Steering wheel vibrations at 60+ mph speeds?

I live in a place where I need to drive a mile on Gravel roads. when it rains, I had problems with mud balls getting caught in the wheels or between the wheel cover and wheel. The imbalance problem was hard on driver, car and tires. I cupped and ruined the RR tire while it still had atleast 10,000 miles life left. I found a mudball caught between the RR wheel cover and wheel, causing an inbalance that wercked the tire.
I removed the plastic wheel covers to eliminate that potential mud build up spot.
In my opinion, the bare wheels look better than the wheel covers, and eliminate the potential mud / ,buildup. It is also easier to use a garden hose to flush mud and ice from the wheels. It is much easier to flush mud or ice from the inside of the rims behind the spokes when you can squirt water between the "tuning fork" split spokes. Places you can not reach with the wheel covers installed.

 

You could try a different Toyota dealer. You're not compelled to use the dealer who sold you the car.
Maybe the Toyota dealer in Watertown?

 

"I've looked up all the causes of steering wheel and tire vibrations, and I see that there are about 5-10 potential causes. If I have to take this car in one more time I might just scream. What do I need to say to the Dealership (Burdick Toyota of Cicero, NY) to get them to fix this? Do I have to force them into my car to see the problem? BEYOND FRUSTRATED. I hate taking in my BRAND NEW $25K car!!!!! IM FED UP!!!!!!!!"

There are Lemon Laws there right? You are a member here..hint hint.

No really...just request a drive along Mechanic, stand your ground and most importantly - be polite!

 

Did you have the events documented on your visits? If your Service Adviser does not authorize a drive along Mechanic, ask for the Service Manager, and again be polite. They did it for me when I complained about the brake noise, before the T-SB, and I still have a good rapport with them.

 

You must have really made an impression on them!

 

Ok...after re-reading the post I get why the shot, thank you it was 2:00 am. To correct and rephrase.....

"They did it for me when I complained about the brake noise, before the T-SB, and I still have a good rapport with them."

The point I was trying to make was you catch more flies with honey than vinegar. The Regional Tech, or whatever they are called, is the one who authorized the bushings and pins. The Dealer had already tried new front shocks in their good faith attempt to troubleshoot and fix the problem.

 

Just poking a little fun at an obvious typo. We all make them. Sorry, I didn't intend it to be a shot so much as a slap on the back and a chuckle.

 

I'm a big boy...touche!

 

I had a similar issue years ago (pre Prius). Turned out the wheel was balanced correctly, but they'd inadvertantly dropped a 5g weight inside the tyre before they mounted it. When they balanced the wheel on the machine the weight stuck to the inside of the tyre and thus the wheel showed up balanced. Take it on the road and the weight bounced around inside the tyre causing the vibration.

Took ages to diagnose that one.

 

Another idea for you. Are the weights stuck to the wheel fully? If they're loose they may start to flap causing the vibrations. Definitely sounds like some tyre balancing issue to me (though I have been wrong many times in the past)

 

Does the wheel visibly vibrate back and forth?

That's not acceptable.

 

What you describe is not normal for any car, including the Prius. The inconsistent nature of the event is troubling and makes it harder to locate the source of the problem. I know it's frustrating but it's a physical issue that is just taking some time to locate. Have they rotated the tires to see if that makes a difference? If they do and the vibration goes from the steering wheel to the seat then you will know it is in the wheel/tire. If it remains then it will be in the front end. Keeping your mechanics interested in helping resolve the issue is to your benefit. I think generally they want to fix the car as much as you want them to.

 

To add to SteveLee's suggestion...if after the tires are rotated backs to front and fronts to back the vibrations are the same, it could be a rare case of a defective front wheel bearing. You would want it fixed ASAP as it could be dangerous. This is nearly a new car so your dealer should handle this matter for you. Why not ask them if you could test drive another Prius on the same roads you drive to see if you can detect a difference. It should be a smooth ride even over 70. Cabin noise will increase but that's normal - especially between 70 and 80 mph. Prius does not have a good NVH rating.

 

I did have a similar issue when I had my second set of tires rotated for the first time. It was finally diagnosed as a tire out of round, that should have shown up when the tires were balanced, for some reason it did not. I was never really sure that I had a tire was out of round, I tend to believe I just had one or two tires in the set that were hard to balance. But they (Costco) gave me a deal I couldn't refuse on 4 new tires, probably to get rid of me, and everything was fine after that. Some tires are, for some reason, very hard to balance.

As mentioned above try rotating the tires front to back, usually an out of balance tire or a bent wheel will cause more problems on the front than the back.

You might need to take it to a good tire store and pay them to do the job, they have a lot more experience with wheels and tires than the car dealer does. Find one that will give you a guarantee on their balancing so if they don't find it you can go back and have them try again.

If it is not a wheel or a tire it is quite possible that you have some sort of suspension problem (or bearing problem as Greg suggests) that the dealer hasn't found, maybe a different dealer would do better at finding that.

 

While most of the welcome comments giving have some validity, speculation will not fix what you believe to be a problem. Just go to your Dealership, do as I suggested and take a route that you know duplicates the issue. It will be handled if you show them...however, if you are told that is normal, have them show you in a new like equipped Prius with the same mechanic. This way there is no doubt. The car gets fixed or you learn to live with the new feel of your new car. Again be polite, but stand your ground until you are satisfied, and have everything documented. Most of the people there are just folks making a living like the rest of us. Don't assume there are all there to screw you, but you do have to learn how to handle Service Advisers. Remember it's your car and your warranty. Best wishes.

 

Ask your dealer to do a road force balance.
When I put brand new yokohamas on my wrx it was a disaster between 100-120kmh.
Long story short two tires were to blame and I will never but yokohama tires again.
On brand new car it must be tire related issue.
Did you test drove different prius?