My Yokohamas were making a bad road noise. I couldn't stand it anymore, so I replaced them with my old Potenzas (still had some tread left on them). But the noise is still there!!

I did notice the noise subsides when I'm veering left to follow a bend in the road. For whatever sense that makes.

Also, the car does drive straight so I don't think it is related to an alignment issue.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. My hour commute w/ bad road noise is starting to get to me!!

 

Bent rim?

 

you ever taught about checking wheel bearings that could cause the problem.

 

I used different rims w/ the old tires I put on the car so it couldn't be the rims.

I don't think I could check the wheel bearings. (Aren't you supposed to move the wheel back and forth to see if there is too much play? I don't think I would know how much play is "too much".) But I did have 2 separate shops (including a dealer) tell me that it wasn't the wheel bearings because I specifically asked about the bearings.

 

Our cars don't have the best noise insulation, could just be normal depending on the surface you are driving on. I had Yokohama 520s on my 626 and that was what was on my Maxima when I bought it. On a freeway I drive on every few weeks, I had the same excessive road noise, although the insulation in the 626 muted it somewhat better than in my Maxima. Now that I have some Michelin Pilot HX M4MX tires in the front, the noise has somewhat lessened.

Is this a problem that you didn't have initially with the Yokohamas, or did the road noise become more pronounced immediately after you got them? Since you say the Potenzas you have are worn but still have some tread left, it is normal for road noise to increase as the tires get close to the wear bars.

Does the noise change on different surfaces? Concrete roads gave me the most road noise with the Yokohamas, they are pretty quiet on smooth grained asphalt roads.

I do agree with the others that a wheel bearing can sound like road noise, when I had mine fixed, I couldn't believe how much quieter my car was.

 

Maximas are known to have some road noise, i got 18 inch Konigs with Toyo Proxe FZ4's and i get the same road noise with those as i do the stock,but if it is louder than normal....sureal00 has a valid idea though, check you bearings, mine are starting to make slight noise causing it to sound a bity louder than normal, it could also be your rear pads draggins slightly ...

 

I just heard back from the dealer today. They said it is the wheel bearings (the same dealer that said it wasn't the wheel bearings before). I'll find out for sure when I pick it up tonight.

I brought it into the dealer because the battery light and brake light were on. I was actually on my way to the garage where I bought the battery last year expecting to get a new battery but then other lights came on. The ABS light came on, then the Air Bag light and Seatbelt light came on and flashed when I put my turn signal on and the car started running rough. So I took it to the dealership. It turns out that it needed an alternator.

So I'm over $1,200 plus I still need tires and rear brakes!! At least I can do the brakes myself.

 

^^So both front wheel bearings and alternator with install ran you $1,200? Ouch.

 

i'm having some shimmy and noise issues similar to yours and the stealership said it wasn't the bearing or the joints and they wanted $1700 to replace exhaust pipe and muffler, plus a new left rear caliber and all new disks and pads. i did the rear caliper and pads, balanced the tires and didn't change squad, i'm losing faith in the Max by the day although i loved the 6sp. $1700 can be used as a deposit for a new car

 

Hey Cdoc what happened after you changed the bearings(if you did). Does your max still make that noise. I have the same problem on my 5spd max and I changed the front two bearings and I still have that noise.