My 18 y.o. son bought a 2010 Prius last August and we had an alignment done after replacing the tires. Later in the fall he told me the car is pulling slightly to the left. He said he didn't hit any curbs or potholes. We had the alignment done again at the end of November (the toe was 12' out of spec on the driver side and 4' out on the passenger side). I had the car checked by a mechanic when we bought it, including the steering/suspension. He only spent 30 minutes but said it checked out fine. I hear a knocking sound from the front when driving on unpaved roads, like something isn't tight. Handling feels OK. What would be a likely culprit? Sway bar link? Ball joint? Tie rod end? Something else? What's the best way to identify the source of the sound? Thanks.
All four of those things you mentioned or however many it is are all possible suspects The tie rod ends and the ball joints are the least likely and less they've gotten close to pulling out of socket or got a lot of slop in them but it's extremely rare even for highly abused cars but the sway bar end links are a real culprit of clicking and noise and all kinds of nonsense and they're very inexpensive You can generally check these visually and with a medium length pry bar lifting up and down on ball joint connections and we're the sway bar end links connect You don't want to jerk up and down on this way bar end link assemblies too much they're really cheap You just want a lightly jog them up and down and make sure there's no slop and clicking and then get away from them
Thanks, I'll check those sway bar links. I see from the records that they were replaced by the p.o. in fall of 2023 (about 6000 miles ago) and I also see last summer he took it in complaining about "noisy" sway bar links and the mechanic said they were tight. So most likely there's something else going on. But I'll check.
How old are the struts? You'll likely get a binding/popping noise when turning. You'll notice it more when pulling in/out of a driveway or parking spot....
I don't see any strut replacement in the repair records. No noise when turning. I only hear it on our gravel driveway, on hardtop it's silent.
There's not a lot up there to be rattling and clunking so just keep that in mind usually a long pry bar you know the kind with the screwdriver handle on it Is your friend on this You just put it in the various parts of your front end where you can wedge it in places and jiggle up and down and listen for the clunk clunk clunk etc I mean that's just what your front end guy's going to do so sway bar end links are the real common tie rod ends and ball joints are probably next and lower control arms but that's usually a side to side type of flex so they don't usually go to clunking really squeaking more like and then if it's really bothering you terribly you can buy a set of microphones that clip onto your car wherever you put them and wirelessly talk to a speaker and go driving down the road and that can get you pinpointed.
Took it to my mechanic, looks like front swaybar links and one of the ball joints is getting loose. Ordered parts, will tackle this at the next opportunity. Shop quoted $1K for the work. Seemed a bit high, I know it will require an alignment but still. Do I need a special tool for those ball joints?
Nope we don't need anything. You'll want to take the hub loose from the strut undo the big nut hole in the axle to the hub allow the hub to pull right off the axle undo the bolt and the nut that are holding the ball joint to the lower control arm now you can lift that hole assembly right off the car set it on the ground in front of you and take an extension and a socket with your electric impact gun and you can blast the bolt right off the ball joint You're not trying to save the threads so you can just smack right on the threaded shaft knock it through the tapered hole and fit the new ball joint squeeze it down with the gun but the locking clip back in the castle head nut if you desire The end links if you look carefully you'll notice there's a hex inside of the stud so you can put an Allen key in the hex head and then use a wrench to undo the nut and then when it gets a little loose because of the Allen key the stud won't rotate and you can wind it off pull the end link off You use the Allen key again when you tighten the nut on the new end link.
This will take you maybe 45 minutes or so aside so for 90 minutes of your time you're saving a grand and labor yeah I'll take that every day of the week You're not even going to have to get under the car essentially.
