2003 altima loud thump from drivers front wheel whencoasting

General discussion area for the L31-chassis Altima, including the 05-06 SE-R models.
PhillyKorean
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Oct 24, 2012 11:01 am
Car: 2010 Nissan Altima 2.5 SL Fully loaded

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Hey fellow Nissan Owners, I am going to be as detailed as I can be.

I have a 2003 Nissan Altima 2.5 S has about 107,200 miles on the odometer, Automatic Transmission.

When I am driving the car it makes a clicking or a squeaking sound from the driver's side front tire area, that's if you hear it outside of the car, BUT if you are inside and driving you hear thumping sounds coming from the same area.

The weird thing is it ONLY makes the sound when you are coasting (after you let go of the gas pedal still in Drive mode) or if you are speeding over 50 mph with the foot on the gas pedal. It gets louder the faster you go while pressing the gas and the car's steering wheel jerks from side to side it feels like you are on a washboard test road and you can feel the bumps even if the road is smooth. The jerky movement of the steering wheel gets worse when accelerating above 75mph and when you are changing lanes on the highway and the thumping sound gets extremely loud.
Also when you turn slowly you can hear the sqeaking/rubbing sound outside the car and slow thumps inside the car.

I took it to a mechanic and he must not be a good one because he says the noise is just normal tire noise and I know for one know that it is NOT JUST tire noise

I have HankooK Mileage Plus II tires all around which were put on about 1.5 years ago and it has good treadwear. Also the tire size is P225/60/16 on the tires.

Also the bumper and fenders have no dents or dings in there where the tire can rub against either.

I thought it might be a tierod,or worst case scenario the entire strut tower, mounts and brace and shocks going bad but the mechanic once again said the shocks and struts are fine.

I am kind of nervous when I drive the car because I feel like the tire might fall off so please help me.


PhillyKorean
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Oct 24, 2012 11:01 am
Car: 2010 Nissan Altima 2.5 SL Fully loaded

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UPDATE:!! The alignment was fine, the tire belts are fine and the tie-rod I though was an issue, but today I was driving and my tire fell off the car while I was driving, it might be a ball joint/ujoint that was loose or weak and it snapped probably, we lost the wheel locks and the 2 out of 5 spindles (the part where the brakes and tires go on and that gets tighted with the lug nuts/ wheel locks) were stripped and 1 of the spindles snapped off . We were able to tighten 2 of the 5 wheel locks and put the wheel back on and somewhat secure it.

sstroudwku
Posts: 121
Joined: Sat Oct 27, 2012 6:47 pm
Car: 2013 F150 EcoBoost 4x4 - BlueJean Blue
2014 Pathfinder
Location: Ravenna, Mi

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The spindles as you call it are called studs, they hold the wheel and rotor firmly to the hub assembly. If just he wheel came off it's most likely someone failed to properly tighten the wheel down during your last service. If the ball joint failed then you would have have been able to put the wheel back on. Even though the studs are replaceable I'd suggest replacing the hub assembly instead. Likely the bearing took damage during the accident.


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