Wheel noise, 230k, tried balancing, tires look good

Ok yes, I tried all those tasks for the past couple hours speeding up, slamming on the brakes, letting go

Nope, they still stick

I am starting to think it is not a brake bleeding issue, but rather a caliper

(I am not sure if I stated in this thread) but this happened and it might have something to do with it:

What started this problem? I had the front left caliper off the rotor and had to hit the brake to put it in neutral to spin axle

Big mistake, it pushed on the caliper all the way to point where fluid was coming out the back

Then, I had to loosen the bleeder valve on the caliper, and push everything back into place

At this point, I remember not getting it straight back in, having to push with more leverage etc

I might have damaged that caliper, one of those intricate parts

It could that issue mentioned by @ASRDogman

Something with that caliper is not disengaging properly

Another detail that might matter:

When the car is stopped, and I pump on brake, it disengages fine

When I am slowing down to a stoplight, that is when it does not disengage properly, and I will use the left foot to fully disengage it...

 

UPDATE on the sticky brake situation:

I have been retracing all my steps as to when this problem started

Turns out, that I put into the system power steering fluid!

Huge mistake! why? I guess brake fluid is water based and NOT petroleum based

The bottle looked like brake fluid and deep down, I didnt think it mattered, why? because:

I filled an entire brake system with the same bottle into an old toyota pickup and it has been fine, no sticky brake

Lesson: being stupid is expensive

Now in shame, I go under the car and lay in the mud, and clear out the system

Lesson to others: you can use transmission fluid as power steering fluid, BUT

brake system is a whole OTHER type of fluid/whatever

Its like mixing oil and water

When I noticed this, last night i was at a gas station under the car laying on concrete, opened up the bleeder valve, fluid did NOT look consistent, that's what led me to figure out what I just typed

 

Ok yes update:

I'm covered in mud, got the car up on blocks/heightened

I took off all four valves completely

I took off negative terminal on 12 v battery

I pump brake pedal and pump out all the fluids completely,

What I am about to do:

Fill the system back up with the PROPER fluid,

reconnect the 12 v battery

Pressurize the system, then dump that one out as well!

My theory: the system needs to be pressurized with the good fluid try to get all the nooks and small areas under high pressure good fluid to flush out any of the contaminants

Then again, open up all four valves, dump that out,

THEN, you can finally put the good/clean/double flushed system

ok i go now to do that

 

Fluid view up close first flush

https://youtube.com/shorts/lDD0W7Nuhu8?si=zo5X03eFB3QFigja

 

Half hour into pumping out old fluid, half gallon already flushed

https://youtube.com/shorts/kEopcEjQ2Z8?si=WJWq3tH6imoxyRao

it is getting clearer

I am manually doing it because I do not want to turn on the high-pressure system with all the valves completely off

This brake system is finicky, and I do not want to mess anything up

 

https://youtube.com/shorts/irabHc7XJ6s?si=Q0rDr8dquWEfMxd7

OK I am at about 1 gallon of brake fluid flushed through the system

You can tell from the video it is still has some contaminants

Because I’m running out of brake fluid what I’m thinking to do is

put all the valves back on and bleed the system properly drive the car for 2 to 3 days, even with some contaminants in it

Then do another flush after everything has been heated and cooled and mixed in few days

 

Ok yes I will go test it now, I want to do this and want to know if it is not safe/might damage something:

Its annoying to keep having to raise the car, get under it etc

How about: I raise the two front wheels, give them some spin/motion, then hit the brake and see if the sticky situation is going away

My understanding: do not run the front wheels without weight on them, that transaxle is setup to have weight, not good to run them that way

Other theory: people do it all the time, its a common misconception

I'll see what the replies are, but I'll go now and make some progress

 

sticky brake situation solved

I ended up clearing out all the lines, spent many hours etc, used 1.5 gallons of brake fluid

I even also removed all contaminants in the reservoir using paper towels

Drove the car today, still sticky

What I think was happening: when I added the brake fluid, it sinks to the bottom, and the petroleum fluid always rose to the top, meaning:

Yes the lines could be crystal clear, but the glob of other fluid always hanging out up top, then clogging the intricate high pressure areas

Then ended going to jiffy lube

They must've vacuumed it from the top and the bottom and were able to remove the contaminant

At this point, 2 hours driving, I tried everything to make it stick, I cannot make it stick

Earlier today: no joke, I was thinking I did serious damage and was planning on swapping out parts with the spare totaled Prius

I thought that irreversible damage was done, and was going to swap master cylinder, then each caliper until it was solved

at the moment: The fluid in the reservoir does not look perfect, but the brakes not sticking

Also update on the 205/5017 upgrade

The way it sits and the way it moves is way more realistic for the common environment

The factory 195...15 (maybe even the 215 45 17 that they have as well) is very low and not good for any realistic environment

Throughout the years, I mustve ripped out both fender liners twice, ripped out the front bottom engine cover, things always hanging, dragging, bottoming out, always going under it to put new pins to secure that area

Huge problem

I remember one time I ripped apart the front bumper coming out a parking lot, the way the roads are made to funnel rain, sometimes there is a V, and that will tear up a front bumper

Other problems that formed from it, mud got into the front two lower led lights because all that plastic was destroyed, so low, not good

Also, the car being so low, it would bottom out and hit the frame

Anyone thinking about going with bigger wheels, yes, do it, the factory is way too low, I wish I would have done it last time I got tires

With the 205/50,17 you can go over some rocky areas and not scrape the bottom of the car, its amazing on the highway with high speed, you'll save tons of front bumper, all that plastic liners, the front led lights (mine are destroyed, mud inside of them)

So far no negatives: the turning is amazing as usual, the braking is not different at all,

One possible negative (I dont know I have not tested): the speedometer would be slightly off because of different diameter than the factory

The other thread on this forum that gave me the idea to do it: the measurement is about 1 in higher (dont quote me) but that one inch is very useful

Whoever was the one that mentioned it first, your words are appreciated and improved the car in a big way, and anyone thinking about it, go for it

 

yes after putting this post, I started to study the other priuses on the road and seeing their front bumper/all the lower plastic/wheels liners situation

I noticed many of the priuses with the smaller 195 wheel setup, had wheel liners ripped out, from bumper loose, missing bottom front plastic

today I'll study the priuses with the 17 inch wheels and see their front situation and how it is holding up

 

Im thinking not to touch it at all, the nightmare I just went through, I am nervous about doing anything to the car, but

I will be putting in new front struts and front bearings the next chance I get

When I do that, I will go in there and clean the guide pins

Putting in the new front struts requires tons of stuff to come off, including the window-shield wiper system because:

The bolts that hold the strut are inaccessible without removing the windshield wiper mechanism

And to change those front bearings, they say you dont press, yes you do

Last time I was in there trying to chisel it out, bad idea, that metal is weak, I have to completely remove the knuckle, press out the factory bearing