Wobbly Rear Wheel

[Primordial]

Hey i've got a wobbly left rear wheel. I noticed when decelerating (not braking) that i had a crunching noise that sounded like something rubbing on the brake shroud. It got less frequent as I slowed down, so it was definitely something rubbing.

The wheels doesnt move 'up and down' but im able to wobble it side to side by pushing on the front and pulling on the back of the wheel.

It looks like the hicas arm bush is made of jelly and so I suspect this may be causing the movement. I've got a hicas lock bar, and this seems to be tight and certainly not moving anywhere.

Any ideas?

[Primordial]

I also found some small ball bearings on the floor of my garage around where I was working... I am not sure whether they came from my car but it was a bit weird that they were around the area that I was! Im pretty sure they are too small to be from a wheel bearing, but just in case heres a pic of what I found.

[raps86]

i dare say that ur wheel bearing might have let go. if u r able 2 jack the vehicle up so the back wheels r of the ground, if u have another person around get them 2 shake the wheel and have a look underneath and c if anything moves and that will tell u if its in the suspension or in the hub. also while the wheels r of the ground spin the wheel and c if u can hear any noise coming from the hub area if there is its more than likely the wheel bearing. The ball bearings that u found could b from the wheel bearings but i have never seen them just fall out with the wheel and everything on i have seen them fall out when we have been replacing them and the ball bearings can be small like the 1s u hace in the photo

[BHDave]

Those bearings don't look like anything in the back end that i know of. They are way too small to be wheel bearings.

Wheels bearings will be conical with a tubular roller as opposed to ball bearings.

remove the wheel and brake rotor and repeat the process so that the brake shoes aren't getting in the way. The crunching almost certainly isn't hicas related.

[Primordial]

Thanks Dave. I've checked everything again, and it seems that after putting the wheel back on that the noise is gone. I think that the wheel may have been a tiny bit off centre last time it was put back on. I've got spacers in the wheels and I think that the spacer on that side was sitting a little bit proud of the hub. Crunching noise is fixed, but I've still got a worrying amount of movement in the rear arms. Its definitely movement from the arms, not the hub. Would this be bushes that need replacement in this case?

[BHDave]

well if the crunching is gone now then almost certainly hicas ball joints. Mine did the same thing when the tie rods ball joints got sloppy.

It's pretty obvious if you remove the inner rubber boot and move the wheel. You will be able to either hear the play due to the grease if it's not too bad, or see it if it's really bad.

[Primordial]

Sweet! Thats almost certainly what it is then. The movement I can see is definitely in that hicas arm ball joint. Did you replace your ball joint Dave? Genuine or can you get aftermarket items?

[STATUS]

that looks like colapsed rear wheel bearing (the hicas slop should nearly be silent, a wheel bearing will crunch)... very common on Nissans especially with huge -ve offset wheels or those put through drift or extended circuit periods.

[BHDave]

I have a r32 so it's probably different. But i just got 2 new ones from nissan. Tried a pair of second hand ones first but they lasted about 1000kms before failing the same way.

There was mention of someone recoing theirs a bit firther down in the suspension section. may be worth looking at as the genuine ones cost 125 or so each.

[ali-turko]

i am 90% sure its your rear ball joints, and that rubbing is your tyres

well it was for me anyway