Grinding noise 2005 Prius Sounds like Wheel Bearing

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(I4CSNOW @ Jul 16 2007, 11:11 AM) [snapback]479701[/snapback]</div>

Sounds like a rock stuck in the shroud and rubbing on rotor. Had that happen to me last fall. It has been reported here several times.

 

Bearings don't usually sound like metal-on-metal, at least at first.
More like a deep wooba-wooba-wooba. Your more "external" sound
may simply be rusty rotors -- try the Neutral cleanoff trick to see
if that improves things. [get up some speed, shift to N, do a fairly
hard but even braking to some lower speed]
.
After a wet night, my rotors sound *horrendous* until I get a chance
to do that. Cleans 'em right up.
.
_H*

 

my 05 prius got something stuck in teh front wheel and started to make noise until i hit a good bump, i believe its some road debris

 

My '01 Prius had a bad rear bearing. What was interesting here is:
1) It was a very broadband general noise increase. Nothing like metal on metal. (I would be jacking up the offending wheel real quick since metal on metal is easy to run down.)
2) The bearing noise is very speed dependent. Not detectable at low wheel rpm. Overpowering at high rpm.
3) The service department actually had a senior technician come out and drive the car with me in it. They get a lot of "false alarms" and find it necessary to filter out self diagnoses. Unfortunately, I was right and it was a bad bearing. Darn.

 

My '07 Prius just got to 1000 miles yesterday. We love it but I have a concern that I wonder if anyone else in "PriusLand" has noticed. Right off when we picked up the vehicle I noticed a front end noise that sounds very much like something is either lose or affected by the wind and I can't find anything that appears to be lose. It doesn't change much with speed so I'm kind of eliminating the wind idea. The more I drive it, I'm wondering if the Goodyear Integreties are creating the noise from the road surface? Any thoughts?

moshe

 

Without more details on the noise, it is hard to say. The tires will make significantly more noise when driving on cement roads and quite a bit less on asphalt roads. Pay attention that next time you go over a bridge (cement) vs a regular black interstate (asphalt) and see if the bridge noise matches the noise you are hearing.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(FL_Prius_Driver @ Jul 19 2007, 06:17 PM) [snapback]481861[/snapback]</div>

I just got back from a 1200 mile trip (the first long one) since we've owned the car. I couldn't be happier with it -- got 53.9 mpg on interstate travel today with only 1800 total miles on the car. This was done driving at the speed limit the entire trip. Didn't think I could ever drive that slow, but it was so much more relaxing -- my wife and I aren't really that exhausted for an 11 hour trip! Regarding the "noise" -- I did notice some changes in the "noise" depending on road surfaces so I suspect the tires are causing this, although the changes were not really that significant. The roads in NY are so bad that it's hard to find a really smooth surface anywhere! But I will continue to monitor this. Thanks for your comments!

 

I am having the same problem today. what was the issue with your car

 

In other cars I've had, if this sound came from wheel bearings, then the sound changed a lot when I was turning left or right. If it didn't change, then it was likely a cv joint.

 

My '05 just started making a grinding noise on the right front that gets a little worse when I turn to the left and a lot worse when I turn to the right. I was unable to see any ground debris stuck anywhere that could be making this noise and I suspect it may be the bearing going out. I did a quick search and it looks like a new wheel bearing hub assembly is going to run me $115-$140. I'm going to take it by the local Toyota dealership and see what they say before I take any more steps.

 

It is worth checking periodically that the nut that holds the CV joint in the hub is tight from time to time. I have known them to come loose, particularly the left front. Don't know why but it happens. Had this on my ex's RAV4. You might notice a creaking from the wheel which varies with speed as a warning to imminent wheel bearing failure, if you do, tighten the nut!

 

My noise was the right front (passenger) wheel bearing. Being that it was 19 degrees out and I don't have a heated garage I sprung to have the local dealership do the work for me, $308.96 out the door. More than I wanted to pay but luckily it was payday so it wall worked out in the end.