Hey everyone I was hoping to get some opinions on what this sound might be. It is a rotational metallic noise coming from the right side of the car only, and is 100% dependent on vehicle speed. It sometimes goes away for periods of a day or two, only to come right back, sometimes quieter, and sometimes louder.

I've checked all the wheels for play to see if it was the wheel bearing, they are all solid. Brakes all have plenty of pad left. It is not depended on braking or accelerating, when the sound is happening, it's no matter what speed the car is moving, speeding up or slowing down. It is the most noticeable when I am in the far right lane next to a curb, and it will echo off the curb and be slightly louder. Also when I pass a car parked on the side of the road, it will echo off of that.

I've also had the car looked over by a local shop, they found nothing wrong with wheel bearings or brakes. It also just had 4 new tires put on as well, so alignment is perfect. My car does currently suffer from the common "axle clicking" problem that many have had. I wonder if this noise could be a by-product of that? I plan on taking the axle out soon to regrease it, could see if it goes away at the same time as the click.

The only thing that the shop noticed was that the u-joints were looking a little rough. To quote them; "they are looking kinda rough but not too bad to the point where you need to replace them right now. Nissan only sells the driveshaft as a whole with the u joints, so we couldn't even get the u joints by themselves. If you can live with the noise, just don't worry about it, it shouldn't be causing any harm". I've looked into this noise on the forums and honestly couldn't find anyone with the same issue. I apologize if this has already been addressed, I looked everywhere.

I attached a clip I took of the noise with my phone. It's kind of hard to hear through the speaker, but definitely audible in person. When I pass a vehicle at about 3 seconds in, the noise gets a lot louder because it echos off of a car I pass on the side of the road. So listen to that part to get a good idea of it.

Thanks for any ideas you guys got, I really appreciate it.

Adam

 

Wheel bearings can be tricky to diagnose as they can check fine and still have issues.

Assuming you have pad material and your rotors and wheels are mounted correctly doubt its your brakes. Same with the drivetrain, I think its unlikely the noise from a bum ujoint in the shaft will isolate to the right side only.

If not your wheel bearings next thing I would check are the pulley bearings and belt. Im shocked a shop couldnt isolate this issue.

 

If it was pulley related I don't understand how that would be a right side only noise, but I will check it out anyways, can't hurt. And yeah I'm with you on that, I was pretty surprised they didn't come up with anything. I do have aftermarket drilled and slotted rotors, not sure how long they've been on the car. I wonder if they could have been installed incorrectly somehow causing this noise.

 

Also maybe something with your brake dust shields

 

Brake calliper not fully retracting?

 

hey what is the kind of sound? does it sound like metal on metal? like it's really high pitched? and it's either every rotation, but gets louder when you brake slightly?if so it's definitely brake hardware, you needa grease up the two brackets holding the brake pads

 

Yeah at this point I am thinking that it's something to do with the front passenger brakes. The sound is definetely right side only, but I wouldn't really say it gets louder with braking. It's the same volume when accelerating, coasting, or braking. What brackets need to be greased?

Also another thing I have noticed: If the sound is not audible, after driving the car harder than normal driving (4-5k rpm roughly) the sound will immediately become a lot louder and easier to hear. I am guessing that this is the result of having to brake harder to reduce speeds quicker, but not really sure. When coming off of the interstate (75 mph) I apply the brakes somewhat hard and the sound doesn't really become noticeable if it already wasn't.

I'm still stumped..

 

try this, after you detect where it's coming from, loosen the caliper bolts, and you'll notice that the brake pads are held by 2 small metal brackets, one on the top and one on the bottom. they hold the brake pads in the caliper preventing it from shaking around. I noticed mine were a little bent, thus scratching on the rotor basically, metal on metal contact. I bent them to be straight, and greased the hell out of it with some Anti-Seeze Lubricant and some WD-40, haven't had a sound until today, needed some more WD-40. it's not a big problem it's just annoying to hear as it can be real loud and embarrassing. hopefully this is what it is.