I have a strange, mysterious steering noise that I only hear when steering carefully in parking lots or when turning the wheel to reverse-park. I don't hear it when I'm turning at cruising speeds or making turns on city roads.

It sounds like a soft groaning sound, almost like someone screaming but getting choked. Very strange. Anyone ever had this issue? I don't think it's a slipping p/s belt based on the noise.

Thanks.

 

Wild guess and I know the video is a 4th gen, but at 4:00 Phomor talks about steering wheel noise.
Just an idea.

 

Thanks for the video.

I have a hunch it might be the steering wheel clock spring. I'll do a search now to see if there are any threads that have covered it. I'll price one out from Nissan and if it's not super-expensive, I might have that replaced.

 

Is this the same as a airbag clock spring? If so I was charged 2 hours labor and oem part cost >$100.00

 

Thanks for the above replies, but my noises turned out to be a bad left side ball joint, so I decided to just replace both lower control arms to get new joints and a-arm bushings, and also threw in a left side end link. Expensive repair, but all fixed now.

Some car problems turn out to be learning opportunities. I never knew bad ball joints can make such sounds, yet still not have any play, so hopefully this thread helps someone. The car absorbs bumps much better now than before with no noise. Always feels good when a pricey repair yields noticeable results. 8-)