Strange rattling noise from under car
 

As I was driving home today with the windows down, I noticed a rattling/clanking noise that comes from the passenger side under/side of the car. It sounds to me like a thin metal plate vibrating and hitting something. As I drive normally I don't hear anything but any slight bump on the street (such as lane reflectors) and I hear it. If I'm on the middle lane and go over a reflector with my left tires I don't hear anything but on the right I do. I also noticed it on the highway as I went through a bridge that has slight bumps I could hear it really loud.
I know it's very hard to determine what this could be without you guys actually hear it but any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Sound like something came lose get ur self under the car and look for anything thats missing bolts skrews or something that can move with ur hand back n forth remember saifety first make shure u have something to hold the car like a stànd if r jack fails and wheel shoks,

If u still cant find probl take to dealer i just hope ur not hearing the slave cylinder bearings if u have manual tranny well thats normal.

Good luck. :ugh2:

I dunno what it could be, I looked under the car and everything looks fine. I feel like if its coming from the wheel well.

Are you sure it's not the passenger seat belt buckle? That drove me nuts till I figured it out.

In that case take ur wheel off and se if ur brake caliper didnt loose a screw and its like plapping up n down, i had that happening to my civic after pads change didnt tighten screws properly.:shakes head:

Yeah, jack it up and inspect if you have any damage, maybe to the exhaust and/or take the right wheels off and look for loose parts. Interested in hearing what the problem was. G/L :tup:

Oil change lately? Check the diffuser...plate that covers up the area where they get to oil drain. (Thanks Isamu)

Muffler bearing.

Is your crossmember brace rattling against your exhaust?

This guy is gonna take apart his whole car LOL, everyone is telling him to "check this, check that, remove this/that" :tup:

I know its not that because i don't hear anything with the windows up. Its nothing inside the car.

this might be the problem. I feel like the chatter might be coming from the exhaust rubbing against something metal. Is there a heat shield on top of the stock exhaust that maybe came loose? Its either the exhaust or wheel well area its hard for me to determine exactly where the chatter its coming from. It's a "thin rattling" so it leads me to believe its some type of thin sheet metal.

^^^^^
The guys in the "what did you do with your Z today (with off topic replies)" thread thought this too...

If it's the seatbelt flapping because of wind, you won't hear it with the window up. Try driving with the window down and the passenger seatbelt buckled.

First thing I'd look at is the seatbelt (probably not it, usually a clunk from the buckle or a buzz/whirr/flap from the belt, but it's easy to check). Then I'd check the heat shields on the exhaust. Then I'd look through the FSM to see if there are any other thin metal shields that could come loose.

Good luck. If you can get someone to ride shotgun and listen they might be able to tell approximate location of rattle (in front of the door, under the door, behind the door).

check for cats. i mean animal cats.

http://www.the370z.com/nissan-370z-w...loose-off.html

Seems like the OP on this thread had the same problem I'm having

I'm so happy:driving: I was able to find out where the rattling was coming from. Its coming from the passenger front dust shield behind the rotor. The dust shield taps against the rotor and caused the chatter. Can anyone tell me in which part of the service manual I can find how this dust shield is held on? I'm thinking either it got bent somehow or it lost a screw that was holding it in place. It's hard for me to tell since I did the inspection with the car on the ground.

The 2009 FSM shows the splash shield on page FAX-6. The splash shield is sandwiched between the steering knuckle and the wheel hub and bearing assembly.

Thanks Southark. Yes this is exactly what's rattling. It doesn't look like it could come off on its own so either it got bent or it cracked. I have no idea how this could have happened.

You're welcome.

It looks like the only way to remove it is to remove the hub/bearing ***'y. If it falls off, you have bigger problems than a splash shield. :)

My guess is that you ran over a limb, chunk of truck tire, or similar.

Going by the FSM, the hub/bearing looks similar to the setup on a mid-'90s Chevy FWD (minus the drive shaft) that a friend and I recently replaced. The job was amazingly easy once we got the right Torx wrench. If you have the proper tools, you can probably DIY.

So today I decided to put my car on ramps and find out if my splash guard was cracked or bent. It turns out that it was fine. It was actually a small rock that somehow had gotten in between the splash guard and the rotor and was rattling around in there. As I pulled the splash guard, the rock just fell. What I thought was gonna be a huge dis-assembly turned out to be a 5 min fix. :driving:

ive had a metallic flapping (around the passenger front area)for the last few weeks..nothing was loose. so i thought it was the dip stick tube hitting the header..after reading this thread i checked the dust shield but it was fine.. then i did find the lower shock bolt was loose so hoping thats the issue

heat shield got tweaked somehow

even though the dust shield doesnt look like its touching anywhere .i still have the noise... going to take the dust shield completely off and see what happens..

Is it anything like the noise I hear in mine?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmCDgJNBQdE

no...yours sounds like a wheel bearing..... i found the bolts on my drive shaft cv were loose...i haven't put it on the ground yet but hopefully its fixed with adding lock washers

If you have adjusted anything in the front suspension, check the brake splash shields against the rotors too. If they get close, could be rattle too.

i took the passenger dust shield off ..im going to check the other side tomorrow

This is great everyone! Thanks for the help! I have this exact same rattle and it drives me nuts. If I go over a lane marker I hear it - this gives me hope, I am going to put the car up and see if I can take the wheel off and inspect all of the suggestions here. Thanks again!

2010 370z Pearl White, Base, just turned 34,000 miles. ;)

has to be the thin exhaust heat shield on the y-pipe. the factory clamps rust out, just buy a ss hose clamp and put it on