Please help diagnose suspension noise.
 

I have asked this question before , but the problem seems to be getting worse and i can't seem to find the solution. The noise is apparent when i drive over mild to large potholes or bumps. It sounds like two hard surfaces hitting each other, not a clunking noise but more of a noise you would hear when the bump stops hit the body of the car except its much louder, and seems that the car has nothing to dampen the force when hitting these potholes. And its not just a sound you can hear but also feel very well.
I have changed to h&r and illuminas but the problem didnt go away.
I have tried to set the shocks at #2 but that didnt help.
Checked all the bushing and ball joints at the control arms and there is no play.


For comparisson i haven't driven another maxima, but driven g35 and even when driving over the largest potholes, the car seems to dampen the them really well even though its a rough ride.

What exhaust do you have?
Did this start after any new mods, or did it start at least over a 2k after any new mods.
Most exhaust mods will bring a clunk untill you find and fix them...
Suspention only if the struts were not tightend down all the way...,But doesn't really make a clunk?
Did this start after the H&r and Illumina switch or is it an ongoing problem?

Check spare and tools and any after market stereo equipment? (Custom Boxes?)

My diagnostic Charges are as follows for weird noises:

Clunk Clunk - $15
WWWWUUUURRRRR WWWWUUUURRR - $24
Crash Crash - $45
EEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR- $50


Seriously my car sounds like a strut is crashing when hitting any kind of bump while the wheel is turned all the way to the left lock. I know it isn't a strut and my friend who is a Nissan Tech says my bumstop probably needs lube or a part around there. It sounds like a VERY LOUD squeeking.

Clunk and Roar
 

The quick answer here is replacing 3 motor mounts.
The longer answer is that my 2000 had the same noises, a clunk when going over even small bumps and a roar at certain speeds. I though the roar might be an exhaust leak of somekind. The dealer said the clunk was a ruined strut. With the help of this website I put in KYBs all around. Clunk and roar were still there. I took it to a mechanic my daughter relies on. He took some time with it and found two broken motor mounts (expensive - they have an anti-knock sensor or something on them). The noises persisted. I took it to Infiniti. They said the roaring was a loose timing chain rubbing against the housing. They also said it would only cost $1200 to replace. Back to my mechanic. Let me try to more quickly sum this up. The motor mount by the timing chain cover was broken also. It would occasionly vibrate against the timing chaing housing. He replaced it. I took it out and drove it hard, looking for nasty bumps. No noise, so quiet, no clunking or roaring. I feel like Nissan should pay for all this but I am sure I won't take the time to force the issue

Um. A roaring usually is NOT engine mounts. A roaring is usually wheel bearings (even at specific speeds), a clunk is possibly broken strut, and you can usually look at an engine mount and tell if it is bad by watching it move. Also with a broken engine mount on an ATX your tranny may misshift and/or hesitate.

You may have a bearing that is going or like me a nissan tech said that there is a steering component that needs lube.

Trust me on this. You would have to hear the type of noise it was. It only occurred under certain accelleration conditions. It almost sounded like the muffler was seperating for a moment. Here's the bottom line. The top motor mount was replaced and 3 months later the roaring noise has not reappeared, nor has the clunking.

This is kinda non-suspension related but I would check your jack. Make sure it is properly secured in the harness. I noticed an awful clucking noise everytime I went over a speed bump...it turned out to be the jack rattling around. It went away after I secured it...just a suggestion

Guys, I could have been the author of whtmax01's initial post. The clunking noise was so loud it upset passengers not used to it. Mine definitley came from the right front of the car, but it permeated the whole car. When my replacing the struts didn't work, I jacked the front end up, removed the wheels, got a pry bar and tried to move anything and everything on the front end. Nothing was loose. The mechanic who finally fixed the problem did the same. He could never find anything. The stabilizer bar was solid. The tie-rod ends were fine. The swaybar end links were fine. The strut bearings were fine. Everything was fine.
The motor mounts are very hard to diagnose. These aren't like motor mounts on a Chevy with a longitudinally mounted engine. They are fairly complex. When you remove them you can easily see the tears in the rubber. But it is difficult to see without removing them. A transverse V-6 with some HP driving the front wheels moves so differently than a small block chevy driving the back wheels. The only way my mechanic caught the right upper motor mount was to have one of his guys really revving the engine while he watched. All of a sudden he saw the engine lurch just for a moment and he realized that the motor mount had a problem.
As to the roaring noise maybe being a bearing noise, most bearing noises have a growling or whining component. This roar is very different.
Again, the bottom line here is, after spending 9 months trying to solve this problem, replacing the motor mounts was the solution. All three were torn. The noises have stopped.

roar, growl, howl. You say potato I say pototo. Good to hear it stopped.