Clicking Noise from Front - Need Help!
 

I'm experiencing an annoying clicking noise from the front, the source of which is proving to be difficult to isolate. Noise first appeared last Fall just before car was put in winter storage. (I ignored it). Noise has become progressively more noticeable over the course of driving during the last several weeks. Originally, noise originated from driver's side and was only apparent on full right turns at slow speed. Noise has now appeared on passenger's side on full left turns at slow speed. No success so far isolating and fixing the problem. There is NO evidence of the tires rubbing on the fender liners. Here's some further background:

Car is a 2103 sport touring model with approx. 20K miles. Relevant aftermarket parts include:
Eibach front sway bar (installed Year 1)
SPL front end links (installed Year 1 … replaced last month)
DBA Series 5000 two-piece slotted rotors (installed Year 2)
Hawk HP brake pads (installed Year 2)
Advan GT front wheels (19 x 9 +35) (installed Year 5)

Attempted fixes so far include:
Lubricated sway bar bushings - no success
Aligned and fully tightened front end links - no success
Replaced front end links - no success
Re-balanced front wheels and rotated side-to-side - no success
Removed brake pads, caliper and rotor and inspected for signs of abnormal wear and any signs of rubbing … no success
Replaced driver's side wheel hub assembly … noise appeared to disappear from driver's side, but then appeared on passenger's side.
Replaced passenger's side wheel hub assembly … noise has now re-appeared on driver's side.

I've now run out of obvious options and am looking for input. A couple of other points:
The noise is most apparent after the car has been driven for several miles and the ambient temperature is high (80 degrees F or higher) … so it seems to be related to heat and expansion.
The noise is definitely rotational. It's a clicking noise that's tied to the rotation of the wheels.
The noise only occurs on full to near-full turns.

Any advice/suggestions on possible fixes would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Try to tighten the nuts on the rear axles. Sometimes, a noise is coming from someplace else. Your hearing direction in a car becomes distorted. Have someone ride with you, and have them move around in the car to different positions.

On front wheel drives. A bad hub or cv joint on one side will sometimes show up as a noise on the other side. The noise goes through the drivetrain.

Possibly a bad tire.

Get a passenger to ride along and see if they can tell the source of the sound while you concentrate on driving. Find an isolated stretch of road and you might be able to talk your passenger into taking off their seat belt and hanging out the window. :)

Hey Rusty … the noise is definitely coming from the front. I've had two people walk around the car when turning slowly in a tight circle. Originally, when turning to the right, the noise was originating from the front driver's side wheel. It seemed to disappear after changing out the wheel hub assembly … but then the same type of clicking noise started to appear at the front passenger side wheel when turning sharply to the left. So, I changed out the passenger wheel hub assembly … and now the noise has returned to the driver's side! Do you think it could be a bad linkage somewhere in the steering column that's being transmitted to the wheels when turning sharply? The noise has become a royal PITA.

Tires are Michelin Pilot Sport 4Ss with less than 5,000 miles on them. They were inspected as part of the wheel re-balancing and no flaws/defects were evident.

As indicated above, I've had people walk with the car as it being driven slowly in a tight circle and it's become obvious that the noise is coming from the front wheel(s). It's a metallic clicking noise that sounds a bit like the sound you used to get after clipping 1 or 2 baseball cards to the spokes of your bicycle wheel in the good ol' days!

I thought it could be related to the offset of the aftermarket wheels (+35) compared to the stock sport wheels (+47) which pushes the wheel out from the hub by an extra 12 mm and perhaps stresses the hub assembly … however, lots of folks run 15 mm and 20 mm spacers up front without issue. Also, I don't think a defective wheel would cause a clicking noise … but then again, I'm running out of ideas.

There is a couple of threads on what seems to be the front tires skipping at very low speed, like when backing up and sharp turns. Mine does it. Bigger the front tires, the more pronounced. There have been a couple of different descriptions of the noise.

It may be tire scrub - one of the tires is slipping sideways when the steering wheel is at or near an extreme. The treads will hang up for a bit and then slip suddenly, making a popping sound. Quite common on cars with wide tires. At least one thread about it on this site. Might want to get your alignment checked if it is happening when steering wheel is in an intermediate position.

:iagree:

Tight turn at low speed? If you were anywhere near wheel lock, it could just be the tires skipping on the pavement. Corvettes are notorious for this in parking lots. Google Ackerman Angles for more info.

Try a turning radius halfway between full wheel lock and straight and see if you get the same results.

Hey Jarblue, … I don't think it's wheel hop. The noise is definitely a metallic click and not a "pop". Anyway, as a next step, we placed a heat chaser on the hub and determined that the alloy in the Advan GT wheels expands at a different rate than the hub itself … and the noise seems to be related to this difference. We managed to eliminate the noise on both the driver's side and passenger's side by applying some copper coat lubricant on the matching surfaces of the hub and the wheel. At least it's working for now. I'll keep everyone posted if it turns out to be a permanent fix. Thanks much for the input!

Sorry, wheel hop was the wrong term … but I'm familiar with the noise from tire skipping that can occur under full steering lock. The clicking noise that I was experiencing was different. Fingers crossed that the application of the copper lubricant will solve the problem long-term.

Again, thanks everyone for the input!

hi there, reviving this topic, did the front clicking noise ever came back?

I'm having the same issue, clicking noise at 1 miles per hour when turning sharp, and I was thinking on replacing the wheel hubs.

Hope you can answer me, thanks for this post.
Ivan.

Yep, ... no further clicking noise since the hub rings were coated with the lubricant. That said, I did switch out the aluminum hub rings with plastic ones a few weeks ago. Still no further clicking noise. I would suggest lubricating your hub rings as a first step. It's a cheap and easy fix if the hub rings are the cause of the noise.

thanks for your fast response!
I'll do it next weekend.

This. I had some crazy noises on my 350z from the front in for what must have been over a year. Changed the tires.. noises gone.

Oh oops didnt read the whole tread. Problem solved