My car is a 96 Maxima SE 5 speed. recently I always heard the dangling (metal bouncing on each other) sound/noise [not loud, but I can always hear the sound] whenever I go over bumps or driving on a bumpy road. it sounds to me it is from the
underneath of the front right wheel area, it also sounds to me that some pipes are loose and are dangling underneath the chasis. I took the car to a mechanic, originally I thought it was because of the broken CV boot (which was just repaired last night), after the CV boot was repaired, one the mechanic who works for the Toyota dealer in town took it for a test drive, but I could not hear the sound at that time. they did not find anything loose when they replaced the CV boot. But today the sound comes back again, it is really annoying, does anybody has similar experience before or can give me some advice where to look at? thanks a lot for advice.

 

its your heat sheild....i had the same problem the mechanic just cut it off and replaced it with another one for free, because my dad new the mechanic...its shouldn't be too much condsidering its like a piece of aluminum..........

 

thanks a lot man for the advice. I will let the mechanic check it. can you let me know where the heat shield is located and how much it might cost to get a new one? thanks again.

 

it goes over the catalytic converter, it could be any part of your exhaust thats making noise. Mine has teh same exact problem but when i lifted up the car today at the mechanic and saw that most pieces of my exhaust are loose, my heat sheild is completely broken off and the hanger is dangling. As for now i am dealing with it but when i but my y-pipe and cat on i will replace it. Its most likeley a easy job that jsut involved tightening everything down. I dont belive u need the heat sheild but i could be wrong.

 

Either heat shield, or exhaust hangers (if it sounds more like bedsprings, then exhaust hangers).

 

after reading your guys' inputs, I think probably the heat shield since last night when I asked the mechanic to check the car, we did not notice any loose exhaust pipes. I will go and check my car hopefully monday night (the mechanic works part-time). thank you all again for your advice.

 

Given that you mentioned the sounds coming from "underneath of the front right wheel area" it doesn't seem like itwould be a heat shield, my first guess would be a blown strut? Good luck

 

thanks for the message. sorry I did not make it very clear, it sounds like from that area, but I was not sure about that since I can only hear that kind of noise when I was driving on a bumpy road. I did a mechanical check one week ago, The struts are all in good shape. (were checked when they replaced the CV boot)