Sound from front driver side area, need advice
 

Been a while since I posted a technical question so if this is the wrong subforum let me know and we can get it moved.

Anyway, a few weeks ago I did a track day and went off-track. At first driving it around right after there was a mild tapping noise/sensation, but once I got into the track paddock, thoroughly inspected things, and then drove it slowly around for 5-10 minutes the sound/feeling went away. I drove the 200 or so miles back home, and for a couple weeks haven't had issues.

Then I noticed this sound starting to happen during the past.. maybe 5-7 days:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zCs...ew?usp=sharing

This only happens when I'm either pulling into or out of a parking spot, or driving slowly (3-5mph) in a parking lot type situation and turning the steering wheel probably 30 degrees or so from full lock.

Since the car seemed fine up till this past week, I don't think it's from the track day.. But I'm not that good with cars and mechanical parts so I could be entirely off-base here and maybe something happened during that incident and has gradually gotten to this point.

I looked into it a bit last night and one theory could be related to bushings in the front suspension? Maybe control arm bushings? Somebody else said maybe a cv boot but from what I can tell that's only on FWD cars, so probably not relevant unless there's something similar for our cars.

Someone on Youtube with a video about a similar noise said it's the axle.. but I'm really hoping it's not something significant.

I'm pretty worried about it so I'll probably have to take it into a shop sometime this week.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Turning wheel to/from full lock? First thing i'd check, if springs don't bind. Check bearings in top mounts of shocks (or camberplates, if you replaced stock rubber top mounts with such). Also you may ask someone else to turn steering wheel in your place, while you listen/try to locate noise source.

Check if the V bars are loose.

Will probably have to go to a shop to have that stuff checked. I don't have enough tools or any jacks.

V bars and strut tower bar, plus bolts, all seem tight.

As @church suggests ....... you don't need any tools or jacks for that ...... just another person ......;)


humfrz

Yeah last night I was with a friend actually and they stood outside while I did it. That's how we narrowed it down to the front driver side wheelwell area :\ But that's about all we could figure out.

Did you check the skid plate? I had a similar noise and it was a few loose bolts.

Oh, my ....... first off ...... have your friend move the steering wheel and you listen. Second off, get your head down under the car and in the wheel, well ........ to listen.

When and if you can isolate the sound, touch the suspect parts, sometimes you can "feel' where a noise is coming from.

Now, clean up your greasy hands and finish your beer.

Report back.

:D


humfrz

And as to suspects worth checking, i already mentioned one i think as probable, that is springs binding due improper work of topmount bearing.
McPherson strut rotates together with wheel. If top spring perch that spring pushes against doesn't rotate freely, [ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LV29cvIFdYk"]similar[/ame] sound often is heard when turning wheel from lock to lock, as loaded spring end "skips" in small steps during turn ..

Not around to check this now, but would the spring binding issue happen even if I haven’t removed or otherwise done anything to the stock suspension?

"Seem tight" is not good enough. Strut tower bars can be tighter than finger tight yet loose enough to lose clamping force. Check torque. They do loosen.

Well, bearing can fail by time/mileage too due drying out lubricants/rust/mechanical wear or breaking.

I don't claim that it's the only thing that may cause noises, so you can check other things too, but it's my guess from your described symptoms, as it mostly happens to you when you are at low speed (so noise doesn't drown among others, like tire noise), turning lock to lock (skipping might get worse at more turning angle, while no noise when there is little turning) and your sound recording seemed somewhat similar to other cases.

Or bring it to some repair shop and ask them to diagnose state of suspension and such.

If my guess turns out true, "repair" shouldn't be too expensive. IIRC single stock top mount with bearing costs some $70-90 (linked a bit more rigid, not OE one, but imho OEM shouldn't cost much more) + cost of replacing work + alignment cost. If you have camberplates, then i don't know, as cost of replacement pillowball bearings may vary among vendors.

Brought it over to Mann Engineering this morning since they have way more skill/knowledge/tools than me to diagnose the issue.

According to one of their techs, all the suspension stuff looked good. Only a scrape on the bottom panel/tray as far as "damage" goes.

He said it may have been that the wheel studs weren't torqued due to possibly getting (partially) un-seated during the off-track incident and may have worsened over the past couple weeks.

I don't know how valid that is but since I honestly don't really know much myself I'll take it, lol.

The sound/feeling is gone now as far as I can tell.

I'll drive it a bit more today and this week to see if the issue comes back, but if not then.. well, let's be glad I didn't have to replace anything :).

Wheel studs unseated? Not happening often (unlike untightened lug nuts), but possible. Now that i think, when once i forgot to check/retighten lugnuts after tire change right before trackday, after heated up with hour or two tracking, something similar happened, but it was nuts, not studs in my case.