I've got a 2007 prius with 177k , I had a noise/vibration from front of the car when I turn left I thought it cud be tracking as I knew it was out I've had the tracking done today and now it also vibrates/noise when driving straight and sounds worse when driving straight and the quickly jolting steering wheel to the left , the best way I can describe is it's almost sounds like when driving over chevrons on the motorway rumbly type noise? I've jacked the car up and no movement in both wheels when rocking them and only a faint noise when spinning on the drivers side (right) uk Could it be wheel bearing? If so which side? Or could be a cv joint ? Any help/advice would be great ! iPhone ?
If you are turning and you hear a clicking noise, check axles. If you are driving 50mph and the car sounds like an airplane, its one of the front hub assemblies. If it sounds like metal on metal at low speed and the noise quiets down at higher speeds, check dust shield.
Thanks for your response, it doesn't click when turning left , and it sounds like an airplane driving at 20mph feels like I driving over Lego iPhone ?
Sounds like one of the front wheel hub assemblies. There are plenty of DIY guides in forums and youtube, and you can get the part from eBay (around $40).
That does sound like front hub assembly. You can confirm this by jacking up the side of the car you think is the bad bearing and grabbing the wheel and try to rock it back and forth in all directions. If you here it when turning left it's most likely your left side. If there is anyt play in the wheel at all or if you can here a sort of click clack then it is the hub assembly.
XC_prius: Did you ever find out what the problem was? I have a 2010 Prius with 128K miles. It is making a rumbling sound (as if I'm rolling over rumble strips in the road) from the left side. I notice the sound when going straight at 5-30mph. Thinking it might be a bad wheel bearing, I jacked up the car and tried to see if there was any free play by rocking the wheel in all directions. There was no free play (that I could feel) from either left front or left rear tire. I do hear a soft clicking sound during each revolution when spinning the front left wheel. Has anyone experienced this sound before?
It may be better to ask for feedback from the Gen 3 forums. While the Gen 2 and Gen 3 may look similar, there are a lot of differences and what happens in one might not translate to the other. Also, when using the search function you can get more relevant hits by searching only the Gen 3 forums and the child forums by using the Advanced Search feature. You get to the Advanced Search by right-clicking on the More... button in the search popup.
