# Prius road wander **URL:** \ **Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\ **Tags:** prius, steering, toyota\ **Created:** [February 9, 2010, 10:27pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/prius-road-wander/44197 "2010-02-09T22:27:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![akrakowsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/71c47a/32.png) [@akrakowsky](https://community.cartalk.com/u/akrakowsky)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2010, 10:27pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/prius-road-wander/44197/1 "2010-02-09T22:27:32Z")
I have an 09 that has had alignment checked twice–it’s right on, both front and back. 9K miles. On the freeway, it tends to wander and I have to be over attentive. It also feels like the steering is a little “stickey” when gently making small corrections on the freeway. Any suggestions? ---
**Author:** ![CapriRacer](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/capriracer/32/22_2.png) [@CapriRacer](https://community.cartalk.com/u/CapriRacer)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2010, 12:13am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/prius-road-wander/44197/2 "2010-02-10T00:13:53Z")
Is the car following the grooves in the highway? If so, this is called “Groove Wander”, and is a function of the spacing of the grooves in the road vs the grooves in the tires. Nothing to be done about it except change tires. Is the car following the ruts in the highway left by years of trucks running over the same roads? If so, then there is very little that can be done except replace the vehicle with one with a different track (width between the tires side to side) ---
**Author:** ![akrakowsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/71c47a/32.png) [@akrakowsky](https://community.cartalk.com/u/akrakowsky)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2010, 1:24am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/prius-road-wander/44197/3 "2010-02-10T01:24:37Z")
No, it’s not following the grooves. It happens on brand new blacktop as well as all other surfaces. A friend of mine has the identical car and it drives perfectly. He drove mine 2 blocks and said something is wrong with the steering, so I don’t think I’m imagining it. The dealer keeps telling me nothing is wrong. ---
**Author:** ![cigroller](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c68b51/32.png) [@cigroller](https://community.cartalk.com/u/cigroller)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2010, 3:22am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/prius-road-wander/44197/4 "2010-02-10T03:22:51Z")
Take it to an independent shop that specializes in front ends & alignments to get a second opinion. How many miles are on those tires? Just for a hoot swap the front to the back and see what happens. ---
**Author:** ![Caddyman](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/caddyman/32/23_2.png) [@Caddyman](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Caddyman)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2010, 3:31am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/prius-road-wander/44197/5 "2010-02-10T03:31:49Z")
Does the friends car have identical tires?? ---
**Author:** ![akrakowsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/71c47a/32.png) [@akrakowsky](https://community.cartalk.com/u/akrakowsky)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2010, 3:57am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/prius-road-wander/44197/6 "2010-02-10T03:57:13Z")
Actually, no. He got the cruising package. These are the original tires–9000 miles on them. ---
**Author:** ![akrakowsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/71c47a/32.png) [@akrakowsky](https://community.cartalk.com/u/akrakowsky)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2010, 3:58am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/prius-road-wander/44197/7 "2010-02-10T03:58:19Z")
I’ve been thinking about doing that. I know a good place. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![grampy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a9adbd/32.png) [@grampy](https://community.cartalk.com/u/grampy)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2010, 4:19pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/prius-road-wander/44197/8 "2010-02-10T16:19:58Z")
I just read that Toyota has acknowledged the wandering problem on late model prius’s. Check with your dealer ---
**Author:** ![akrakowsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/71c47a/32.png) [@akrakowsky](https://community.cartalk.com/u/akrakowsky)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2010, 6:53pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/prius-road-wander/44197/9 "2010-02-10T18:53:14Z")
Could you get me the source? This is very exciting news to me and I’d like to show them I’m not whacko!