it be fixed if i leave it today? otherwise, make an appointment for next week, maybe get his opinion on safety. anyway, that is my mission, at least to make contact and see how the vibe is

this one got the most recommendations on NextDoor, there were at least 2 more that sounded really good as well, this guy's webpage addressed some things.
fwiw, here's yelp reviews

Kennedy’s Independent - 16 Reviews - Auto Repair - 14540 Calvert St, Van Nuys, Van Nuys, CA - Phone Number - Yelp