Prius curb hit 6 months ago. Please help

Sorry for the long post but this is turning into a saga, that I hope to resolve soon.

Unfortunately hit a curb at 80k miles and 30mph about 6 months ago. It didn't seem bad. I lost the wheel cover, the rim had a little curb rash, and alignment was a bit off. No bent or damaged wheel or tire, no bent control arm, brakes looked good, all new tires put on, everything balanced. But I did have some symptoms start to show up over the past 30k miles.

I had two mechanics and a Toyota dealer look at it shortly after the accident, at different points for the symptoms I'm about to describe. Here's how it happened:

Shortly after the accident I started noticing a faint single "click" when applying the brakes on the very first time when first shifting to D or R. At this time it was quite a faint sound. I took it to Mechanic 1 and he could hear it but couldn't diagnose. He drove the car, jacked it up, did a visual inspection of the suspension and the brakes and said everything looked fine. It's safe to drive.

I wasn't satisfied so I took it to Mechanic 2, who were first looking at the brakes, tie rods, things in that area, very closely but couldn't find anything. So they jacked it up and really got under the car. When they applied gas while it was jacked up, the clicking turned into a loud clunking at a constant rate. They still had a hard time pinpointing it, but after spending some time under the car listening for the source of the sound they came up with engine mount. They said it got so loud and constant because the of the car being jacked up and the weight of the engine free floating. They said don't worry about it for now, it will just make noise and vibrate.

Toyota dealer didn't see anything visually inspecting it. Brakes and suspension components looked good.

Well, it's been about 4 months since then, and 6 months from the accident. That "click" when first braking in D or R is now a loud clunk. It sounds like it's coming from "outside", like a wrench being banged against something below the car. It's not muffled as if it's coming from inside the CVT or ICE.

But the strangest symptom is when I brake normally, below 15mph it feels a bit "shaky." I can feel it in the brake pedal, I can feel it in the car. It's almost as if the brakes are getting really "jumpy." I know the Prius has grabby brakes with the Regen and all that, but this started to get a really weird feeling. And I don't feel it in my Mom's Gen 3.

I haven't been thinking too much of it while I save funds for repairs, as the engine turning on and off while parked is enough to startle you wake the car moves so much sometimes. But I had an issue with the brakes today where I thought "Can an engine mount really be causing all this? Or could something really be wrong?"

I was doing a U turn on a small decline and suddenly I heard a grinding that I could feel through the brake pedal, I thought to myself "OMG the suspension is breaking," the traction light started flashing, and then it went away. A quick googling brought up Grinding noise from front end during fast U-turn | PriusChat, which described what happened closely. And there were a few other threads about it too. Makes sense.

I've postulated that the engine wobbling all over the place could be throwing off the braking system, messing with the balance of the TCS and all that, and maybe contributing to the U turn skidding and ABS grinding noise?

I really don't want to waste more money on inspections, I at least need an idea so I can start pointing these mechanics in the right direction. So do you fine gentleman have any ideas what could be going on?

What could be the sources for the click turned clunk upon FIRST brake only in D and ? Does engine mount make sense for all this? Wobbly braking?

Sorry again for the long post and thank you so much.

 

Also, braking is SMOOTH in Neutral with friction brakes.

Here's some video of the U turn and "grinding" noise.

The sound came from the right side, and I swear I could feel it on the right side (again, side of impact with curb) through the brake pedal. But I was pretty shook so I do not know.

 

Haha sheesh, who pissed in your Cheerios? I unbuckled my belt prior to the u turn as I prepared to park on that street. And said “Hey siri, call 24 hour fitness” to my iPhone that is mounted on the dash.

You can hear the noise clearly at around 7 seconds. The seatbelt chime stops about a second prior.

Thanks for the reply and have a nice day.

 

The phone and dash cam are both mounted completely hands free, recording automatically. Relax.

 

The single clunking noise and wobbly instability only seems to be during braking below 10-15mph. Acceleration is very smooth

I’m sorry for the dumb question, but what do you mean by in the driveshaft and the 4 joints?

Thank you for the reply.

 

Lol you’re quite the critic, huh?

Yes, the belt beeper turns off prior to the grinding noise, which starts at 7 seconds. I’m not sure what’s unclear about that?

Further, in the original post I explain the context for the grinding noise while u-turning. I didn’t exactly plan the noise or recording it.

So, my phone was hands free, the dash cam was auto recording, and I didn’t exact plan for my car to lose traction and make a grinding noise. Sorry the recording isn’t ideal!

Thanks!

 

Sorry. All I meant to clarify is it’s kind of cynical to assume a phone call and video recording means someone is double fisting cell phones. Dash cams and Bluetooth have existed for a long time haha.... if that’s not made clear early in the thread it could quickly devolve into a joke thread with sarcastic reply after reply of how reckless OP is.

Sometimes you’re damned if you do or don’t as a noob on the internet

Thanks for all the replies!

 

That all makes so much more sense now, thank you!

I used to have a high mileage Camry that got really bad humming from two bad wheel bearings. I’ve been keeping an ear out for any similar sounds on the Prius and In the 30k miles since the curb hit I haven’t heard any humming. Could the wheel bearing need replacement without making any noise?

Thanks again!