Ok, my 6MT Coupe is 1 month old now, with 3000mi, and I have a squeaking problem that won't go away.. I know that the squeaking from braking is normal, and I already went through that in the first 2500mi or so. That said, I don't think that is what I'm experiencing; I do not think that what I am experiencing is normal. Anyway I wrote this out offline to carefully describe it as best as I could, and hopefully someone can give their thoughts. I'm in the USVI and don't want to take it to a dealership if I don't have to, I want to learn to do some of the more basic things myself. Anyway I just wanted second opinions on this. The following is my 'report':

symptoms of problem:
I have a G35C 6MT
i hear a squeak (or creak? whatever..) from what sounds like the front left of the car.

When I have observed symptoms:

1. Beginning Braking (lightly putting foot onto pedal)
2. Ending braking (taking foot off of pedal, passing through same point as 1.)
3. Turning Left (sensitivity varies and can happen while accelerating or holding speed; it is absolutely silent when turning right. )


observations:

4. the problem seems to be relatively weather independent, although here in the usvi i can only observe it between 70-90 degrees (limits of environment). however, i have experienced it on early morning drives (70*) and mid afternoon drives (90*)

5. at the beginning of a drive (first for the day), the symptoms havent been noticeable as far as i can recall.
if i drive the car very lightly: dont brake hard, dont accelerate hard, turn lightly, then i do not hear it at all or hear it very softly. if i do hear it, it is normally when i am making a deep left turn. when braking it sounds very soft, barely noticeable.

6. if i drive the car very aggressively: brake hard and repeatedly, accelerate hard, turn hard and change directions often and quickly (think: moving through winding roads as fast as possible), then the squeak gets louder. it can get pretty loud although i cant quantify it.. i can hear it over the stereo (for g35c/bose owners: vol 18-20) the squeak also sets in earlier when i turn, that is to say by the end of such a drive, even the very slightest movement left triggers a very noticeable squeak.

7. if i apply brakes firmly, the squeaking stops completely, no matter the situation/condition/driving style-period. For example, if i'm in a left turn hearing the squeaking, and firmly apply brakes while turning, all squeaking will stop. if i am driving straight and firmly push the brake pedal, i might hear a squeak for 1/4 second as i push the pedal down but once im on the brakes a certain amount (where they're grabbing pretty well) the squeaking stops. note that ill hear the squeak as i get off of the pedal. while braking though, i hear no squeaking at any time, whether im turning or not.

8. sometimes if ive been driving hard the squeaking can come into play early on and loudly, that is to say that i can *almost* be driving straight and hear it loudly whereas otherwise i might only hear it if im turning left hard.

9. i dont know if this applies when i step on the brakes but when i am turning the squeaking occurs with a frequency that varies with the speed of the car. That is, the faster i am going the higher the frequency i hear it (i am not referring to pitch, for example: driving slow i might hear: "squeak.........squeak..........squeak" but driving fast i might hear "squeak..squeak..squeak..squeak" etc

10. it is dramatically more noticeable with the windows down than up

11. I've taken out the front left brake pads and looked at them. I don't really know what to look for- the edges of the pads were very worn, but i had material in the center.. I can only assume this is normal since it is that way on both sides of the four pads.

12. I applied a couple layers of a spray-on type of disc brake quiet. That may have helped somewhat for several minutes, but it didn't help for more than half an hour, which wasn't really long enough to gauge its effectiveness...either way that did not solve the problem.

13. The brakes feel very smooth when I apply them; I don't feel anything abnormal in the brake pedal. I don't feel any vibrations and the car does not pull to any sides.<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small"><EM>Edited by tekknikal on 06/08/04 01:12 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

Long post to read, I quickly read through it. I had a strange squak coming from the right side. I found this thread:

https://g35driver.com/forums/showfla...&part=all&vc=1

and ended up taking my car to the dealer. they ended up finding that the strange sqeak.creak (however you want to describe it) was coming from the rear right axel spline that needed cleaning and greasing) problem solved. read through that thread maybe it has something in common with what you are describing. good luck, and make sure you post back when you do get things worked out.

 

Since my first post was pretty long, here's the summary:

CLIFFS NOTES ON PROBLEM:
-Car squeaks when turning left
-Car squeaks when light pressure applied to brakes
-Squeak not apparent during firm braking or right turn
-Squeak seems to get worse during hard driving
-Squeak frequency increases with speed
-Brakes feel ok (smooth and no puling to any side)

 

I appreciate the reply, and you're right- it was too long. I think your problem was different because I don't hear a squeak sound while going over a speedbump. the only way i'd hear something is if im on the brakes or turning left. Thanks for the link though :/

edited for future reference: this problem was fixed by replacing the brake pads. the replacement was aftermarket though so i cannot confirm if it was a fault in the infiniti pads themselves. i have not experienced this problem since, although my new pads (Hawk) do not feature the same low-brake warning contact (the metal piece that hits the rotor when your brakes are low)