Wobble control of steering.

Discussion in 'Prius v Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by GigglingPresident, Jan 15, 2025.

  1. GigglingPresident

    GigglingPresident Junior Member

    Joined:
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    Location:
    St. Pete FL
    Vehicle:
    2013 Prius v wagon
    Model:
    Five
    Issue: Overtime our Prius V has a wabble sensation when driving from 0 to 40 on a even road. Kind of feels like might be coming from front right. It rides better on uneven road or with little potholes as soon as it hits something it resets the vibration.

    Car stats:
    Year:2013
    Model: Prius V Two
    Mileage: 125000

    Replaced parts as part of suspension:
    • Front and Rear Wheel Hub Bearings Assembly
    • Sway Bar End Link Front Stabilizer Bar Link
    • Suspension Stabilizer Bar Bushing Kit
    What steps taken to diagnose:

    • all 4 wheel balanced
    • Inner tie rod and outer test and nothing is moving as expected.
    • Wheels rotated.
    Symptoms:
    • Wabble feeling on steering wheel when going from 0 to 40MPH.
    • Wabble kind of shaking in a front right.
    • Knocking but not loud sound from steering column on super uneven road.
    • Slight squeaking sound when turning to a driveway (
      of when turning wheels while parked)
    • look of when parked and turning steering wheel:
    I am thinking to replace all 4 struts but I am thinking it could be also rack and pinion or both inner and outer tie rods.

    Any help would be apricated.
     
  2. Air_Boss

    Air_Boss Senior Member

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    Broken belt on one or more tires?
     
  3. GigglingPresident

    GigglingPresident Junior Member

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    How can you diagnose that ?
     
  4. Air_Boss

    Air_Boss Senior Member

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    Visually, for starters. Inspect the outer and inner sidewalls for tread or belt separation.
     
  5. GigglingPresident

    GigglingPresident Junior Member

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    Thank you. I will report back what I find out about the tires. They are 3 years old but you never know in Florida SUn.
     
    Air_Boss likes this.
  6. GigglingPresident

    GigglingPresident Junior Member

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    Vehicle:
    2013 Prius v wagon
    Model:
    Five
    Greetings,

    I inspected each tire individually by moving them to the rear position to rotate and check for any visible defects. Although I'm not an expert, they appear to be in normal condition to me.

    Below you will find me turning each wheel:
    https://youtube.com/shorts/_46N_uBmt20
    https://youtube.com/shorts/JR8vxZBUlq0
    https://youtube.com/shorts/vLEpK2thu18
    https://youtube.com/shorts/VxycksB4NrU

    (seems like this forum doesn't allow youtube shorts to be embedded as media)

    At this point, I hate to shell out $$ on new tires as the one I have are fairly new from TireRack. They are Yokohamas.

    Would be worth to start replacing struts with rack pinion, inner and outer rods? Or am I chasing something else? They are all original. Car is a Florida car since the beginning.

    Here is a test of the CV axle on the right side, which produced a slight clunking noise that may be worth noting.
    https://youtube.com/shorts/YP0QfRysN-U
     
  7. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Witness Leader

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    Regular, landscape-oriented, YouTube videos post fine.
     
  8. Air_Boss

    Air_Boss Senior Member

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    Do you get the same end-play on the other side axle? Is the wobble on the side with the end-play?
     
  9. GigglingPresident

    GigglingPresident Junior Member

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    Five
    Hello Air_Boss

    I do not get that play on the passenger side axle.
    The Wobble appears to be coming from passenger side. Also I can feel wobble at same rate when turning left but not so much right.
     
  10. Air_Boss

    Air_Boss Senior Member

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    Turning left loads the right suspension, and vice versa.

    Any play when in neutral and turning the passenger side CV joint (not the axle)?
     
  11. GigglingPresident

    GigglingPresident Junior Member

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    Five
    Hope I did this right. Here is a video when in Neutral and turning steering wheel. Hope you can hear noises:


    Also when steering wheel been turned, circles on the picture is top of the struts, it moves up and down depending which direction you turn. I am guessing that is normal behavior.
     
  12. Air_Boss

    Air_Boss Senior Member

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    I meant play in the CV joints.