Rapid clicking noise while turning - any help?

Alstann

I recently did some work on my front suspension/brakes area - namely, I removed the extended studs I had on the front of my car, and then re-installed my OEM studs. After reassembling everything, and driving about 50 miles, I heard some noises, that sounded like crunching/clicking metal.

Below 5mph, it happens at full lock left or right. At higher speeds, it happens when there is a good amount of tire load due to cornering forces.

At first, I thought it could be a wheel bearing. But they seem tight and my car only has 35k miles on it. I have seen a previous post where a member (forgot who, sorry!) said that their steering rack may have had damage, but I'm not sure if it is that. I can feel some of the clicks in the steering wheel when it happens, however. But it is very faint.

Anyone have any thoughts? I still have my bumper to bumper warranty, so I may just drop it off at the dealer and let them fix it. I just want to understand what the noise may be.

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BGTV8

Loose wheel/lug nuts - have you re-tensioned your nuts ??

If your nuts get loose enough, the wheels fall off ...... !!!!!

kenchan

yah, check the lugs and fastener torques. mightve backed out or something.

wheel bearing usually make this errie sound at speed. like a DC10 noise and gets louder as you speed up. milage does not necessarily matter. ive had bearings go bad on a new car with less than 10K miles.

Chuck33079

The noise didn't exist before you recently worked on it? Then it's something you worked on or a very unlikely coincidence.

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2011 MB Touring-Sport-6sp-Nav/GTM TT/FI TT TDX/JTran/Kosmic/Eibach/Hotchkis/SPC/CSF/RPS/SoThatsWhereAllMyMoneyWent

nismosis

It's possible the studs did not fully seat when you replaced them. I'd check there first...Re-torque your lug nuts to 80 lb-ft.

kenchan

i think re-torquing the lugs should pull the studs all the way out if they were loosening up.

kenchan

like check for ravioli can under driver's seat?
An absolute MUST read.

Chuck33079

That was fantastic

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2011 MB Touring-Sport-6sp-Nav/GTM TT/FI TT TDX/JTran/Kosmic/Eibach/Hotchkis/SPC/CSF/RPS/SoThatsWhereAllMyMoneyWent

SouthArk370Z

If you hadn't done some work to the car, I'd guess tire scrub. But since you just worked on the front end, that's where I would start investigating. Re-torque all the fasteners and see if that helps.

If re-torquing don't fix the noise, then I'd disassemble whatever you worked on and re-assemble with extra care.

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Mandingo

I had the same exact noise under the same conditions. Re-greasing the sway bushings solved it for me. Just a thought

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some mods

zguynate

How did you remove the extended studs from the hub? I have heard that you can damage the bearing if you bang them out with a hammer. I dont know the credibility of that but it could be your problem if its not the studs.

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2009 370z touring w/sports package

kenchan

yah, definitely NOT a hammer. just makes loud noise and you go deaf in the garage.

you want to use a small sledge hammer.

Alstann

Welp, I fixed the noise. I greased up all the moving bushings and joints in the front suspension, and I re-impacted my stock studs back on tighter, and all the noises are gone. Didn't really pinpoint it down to anything, but hey, I fixed it.

As for the studs, I removed my extended ones by putting on a wheel nut I bought from NAPA, and using a deadblow hammer to maximize my impact onto the nut, and not into my hands or anything else. It worked like a charm. 3 swings and each stud was out.

I used my impact gun with the same wheel nut to impact the stock studs back into place. Guess I didn't do it hard enough! Make sure that you can see no gap in the backside where the stud seats...and then some!

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kenchan

that's wat probably fixed it.