Hello! I've had my Prius c since September. I live in Massachusetts where we received about two feet of snow. I was able to get the car out and cleaned of snow. Drove it to a cousin's house last night about 2 minutes away and drove maybe 10-20 miles per hour as the streets in our neighborhoods still had a lot of snow covering them. All seemed fine. This morning as I left to get to work I panicked. It's only a 10 minute drive down the highway, but as soon as I left the street and was fully on the highway my Prius c started shaking A LOT. The faster I drove the more it shook. I probably stayed at around 50-60 the entire way because I didn't want it to shake any more than it was. I've read things about water causing it, been told maybe there's snow on the tires or they need more air. I'm used to the sometimes shake of the engine, but this was completely different! Has anyone experienced this before? What might be happening?
It's almost cetainly snow/ice built up on the rims or posible of an axle. If you have hub caps remove them as snow and ice can build up causing the tires to come unbalanced. Go so a self serve car wash and spay rims off (front and back) and inside wheel wells to get rid of any ice and snow that may have built up. I think you'll find there will be no more shaking after this and things will be back to normal. If you are running steel rims for the Winter I would advise not to use hubcaps as they make the wheels more prone to becoming imbalanced due to snow/ice. Just try to keep the rims as clear as possible from sno/ice and this will keep them from shaking.
exact same thing happened to me last week after we had 1.5 feet of snow. i was out driving in the storm. next day on the way to work it was shaking bad on the highway.. same with drive home when i got home i pulled A TON of ice and snow out from the rims, and the wheel wells, it was packed solid in there. i spent almost an hour getting it out.. next day on the way to work, it shook a bit but not nearly as bad as the day before, it warmed up.. on the ay home from work, shake totally gone. something to watch in the future, ive never had that much snow packed itno the wheels, wheel wells with any other car before
In the future if anything like this happens while your driving place the car in neutral while driving. Just let the car roll at its speed where you hear the issue. The engine will then shut off and your basically just rolling on the suspension of the car. If still shaking you know somethings wrong with the tires or the suspension. If it stops shaking with the motor off you know the motor is having issues. Also like any car you own its a very prudent thing to know how to place the car in neutral instantly without really even thinking about it. Its the best defense against a run away car. Also in a Prius its something you'll have to do time to time to maintain the brakes.
While you are at the wheels the tires probably need to be topped off. When the temperature drops the tire pressure drops.
When this happens to me, it's always ice buildup in the Dead Cat Hole. bookofjoe: The 'dead cat hole' — and other entertaining vocab from the lexicon of car designers
Mud too. Just fixed a 'shake, rattle, and roll' situation by removing all 4 wheels so as to get a good rinsing of the backsides. Was overdue for a tire rotation anyway. Much relieved that mud was my ride issue.
