okay so every car guy, mechanic, alignment expert, autoX driver can't help me with my problem and are clueless as to what it could be:

for the past few months I have been skipping autoX events cause I am worried about a persistant sound which resembles a quick, successive thud/thump/knock only when I take hard/fast right turns such as you would find in an autoX/road coarse situation which is transmitted through the entire chassis but is clearly and without a doubt originating from the front right suspension area...only happens on right turns which would mean the suspension is uncompressing (opposite of the driver side suspension)...I have inspected everything...every bolt is tight, sway bar endlinks are perfect, ES bushings in everything (almost brand new), wheel bearings are perfect, tie rods are perfect, everything is solid, coilovers are almost brand new so it has nothing to do with the upper mounts/bearings or anything...it just started for no reason one day out of the blue...there is no sign of any wear on any components suggesting rubbing of any kind of anything, and it doesn't appear as if my 6th gen brakes on that side are rubbing anything either. All of this occurs only when I am really cornering hard to the right, anything bellow that and silent...everyday street driving results in silence...braking, bumps, dips, backing up, you get the picture...camber bolts have not slipped at all...I am simply clueless and so is everyone else! It is a very loud sound and has been heard by many while autoX'ing with me and is somewhat alarming.

I have not changed anything directly before the sound began, so it is not due to any new components or changes.

Any help or ideas from the gurus would be greatly appreciated!

 

Have you checked your ball joints?

 

not yet, but I don't have any of the other tell-tale signs of bad ball joints...

 

I am having the same problem you are describing except on the left side when I turn left. It is just a clunk and it will do it for 1 sec but the more I turn the wheel the more it clunks usually max of 3 clunks then it makes the same 3 clunks when I turn the wheel back. I cant figure out what it is either.

 

no, mine doesn't do only 3 clunks, it will keep doing it as long as I am screaming through a right turn...lol...and it is very fast, successive thumping/clunking...and it won't do it when I turn the wheel back...in my case it's a matter of when I stop cornering to the right or back off and slow down through the turn...I have to be cornering at a pretty good clip/rate to induce the sound...

I will have to take a look at my passenger side ball joint and the sway bar endlinks again...even though when I looked at them last time (albeit, not very closely), they seemed fine...!

maybe I should ask bejay, irish, or matt...to put their two cents in...

 

hm... so it's doing that all the way from the turn in to the exit...

Actually, at this point I'm pretty sure that it's either your ball joint or your axle. As far as I know both of them usually produce this kind of sound during cornering. [when they go bad]

Wheel bearings could also cause something like this but considering that you have recently installed new wheel bearings I doubt it's the case.

Let's see what others have to say...

 

I vote for CV. When unloaded, the cv axle is angled downward creating some stress. Add the extreme turning angle and I think it'd be pretty hard on the cv.

Jae

 

sounds like a CV joint to me...either inner or outer. That or the tire is out of round or not smooth

Do you have a stage2 LTB, by the way?

 

hmm...I hope our cv's aren't weak like that...my drivers side one is raxles...and the passenger side is oem nissan (which only has 45K on them by the way)...

DrKlop....I haven't installed new wheel bearings but I have checked them and they are fine, they also don't hum or anything at speed plus they only have 45K miles on them...

I don't have any of the other characteristics of a bad cv...the boots are in tact and no grease anywhere and there is no clicking while accelerating or while going around corners slowly...

irish, this happens with all different tires and wheels...

I took off the stage 2 LTB and sold it...it wouldn't clear with the cattman gen 2 headers...

 

Hmm...

I'm having a similar mystery problem of a very loud BANG! on occasional hard corners....but it only does it once in each corner. I can't figure it out for the life of me....ruled out suspension, so I'm leaning toward bad motor mount or my y-pipe/exhaust somehow hitting something. Nothing "looks" out of the ordinary.

Damn I hate FWD cars where everything is jammed in there are it's hard to get good looks at things

 

ok had a similar problem. when i took a right turn pretty quickly i used to get this grinding sound comming from the left side. it drove me nuts since i couldnt take a fast right turn without hearing this sound. well i ended up replacing my hub and bearing thinking it would make the noise go away. i thought it was the bearing that was messed up. well it turned out it wasnt. so i moved on. then i said screw it i will replace the drivers sdie axle. called marty at raxle. got an axle here in 2 days threw it in and went for a drive. the noise? what noise? it went away. in the end it was the axle. i dont know what went wrong with it because the boots are not ripped and nothing is leaking out of it. i would tear it apart but i have to send it back to as a core.
so if i were you i would order an axle. if that doesnt fix it at least you know you have a new axle. plus its only $150 shipped

 

yeah having everything jammed up front makes diagnostics significantly more difficult...just imagine a RWD/FR maxima...mmm...I think that would be good for 2seconds on the autoX course...! our cars would seriously be competitive!

so the axle from raxles will be about $200 before shipping...for the passenger side ae lsd axle...

 

$238 shipped for me when I last ordered it.

Does this noise happen only when your on-throttle or at anytime during a hard right hander?

 

anytime...

I have rechecked every bolt several times, everything is tightened down to spec according to the FSM and my digital snap on torque wrench...this has been going on for the past few months and is driving me nuts!

I'm about to replace my SX7R motor mounts with ES press in bushings and will soon buy the ae lsd passenger side axle from raxles and see what happens...have to take a look at my ball joint to...

 

Checked your battery tie-down lately? My car didn't have one when I bought it, mine would do the same thing, only when swerving left though. Turned out, the battery was tilting then dropping back down. Just a thought.

 

no, it's clearly from the front right and my battery is in the trunk, cross-weighted from me...and that sucker is bolted down good!

 

My vote is for the axle/CV as well. I suggest buying an autozone/cheapo axle first and testing it out. They are like $50 after core. If that fixes the problem but you are uncomfortable with having an autozone axle in your car then replace with raxles or the like. personally I'm one of those people who has never had a problem with autozone axles, and between my 3 cars and all the transmissions I've had in my turbo car, I've got alot of experience with them - but that's up to you and your wallet.

by the way, all passenger side axles are there same (except for whether or not they are ABS ring equipped or not). Auto or manual, LSD or open, they are all interchangeable, but if you have ABS you will need the ABS ring on there. If you DON'T have ABS, you can use either a non ABS or ABS axle.

 

what a shame! the passenger axle is the original one in the car--only 45K miles...and it needs to be changed already...

 

when i was ordering my drivers side axle i asked marty how much the passenger side was and he tole me $210 shipped but i was ordering for a 2k2 6 speed. the price for the drivers and the passengers is the same.

 

my driver side one was cheaper...I think it has to due with the fact that it is simply less (smaller)...so shipping would be less and the actual expense of the axle is less as well...

 

There's talk that lowered cars change the geometry of the suspension, creating more stress on certain parts. I guess it's the axle/cv on yours. But like you said, you've inspected everything except what's hidden behind the CV boot. Good luck dood.

Or maybe it's the madd drift angles you take when you're auto-xing.

Jae

 

I always understood that frequent road racing and autoX'ing would inherently put more stress on certain parts, I was just taken back by how soon (assuming the passenger axle is the problem) this has occurred. It's all good, I don't mind replacing parts as long as I have little down-time to get more track action, I just don't like the idea of replacing parts if you are not sure it needs to be done or that part is the culprit...so it's like spending money and replacing things until the sound stops that I am not eager to begin.

 

Another vote for the passenger's-side CV. It's really easy to fall into the trap of assuming the noise is suspension-related because it only happens under cornering. You just have to think outside the box a little.

If it continues all the way through the corner, it's gotta be a rotating part, which narrows it down a lot. Issues relating to the wheel bearing, hub, or brake rotors wouldn't cause that kind of noise, which leaves the CVs and the transmission. If you're SURE it's coming from the right side of the car, then it can't be the driver's-side CV or the transmission. It's gotta be the passenger's-side CV.

If your car is anywhere near as low as it is in your avatar pic, then your CVs will be at bizarre angles that are pretty significantly outside the normal range. In a corner, there is also adding steering angle, so the CVs are now being twisted pretty far on two axes at once. Now, imagine trying to put power through it. Given that you've daily driven and raced your car a lot on that CV with that ride height, it's not really surprising that it's starting to make noise after 45k miles.

 

oh in that avatar pic...lol...I am not nearly that low anymore...my front lca angles were way off and that was hurting my neg camber under compression big time, since then I have raised the car significantly so the lca's are parallel with the ground...I only ran that low for about 3K miles or so...

 

BTW, next time u have a question, check out this page for basic stuff to check first
http://www.autozone.com/servlet/UiBr...arameters=info
Jae

 

I have a program that is just like that for mechanic shops...but they are useless to me as in the case of my problems, my symptoms never directly follow their flow charts and the determined problem/solution is never right either in my experiences...but maybe I am the exception...and the over-generalized diagnosis works for most people and does indeed pinpoint their respective problems...

 

whicjh coilovers are you running, some have very weak pillow ball mounds and will cause a lound cluck, almost exclusively while turning, if one is bad it will make noise only when turning in that direction.
...since u say the vibration goes through the entire body of the car this is probibly not your issue, donno man, good luck.

 

no pillow ball mounts...urethane uppers...