HI- I have a 96 maxima gxe with tokicos and progress lowering springs. A few weeks ago I heard some clicking sounds from the front passanger wheel area. It is apperent the most when making left hand turns. Now I can hearand feel the clicks when making turns. Also SOme times when I am rolling slowly up a hill or over a speed bump I get the same sounds with a little chattering sound also. I thought I was a CV joint gone byebye. I hook it to the shop today to have the CV joint replaced. When I went to pick it up the garadge dude said he drove it and it was fine, put the car up on the lift and said both boots/joints were undammaged and fine. I suprised he didnt just fix them and charge me- this rare honesty from a gradge now leaves me wondering what the real problem is. I have heard some talk about bad strut berrings, could that be the problem? Any help would be awsome

 

It usually is the CV joints going bad. Perhaps it is a strut bearing. Does it make the noise with the car stationary and just turning the steering wheel left to right. This would indicate a strut bearing going bad. Also take the car to a parking lot and slowly make left and righthand turns. If it is still making a clicking noise, I still would consider the cv joints. It would not hurt for you to check this one out for yourself. Just look under the car at each wheel at the boot and look for cracks in the rubber and look also for signs of splattered grease.

 

I have a 95 GXE that has the same problem.. It makes clicking noises while turning the wheel back and forth - moving or stopped. I thought it was the CV joints as well - I will check on the stru bearings - is there anything else that it could be?

Brian

 

If its a clunking noise just when turning the steering wheel back and forth while stationary, its almost surely the strut bearings. If its a clicking noise while driving around turns, its almost surely the CV joints. Have another mechanic ride with you so you can make the car make its noise for them.

 

Is it possible for the CV joint to be "busted" even if the boot is intact? It maked the sounds when Im turing and some times when going forward. What exactly is the strut berring? And How much is it to fix ? I was quoted $130 for the CV Axle w/ life time warantee ( unless it gets riped)

 

Yes it is possible for the joint to be bad. Sometimes if grease works it,s way out of a joint and it is not noticed, it will cause premature failure and you will never see it coming. It not only comes out of cracks but at either end of the axle where it is clamped. This has happened on my own car.

The strut bearing is what enables the strut to turn with the wheel. Look in the wheel well and have someone turn the wheel back and forth and look at the strut/spring and you should see what I mean.

The fact that you can feel it click could also be that the spring is not seated properly in the bearing seat. I know that when I installed my Progress Springs, I had to seperate the upper rubber seat and reposition it because the spring would not seat right.

 

HEy i have the same problem going in my 96 SE. I hear it only when i turn left and i checked the boots-they looked ok and there wasn any grease or oil in that area???

 

Same here bro only when I turn left. I doubt its the springs b/c the 1st time I had the springs installed the shop fuct up and put them in wrong. This deffinatly does not feel like when the springs were seated wrong.

 

I have the problem in my 97 I believe it might be the rack and pinion boots being cracked I have alot of grease on the back of the control arm underneath my car, will check with the dealer though