Hey All! My 2010 Prius was driving great until a couple months ago when the alignment was thrown off a bit (wheel is bent to the right a bit in order to drive straight), and now there’s a creaking noise. It comes and goes and I’m not sure if the temperature has to do with anything. Whenever I turn my steering wheel, a loud creaking sound is heard from the inside, and the outside near the left front wheel. Whenever I listen to it outside, the creaking sound ends with a small bell or spring sound, I can’t really describe it… I would appreciate any advice! I tried spraying the steering shaft but it doesn’t seem to do much, unless I’m spraying at the wrong location Here’s a video of what it sounds like:
You say you smack something in the wheel is a little bent now well you need to unbend it or put a wheel on there that's not bent and then check your linkage and sounds like your power steering motor right above your knees maybe a little foo bar or the linkage the flex link that connects to the rack itself but I kind of doubt it because it sounds like something is rubbing almost like metal on metal as the rack moves from side to side so I don't know if you smack the curb and your wheels a little bent probably is a lot bent You just don't know it or something like that usually you can't smack things that are permanently fixed like curbs and whatnot with your wheels generally that's a no-no.
