Guess, Ill toss my update of my noise. Ever since I took the test pipes off the sound was driving me nuts, I just let it go on for months and months. I took it to the dealer maybe 2 weeks ago. They charged me 50 something, and told me it had to do with my exhaust mount from the collision shop. I figured I would go back there and have them look at it since one of my exhaust gaskets were leaking too.

I spoke to the guy at the collision place and we tried to set up a meet. I've been really busy so anyway.....

I start it up and drive away yesterday.. Noise was gone 100%. I thought to myself, hmm maybe its cold out and whatever is making the noise hasn't loosened up yet. Again today, 0 noise. I have no clue whatsoever. On the way home I didn't hear the noise even 1 time. I lightly backed into 2 giant snow mounts in the passed week, but I don't see how that could have fixed the problem lol. I pulled over and opened the hatch and slammed it to make sure nothing was up... I still plan to bring it to the shop, but I'm still shocked.

 

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the first dealer I went to didn't have a clue... they insisted it was not the shock and refused to look any further. That dealership is CORAL SPRINGS NISSAN. I won't go there ever again.

OK let's try another dealer... Dropped the car off at MAROONE NISSAN OF PEMBROKE PINES and so far have had a completely different experience. They identified the issue as the right rear shock and they are also going to replace the left rear one as a preemptive measure. Unfortunately, they have to order the shocks - so I'll have to bring the car back in on Tuesday. I'll update again when I get the car back...

Seems like there are a couple of different noises floating around on this thread... it really helps to get feedback. Thanks to 350z2k3 and everyone else that contributed!

When the car goes out of warranty, and this happens again, I wonder which shocks I should get?

 

I live near you then I guess... Pembroke Pines/Miramar.

SO this is not covered even out of warranty? What year is your car? Mine is 2005 with only 33,000 miles.

 

I've got 08 touring with 21,500 miles on it. It seems these shocks have an issue... I believe Nissan will cover the replacements for 12k or 12 months whichever comes first. My guess is they may go out again in about 1.5 years...

 

i have been watching this thread for a while since i noticed this clunk coming from the rear of my z around the shock area of the driver side and more recently the passenger side also.

well today i finally got around to a little inspection to see where the noise was coming from. i have stance gr+ coilovers and didn't notice any noise for months after i installed them.

i have read a lot of posts about how the shocks and other parts have been replaced under warranty but the noise still comes back sooner of later.

well i think i have found the cause of our problems and why it comes back and why it can also effect aftermarket shocks.

i started by removing my shock from the driver side and noticed that the hole that the lower mounting bolt goes through had the paint worn off and left an "oval" where the bolts had been rubbing up and down when i went over bumps. the bolt was still pretty tight, but the problem is that the bolt hole in the shock is a little larger than the bolt that mounts the shock. you can also see the wear on the inside of the hole where the bolt was hitting the top and bottom of the hole when i went over larger bumps in the road.

the noise from the bolt hitting the shock would travel up the shock to where it mounts to the body and then would be amplified by the sheet metal of the shock tower. if the shock is replaced the noise goes away because the lower bolt is removed and re-torqued when the shock is installed. if the bolt loosens at all from fully torqued then this problem can reoccur.




so here is what i came up with.... i needed some kind of bushing or spacer that could fill in the difference between the size of the bolt and the bolt hole. i took at trip to the hardware store thinking i was going to get some washers and cut them down, but i ended up finding some pvc pipe the worked perfect. the inside diameter of the pipe was exactly the size of the bolt and the outside diameter is the exact same as the hole. no modification was needed. i just bought the shortest piece they had, 4', for $2.50.

i just had to cut a little piece, about 3/16", to fit in the hole in the shock.
you can see how good of a fit it was on the bolt and in the hole.







while i had the shock out i decided to make a gasket for where they mount to the body since there wasn't a gasket there any longer. i used a sheet of valve packing that you can get in the plumbing section at lowes for $1.25.





after i finished the install on both sides i took it out for a spin in places the clunking was unbearable before.

NOW THERE IS NO CLUNKING, NO NOISE!!!!

i hope this will help any of you that are having this same problem. sorry for the crappy iphone pics.

 

Do you remember (or have written down) the diameter and thickness of the pipe? It would be really nice to be able to just go down and get some without having to tear the car apart beforehand.

 

it was 1/2" sdr 11 cpvc 4120. I.D. 1/2". O.D. 5/8". this what I needed for the stance coilovers, but it may be different for stock.

edit---i just checked my nismo rear shocks and they had the same problem with the hole being too big for the bolt. the hole is slightly smaller but the 1/2" cpvc pipe i mentioned will still work, but it may need to be sanded a little to make it fit. the root of the problem is that they had to make the hole bigger since they needed to have some tolereance there because the nut is actually welded to the other side of the shock. if they just didnt weld the nut to the shock and left it seperate like all the others then the hole and the bolt could be the same size.

 

Yep, its back 100% lol. It was too good to be true. My friend told me there was a lot of snow in that spot maybe from spinning in snow. I have to bring it to be fixed. I'll let you know what happens.

 

Wish my dealer would have done the "preemptive measure" I have the same exact annoying noise on the driver's side now. It's just as bad as how the passenger side was before the shock was replaced. I've been too busy lately to take it back. Hopefully soon.

The replacement on the passenger side did get rid of the noise and the noise has yet to come back. If it does come back i'll just go the aftermarket route or go with the '05 shocks like ArnoldK did.

 

I wonder if the '05 shock lower mount hole is different than the +06'? To further test the theory of the spacer/bolt slop issue.

 

Tuesday came and went. I'm still waiting on "parts"... so no resolution yet. Monday I hope. Bummer that you have the same issue on the other side now...

 

Its gone... two new rear shocks... no noise... no problems. The service-dude at Pembroke Pines Nissan mentioned that another 08 came in yesterday with the same issue. So if anybody else in South Florida needs to have this handled I suggest them. No BS and they know what the issue is. Bummer that I had to go to two dealers before they even acknowledged the problem. Seems like it should be a recall issue to me. Hope these last at least a couple years...

Good Luck to the rest of you!

 

Good luck guys, I finally fixed my noise. Took it back to the collision place this morning and they found it to be a bolt at the top of the driver side strut that was loose. Dealership charged me 60 bucks to tell me it was something completely different and lied. They said it was my exhaust support, which was fine. So it was a complete lie. I'm due for an oil change, I feel like speaking up.

My BOSE stopped 2 days ago though. 07, 44k miles... cmon nissan. It's still under lease.

 

It seems that the CD players go bad early....mine did too!

 

That blows on so many different levels... you should get your $60 back, a free oil change, and get to watch the service manager pull the tech's head out of his ***. And the CD went out too... I thought Bose would be better than that - is it still under warranty?

 

Wow, I'm going to inspect my old struts for that kind of wear on them. Great discovery, Nismo542.

 

Nope its at 44k miles, and almost 3 yr old in June. It's about to get nice out too. I may try to buy someone's on here. I can't live without it lol, and my old FM transmitter fell apart. Wow its amazing not to listen to that noise though. They made me up a batch of touch up paint too which was cool.

 

ttt

 

Hey rattleZ who did you talk to at Maroone in Pembroke Pines?

I have been there 5 times and even put in a claim for a recall. So I won by getting an extension on my suspension warranty. Let me know cuz nobody has been able to help me.

Thanks a bunch, Majininu

 

Hey Majininu,

The service guy I dealt with at Pembroke Pines Nissan was Kevin Horner. My paperwork says that the tech was George Geogas. Hope it works out for you...