I need some help troubleshooting some serious noise coming from my passenger front wheel. After this spin http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjBicUQTGKg I started to get noise at about 50+mph. I can best describe it as the sound big truck tires make at highway speeds. It gets louder turning left, quieter turning right.
I have new wheels and a fresh alignment done and it remains. I figured it might be the wheel bearing, so I jacked it up and tried to wiggle the wheel. It's solid. Is that not a good enough test?
TIA

 

lol i dont have your answer, but the noise sounded so funny when you ran over that cone.

 

Yeah, first track day noob - I washappy to come away with just that scrape.

 

Lol that was funny...woulda been a nice drift if u woulda made it

 

Holy F*ck you hit that cone hard... Looks like it was right in the center did it dent your exhaust? Or it could of hit the differential too. Have you looked under the car for damage?

Why the eff would they put cones there anyway? You can see the edge of the road, doesn't make sense....

 

Even though the wheels look tight, it may be off just a little. Try removing the wheel and putting it back on, torque down in the usual star pattern starting at the top. You might even do that to all of your wheels.. and re-torque after 50+ miles.

I had a pulsing noise (around 50+mph) with my new wheels and couldn't figure it out.. it isn't too complicated to put wheels on. But after I removed them and reinstalled -all is well.

 

Damn luckily you didn't plow into a wall.

 

I might try that again. It has started on my stock rims, and continues on the new ones, which are torqued to 90lbs. The Enkei's have a spacer - I could recheck that too I guess. Just seems like it would be something other than the wheel since that has changed. I don't have enough miles on them to check irregular tire wear. I really want to get this fixed before my next track day in September.

 

Yeah the cones were pretty pointless. They were like that at all the exits. Nice beginner track though - only a creek you could dump into, no walls. no damage other than a little mark on the bumper thankfully.

 

grumpysmurf,
I hope you had fun at your first track day in spite of your spin. The Z has been the most fun car I have ever driven on a track.

You hit that front corner pretty hard when you came off the pavement...I think it's likely there's something more to your noise than wheel / tire, but I have a few suggestions for you before you go there...

Is there any vibration in the steering wheel or manual shifter that goes along with the noise?

Did the noise start immediately after the spin, or after some time?

Does the noise change frequency (pitch) as you go faster than 50MPH? (Does the pitch rise with speed or stay the same?)

If you're still running the "spin" tires, but new wheels, and you've already tried dismounting and remounting the front right tire, you might want to try swapping the front tires right to left to see if the noise moves with the tires. If they're directional, it's ok just for a test drive. It might be a flat spot on one of your tires. That would help you rule in / out a tire problem.

Are you 100% sure it's coming from the front right?

Can you request the alignment results from the place you got that done? It should be one sheet that shows the pre and post alignment values. If you can, please scan it in and PM me.

 

Thanks for the great thoughts.
1. no vibration in the steering or shifter
2. the noise started a few weeks after the spin. I only drive it on the weekends though. I drove it home 4 hours afterwards and it didn't do it-it definitely developed.
3. hmm I'll have to check for pitch- it definitely gets louder the faster I go.
4. nope they are new tires with the wheels (Kumho Ecsta 245/40R18)
5. I am 94.3% sure it's from the front right.It gets way quieter when I turn left, louder when I turn right as well.
6. I have the alignment results here. Front right toe went from -.07 to .01. Camber is -1.4 - they wouldn't change that as "Nissan has no recommendations to that." Front left camber is -0.8. Steer ahead went from 0.10 to 0.01.
Thanks for reading! I can record the sound with my phone if that helps.

 

grumpysmurf,
Hate to say it but your comments suggest it is a bearing. Even if the hit threw your alignment out, which it looks like it might have, it should be fixed now and the new tires would have eliminated / changed the noise at least for a little while if it was that.

Just out of curiosity, how fast were going going into that turn? Were you running stock tires?

Good luck.

 

^ hmm that's what I was beginning to think - what else is there I haven't swapped. The alignment I just got done made a world of difference so I think it was done well, but it did nothing to lessen the sound.
I do feel vibration in the pedals as well when it hums.

I think I was doing about 50 coming out of that turn. The car was bone stock at the time except for some 350Evo sways. It had just under 3k miles on it. =)