Hit curb left front tire/wheel - potential damages?

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by shankyyy, Jan 29, 2014.

Page 2 of 2
  1. shankyyy

    shankyyy Member

    Joined:
    Jul 25, 2009
    172
    10
    0
    Location:
    Charlotte, NC
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    III
    today i could hear grind while driving on curves....
     
    #21 shankyyy, Feb 28, 2014
  2. frodoz737

    frodoz737 Top Wrench

    Joined:
    Aug 26, 2010
    4,413
    2,387
    33
    Location:
    Texas
    Vehicle:
    2015 Prius
    Model:
    Four
    Respectfully...my original advise stands. Call your insurance company, file a claim and be done with this. Be honest with them about what happen and what you have done thus far...they will treat you better. Depending on your policy, the wheel purchased at Toyota should apply to your deductible.

    For what it's worth, my Wife has been in insurance for 35+ years and myself a mechanic just as long. ;)

    Best wishes.
     
    #22 frodoz737, Mar 1, 2014
  3. Feri

    Feri Active Member

    Joined:
    Jun 25, 2011
    761
    144
    0
    Location:
    Maldon Victoria Australia
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    III

    The Prius spare is a very noisy tyre.
     
    #23 Feri, Mar 1, 2014
  4. edthefox5

    edthefox5 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Jul 25, 2007
    10,096
    4,827
    0
    Location:
    Clearwater, Florida
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    Model:
    Two
    I was going to post not to have it aligned as that won't fix the issue and after you replace the parts it will need another alignment.

    As stated you cannot wiggle the hub for bearing damage. If its so bad it has movement the car would be close to undrivable it would complain so bad.

    To confirm w bearing get on a long straight road with no traffic. Get up to 50 mphs. Turn off all cabin devices so its quiet. Put the car in neutral so motor off and its quiet. Maybe won't need to so that if its really loud. Mine was quiet
    but made a wup wup noise at specific speeds. Turn wheel right like your swerving to not hit something and make note of sound change.
    Then turn wheel in the other direction and make note of sound. If you turn in the opposite direction of the curb hit side and its much louder that's because the wb is bad and your fully loading it.

    I lost a bearing on my car at 30k and it was under warranty and that's how the the tech found it. If its the wb after the wb is replaced it will need another alignment as the knuckle must be unbolted from the strut.
     
    #24 edthefox5, Mar 1, 2014
  5. shankyyy

    shankyyy Member

    Joined:
    Jul 25, 2009
    172
    10
    0
    Location:
    Charlotte, NC
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    III
    Checked it out with the dealer today...hum sound obvious when swerving right at 50+ mph, clearly left wb going bad. Swerving on left was ok. The mechanic was clueless as to which side bearing was bad until i mentioned it was left. When they replaced the wheel, apparently they checked out wb, tie rod and said they were ok. Not sure whether they really examined those properly. I really have my doubts about how good the dealer mechanics are. Yes, he did indicate about realigning after replacing wb/hub assembly.
    New WB plus installation plus alignment all together I am looking at another $600 -$700 making my total ~$1000, which is my 'mental' limit before I go to insurance. My deductible is $250. The primary concern is if other parts are bad/needs repair,especially given that I have my doubts on the dealer's mechanics. So, I am inclining towards calling insurance to check if they would honor my wheel replacement expenses plus wb

    @Frodoz: Based on your wife's experience in the insurance industry, any idea roughly how much premium typically goes up go up if the claim is settled betweeen $1000-$2000. Clean record so far.
     
    #25 shankyyy, Mar 1, 2014
  6. edthefox5

    edthefox5 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Jul 25, 2007
    10,096
    4,827
    0
    Location:
    Clearwater, Florida
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    Model:
    Two
    Yep sounds about right.

    Be aware the wb part from Toyota I think is $185. Any indie competent mechanic can change it its pretty straight forward.
    Labor with an Indie should be about $200.

    Insurance-$1000 minus 250 deductible= $750
    Indie-All parts including wheel+labor= $700 and your insurance doesn't have to get involved.

    Your choice but pretty sure your policy will go up next year. Its not a no fault accident.
     
    #26 edthefox5, Mar 1, 2014
  7. shankyyy

    shankyyy Member

    Joined:
    Jul 25, 2009
    172
    10
    0
    Location:
    Charlotte, NC
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    III
    What, $185, is FL that cheap?!!! The hub/wb price quoted by the dealer here was $330. With on-going discounts, I could get it for ~$250. They quoted installation of $295.
     
    #27 shankyyy, Mar 1, 2014
  8. frodoz737

    frodoz737 Top Wrench

    Joined:
    Aug 26, 2010
    4,413
    2,387
    33
    Location:
    Texas
    Vehicle:
    2015 Prius
    Model:
    Four
    "@Frodoz: Based on your wife's experience in the insurance industry, any idea roughly how much premium typically goes up go up if the claim is settled betweeen $1000-$2000. Clean record so far."

    Wife works "Commercial Claims" but did say with the premise of a clean record it is still possible the premium might increase however, this mostly depends on you, the company and the policy. My take...I am paying all that money already, I want them to pay some back, get it fixed right and move on...but that's me. We always use our insurance policies for their intended purpose(s)...that's why we have them.
     
    #28 frodoz737, Mar 1, 2014
  9. vskid3

    vskid3 Active Member

    Joined:
    Jun 23, 2013
    773
    228
    0
    Location:
    Texas
    Vehicle:
    2005 Prius
    The key word is "dealer". I found the wheel bearing on Rockauto for $213.
     
    #29 vskid3, Mar 2, 2014
  10. shankyyy

    shankyyy Member

    Joined:
    Jul 25, 2009
    172
    10
    0
    Location:
    Charlotte, NC
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    III
    Changed left wb/hub assembly and realigned. Specifically instructed dealer to check front suspension prior to realignment - all good here, apparently. The RR camber became -1.0 (from -0.8), now at the boundary of the range specified. The Left side numbers stayed same. The hum sound is gone while swerving left or right. Went for a test drive with the dealer guy - all seemed good.

    However, now that I have been driving for a week, I guess I hear sometimes a mild growl (I may be wrong here in describing the sound) towards the center right. Normal driving I cannot hear this but I have to on a silent road (not much traffic) to hear this. Of course, I do not hear it all times or at all speeds. Yesterday, I test drove on the freeway different speeds - it looked like the sound was obvious at ~50 mph but when I drove on a "good" road (i.e., really smooth) at the same speeds, I could not hear that. This really put me in a bind as to whether there is really something going on. I even tried to record the sound while driving but the normal running sound overpowers this underlying noise. In addition, sometimes over the past week, I could feel a grind under my gas pedal when accelerating. To me it looks like there is something going on since I know how my car was prior to hitting that damn curb. However, since I cannot seem to "hear" this odd sound or the grind all the time or whether I even hear anything makes it hard to tell. Not sure whether whatever is happening is just due to the minor misalignment that I have or do I really have something else going on here. Any thoughts or experience to this end would be appreciated.
     
    #30 shankyyy, Mar 17, 2014
  11. HaroldW

    HaroldW Active Member

    Joined:
    Mar 17, 2012
    716
    95
    0
    Location:
    Grand Forks BC Canada
    Vehicle:
    2014 Prius
    Model:
    Three
    You are gun shy!!! All is well, relax:confused: H
     
    #31 HaroldW, Mar 17, 2014
  12. edthefox5

    edthefox5 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Jul 25, 2007
    10,096
    4,827
    0
    Location:
    Clearwater, Florida
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    Model:
    Two
    Thats not good. If your hearing it it's there. I would be first concerned about the expensive things the cvt specifically. Might have jammed the cv shaft into the diff and damaged the dif gears. Long shot but have seen this before here on this site.

    I would pull the trans fluid asap and sift it through a cloth as you dump it and see if your seeing bits of metal.
    Magnet may help.

    Should not see any fresh metal bits or pieces in a healthy Prius trans fluid just black toothpaste like stuff on the dump bolt magnet.

    Good Luck.
     
    #32 edthefox5, Mar 18, 2014
  13. shankyyy

    shankyyy Member

    Joined:
    Jul 25, 2009
    172
    10
    0
    Location:
    Charlotte, NC
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    III
    edthefox5: That's scary, especially if it turns out it is the transmisstion. One question on the trans fluid check - won't you anyway find some metal particles/pieces due to regular wear?I have about 36k miles.
     
    #33 shankyyy, Mar 18, 2014
  14. shankyyy

    shankyyy Member

    Joined:
    Jul 25, 2009
    172
    10
    0
    Location:
    Charlotte, NC
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    III
    btw, one of the posts here on cvt mentioned sound like 'gravel inside a cylinder'...that is probably the best and closest description that i hear at times....
     
    #34 shankyyy, Mar 18, 2014
(You must log in or sign up to post here.)
Page 2 of 2