Suggestions/help for diagnosing my friend's WRX

[rudgers73]

I work/autocross with a guy that has an '04 WRX. He has been having issues recently with a clicking noise in the front wheels of his car and we can't figure out exactly what the problem is. If he turns in circles in a parking lot at low speeds there is a clicking on the opposite side (ie. if he turns sharp left, the right clicks). If he does it on grass or gravel it doesn't make any noise at all. It sounds like a bad CV joint, but he has replaced both fronts in the last few months and it doesn't fix it. He took it to the dealer and they told him that if the CV-axle isn't torqued tight enough that it will loosen and slip and make the sound he is hearing. They put on new nuts and torqued it to spec and everything was cool for a couple of weeks. He puts the car in his garage and doesn't drive it for a couple weeks and it starts clicking again as soon as he drives it. Every time he takes it apart to check something else, it will be fine again for 10-15 miles, then back to clicking.

So it sounds like bad CV joints, he replaces them and it come back. Our next thought is one of the diffs. Anybody have insight on a failing diff, what it sounds like, if it is something that EVER happens, or how he can troubleshoot it specifically enough that he can be sure that it is the diff or not?

Thanks a lot guys. I told him I'd post here b/c some of you know the ins and outs of Subaru like the back of your hand. Any help would be nice

[impreza_GC8]

From my limited knowledge on that subject, clicking nearly always means bad axles. In this case it could also be a bad wheel bearing or something stuck in the brake caliper or some other brake issue causing a rub.

[rudgers73]

I don't think it's brakes. He has a multi-thousand dollar brake setup on his car and I know he knows everything about them pretty intimately since he swaps them between summer and winter. Wheel bearings are usually a grinding/cyclical scraping noise so I don't think it is that either. Any other ideas?

[Wiscon_Mark]

I would think the only other thing that would make noise up there while turning would be the steering system.

[ouch1011]

Just because he spent a bazillion bucks on a brake setup doesn't mean that it is without fault. Don't rule it out just because it is expensive.

[New GT]

+1 on the wheel beaings. I would also recheck the torque on the axle nut when it starts making the noise again. Just a suggestion since it goes away every time the nut is removed and reinstalled.

[Okin DaVanh]

Just because he spent a bazillion bucks on a brake setup doesn't mean that it is without fault. Don't rule it out just because it is expensive.


+1 :smt023

I've seen new exotic sports cars with birth defects. Did you also check the ABS Rings (near the wheel bearings)? Steering rack???

[JoshP]

Also, just becuase the cvs have been replaced does not mean they arent bad again. If he used re-manufactured axles, they could be bad again. Ive never had any good luck with those.

[rudgers73]

Just because he spent a bazillion bucks on a brake setup doesn't mean that it is without fault. Don't rule it out just because it is expensive.

I'm not saying they shouldn't be the issue because they are expensive, I'm saying they shouldn't be the issue because he installed them himself over 2 years ago and swaps them between winter and summer every year. If he is always dealing with them and handling them I would not consider them as a strong suspect compared to a part of his car that he hasn't had apart, studied, changed, and personally maintained for 10-15k miles and 2 autocross seasons.

[rudgers73]

Also, just becuase the cvs have been replaced does not mean they arent bad again. If he used re-manufactured axles, they could be bad again. Ive never had any good luck with those.

That was also something he was thinking... He put on Napa axles and he knows they are refurbed factory parts. I have a Napa replacement on my car up front and haven't had issues, but he has heard stories. Plus my car is less powerful and my suspension geometry is pretty much stock and his is lowered, cambered, etc. That def wears stuff quicker. The weird thing is that he can take it all apart and put it back together and it will be good for another little while. I think he is going to try to swap one of the axles with one off of his mother's Forester and see if he can isolate the noise that way.

I'll keep you guys updated for more suggestions is he can't nail it down.

Thanks

[jey]

I would not be the first time I've heard of a NAPA remanufactured axle being bad right out of the box. It's happened to two people I've talked to already.