2003 350Z Rear Suspension Problem

[margavich1]

Hey everybody, I'm new here and I'm hoping there are some mechanics out there that can help me out.

I'm having a problem with rear passenger side suspension. Whenever the spring is compressed I'm hearing a kind of light scraping or rattling noise. When going slow over uneven ground it sounds like a scraping noise, whenever I have a passenger (say someone over 180 lbs) it's a kind of rattling at highway speeds. Also, when going over speed bumps the passenger rear side always scrapes just a little right before the wheel goes over the speed bump. It just seems odd sense the driver side doesn't scrape at all. I've looked under the car multiple times and nothing is hanging down - the left and rights sides look identical to me.

Has anyone else had this problem? I'm about as far from a mechanic as you can get so please explain in laymen terms. I'll greatly appreciate any help I you guys can provide.

[AZhitman]

Welcome aboard!

Sounds like either the right rear strut is toast, OR, MORE LIKELY, the shrouding around the gas filler is touching the tire (mine has a hole worn in it!)

Take the RR wheel off and have a closer look.

[margavich1]

I believe the gas filler hose shroud was the problem, The tire wasn't touching it but when the spring was when compressed causing it to vibrate. I took it off and test drove and the noise stopped so I then trimmed the shroud so it would touch the spring and so far so good.

Thanks a lot for the advice, it saved me money since I didn't have to go see a mechanic.

[bmike818]

woo hoo! another problem solved by NICO-you da man AZhitman

[AZhitman]