Prius (Gen 2) :: Vibration / Clunking Noise In Front End While Driving With Steering Wheel Centered
Sep 24, 2012
The problem started a few months back and has been getting progressively worse. Unfortunately for my Prius I have been in the middle of remodeling my house so I have been neglecting the problem and now it is time to face it before something bad happens.
So, It is a 2005 Prius with 189k+ miles on it. I started getting a vibration/clunking noise in the front end while driving with the steering wheel centered. It also turns on the traction control alert and sometimes slows the car down when turning and the only way to get it to stop is to turn the wheel the other way. It started only happening at higher speeds of 65mph+ but progressively got worse until it now happens as low as 35mph.
I thought that it was the drive axle as it seemed to be characteristic of that with the vibration (When the problem first started it seemed to only happen when accelerating, but now happens all the time), so I replaced the LH drive axle as well as the sway bar tie rod (The joints were very worn and loose), but the problem still exists.
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The steering wheel on our Prius is not centered when the vehicle is on a flat road going straight.
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I have a vibration when i take a right corner above 35 mph. Its coming from the front left wheel area. The brakes and rotors look fine. The ABS light cuts on and off sometimes also.
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Having issues with Gen3 Prius steering column? I suddenly developed this clunking noise when I rock my steering wheel from left to right. It's steering correctly but I've never heard this noise before....
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Picked up another C today cause we wanted the 3 model and got a 2012 with 29K, traded in the other C.
Driving home into a very strong wind I felt vibration in the wheel at 70-75Mph, it seemed to get less when slower.
Can winds cause vibration?
Also can overinflated tires or underinflated cause that vibration too? I didnt check it at the dealer as I thought they would have and its too dark now to check.
One last thing, when they rotate tires, do they also balance them?
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My 05 will pass the 230K mile mark sometime in the next week. I have been tolerating a high velocity (65+mph ) vibration [for about the past six months - maybe more] that I can feel through the steering wheel. When driving at 55 mph, there's no vibration whatsoever.
It could be that the Ecopia 422s that were installed two years ago are causing it or it could be a bad front wheel bearing. The Ecopias have 45k miles on them and realistically don't have much more life left in them (60K tread wear warranty). A couple of them are a little more than 1/32 from the wear bars.
To those who replaced their front wheel bearing(s). What were the symptoms up to the time of replacement? Was it something you could sense when driving or was it found during an inspection with the front end raised?
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I put some 10mm hubcentric spacers from Avenue Autosport on the front of my car and got some slight vibration like the wheel wasn't centered very well. I decided to take them off to make sure they were the source of the vibration, and the car seems to ride a bit better/smoother in general without them (and the vibration when away).
I noticed that they didn't fit as tightly as my 15mm ECS spacers that I have in the rear, and my question is: are these spacers crappy in some way and I should order 10mm spacers from ECS, or are spacers in general not a great idea for the front wheels if you want your car to feel perfectly smooth and tight.
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Our 2012 Prius with now 17,000 miles in 8 months has developed a clunking noise when turning the steering wheel, especially far to the right at low speeds.
The first time the dealer identified it as a failed intermediate shaft and replaced it under warranty. Shortly after we told them it was starting to make the noise again, but they claimed they couldn't replicate the sound and anything they heard was normal 'linkage' (whatever that is). Shortly thereafter the clunking progressed so we took it in for now the third time, and they confirmed the problem, spoke with Toyota who said we must have had a bad part, and replaced it again.
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2011 toyota camry LE I4 61k miles never been in a wreck. The car is squirrely as heck on the freeway and after two alignments and a trip to the dealer the slight pull to the right has turned into a fairly hard pull to the left and an off center steering wheel. Its not so much a pull as the car wanders and has ZERO center feel to the steering making it really a chore to drive.
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Every R32 I test drove - had the wheel off center / Top Center about at 11:00 while driving on straight roads. Small issue but drives me nuts. Used to be a DSM for Subaru years ago, and all Sub's came as straight as an arrow.....this was actually a big deal for them.
Maybe this is like the Driver's side wiper - all the same.
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I have an '04 Camry that pulls to the left. I've tried many things to fix it- switching wheels/tires (back and front switch, left to right switch, completely different set of wheels/tires), I've done two different alignments (everything is perfectly straight), and it still pulls left. I searched the forums and read something about a zero point reset, but when I took it to a Toyota certified mechanic he said there is no zero point reset on the '04.
Whatever it is I'm fairly sure it is a problem with the steering column- the steering wheel wants to center a little left of TDC and I have to pull it right slightly to drive straight.
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Bought a 2015 Tiguan Comfortline with appearance package (SE) in August, the car is currently under 2000 KM, I am already having this insane vibration though the steering wheel on highway.
First thing I noticed when I got the car is the steering wheel being off centre just by a little bit, need to hold it a little to the left to drive straight, but I am not overly concerned since the car tracks straight, never took it on highway with stocking rims and tires, and recently I bought another set of winters(rims plus tires) and shop balanced, and installed them myself torqued to 88 feet lbs with cross pattern. Found the steering wheel to vibrate on highway speed, starts at 90km/h (55mph), and get worse as speed increases, one late night I even tried to push the car to 140 km/h (87 mph), and the vibration didn't stop. I could only feel the vibration through hands, but can't visually see the vibration, I does make the car feel unsafe to drive at high speed.
First thing I did was to take the car to another shop to balance, and the tire shop told me He did balance all 4 but the machines only had very minor readings in the weight and they could just be the dirt inside of the rims.
I also checked the tire pressure, all 38 psi to spec.
The vibration seems to be only speed sensitive, doesn't relate to RPM according to my test drives late night.
Now I regret not taking the car on highway with the stock tires, its snowing here already and would be pretty unsafe to put the all seasons on and drive on highway to test it out.
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Why the center of the instrument cluster ( tachometer and speedometer ) sits slightly to the left of the center of the steering wheel? Just a bit odd.
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Well, up until a week ago, I had a 2013 GS F sport, and I believe that the steering wheel on that car was able to lock in a perfectly centered position when parked and turning the vehicle off (and then opening the door and moving the wheel slightly so that it clicked).
However, I just picked up a 2015 F sport last week and am finding that its steering wheel will only click into its locked position at about 10-15 degrees to the left or right of center (a little before the 11 or 1 o'clock positions, respectively). It does this, despite the fact that I park the car and open the door while the steering wheel is perfectly centered. I must then turn it those extra degrees before it clicks and it then stays off-center.
Shouldn't the steering wheel on my new car be able to lock on the center position? Or am I just imagining that my 2013 was able to do this? The steering itself seems to be fine, but just want to make sure nothing is wrong here.
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I have 2010 Corolla S with manual transmission and ever since I bought this car I've been having issues with it's steering especially on the highway between 60-70 mph when the behavior is the worst.
The car is really hard to keep inline and even though I try to keep the steering wheel centered the car just bounces around the lane from left to right. I'm sure most of you know what I'm referring to.Now, I involved my dealer into this problem few months ago and the service manager (when I pressed him during the test drive) kind of admitted that he knows what I mean but he can't do anything about it until Toyota Corporate issues an official fix to it.
Surprise surprise, I just found TSB-014010 (URL...) last week online which seems to be the fix I'm looking for and based on the comments on this forum and edmunds.com it seems to either fix completely or mostly fix the issue for the people who had it done already.
However when trying to show this TSB to my dealer's service (the same service manager as before) and schedule the appoitment I notice that they are very defensive about it and try to dismiss my claims with statements like: "they all drive like that" or "it may be tire preasure" or "based on the description that you gave us and the TSB it's not the same issue" .
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So I just came back from the stealer(Koeppel). I had them check out my car because it was making this clunking sort of noise from the steering wheel. When you turn the steering wheel, when it is turned straight, left and right, it makes this obnoxious noise. It sounds pretty bad.I thought it might be an axle problem or possibly a bearing. Now heres the funny part. My dealer says that it is normal. They said they called VW technical support and they told them that the way the rack&pinion was built on our cars, that causes the noise. He said i can show you 3 other Passats that make the same noise. I didn't bother because i did not have the time. I am going to go tomorrow again to see if they can find anything else on it. If they dont, i am going to ask them to show me the other Passats with the same noise.
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Problem: when driving at 65 mph and above, the steering wheel will start to shimmy and shake. if i let off the gas, and let it decelerate under 65 and then get on the gas again it will sometimes go away but it shakes most of the time.
What I've done so far: replaced front and rear motor mounts (they were indeed bad, but it still shakes when driving 65 and up AND it also makes the car shake like crazy at idle). I've checked the steering linkages and the rack mounts. all are good. I did however spot that the outer boots on the CV axles are broken. i haven't had any tell tale clicking when turning sounds yet. The tires were balanced a few months ago. i should probably rotate the tires and see if it follows.
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So i am trying to diagnose my vibration/noise that i am getting from the front right side of my 08 prius (176k miles). It kind of like a rattle vibration when driving on fairly smooth roads. I jacked up the right side to take a look around to see if anything is out of the ordinary. I did the push pull around the tired to see if there was any motion (there was none). Although there is some play when you manual rotate the wheel, about and inch of circumferential motion. Is this normal ?
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I'm getting this weird sound when i turn on my car and turn the steering wheel left and right not even a full lock just left and right really quickly or slow there is this annoying clunking coming form both of the front wheels atleast thats what i think it is and it feels as something is loose but i checked most of the bolts.. Recently i changed my front wheel bearings inner cv and outer cv joints on both front wheels.. i changed my ball joints and tie rods everything was change within a 4-5months..
Also the other day as i was driving and i could only hear this 20mph and up this weird clunking and vibration in the floor.. no vibration in the steering wheel just the floor and clunking sound.. i know for a fact i need an alignment and possibly new tires.. but what would the clunking be coming form when driving or just parked in place while moving the steering wheel...
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Been really busy lately and havent worked on car. Any way it's been about two months after lowering on hpa shs coils. Rides great but I have had the two following observations.
1. When I'm on the freeway at above 65 a big increase in vibration mostly in the steering wheel. I also rotated tires front to back as they are directional at the same time.
2. When I first set off there is a clunking/adjusting sound from the front right side. It seems to be connected with the rotation of the tire. Goes away as I drive down the block.
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Took my 2002 Kia Sedona mini van in this past weekend to have it checked out do to the vibration in the steering wheel and sever left turn in my front end when I let go of the steering wheel. Luckily I found out that it just needs an alignment really bad and 4 new tires as all four have issues. None of the four are in "dangerous" condition but need to be replaced. Problem is the cost to replace all 4 and due the alignment is outside of my budget. I can do the front two and the alignment this coming weekend and replace the other two next month. My question is will not replacing the back two impact on the alignment?
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