2003 Infiniti M45 Sway Bar/End Links

[TxGuy67]

At 34K miles I start hearing a "clinking sound" coming from the front end. Dealer "cannot duplicate" so of course I'm living with it for now. The mechanic in my office heard the noise on a ride along with me then put the car on a lift and diagnosed "sway bar link/end links are bad". Question is am I going to lose control (steering) all of a sudden? It was cool that morning and I notice when it's warm out the noise is gone. I just don't want to vere off into neverland one of these days. I have another appointment with the dealer 1st week of October (hopefully will be cold by then). AND the driver side front brake pads are grinding. Is that a warranty issue?Any ideas out there?

[szh]

At 34K miles I start hearing a "clinking sound" coming from the front end. Dealer "cannot duplicate" so of course I'm living with it for now. The mechanic in my office heard the noise on a ride along with me then put the car on a lift and diagnosed "sway bar link/end links are bad". Question is am I going to lose control (steering) all of a sudden? It was cool that morning and I notice when it's warm out the noise is gone. I just don't want to vere off into neverland one of these days. I have another appointment with the dealer 1st week of October (hopefully will be cold by then).

Definitely worth getting it looked at by the dealer ... I have no experience with this yet. I doubt that you would lose control of the car, but the handling is certainly going to be sloppy, I would guess.

AND the driver side front brake pads are grinding. Is that a warranty issue?

No - not under warranty. This is normal wear and tear. It is pretty good that the pads are lasting as long as they have ... mine also did the same for my 2003 M45. Basically, it is time to spend the money to replace the pads (all four wheels!) for the car.

In general, we all tend to strongly recommend sticking with the Nissan/Infiniti OEM pads, and not going for anything else. The OEM pads are excellent, and still very reasonably priced.

Of course, don't change the rotors just yet! But you may need re-surfacing. In general, rotors can be "turned"/machined about 2 to 3 pad changes worth, until they get worn to the point where they need changing too.

Z

[TxGuy67]

Thanks for the info! I know I just need to pop for new brake pads. Kills me that I spent $800 on tires this May and I'm turning it in October 2007.Sad part is that I had to have a private mechanic diagnose the problem! Go Infiniti service!! NOT.

[szh]

The OEM brake pads themselves are not too expensive, but the labor for doing the work is pretty high at the dealer. You could consider buying the pads from http://www.everythinginfiniti.com and having somebody other than the dealer install them ...

I guess I am kinda disappointed in your dealer too - sorry about that! My experience with the local San Jose folks (Frontier Infiniti) has been very good to excellent - been working with them for over 15 years now and that probably helps too.

Z

[infinititech1]

i've actually had a few sway bar end links go bad...but never on the front...but i'm sure it will happen one day...with a noise like that its hard to hear where its coming from. on the end rods of the sway bar...did the end rods have excessive play?

[TxGuy67]

The mechanic that checked it out said they had a bit of play but not much. I told him the entire strut and strut assembly had been replaced a year earlier but he said they were fine. I'm taking it to the dealer in October.

[m-tastic]

You say that you have replaced a few but not on the front?

What was the tell tail sign of the end link need? I have a slight knock or bumping noise in the rear that I assumed today was a strut bearing (usual for my BMW's). I have the same noise on the front. They both just started this week and are both on the drivers side. NO I did NOT hit anything, or any holes in the road.

On todays ride along to pinpoint my passenger said it sounded up high on the strut (cap/bearing), so I had planned to look at them tonight.

Having read this I have flashbacks to replacing struts on my STS only to find that it was sway bar end links $500.00 later.

[auditech10]

My front sway bar links are bad as well. They are not knocking but rather making a loud squeeking sound when I turn the wheel to the right when moving. I thought it was a control arm for a bit but then popped off the front right wheel and just touched the link and it made the same sound. All it is to replace is just two nuts and pop off the link and opposite to install.NO, this is not a life threatening problem as the only thing that these do is mount the sway bar to the suspension. There may be excessive roll if these were broken or off but that would be it.Cheers