Jump to content
SAU Community

Whirring Noise While Driving - Wheel Bearings?

pixel8r

By pixel8r,
in Four Door Family & Wagoneers

 Share

Recommended Posts

pixel8r Mentor

pixel8r

Posted
Posted

Recently I've had my M35 in at Nissan for a service and I mentioned that I thought the front wheel bearings may need replacing. I thought just the front right needed doing but Nissan told me that both front ones would need replacing. At $260 a side plus fitting, they're not cheap - so I want to be as sure as possible before getting these fixed.

Basically the noise has been getting slowly worse over the last few months - and is now audible at all speeds unless there is significant wind noise or something. It sounds basically like excessive road noise but gets sort of higher pitched the faster I go and is quite low pitched when driving slowly. The pitch goes up/down with vehicle speed, and is unrelated to revs or throttle. ie. Putting it in neutral and letting it roll makes no difference, and also there is no difference when coasting or under heavy throttle or even braking - it seems to only be related to how fast the car is moving.

However a couple of people have told me that it wouldn't be wheel bearings since the car has only done 92000km. I just cant think of anything else it would be.

If you've had your wheel bearings replaced, what did it sound like? Is it unusual for them to need replacing as low as 92000km?

Just dont wanna spend ~$600 getting them fixed if its not the problem...

iamhe77 Grand Master

iamhe77

Posted
Posted

Yep.

Had my front passenger bearing assembly replaced at about 86,000k.

Sounded much like what you are describing here... Very embarrassing in pear hour traffic!

Took it in to Nissan (Ferntree Gully) and Christmas time, they diagnosed it straight away and ordered the part from Japan.

10 days (not business days) later it was installed.

They had to make "a special tool" to get it on as it is "different" to any Aus delivered cars (what a surprise!).

btw, the front wheel bearing assembly was $211 delivered from Japan.

I was mistakingly quoted this as the install price, which they honored.

  • 1 month later...
pixel8r Mentor

pixel8r

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Well I finally got to the bottom of the whirring noise problem.

Turns out it IS actually just tyre noise, but the reason its louder than normal is becuase the tyres are wearing in such a way that its leaving a lot of sharp edges of rubber, particularly on the inside edge of the tyre. First I had the front passenger wheel off and had the space saver tyre on, and there wasn't much change, but then I switched the front right tyre with the space saver and it was a lot quieter. Both right and left tyres are wearing in a similar way - but the direction of the tread means that the sharp edges are creating a "lip" that faces the front of the car on the top of the tyre - kind of like this /| /| /| all the way round the tyre. Both tyres contribute to the noise, but its mostly the right tyre.

What it essentially means is that my wheel bearings are fine (phew) and that I can either put up with the noise, or just pay for new tyres. I'll probably just be putting up with it for now. We swapped the rear & front tyres (leaving each tyre on the same side as it was on) and this has made a small but noticeable improvement, and will even out the wear as well.

For anyone interested, the tyres I have are Firenza's (www.sumotire.com). Wont be getting those again.

StageaM35 Explorer

StageaM35

Posted
Posted (edited)

I've notice I have a dull 'bonk' noise coming from the front of my car over general bumps as well as soft 'creeking' noise from the steering rack when rotating the wheel at low speed (parking etc). Had the guy doing my exhaust have a look at the bushings and ball joints, can't pick anything. Possible shocks need replacing? There is a lot under these things so I may take it to a suspension shop to see if they can run a test on one of those machines that emulate road conditions.

What areas of the M35 fail in the front suspension so I can have a nose around when still up on the hoist tomorrow?

Cheers,

Rhys

Edited by StageaM35
pixel8r Mentor

pixel8r

Posted
  • Author
Posted
wheel alignment time? hopefully it was done when you purchased new tyres.

I honestly have no idea what was done - tyres were new from compliance. they would have to have done an alignment then but i have no paperwork other than an invoice. finding out anything else required specifically asking about each thing and the compliance place really didn't like me calling for stuff like that.

Still, I'm pretty sure it had an alignment done at compliance...I think its just maybe gone a little out of whack since. Will get another one done when I get the chance.

zei20l Grand Master

zei20l

Posted
Posted

my guess they didnt do it. compliance places (no offence to any on here) will do things as cheaply as possible. its called business.

maybe get it done again, $60 for a 4 wheel alignment is cheaper than a few tyres

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing


  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • CF.Panda
      R34 25GT Engine Light 21

      By CF.Panda · Posted

      Yea that’s why I said ima test them with multimeter and see the reads.
    • CF.Panda
      R34 25GT Engine Light 21

      By CF.Panda · Posted

      Only at idle. Isn’t a problem when rev it seems.
    • Murray_Calavera
      RB25DE NEO with Haltech ECU

      By Murray_Calavera · Posted

      @Haggerty This seems silly to ask, but are you confident in your ability to tune the Haltech?  
    • hoodedreeper
      Chris' Toyota Mark ii JZX110

      By hoodedreeper · Posted

      Next on the to-do list was an oil and filter change. Nothing exciting to add here except the oil filter is in a really stupid place (facing the engine mount/subframe/steering rack). GReddy do a relocation kit which puts it towards the gearbox, I would have preferred towards the front but there's obviously a lot more stuff there. Something I'll have to look at for the next service perhaps. First time using Valvoline oil, although I can't see it being any different to most other brands Nice... The oil filter location... At least the subframe wont rust any time soon I picked up a genuine fuel filter, this is part of the fuel pump assembly inside the fuel tank. Access can be found underneath the rear seat, you'll see this triangular cover Remove the 3x plastic 10mm nuts and lift the cover up, pushing the rubber grommet through The yellow fuel line clips push out in opposite directions, remove these completely. The two moulded fuel lines can now pull upwards to disconnect, along with the wire electrical plug. There's 8x 8mm bolts that secure the black retaining ring. The fuel pump assembly is now ready to lift out. Be mindful of the fuel hose on the side, the hose clamp on mine was catching the hose preventing it from lifting up The fuel pump/filter has an upper and lower section held on by 4 pressure clips. These did take a little bit of force, it sounded like the plastic tabs were going to break but they didn't (don't worry!) The lower section helps mount the fuel pump, there's a circular rubber gasket/grommet/seal thing on the bottom where the sock is. Undo the hose clip on the short fuel hose on the side to disconnect it from the 3 way distribution pipe to be able to lift the upper half away. Don't forget to unplug the fuel pump too! There's a few rubber O rings that will need transferring to the new filter housing, I show these in the video at the bottom of this write up. Reassembly is the reverse Here's a photo of the new filter installed, you'll be able to see where the tabs are more clearing against the yellow OEM plastic Once the assembly is re-installed, I turned the engine over a few times to help build up fuel pressure. I did panic when the car stopped turning over but I could hear the fuel pump making a noise. It eventually started and has been fine since. Found my 'lucky' coin underneath the rear seat too The Youtube video can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLJ65pmQt44&t=6s
    • hoodedreeper
      Chris' Toyota Mark ii JZX110

      By hoodedreeper · Posted

      It was picked up on the MOT/Inspection that the offside front wheel bearing had excessive play along with the ball joint. It made sense to do both sides so I sourced a pair of spare IS200 hubs to do the swap. Unfortunately I don't have any photos of the strip down but here's a quick run down. On the back of the hub is a large circular dust cover, using a flat head screw driver and a mallet I prised it off. Underneath will reveal a 32mm hub nut (impact gun recommended). With the hub nut removed the ABS ring can be removed (I ended up using a magnetic pick up tool to help). Next up is to remove the stub axle, this was a little trickier due to limited tools. I tried a 3 leg puller but the gap between the hub and stub axle wasn't enough for the legs to get in and under. Next option was a lump hammer and someone pulling the stub axle at the same time. After a few heavy hits it released. The lower bearing race had seized itself onto the stub axle, which was fine because I was replacing them anyway. With the upper bearing race removed and the grease cleaned off they looked like this The left one looked pristine inside but gave us the most trouble. The right one had some surface rust but came apart in a single hit, figure that out?! I got a local garage to press the new wheel bearings in, reassemble was the opposite and didn't take long at all. Removing the hub itself was simple. Starting with removing the brake caliper, 2x 14mm bolts for the caliper slider and 2x 19mm? for the carrier > hub bolts. I used a cable tie to secure the caliper to the upper arm so it was out of the way, there's a 10mm bolt securing the ABS sensor on. With the brake disc removed from the hub next are the three castle nuts for the upper and lower ball joints and track rod end. Two of these had their own R clip and one split pin. A few hits with the hammer and they're released (I left the castle nuts on by a couple of turns), the track rod ends gave me the most grief and I may have nipped the boots (oops). Fitting is the reversal and is very quick and easy to do. The lower ball joints are held onto the hub by 2x 17mm bolts. The castle nut did increase in socket size to 22mm from memory (this may vary from supplier) The two front tyres weren't in great condition, so I had those replaced with some budget tyres for the time being. I'll be replacing the wheels and tyres in the future, this was to get me on the road without the worry of the police hassling me.
×
×
  • Create New...