Hey guys, here's my issue. Had another buddy of mine today notice that my one (possibly both) of my rear wheels have a slight wobble. It appears to only be visible. No vibration at any speed while driving or braking. Brakes are new (Z1 Brembo Upgrade kit) and wheels/tires are also new (Enkei RPF1s w/Nitto Invo)

We'd decided it was possibly bad bushings on the spring bucket or traction arm, but jacking it up in the air I couldn't get anything to flex and seem like it was off.

Note, the first time this was noticed was when I was running the stock Rays Track V1s, and now with the new RPF1s.

As I said, no different feel in the wheel, the brake pedal...and no strange pulling from an off alignment. I'm really at a loss...is it a bad hub or bearing? Thanks for any help

 

I would lean towards wheel bearings. Lift the car up and grab the top and bottom of the wheels and see if the wobble any.

 

Hey John, I thought the exact same thing but couldn't get anything to flex at all. Not on the ground, or up in the air. It's very solid, and all of the suspension bushings appear to be in good order. There hasn't been any audible signs of a wheel bearing going bad either. However, if I can't get it diagnosed would you think wheel bearings should be the first repair?

 

Kind of hard to say. But we have seen bearings go bad without having signs of it. I can't call it on this situation though.

 

I'm thinking bearings are a possibility...or the wheel hub face itself was bent when my extended studs were installed. I figure if the face of it is a bit off it would cause it. It doesn't seem to cause any problem. Just extremely frustrating

 

I had similar symptoms after getting new wheels. It turned out to be a little circular clamp that came with the wheels. I think it was supposed to "hold" the hub-centric ring in the center of the wheel, but it managed to pop open when I put the wheel on the car.

It kept the wheel from sitting flat against the hub and gave a visible wobble but there were no other symptoms. (It was a thin little ring too, no thicker than a the metal they use for paper clips.)

Might be worth it to pull the wheel and check to make sure there's nothing getting between the wheel and the hub.

 

That's interesting...I definitely never noticed anything like that. Only thing is, it was doing it with my factory wheels too...

 

I pulled the rear wheels off three times today to see if I was just missing something obvious. I just find this strange...considering I don't have the typical symptoms with a bearing going bad

 

Oops! -Read the first couple sentences and thought it sounded familiar...

 

ahh, yeah man. Kind of odd, but I think I'm going to go ahead and do the rear wheel hub/bearing on both sides. I did track it and do some autocross so it's safe to say it's probably a good starting point.

 

I'm still sort of stuck, guys. Can anyone else chime in? Being able to visibly see a wobble, but not have any audible indications of a wheel bearing going bad really makes me think it's something else.

 

Found this on youtube. Notice the wheel has the slightest wobble, but almost no sound to indicate a bad bearing...turns out it was the bad bearing. This is EXACTLY how mine looks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6OvaQvAgAk

 

A quick update for reference...

Got new hubs from nissan, and timken bearings. Getting them pressed together in the morning tomorrow and then swapping them out. If this cures my issues I'll be sure to let you guys know.

Hopefully this thread can/will help someone diagnose similar issues

Renfro

 

Renfro, I had something similar to that that with my 04 Z. There’s a big 32mm nut on the end of the rear axel half shaft that holds the axel through the wheel hub. The outer race of the wheel bearing is a tight fit into the hub and the inner race is a tight fit onto the axel. If this nut comes loose the bearing assembly can pull slightly apart. The nut can’t back off completely because there is a safety pin. Check the service manual for the torque spec, I think it was something like 200 ft lb or so. When my car guy friend tightened the nut, he said that he could feel the bearing being pulled back together again. The consensus was that the bearing was still ok, but to keep an eye on it. This was few years ago and it’s been good so far.

 

Hey Jen thanks for the heads up! That was one of my earlier suspicions as well. I checked the driver's side and it seemed to be in spec. However, I'm willing to bet my hub was bent when *unspoken vehicle service company* installed my extended lugs. The hub face itself is relatively thin around the studs so I'm willing to bet that's what happened. For safe measure I wanted to go ahead and do the bearings since I'm going to have it apart, the car being 10 years old, and having a few track days under its belt.

I'll be sure to make a full write up tomorrow evening as long as things go well!

 

Good news! All is cured with new hubs and bearings.

Once the old assemblies were off of the car, I couldn't visibly see anything off or force the bearings to click around...but with the weight of the car on them, they were causing my problems.

For the longest time I had an odd softish pedal and an audible brake noise rolling down the road...all compounded and assisted in a diagnosis once I knew my new RPF1s were visibly wobbling.

Well they're replaced and all is fixed. No wobble, solid pedal feel, and no noise. Only took me about 1.75 hours to swap out both sides. Just drop the spring bucket down and take out the drive shafts and it makes it super easy.

Hopefully this will help someone in the future!

Renfro