Ok Gals and Guys, I had lowered my car with the Tein H-techs... When i lowered it and drove i noticed the popping noise... SO... doing the research like i should, i found that it was the Strut bearings. .. I go to the dealer, get the bearings, replace on both sides.. BUT did NOT replace the strut mounts...

When i lowered the car after putting the suspension back, i turned it a couple of times.. popped a lil and then went away! YAY no problem, but then after a drive, it started to come back again.. so now i had the wifey turn the wheel while i looked and it looked like it was binding up.

Question is.. if i just replaced the bearing, went away and came back, should i now have to replace the mount as well? could the mount contribute to this binding up again?

I searched and saw info that it was the strut bearing but that was the extent of it.

Thanks!

 

i had the same problem. i have a 98 and i lowered it with tokico struts(before they went out on me) an tein springs. i had to replace strut mounts and bearngs 3 times before i jus gave up. imma just get coilovers. i dont think OEM strut mount can handle a lowered car, or atleast not for too long.

 

its weird.. cuz the driver side is just fine... i replaced the bearing on that side just because i did it to the side of the popping... just to make sure...but its back... so not sure why...

 

Does the sound occur when you turn only? Full lock? Or even just a little?

Does the sound occur when you go over bumps?

Do you have the spring isolators at the bottom ends of the springs? Are the bottom ends of the springs sitting correctly on the perch of the strut?

Need a little more info here before we start throwing out possibilities. I personally doubt it has anything to do with the bearings or strut mounts, unless your strut mounts were shot to begin with.

Take a look here too:

http://www.shiftice.com/suspension_noises.html

 

Hey Joel!

OK... more specifically.. it only does it when i'm at a stop or moving slowly turning the wheel left or right.. dont have the sound when i'm driving or going over bumps or humps

So when the wifey was in the car turning the wheel back and forth.. i kept going back and forth to both sides to see and hear the differences and just the passenger side kept looking like it was catching on something then would break loose and it would make that popping noise... THEN the weird part....

it started to smooth itself out!!!!!!!!! so its ok again!??! and thats the weird part... when i FIRST changed the bearing.. i turned the wheel when the car was lowered again, and it popped very lil then just kept turning and it went away.. just came back a lil later that day...

So i thought it had something to do with the rubber or something when i realized the rubber moves with the unit.....so that left me stumped again..

checked nuts, bolts everything.. checked to see and try to pinpoint the sound and its coming from no other place BUT at the very top of the spring..

any ideas?

 

yea my front drivers side pops sometimes when coming down out of the drive way....it also pops ONLY when its cold outside...Ive already swapped the front bearing, as well as the front strut mount..Its not real noticeable though

 

yep thats exactly what mine does. while you're driving you dont hear anything. mine dont make any noise until someone sits in the car on the drivers side. if you get up, it goes away. if you look at it while someone turns it, it seems as if the spring is about to pop out of place when you turn the wheel. really weird. so imma just do coilovers. thats my suggestion to you as well. or get some stronger than OEM strut mounts, and thats not even a sure thing.

 

thats interesting... well this is my daily and i didnt wanna spend the dough for coilovers... but does coilovers eliminate the bearing and strut mount? not sure how that stops the popping...

maybe i need a new mount? i should grease the hell outta everything... just to be safe...

 

Motor mount.....

 

were you just throwing out there to just throw it out there? or do you have justification as to why you would think its the motor mount?

 

KNOCK ON WOOD

BUT MINE STOPPED POPPING....*SCRATCHES HEAD*

 

have you done anything ? or it just completely stopped?

I ordered a kyb strut mount with bearing.... juuuust incase lol...

 

Have you tried jacking up the front end and turning the wheel to replicate the noise to see if it is the load that is causing it? Just curious.

Just bring it to the Fairfax meet and have someone look at it. Haha.

 

ITs the spring turning inside the bearing, i have the same issue, the rubber insulaters are slipping against the strut mount and thats where the noise comes from.

 

i did lift it up to see if there was anything caught, but did lower the car again and turned the wheel lol...

so i guess no i didnt.. =/

but yea.. good i dea..

 

when you say the insulators are slipping against the strut mount... do i need the new insulators?

how do i fix this issue is my concern.

 

i didnt do anything to it..i kept hearing it..then one day i realized it just stopped. maybe it will start again since i've had my car sitting for 3days now

 

greeeaat.. well.. i just ordered the dawgon kyb with with bearing since it came with it.. i'm hoping thatll do the trick...

 

I really dont know what to do about the slipping, It seems the spring turns but not the strut bearing, i replaced mine 2 times in a week and it still does it, maybe a good coating of silicone grease on the insulators, i dont know what else to do, the grease would only be a temp fix i think

 

man.. this is rediculous... my order was ordered this morning and shipped out this morning! iwas like Good Lowd! thats quick.. be here friday...

anyone have this problem that has a fix? =/

 

It seems that I may have been wrong after seeing this thread:

http://forums.maxima.org/5th-generat...unts-help.html

I still find it hard to believe that your strut mounts are causing the noise. Oh well, that's why I don't do this for a living I guess.

 

well a man of your stature and been around for awhile.. i wouldve guessed you Would know what your talking about lol...

your gonna be at the BWF on the 28th right?

i'll just show you then... hahaha

 

Like I said, I don't claim to know a lot, just what I've seen on various forums and based on my experience with how things work. I'm still skeptical of the strut mount/bearing suggestion, because I feel like then you'd always hear it, not just when you're turning.

But if others have claimed that to have solved their noises... I can't say much without seeing it firsthand.

As for BWF, I'm a maybe for now, but should be able to stop by.

 

Please, Please! Check your motor mount on the right fender it will sound like a suspension noise over bumps,dips and during turning. That motor mount which is located on the passenger fender is called the front mount when you order it......Got out that large pry bar up work that mount up and down...you'll here that noise!

 

thats interesting... you said over bumps and dips... this noise occurs from a dead stop on a left n right turn.. lock to lock.. and when i drive even over bumps i dont hear it.

could it still be the motor mount? i'll def check it out.. thanks for the tip!

 

So it is ONLY when turning from lock to lock?

Did you check this?

http://forums.maxima.org/5th-generat...ion-noise.html

 

thats when mine occured, when locking my wheel primarily to the left...

 

Yes, all the above! break out that pry bar and pop your hood...it'll take less the 5mins to test that mount...get the pry bar under it and work it back and forth...

 

From my experience of working with most 2nd-5th gen maxima's and lowering, the popping is the spring moving when you turn the wheel. One thing that you should absolutely verify is when the struts was disassemble, that 1) it was reassembled exactly the same (pieces in the right order (this at least really applies to 2nd/3rd gens that have a top hat that covers the strut nut...if that isn't there, the springs won't be tensioned properly when the car is lowered). 2nd, this is the part that can potentially get people in trouble. The top spring mount has to be oriented a certain way. If you look at the mount, there is a notch on it. That must line up with the strut to steering knuckle bracket. If this is off enough, the spring will sit at a weird angle. When you turn the wheel, it cause the spring to bind and move when it shouldn't. Then sometimes, it's just simply a bad strut bearing.

S

 

Well when i say that i makes that popping groaning noise from left lock to right lock.. it does it ALL the way from one turn to the other.. not like a single pop right at the end of the lock.. i dont even have to turn it all the way... when i had the wifey turn the wheel back and for while looking up at the top of the spring, i could see when she turned, it wasnt smooth.. the wheel turned then POP the spring turned.. like its just locked up and is being forced to move like a couple millimeters at a time...

i put the hat back on exactly with the groove.. put it back the same as i took it out... actually i dont even know how to put it back on without putting it on with that flat side matching the hat part..

 

Next question, when you put the strut back together, how far tighten did you get the strut nut? Did you have problems with the shaft spinning when tightening? That could be your next culprit. If you only get a couple of thread in, that might not be enough to keep proper tension on the assembly, even with the weight of the car on it (I was surprised when I first experienced this...but it can happen). If not far, the trick to this is to get a wrench for the strut nut, and a small wrench for the shaft. Tighten that guy down as far as possible. This will help prevent the strut nut from being push up off of the strut mount with the weight of the car.

 

Did you clock the upper spring perch correctly? The word OUT stamped on top of the upper perch must face outwards or be in line with the struts lower mounting flange. Also it doesn't hurt to reposition the rubber in the upper mount so the spring end sits in a new (uncompressed) spot.

 

OH SERIOUSLY?! i thought i was tightening it TOO much so i tightened it with it in and car dropped... and i tighted it pretty snug.. but not over powering or nothing..

so i need to make sure i tighten it harder?

 

yeap.. i made sure of that as well.. and it said F for front as well so i had that squared away...

but i put in the new bearing and strut mount... NO GO.. still does it.. and i even put on 18's today to see if it would make a difference... i mean.. its not as loud as it was before.. so something helped it..

so back to square one again folks.. maybe i'm not tightening the shock nut enough? i thought if i tightened it more, it would not allow the bearing to rotate like it supposed to.. am i thinking about it incorrectly?

 

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES! PROBLEM FIXED...!!!!!!!!!!!!

ok FIRST and formost... i consider myself pretty mechanically inclined... certified diesal mech from the army...not sure what that says about my knowledge HA!

but doing motor swaps, tranny swaps, turbo installs on NA cars ect... SUSPENSION SWAPS... i figured Hey.. i know what im doing..

Here is where it gets stoopid....

WHEN.... YOU PUT YOUR SUSPENSION BACK TOGETHER.... MARK EVERYTHING FIRST... because.............when you put it all back together without it being lined up the way it came OFF... you most likely be A NO GO..

When i first took off the passenger side suspension... i was in a hurry....and i missed the most simple mistake... WHEN THE HAT... SAYS "OUT" it probably means FACE OUT towards the wheel... but noooo... not in my case.. MINE was facing towards the engine.... yeeaahhh... My mechanic didnt even have to look at anything.. he just heard the popping and groaning and i told him that i replaced the bearing and mount... and in korean.. kinda cuzzed me out... and told me something is backwards and go check it...

confused... as to why the driverside didnt have a problem, i went home... took the 5 min to take out the suspension and SURE enough.. the OUT was facing in... it was vital cuz the damn thing is lopsided...

why did i not catch this before? after taking out and installing the suspension back in 3 times? because my dumbass put it back together the same way i took it out... WRONG THREE TIMES...

So for folks who've replaced their suspension components and its still groaning and popping... THIS may be your reason...

and please.. pay attention to detail. Lesson learned..

as for the driverside with no problems?? i got lucky.. plain and simple..

 

help me get this straight please.

so on the HAT, it says OUT.

OUT=face the wheels?

my problem is, i hear the popping noise when turn left or right, takes about 3/4 of a turn and the noise says HI!

 

well does your noise occur at low speeds around 5mph and under? like can you be at a complete stop, and turn the wheel left and right and the sound comes in? if so, make sure that OUT is actually facing towards the wheels...

so when you have your suspension out. your looking directly at that motha...the bottom of the strut, where the two bolts go that mates to the lower part of the suspension...on top of the spring where the hat sits on, that OUT should be aligned with the bottome where the bolts go. if you notice that hat isnt completely round, its lop sided. that makes allll the difference in the world.

try it... this is my forth time and i got it down to a T. takes about 20 mins to jack up the car, take everything out/apart, back in.. lowered hahaha not sure if thats a good thing lol

 

I Knew i put the OUT towards the wheels.

For those who got a cheap cost fix, good for you.

i went to an expensive route coz i got no chance.

my wheel popping sound when i turn got worse and louder each day so i decided to check it out today, been popping for a week! lolz lazy me, well its cold too!

jack up the driver side, took off the wheel, visual check, nothing strange.

jack up the pass. side, wheel still on, start the car, put it in drive, let the wheel spin and i found a NIGHTMARE





my CV boot is ripped!!
by the time i call places, they were closing, dealer quoted me $59.54 for a freaking boot!!

i called NAPA and he said hes got the plug and play version, i went to check it out and im like im taking it...$180 something for the whole set up, CV joint or something is what they're called. i didnt hesitate coz stealership told me they have it, but it's $365

so ya, it's pretty easy to replace too and that's my FIX!

 

I got my K-Sports put on about a week ago and it makes an odd noise too, but it's the same noise it made before it was lowered. When the wheel is fully turned, if going downhill or one side of the car is up higher than the other, it makes a creaking kind of noise. Hard to describe, but it's pretty loud and more pronounced than with stock suspension.

Any ideas?