I slid on slick streets and hit a curb the other day with my 2008 prius. I do not think I did to much damage but thought I'd replace rotor and hub. It is making a whining noise of sorts. Sort of like wah wah wah wah wah wah wah and it is speed related that faster I drive, faster the noise gets. It reminds me of a bad bearing noise and that is why I bought a hub. I got to thinking maybe the spindal could be bent but can't find that part listed anywhere. I know this could be something even worse or not even close to what is wrong but I was going to do what I could before going to the dealer. I have read a few other posts on here about things to avoid but any step by step that anyone knows of would also be very helpful. Does anyone know where I might find a drawing of how the front end is built (exploded view of front end) and maybe a "how to" online manual? I plan to fix this myself, It can't be that hard... Can it? Any help is greatly apreciated!! Joe Mamma
Hi Joe, Did you just buy these parts on speculation or have you pulled it all aprt? You could have bought the wrong things which is usually my specialty but I'm learning. Be careful here as you might have bunged up the cv joint and its tearing up the bearing in the trans (worst case). If your not a pro if it was me I'd take it to a tire shop or any fairly reputable shop asap and spend $50 for a professional looksee est on what exactly you bashed under there. Because you could go through all the trouble of replacing what you think is bad and its not really that meanwhile your driving it and tearing it up even more. Good Luck!!
First of all, sorry to hear about your accident. Hitting a curb even slightly can create a lot of damage to the Prius, mainly suspension parts and more. +1 on taking the car to a shop. I personally would prefer to take it to your Toyota dealer of choice and have them take a closer look at it. Get this done as soon as you can...as mentioned, it may be causing a lot more internal damage that you cannot hear. Contact your insurance...the repair bill may be covered.
Yea I was going to replace the hub and the rotor but after looking at it I am not sure what got bent but it could be the cv joint. Got it up in the air and can't really see anything that looks obviously bent. I'm going to take it to toyota next week for them to take a look at it. It looks as though I could do more harm then good to this, rather complex front end. That is unless someone might be able to point me in the right direction. I might have dealer tell me what needs replaced and do the job myself. What is the secret to getting the hub nut off w/o damageing the threads? Thx, Chris
First need to unstake the nut, using a very small chisel or similar tool. techinfo.toyota.com is the subscription website containing official Toyota repair docs. When you spin the wheel by hand, can you hear unusual noise?
No noise when I spin by hand, It gets much noisier at speeds of 40mph plus. It's a loud WA WA WA WA WA WA WA. I think I screwed up the abs now... I started the car and tried to run it in drive with the brake caliper off the car. Now I get all the warning lights for the abs and the brake light is on as well. Boy I did a dumb thing here, should have taken it to the dealer to begin with! Any ideas on what I could do to get the idiot lights to reset? I should be able to fix this myself but maybe it would be a smart move to at least spend the money to have the dealer diagnose the problem so I'm not just throwing money at this replacing parts that are fine. Thanks for the website!!
Yes, you should not start the car with any brake parts removed. I don't think you can reset the skid control ECU without the correct Toyota diagnostic laptop. Suggest you put the car back together and get the dealer involved. Might have to tow the car if the brakes don't work. I'm also planning to replace a front hub bearing on my 2004 soon, but will disconnect the 12V battery as the first step - and leave it disconnected until all of the mechanical work is done. Maybe the noise is due to an unbalanced (bent) axleshaft.
When I slid into a curb (and hit my front right tire against the curb), I needed the following parts to fix: right front hub and bearing assy and knuckle (carrier) $705 right front lower balll joint $149 right front inner and outer tie rod ends $430 idler arm assy $415 wheel and re-mount tire $480 alignment $79.95 Total $2245.00 incl taxes. (dealer estimate. I took it elsewhere for like 1500)
