http://forums.maxima.org/5th-generat...nger-side.html

I took the car by my Dad's mechanic to chase down the noise I'd been hearing...which had been getting more noticable. An inspection showed no problems with the suspension but on a test drive, every time you'd slightly turn the wheel left and touch the gas, you could hear the knocking.

He figured it had to be the axle since there was no roar or hum indicating a bad wheel bearing. He called the place he got the axle from the last time (wheel bearing replaced along with the axle-long story do a search if you care ) and said there was a problem with it and to send another one.

He begins to disassemble everything to get the axle out. He pull of the hub and bearing start dropping out. First one, then two more and then a couple more after that.

The hub showed obvious heat scoring and was no longer a press fit like it should be. Bingo! He ordered a hub and a new bearing. Warrantied out the axle and cut the labor by more than half on the job since he felt he should have checked the hub the last time.

He was surpised it turned out to be the bearing because he heard no evidence of typical bearing noise on a long test drive.

No more noise, very quiet now.

Unfortunately, I am going to end up spending another $50 because while waiting on my car to get fixed, I walked to a fast food place and while crossing the street, my phone somehow fell out of its holder. I heard something drop but everything was in my pockets. Took about a minute to realize I'd dropped my phone. Went back to go get it and saw two cars run it over. Once traffic cleared I was able to get it back and the glass over the display is cracked. Phone still works though but the display is hard to see. I've got insurance on the phone but the deductible is $50.

Oh yeah, the pics....

The bearings that fell out:



Quite a bit of wear in that hub (top piece), along with heat scoring:

 

you probably have well over 100k miles, right?

I've seen that happen before on a 4th gen when a bad bearings turns from a hum to somewhat of a grinding noise to clonking noise and pieces start to fall out. Good thing you didn't drive on that too long or it would definitely be a huge bill.

 

Hmm, strange. Glad you figured it out though. Now that I have new endlinks and soon to have new shocks, if I get another knocking noise, the bearing will be the first place I look.

Sorry to hear about your phone..collateral damage.

 

146,500 miles. Wheel bearing and axle were replaced at 118,100 miles. Never once hummed, roared or made a grinding noise. Nothing until about 10 days ago. Starting making a pop/clunk on left turns, then anytime I turned the wheel slightly left and hit the gas.

 

So I have the roar/hum but no popping sound. Is that still a ad wheel bearing and hub?

 

I think for me, I'll be going with the end links to try and fix - wheel bearing was done just about a year and a half ago. Course, I suppose it could be possible it's gone bad again, but like you, I have absolutely no bearing noise.

Miz, if you've got the roar/hum, I'm betting you're in need of a wheel bearing. Mine roared like crazy when my bearing was bad before.

 

My car is making quite a bit of noise from the right front wheel area, and I'm pretty sure it's the wheel bearing/hub assembly. I've got an appointment this week to take it in and have it looked at. Would it be worth it to have them replace both front hub assemblies while he's at it (assuming that's what's wrong)?

 

I replaced my right hub/bearing about a year and a half ago. I tried to do it myself, but was not able to get the bearing out of the hub, even with a press. I took the knuckle to pep boys and they did it for 50$. The parts I got from Dave B, the bearing was around 70$ and the hub was $125 or so. So 250 total was what I paid.

I have been having similar sounds lately from the side I replaced, and more so from the left side. I am thinking about replacing both wheel bearings (not hubs this time, because I haven't let it go as long) at the same time this weekend. Is there anything that could be causing the bearings to go bad that I should look at?

 

Don't reuse the lock nut that holds the hub on and make sure you torque it to 240 ft-lb.

 

to the op thanks for the detailed thread, people can know what to look for when having similar symptoms.