Hey y'all! Celebrating two weeks with my Prius! Except there is a small problem, a squeak has started that is definitely based on my speed. It seems to go away a little when I turn. At EV speeds it sounds like the plane wheels from the beginning of "Back in the USSR". It started today, the last thing I did before this was take my car to the wash. I checked the wheel wells to see if there was something rubbing, but I didn't notice anything. any suggestions?
are you sure it's not inverter whine? could be something between the brake pads and rotor. or maybe a cv joint or wheel bearing.
I wouldn't know about inverter whine. I don't think it's the bearing, as the ride is still very smooth, but since it does lessen when turning that is an indicator...
I had a squeal problem last week: Rear Passenger Side Brake Squeal | PriusChat Does it sound like the one I had in the video? 1) You hear it only when your car is at lower speeds. 2) You hear it from a specific side of your vehicle (because it comes from one of your wheels). 3) You don't hear it when your car is stopped/idle. 4) The squeal comes and goes away. 5) You can sometimes hear it better if you lightly tap on the brakes at low speeds. In my case, the sqeal bar was incorrectly bent stright and was slightly pretuding past the pad, so you didnt' hear it all the time.
Well, you can still have the same problem as me except your steel/steel contact could be worse (which makes it louder). I would suggest suspending the wheel you think is squealing off the ground and then turning it manually with your hands a few times. You shouldn't hear any squeal noises while turning the wheel. I found the source of my squeal this way. In my case, it wasn't the back wheel like I guessed but the front passenger that was causing the noise. If your noise is not coming from the wheels, then your problem is out of my league. I eventually used tools to pull off my caliper to remove my brake pads with the 12v battery disconnected. I used a set of pliers to bend the squeal bar so it doesn't scratch the rotor. I don't know how hands-on you are.
I'm pretty handy, but I don't have the tools to take off a caliper with ease. I will jack it up though to see which wheel it could be. Thanks for the tip!
