Hi... I have an 06 G35 coupe with 65k miles on it. I bought it new... A few thousand miles ago I developed a creaking noise in the front left somewhere... I've read lots on here about it likely being from a worn compression rod bushing. When I had it in for something else I had the Infiniti dealer check and advise. The noise sounds like a creaking floor and it happens when it's cold, when you are turning and sometimes when you brake reasonably hard... Interestingly, when you go over speed bumps or through dips in the road, you don't hear this same noise at all... It's only on the left, front side... Nothing on the right... The Infiniti dealer "guessed" it was the compression rod bushing and they told me the bushings looked pretty worn. They wanted $250 per side to replace the bushing and with no guarantee that the compression rod bushing was really the problem... I'm wanting to sell the car soon and I'm not too interested in dropping $500 on a guess for a car I plan to sell...

To that end I bought one of these sets of clip on acoustic/vibration sensors... The other day I hooked up three sensors to three different places on the suspension with one of those three places being right on the bolt attachment point on the bottom side of the compression rod bushing. I wanted to hear if the sound was loudest coming from that location. Sure enough, it was... So that's a vote for the compression rod being the problem. However, I then shot a large amount of silicone lubricant all over that bushing (granted I didn't rock the car or anything while I was doing that) to see if that would quiet it down temporarily. But it DID NOT... It didn't phase the noise at all... Someone told me I likely wasn't really able to get much if any of the lubricant really down into the bushing itself and that might explain why it didn't help...

Do folks think it likely that I have the right part even if the Silicone lubricant addition didn't help??? And am I silly to only replace the left one and not the right one (the right is not making noise yet and again, I want to sell the car soon)??? And is it reasonable for a dealership to only offer to replace a part and not instead offer to fix a noise??? Shouldn't they assume a little bit of risk??? And I wonder why they didn't offer to do the same vibration test I later did on my own...

Bottom line is does this sound like a compression rod??? Or might it just as well be one of 10 other suspension parts???

thanks... bob...

 

Hey tell me more about these clip on sensors. I've never heard of them. Are you sure that the noise or vibration they picked up is not just regular functioning noise? I know you've got a coupe and I have an '04 sedan, but I discovered several thousand miles ago a creak that was actually coming from the hood. It sounded like it was coming from the left but I found out it was from the actual latch mechanism that holds the hood down. I lubed it and it went away. If you're sure this is a suspension issue, though, forget what I said. 65k just seems so early to have a problem like this. I have 227k and only a few hundred miles ago realized that I'm getting some floaty steering that I'm reading is probably my compression rod bushings. (I thought for a few weeks before that that it was just really windy. ) And I don't hear any noise from them.

 

Hi... What I bought is called "Chassis Ear" by Steelman. Just google "chassis ear" and you'll find it... They have both a wired version with 6 clip on sensors and a wireless version with 4 clip on sensors... The wired version is about $100 while the wireless version is about $200. I bought the wired version because some reviews I read pointed to the wireless version having some crosstalk issues. With the wired version, each of the six sensors has a 16 foot lead. I could have attached all six to various suspension components but I was trying to keep it pretty simple... So I attached three, two of which I placed on unknown (to me) suspension components within a foot or two of the left front compression rod bushing area and then the third one, as I said, I made sure was right on the bottomside bolt head of the compression rod bushing assembly.

The sensor (a vibration sensor, accelerometer I would guess) is bonded inside what looks to you and me like a miniature jumper cable lead. You squeeze it to open it and you clip it on wherever... The mouth opens an inch or so if I recall, maybe even a bit more... Then I ran the wires for the three attached sensors up and around the tire and duct taped them on to the wheel well. I then ran the three leads through my open car window and into the front seat. You then have a little receiving unit with 6 inputs, one output and a **** to switch between the six channels. Each cable is color coded so you can identify which is which... There is also an output jack and a set of included head phones. I put my three sensors into channels 1, 2 and 3. Then I drove around a circle right in front of my house and switched to each channel one at a time while I made the same turning and driveway entry maneuvers. I have a stick shift and I could hear the transmission as I moved from a forward gear to reverse on all three of the channels as all mechanical sound travels everywhere... I could also hear my creaking sound on all three channels but it was clearly louder on the one channel that was attached to the compression rod... Granted it would be better if I had a db meter rather than a head set so I could be more precise that to just say "louder". But that's how they designed it...

Interestingly, in my kit I also got a little handheld walk around deal sensor with an attached indicator that DOES have a db meter in it as well as a head phone jack... This is a thing that allows you to touch a metal tipped sensor (included) to say the valve covers or whatever and listen to and see (on the db meter) a sound level... But that device wasn't going to help me under the car so I only used the unit with only a head phone output capability...

The specific unit I bought was called a "Stethoscope Electronic Chassis Ear". I bought it through Amazon but it actually came from eTools Direct. There was no other Steelman part number on it. There is an Amazon number which you can see if you just look it up on their site... But what you will see there will not show you a picture of this "other" device that came with my kit... I was surprised when this handheld device was also included but it was clearly packaged such that both came in one overall package. It appears that this second device is called "Stethoscope Electronic Chassis Ear #2".. (Or I've also seen it with Roman Numeral II instead of #2). Look that up and you will see what this handheld unit looks like... I got both even though I only expected to receive the first item with the six wired sensors...

The unit is sort of cheaply made but the one time I used it, it worked... And I did check all six sensors out of the box and they all work... Do beware if you turn the little volume **** up too high and then tap on something metal with one of the sensors, you can hurt your ears.

Send me a PM if you want to know anything else... thanks... bob...

 

Wow sounds like a nifty device. Kinda like non-destructive testing ("destruction" here being having to take half the car apart and replace stuff until the noise goes away). I think I may be purchasing one soon.