I searched the forums and did not see anything specific to this problem so I figured I would see if anyone else has noticed the same thing. It seemed to time itself with the purchase of my winter wheels. A day after I put on my winter snow tires (17" Pirelli Snow Sport 210) I noticed a lot of noice (what I thought was tire noise) especially when the car was on the highway banking left. When the car would bank right the noise would go away. I first chauked it up to the aggressive tire tread since I know the snow tires will be louder then the summer tires (19" Nitto 555z). I ran it buy a few friends and someone suggested an alignment. The thought was the camber may be way off causing the outside tread to smack against the pavement. Not a bad theory. I took it to a shop and after about 30 minutes of test driving and Lift time they told me it was the drivers front hub bearing and possibly the passenger rear as well. I called my Infiniti dealear to make an apointment and when I told them the problem they did not seem surprised by it. Just wondering if anyone knows of a problem with the hub bearings on the Coupe.

 

Hmmm...usually when hub bearings go, you hear it all the time. It starts as a groaning and will eventually become a grinding sound. The sound will increase in relation to speed. The usually won't change because of engine load, engine rpms, or load on the suspension.

 

I guess I would be at the grinding point. It is funny, like I said, at first I thought it was the rought tread of the snow tries. I was all over forums looking for reviews to see if they were noisy tires and everyone said they were pretty quiet. I have an apointment on Monday. I will see what they say.

 

The final update, both front Hub Bearings were shot. They were replaced and the car is quiet again. All my friends thought I was crazy when I said my car sounded louder when drivinig. It was either the Tires or Exhaust. In the end it was the bearings so if you think your car sounds a bit lounder than before have them checked.

 

Had the same problem on my Ford Explorer Sport. EXACTLY the same problem and it was the same thing.I understand that the G's should have this problem for a long time, but I know on my truck it was atrributed to poor brake jobs. I think, technically when you get brakes done, they are supposed to repack the bearings etc. grease everything up....yadda yadda. My question is why is this happenning to the G's unless you have over 100K on the car which I highly doubt.

 

That is the same question I had. The dealer would not say anything other than "No problem... we fixed it!" I was worried it may have had something to do with the 19" rims I put on but I was told by numerous people that they would not cause it. It was funny when I called the dealer to tell them about the problem. They were not shocked, what I mean is there was no.... How do you know it is the Hub Bearing. As soon as I said it they told me to bring the car in.

 

I am actually on the same boat.. Do you know what was required, as far as parts, to getting the bearings replaced? My rear right wheel is making that same exact noise you described...

 

pfizzle,
Depends on the extent of damage. Ive seen people drive on bad bearings for 50k miles to the point where the car makes 'grinding' noises as the wheels turn and bearings are basically disintegrated Most likely you will have to remove wheel/hub and bearing, replace bearings greasing them up nicely and reinsert. Make sure to examine the hub/axle to see if its damaged as well. If only bearings need replacing, you'll need a new set along w/ plenty of axle/bearing grease. If hub/axle is also damaged [which I doubt b/c the only cars I have seen w/ this extent of damage are one's w/ over 80-100k miles!!](rings/dings/dents deep scrapes)...then it'll cost $$ to replace it all...and its not something I advise a novice or even intermediate mechanic to pursue...esp on a 30k+ car. Make sure you have plenty of bearing grease as bearings need to be completely greased before insertion. I usually also put a thin coat onto the hub/axle to be safe. This type of work shouldnt need to be performed on our G's YET as most should still be under warranty or shouldnt have enough mileage to warrant this sort of repair!!! At first when I read that the noise happens when he turns 'right' I was gonna say he didnt torque up his lug nuts all the way. I had someone once complain about grinding noises when the wheel turned a certain way. Not only would it grind, but the ride quality was very poor and you could feel it in the steering. Turns out the lug nuts on one wheel were not tightened up at all which we all know can be a very dangerous situation but can also cause the rough ride and noises while driving.

 

I have been out of the forum loop a bit, sorry I have not replied at all, if you are still reding her is some additional info. My car has 45k on it, my guess is I out on about 10k with the noise. I put on winter tires and in the begining I attributed the noise to the aggressive tread. It is funny, but changing the wheels is when I noticed the noise that is why I guesses it was just the tire. I never told the dealer since when I broght it in it hd the 17" snow tires on it but could the fact that I normally have 19's on the car caused this problem? They are 19X91/2 in the front. They are much wider then the factory 18's. Possibly turning stress on the wheel?

 

same problem in my 03 they told me it was teh tires dso i put my new wheels on still there and they ended up replacing the hubs. pain in my a$$ though.