2013 Persona Suspension Issues

Shifted belts on tyres especially in front. Stock 17? Metal fatigue in strut towers.

 

Swop the wheels with your other Prius. That's a place to start.
And with the wheels off, check for anything bent, or broken frame.

 

The overall outer diameter of the wheel/tires will be essentially the same.

SM-G781V ?

 

No you can swap the 15s in the 17s the ODs of the assemblies are almost identical tenths of inches so it's not worth the discussion I flip-flop them all the time I have a persona with 17s and four generation twos with the same lug pattern all with 15s now if you lift your Prius and you put 215 65 15's on it then you are 2 in almost over the stock wheel size I have those on the Prius that's in my avatar right now put them on yesterday I have a 13 Persona I can't imagine unless you're in the rust belt and the strut towers are rusting out or something that's connecting the wheels across the car sway bar I wouldn't think end links would cause it unless one was cut and missing literally not connected but there's always that a bent strut possibly could do this but boy I would think you'd be wearing out tires as fast as you put them on then again maybe not it depends on what's bent Is camber looking weird if you know what that measurement is I mean if somebody made adjustments on the car like on the tie rods just because they thought of something? How's the car been slammed into the ground not as in lowering it but it's in dropping over a speed bump and smashing a bunch of metal on the said speed bumper pavement? Usually these cars are pretty ridiculously forgiving in the front end and steering and all of that I've got six cars here two generation 3s and four generation twos and since I've been out of the Northeast I haven't had any of these wavy front end problems like strut towers failing and the two front tires trying to come together at the bottom's or at the tops because well everything holding the front end together is resting away or been extremely bent been in a roller derby?

 

Post #5
You are trying to find out what the issue is. Swoping the wheels, you could eliminate them
as the issue. If the problem goes away on the car with the issue, you know it's those wheels.
If you have the same problem, then look somewhere else...

 

Sway bar bushings?

 

Update???

 

I've put the 17s from the 2013 on the 2010 solar roof car that came with the 15s and put the 15s on the persona that came with the 17s and driven both of the cars that way nothing happened cars both look the same like they do with either of the two wheel styles on them I don't know what they changed in the suspension of the front end or any of that for the 17-in upgrade but whatever it was has nothing to do with ride height or any of that I think it's more valving for compression or something along those lines but whatever it takes you're dealing with outer diameter in total The 15's and the 17s are very close I on the other hand and 1.7 in taller in my tire size on my lifted Prius which put me to a 215 65 15 I believe that's 26 in outer diameter 1 point something larger than factory and I still haven't room for almost another inch until I start rubbing the fender liner whatever that would be I haven't looked into it so if I was willing to put up with Bunny hopping and all the silly antics of having a super stiff suspension I could get another engine there and until I slammed on the suspension hard enough it wouldn't rub of course the car would handle like a go-kart and be well good for a teenager to drive but not really for a grown adult too much.

 

Any update??

 

So your persona had 17-in wheels and tires and now you have tires from a generation 2 which would be the 15s and the regular alloy 15-in wheel assemblies which are not quite as wide as the 17s but that shouldn't make any difference as far as this waviness or wobbling of the front tires or what have you so when all this is going on do you think the bottoms of the tires are coming out adding more negative camber and then it's a suspension undulates this is pulled in and out so cameras changing like the strut tower metal is bad literally in rough states this is real common I would think in California where it never rains there would be a non-existent rust or frame problem unless the car's been hit in the front end all four of my Prius have pretty or very decent suspensions that work very well My 2013 Persona same thing No problems with the suspension ever in that car it's the engine or in that series of car it's engines not suspension unless there is some type of fatigue I could only think of loose top plates usually when I buy struts for these cars I buy complete assemblies with non-variable rate springs new tops and all of that assembled ready to bolt on the car that usually takes care of any weirdness in the front end I can't imagine the ball joints I've used ball joints and reuse them so many times some of them have near a million miles on them I've never seen one yet that's failed I've seen some torn boots and that sort of thing but as far as the ball joint bolted to the control arm and whatnot never seen a real shot one on a Prius I've seen them on Corolla and other cars that fit the same way and on the first few times I've usually done suspensions on my Prius I keep a loaded set of hubs for the generation 2 and the generation 3 with bearings in them ball joints attached It's easier to put all that on with the hub off ready to go so when I get a car that needs front wheel bearings I just pick up the two front hub assemblies with the new wheel bearings and the lower ball joints fitted to the hub assemblies and hang them on the car with or without new struts depending upon the job that just takes a couple minutes aside to tighten all the bolts and generally that's that so something moving while the car is undulating like in a parking lot going slow that's quite of something. There's nothing really that should be moving I mean everything is tightened down ball joints are holding all of that now the next thing to do is just jack up one side of the car at a time just a little bit of one front wheel is off the ground take a digging bar a huge pry bar and pry up and down on that wheel and see if you can make something move

 

Generally that iron digging bar and you lifting gently one side at a time will yield some slop somewhere whether you have to have a friend lifting up gently on the bar You're not trying to pick the car up off the ground You just trying to see what the heck is moving and if you're prying up and down on your wheel or side to side on your wheel and you see something moving You need to find out what it is other than you lifting up on the suspension itself as a whole which is what happens when you set the car down on the tires.

 

You’ve mentioned this a few times; it reminds me of the feel (with a previous car): after a “professional” brake fluid change, I was noticing reduced braking effectiveness, coupled with side-to-side motion, just as the car finally came to a stop.

I raised the rear and spun the wheels while my wife applied/released the brake pedal. On side the wheel spun freely, regardless.

IIRC they’d also misplaced the majority of the bleed screw caps. Anyway, I raised hell; they redid it, problem solved. That was Westwood Honda, for anyone local.

 

Perhaps it's the rear that's swaying. Maybe a rusted out frame?

 

Strut bearings do wear out. And the rubber around it will crack.
The springs will last longer. When you go over bumps does the car bounce?
Which brand of strut did you get? I replaced mine, the whole strut. SOOO much
easier and faster! After a week the left on was popping when I turned. They have
a lifetime warranty so I got a new one, but still had to do the work, again.
Likely the actual strut was bad. You might have gotten a bad set.
I believe these were monroe struts.

Doubtful about the rusted frame because of your area....
Bushings are the other thing that will make it sway