green_bread

This has been driving me crazy since I bought my Z and I cannot, for the life of me, seem to find the cause. Its even kind of difficult to explain but Ill do my best:

When Im driving around 55-60 or at a higher speed, I can hear/feel a slight vibration in the steering wheel. The fact that I feel it in the steering wheel leads me to believe it is an issue with one of the front two wheels. The noise/vibration isnt constant, but more like a "woob woob woob woob" about every second to second and a half (it DOES get faster as the vehicle speed increases). The vibration in the steering wheel is fairly light. I would say to imagine that youre driving over the painted lines in the road. You can feel something but its not REAL noticeable unless you are feeling for it. Of course, now that I know its there, I cant NOT feel for it.

Heres the other thing... I THINK that its isolated to the front left wheel but I cant be for sure. The reason I say this is because when I turn the car to the right and put the load on the left side of the car, the noise becomes more noticeable and constant. Like, the whole time Im turning to the right its more of a "wooooooooooob" but its still not REAL loud or a violent shaking of the wheel. Now, when I turn the car to the left and put the load on the right side, the noise/vibration is gone completely.

My first thought was a wheel bearing. Ive had the front end of the car off the ground several times and did a thorough inspection when I changed my brake pads. With the wheel on, there is no side-to-side or up and down play that would indicate tie rod or ball joint wear, either. Also, if it were a wheel bearing, Id think that the noise would be more constant and more of a "roar" when cruising at highway speeds.

I kind of doubt that its a toe issue, either, as Im not experiencing the low speed braking noises that are usually common with that issue. I havent completely ruled that out, yet, though. An alignment check would definitely help out with ruling that out.. I just havent had a chance to get it checked out.

I have gone around to all 4 wheels with the car on a lift and checked for any "play" in the bearings by shaking the wheels down but all 4 corners are tight and there is no left/right or up/down play in any of them.

The one thing I havent done, yet, that Ive been meaning to do: Get the car up to the speed where the noise/vibration are present and push in the clutch/put the transmission in neutral to see if taking the load off the drivetrain has any effect. I kind of doubt that it will simply because of the way the noise/vibration reacts with turning the car left or right... thats what makes me think that its something with the steering/suspension.

At this point, I am open to suggestions. I know this is a strange issue and I appreciate any assistance you guys can offer!

JERZ350

iTrader: (2)

How are the tires?? I had the same "woob woob woob" sound at 30-60mph, took it to the dealer, they replaced the 2 front tires and the sound was gone.

green_bread

They were brand new when I bought the car like 6 months ago. They are Riken Raptors. I know they arent the best tires out there but I was going to run them until I bought some other wheels, at least.

I do have some friends in town with Z's so I'll see if I can swap out my front wheels with a set of theirs and go for a drive. Thanks a bunch for the input!

Any other ideas while the topic is fresh?

Waiz

iTrader: (57)

lol that is of course not an axle click that you're experiencing.

I had the same issue with my front tire and found out one of the wheels was bent. It was really noticeable at lower speeds and decreased at higher speeds.

Also, a cheapo tire may also be the issue but if it doesn't go away once you swap your wheels with your friends you will know it was not the issue.

JERZ350

iTrader: (2)

If it's not the tire itself, maybe the wheels need to be balanced again?

green_bread

I have actually checked the balance on all 4 tires (another buddy works at a dealership and lets me use their rack/balancer after hours sometimes). At most, one of them would off by a half ounce between the inside/outside. Put new sticky weights on the outside and a new clip-on on the inside and balanced them to 0.0 inside/outside. The issue still remained after that... but that was definitely one of my first guesses, as well. Ive looked in to this so much its difficult to remember what all I have and havent checked out.

Haha.. I put that in the thread title just for you, actually, after your comments in that other "help me with this sound" thread you and I were both commenting in.

When I had the wheels on the balancer, I tried my best to watch the inside/outside lips for any "irregularity" and watched the top of the tire as it spun to see if there was any up/down or side to side movement and I didnt see any.

Im interested to see what happens after I swap wheels.

Waiz

iTrader: (57)

I think it might be your tires since you have already eliminated my other guesses. Keep us updated and good luck!

green_bread

I think you may be right. Especially since it seems to have happened to a couple other people on occasion. I just want to make sure its not a safety issue, honestly.

I will definitely keep you guys posted and thanks again for the info/quick replies!