Ok, I was CONVINCED I had a bad CV. No noise on turns, but when accelerating there is a distinct repetitive clicking noise coming from the front(?) (maybe right?) of the car. It's fast repeating click like a CV, but maybe a little lower register? I can also feel it through the steering wheel a little bit... just the vibration of the noise, no torque on the wheel at all. I was so convinced it was Axles, that I changed both of them. The sound / feel presents *exactly* the same as before the axle change.

So... in short... If not CV, then what might it be?

I have new front control arms, powerflex bushings and ball-joints to install. Not sure if any of those components are suspect? Is there any hope that installing those parts will help? For what it's worth, I just installed a more rigid front lower motor mount as well. (I put it in when I changed the axles) No change in the symptom before and after the install.

Thanks for any help anyone is willing to offer!
Tony

 

Have you taken a real close look at your calipers, rotors and backing plates? There's a possibility you may have a pebble caught somewhere...or perhaps a bad wheel bearing?

 

Moving this to the Stock Problems/Issues section.

A wheel bearing will sometime click when bad.

 

All good thoughts. I've had the wheel bearing thought myself. Though that seems to present as a "howl" or progressively louder noise with speed. The brakes... also a good thought, but I've had them apart for a complete brake job relatively recently. I'll take another look, but I'm fairly confident they're good.

This noise seems to be tied to torque. If I baby the car on acceleration, no noise. If I take off from a stop "firmly" or more... that's when I hear it.
-Tony

 

r53 coop... Thanks for the move, and sorry for the trouble.

 

Never any trouble. Rather have you ask a question than ask no question at all.

 

I'm gonna vote for wheel bearing as well. Even though most of us know what a wheel bearing failure sounds like, every car is different with different part designs. Are you aware if the OEM bearing were already replaced? Maybe so, with some inferior parts... There's not much else down there that can cause a rotational noise.

And they're easy to replace, once you have the other stuff disconnected anyway.

 

Hi Filmy...

You're right about the limited sources for rotational noise. I'm likely going to go that way. One of my rear ones has been making kind of a (quieter version of) card in spokes type noise. They're on my list... maybe I'll bump them up on the planned projects. I've been collecting parts and have a BUNCH of work to do.

Koni Yellows + Apex springs (all 4 corners)
Front ball joints (all 4)
Front control arms (just to make things easier)
Front rear control arm bushings
Roll Center adjuster
Rear sway bar
Rear control arms
Wheel bearings (all 4 corners)

I'm tempted to tackle it all at once, but I'm not certain my body will tolerate it. (Too old and fat.) LOL Wheel bearings have made it to the top of the list for now.

I'd still love to hear other suggestions. I'll check back in after wheel bearings have been replaced.

Thanks!
Tony

 

Any suggestions on wheel bearings? I don't want to break the bank, and they can be quite spendy. I also want at least OEM quality though. Any good value propositions on those parts out there?

 

Don't talk like that!! As long as this car isn't your daily and you can let it sit for a day or two, it's much more efficient in terms of your time to just do it all (minus the rear sway/wheel bearings, those would require additional disassembly of the rear end suspension). You basically have to remove all of those parts anyways to do the front control arms. There's good DIY's on here for dropping the subframe. I was a 19 year old weakling when I did it last summer, I just took my time, paid attention to how everything came apart, and carefully reassembled it the same way!

Oh, and for ball joints, pickle forks suck. Get a $20 ball joint seperator tool from Amazon instead, so quick, easy, and it's so damn satisfying to hear that *POP*!

 

Unfortunately it is my daily at this point... May tackle it if I can talk a friend into helping me out in exchange for pizza and beer. We'll see.

 

My 2006 R53 76k miles does the same thing. Hard acceleration = clicking. No noise while turning. I am just living with it for now.