Highway-speed whine, occasional grind...

[nametakennow]

For starters, I drive a 2001 Sentra SE w/ SR20DE, 5spd manual, and the Performance package.Next, the whine happened before I put my suspension on, and long before the new wheels and tires. The grind has been only within the last month or so, but also came before wheels and tires.

Anyways, I've got a high-pitched whine coming from the passenger front area at 60+mph. I can hear it regardless of whether the windows are open or closed, stereo is on or off, lots of people in the car or just me, etc. Sometimes it'll kick in in the 52-58mph range, and almost always kicks in at 70+. I've never noticed it in 3rd or 4th gear, but there's so much other noise from the intake and exhaust, and I'm paying so much more attention to the thrills of going hard that it's quite possible I've simply missed it. Mike (240kid) has told me to get the whine going then throw it in neutral and coast and see if it stays, which I'll try next time I'm cruising at that speed.

The grind seems to come from the same area, though it's more obviously in the wheel area. Since they come from similar locations I've assumed they're somewhat related, but I can't be sure. This noise is usually when braking to a stop, and I've only had it happen once when I had not just gone over the bumpity strips right before a stop sign that they have in some places around here. It's very brief, and causes a slight vibration in the car that feels much like my cellphone ringing on vibrate in the cupholder (which, one of those times it may have been, I found I had missed a call just minutes afterwards).

And just to double check- on some cool mornings last week my brakes squeaked the first time I hit them, which was coming to a stop sign at the end of my street and/or at the top of my driveway when I slow and look. I assume that that's a function of the wear indicators getting close, and the pads (and rotors too, for that matter, with Brembo slotteds and some Hawks ) will be replaced within the next 2 months (I don't drive a lot of miles).

Anyways, the whine has been going on for awhile now, and I always assumed it was the wind coming through the vent on that side, figuring something had gotten caught in the ac system one day. I've driven hard plenty of times with no loss of grip, stability, response, or anything in the suspension or engine.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

[NISTECH]

I am with Mike on this, see if it goes away when you through it in neutral during occurance.If so I suspect it is the final drive in the transaxle. If the noise does still occur then you have eliminated your power train.

Now here is one that your gonna say NO WAY to but it is very common on the early B-15's If your noise still occurs gat a roll of 2 inch masking tape and run it across the top of your windshield so that one edge of the tape is on the glass and the other edge is on the painted surface of the roof. your are completly covering the top window molding from one side to the other doing this. We have had several sentras exibit a whine type noise and had customers thing it was engine noise and ended up tracing it to that weather strip pasing air and sounding like a ballon being picnched at its fill point to allow the air to squeel out of it.

[nametakennow]

Yeah, it's a balloon noise, but I'll definitely still check to make sure it's not the final drive.

What about the grind?

[NISTECH]

I am not sure on the grond., All i can say since it only occurs during braking is take a look at your brakes, If it hadent been for you saying it did it before replacing the tires I would have said take a look at the inside of the tire for excessive tire feathering.