High pitched noise coming from front wheel
 

Hello,

A couple of weeks I noticed weird high pitched / squeaking noise originating somewhere in the front of the car (6th Gen Maxima) - my impression is that it originates in the right wheel well. WHen the car is not driven for several hours there is no squeaking when I start driving it, but I start to hear it after about 10-15 minutes of driving - initially when turning sharply left, then with any sudden moves of the steering wheel, and then it becomes pretty much constant as long as I drive on a highway above 40-50 mph. The frequency of the squeaking seems to be increasing with the speed, which makes me believe that it is something with the wheel(s). It is not loud - in order to hear it I need to turn down the radio, and sometimes open the window - but still annoying.

The car had front brake pads replaced and front rotors cut about 2 months ago. It also had front wheel bearings replaced about about 20 months ago. I took the car recently to a mechanic to troubleshoot the problem, but he claims he could hear it, even though I could. I guess his threshold for high frequencies is not as high as mine. He examine the right brake pads and the rotor and found nothing wrong there. He did look at the rear pads and rotors but did not find anything there.

I started to notice the problem shortly after the brake job 2 months ago (might be a coincidence), but it was not happening every now and then, almost only when I made sharp left turn. Now it's pretty much every time I drive the car for longer than 15 minutes, especially at highway speeds.

Any idea what it might be?
Thanks,
Mickey075

given the mechanic was competent and there is nothing wrong with all the parts he checked, you have a pretty good mystery. Im stumped.

i would have said brake squealers, bearings, calipers, but you said he checked that.

did you have him look at the power steering pump, belt and pulleys? any one of those could cause that, especially if it happens when you are turning or driving at high speeds. check all belts and pulleys too.

what you need to do is get a buddy, open the hood, and have him rev and hold the engine (2-4 rpm) while you listen and try to localize. if you can't hear anything, then you have eliminated all objects that move while car is stationary and you can focus on the parts of the car that move when the car moves. this should help narrow your search

thats the best i can do.

good luck man

Thanks. Just to clarify, the mechanic went as far examining the front rotors and taking apart the front brakes to see if they are even. But he did not go any further (take out the bearings etc). So guess I'll go back and insist that he looks deeper into it.

I can hear the noise only when driving. When the car is parked there's no noise, so I'm almost certain it has to do with the wheel/axle and the heat that is generated during driving that causes some parts to expand and cause the friction. I've found similar problem here (4th Gen):

http://forums.maxima.org/4th-generat...ise-wheel.html

Sounds like the next logical step is to take a look a the hub...

sounds like you got it handled. if only happens during movement, you would be safe to assume its a part involving the wheel. If i could hear the noise i would be able to tell you whats up. maybe upload a sound clip if its possible to catch the sound?

i would definitely look into the hub, bearings, the whole shebang. also i would get a second opinion, go to a different place and have another mechanic look at it.

sounds like this mean something is wearing improperly. your right on point looking to fix the problem right away before it gets worse and damages other components.

Wheel bearing is my guess from experience.

How old are your tires? Do me a favor and rotate your tires from/to front/back and report back.

http://forums.maxima.org/7893039-post377.html

Interesting. I actually had my 3-year old tires rotated at the same time the brake job was don,e and shortly after it I started noticing this weird sound. I'll rotate them and get back with my findings.

Its your wheel bearings.
 

I had the same problem. It was a grinding noise that sounded like it was comming from the rotors. So at first I had my rotors turned and that was not the problem. So under some investigation it was the wheel bearings. I used Timkins and it was a pain to put them on. The wheel bearings are pressed onto the hub. I hope this helps.