Wierd noise from my Q

It sounds like i have a couple of rocks in my tires  or maybe something metal rubbing against my tire when Im rolling, kind of a "clicking" "popping" noise.  LIke popping bubble wrap.  It gets faster as I roll and slower as I slow down  I did my brakes the other day and thought I may have something rubbing under my front end.  But when I get it up in the air theres nothing rubbing and nothing in my tire...  So Im thinking wheel bearing?????, but Im not sure....  Anyone had a similar problem?  Maybe its just a coinsident that I did my brakes and the problem started the next day...  Any help would be appreciated.

I've heard tires make weird noises when they're worn out in the inner edge from neg camber....... soundls like little popping noises from the steel braid rubbing on the pavement.

i would go ahead and check your axle nut and make sure its tight.. i had to tighten up one on my q when it started making noises... the previous owner informed me that he had done the same thing when he first got the car.

So I decided to give it another go today and figure out what the noise is.  I took everything apart again.  The rotor spins free, with the wheel on and without.  The caliper is free and clear of anything.  I was baffled.  WTF.  So I said OK maybe Dee is onto something.  I put my old wheels back on, my cast 20s...  NO NOISE. OK heres the deal now, the tires are less than 4 months old.   They look brand new, so I doubt that they are bad, especially since they werent making noise before I took them off to  do my brakes.  Im almost thinking I need to take my wheels apart.  Anyone ever heard of multi piece wheels making noise?  There is another variable I  thought of, though far fetched.  When I did my brakes I bleed them for good measure.  I left some fluid puddled in the wheels over night, cleaned it off the next day before driving and slinging it all over my paint.  Any chance the brake fluid is making my wheel centers move just enough to make a bit of noise????   I know that sounds crazy, but Im running out of rational ideas.

check your tension rods in the front. same prob on my g50....sounds like grinding rocks into pepbles on the concrete. The oil filled tie rods pop and leak then eventually you get that grinding sound..itll go away if you change your wheels cause theres less tension, from the weight and size of wheel, but eventually it will get so bad even the stock tires will make it sound. Youll probably also notice your steering wheel start to misalign. that cause the tension that was once on the tension rod will start affecting the bushing on your steering rack, causing it to move, pretty soon youll have to change the steering rack bushings...it something that will eventualy have to be done, and i paid over $1200 in front end suspension work to fix it. With lowered stance and big wheels, its a given...check it out...

By chance did you notice if you have a bubble in the tire? I had the same noise when my tire developed a bubble. Wasn't completely noticeble the rubbing was from the lack space to thr FUCA and the tire so when i got the bubble it started rubbing.

[QUOTE=RASRX7;81135]check your tension rods in the front. same prob on my g50....sounds like grinding rocks into pepbles on the concrete. The oil filled tie rods pop and leak then eventually you get that grinding sound..itll go away if you change your wheels cause theres less tension, from the weight and size of wheel, but eventually it will get so bad even the stock tires will make it sound. Youll probably also notice your steering wheel start to misalign. that cause the tension that was once on the tension rod will start affecting the bushing on your steering rack, causing it to move, pretty soon youll have to change the steering rack bushings...it something that will eventualy have to be done, and i paid over $1200 in front end suspension work to fix it. With lowered stance and big wheels, its a given...check it out...[/QUOTE]


Now that makes sence.  I have noticed a difference in steering lately too.  I wasnt sure because, you know, you get hiper sensetive about your car when something goes wrong.  You start wondering and hearing all sorts of things.  But that does make sence, my steering has seemed a little sloppy lately, and it wonders alittle like my rack bushing could be going.  Ill check that out.  Thanks bro.

P.S.  

Who makes the best aftermarket front tension rods???  And when I go to  my parts guy do I ask for s13 or s14 tension rods???  Or am I wrong that thats how Ill have to ask for them???

[quote=Germanfolks;81340]P.S. 
 
Who makes the best aftermarket front tension rods??? And when I go to my parts guy do I ask for s13 or s14 tension rods??? Or am I wrong that thats how Ill have to ask for them???[/quote]
they have some adjustable ones specifically for the q45 now...on ebay..btw which model is yours?

2000 Q45t

[URL=http://s110.photobucket.com/albums/n91/QuintinD/?action=view&current=CIMG4068.flv][IMG]http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n91/QuintinD/th_CIMG4068.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

Ebay only shows 90-96 tension rods (s13) I guess what I need is s14.  Ill look into it.  The more I think about this the more that sounds like my problem.  I hope it its, that will be an easy fix and Ill do the rack bushings at the same time.  It probably a good idea to do either way.  And $250 isnt that bad for the ride difference Ill get anyway.  Im sure it make a huge difference from stock tension rods.

Actually switching from stock tension rods to aftermarket ones with a harder bushing or heim joint will increase harshness. The adjustability of caster will help straight line stability or turning (depending on how you set it up) but for a heavy sedan  i cant see the benefit. I replaced mine with the stock liquid filled bushings and it seems to ride better. A lot of the problems I had previously been blaming on JIC's have disappeared. Also another thing to check (for sure on G50's but I'm unsure on Y33's) is the Upper control arms. I had a grinding noise over bumps that was due to excessive play in the bushings.  With the car jacked up I could push against the outer edge of the UCA and watch it move about 3-5mm.

[QUOTE=Germanfolks;81340]P.S.  

Who makes the best aftermarket front tension rods???  And when I go to  my parts guy do I ask for s13 or s14 tension rods???  Or am I wrong that thats how Ill have to ask for them???[/QUOTE]

I got my adjustable tension rods off of ebay, they are made by TC sportline and are for 
Z32, R32, and S13 (I think, it's been a while since I bought them). For reference here's a list from TEIN (take note of the part numbers all identical):

Make  Model
Body  Year  ITEM  Note  PART NO.
MSRP  Note  Stock  
NISSAN 240SX
S13 89-94 P/T   PTN20-11S00
$220.00   
NISSAN 300ZX
Z32 90-96 P/T   PTN20-11S00
$220.00   
NISSAN Skyline
#R32 - P/T   PTN20-11S00
$220.00


Megan Racing make some I think, and I think their quality it good. Their coilovers get props from 
S2000 forums and 240sx forums.

Great vid and nice looking car but I didn't hear any grinding or popping noise maybe the music in the background and exhaust noise made it impossible.

good to know about the uca...after all that work i did on my front end, something else is coming loose...and thats probably it..darn...:pat:

Update...  I really got into it with my car in the past week. checking everything from Rack bushings to Tension rods to controll arm mounts and balljoint.  In the end you know what my problem was?  Corrosion between the peices of my wheels.  I was at my friends off-road shop just hanging around when I heard him and one of his employees talking about driving lifted trucks threw water at the river and the next day having to dismount thier wheels and clean the mounting cerfaces(wheels to rotor/drum).  My ears perked up like a dog.  I asked them to explain...  They said the water causes the aluminum to corrode and the wheels creek when you drive, it sounds like bad CV joints on a honda.  I said, thats exactly the noise I have on my Q.   So I went home and wire bushed my wheels and cleaned the mounting cerfaces on the Q, but I still had the noise.  So I called my homeboy up and asked if he thought it was possible for my three piece wheels to do the same between the pieces. He said, absolutely.  So I unbolted the faces of my wheel(after looking for 3 days for a 6mm 12 point torques bit) and sure as shit, that was the problem.  I cleaned and polished the mounting cerfaces and put down anti-seize to keep it from happening again.  Now, Im back on the road noise free.  FINALY...

[QUOTE=Germanfolks;83178]Update...  I really got into it with my car in the past week. checking everything from Rack bushings to Tension rods to controll arm mounts and balljoint.  In the end you know what my problem was?  Corrosion between the peices of my wheels.  I was at my friends off-road shop just hanging around when I heard him and one of his employees talking about driving lifted trucks threw water at the river and the next day having to dismount thier wheels and clean the mounting cerfaces(wheels to rotor/drum).  My ears perked up like a dog.  I asked them to explain...  They said the water causes the aluminum to corrode and the wheels creek when you drive, it sounds like bad CV joints on a honda.  I said, thats exactly the noise I have on my Q.   So I went home and wire bushed my wheels and cleaned the mounting cerfaces on the Q, but I still had the noise.  So I called my homeboy up and asked if he thought it was possible for my three piece wheels to do the same between the pieces. He said, absolutely.  So I unbolted the faces of my wheel(after looking for 3 days for a 6mm 12 point torques bit) and sure as shit, that was the problem.  I cleaned and polished the mounting cerfaces and put down anti-seize to keep it from happening again.  Now, Im back on the road noise free.  FINALY...[/QUOTE]

Thats good news for those with non welded 3 piece wheels. Crazy you didn't have to dismount the tire or am i confused on what part of the face of the wheel you took off?

They were already dismounted.  I busted the tires off hoping that that might be the problem.  So that made it easy.  I had been rolling around on my cast 20s for about a week.  Talk about hustlling backwards.  Im so happy to be back on my WORK wheels.

Good to hear you got your problem fixed.