Changing springs, ticking noise, and steering wheel shaking?

Butlerg

Member
:
2004 Strato Blue hatch
I have a '04 Mazda3.

I'm hearing a ticking noise coming out of what seems to be the driver's side front end when I'm driving, but I can't be sure because I'm in the car driving it. (drive) hah...But I can't figure out what it is. It's sort of an intermittent ticking sound perhaps 3-4 times per 1-2 seconds?

Another thing is the steering wheel shaking. The car is dropped on H&R sport springs from the previous owner, and I noticed when I start to hit higher speeds such as 50+ the steering wheel really starts to vibrate. Is that a problem with the aligment, and shoudl I get one to fix the vibrating?


Also, how hard is it to change out the aftermarket springs for the stock springs. I would like to save the $300 everybody will do it for and do it myself, but I've heard horror stories about it taking like 6+ hours just for the front. Is there a how-to anywhere?

Thanks.
 
sounds like wheels in the front needs rebalancing from your desription of the high speed vibration on your steering wheel.

as for the ticking sound... I have to hear it to understand what you're talking about.... then again, can you go into a little more detail as to when this intermittent ticking occurs?
Like ONLY while driving, Or when you go over bumps in the road?
Trying to think about why a ticking sound would occur in any case...

Does it sound like metal ticking? Or you "feel" the ticking.... if you feel it, you MAY have ran over a big construction bolt, nail type thing or something... or you could just have a big rock stuck in the tires tread? check out the treading just to be sure you don't have a Meer-kat stuck in there somewhere....

As for the how-to on the installs, I'm not too sure, at least not right now, i have to get back to work. Hopefully someone else can point you in the right direction instead of saying,

"USE THE SEARCH"

i find "Search" to be rather pointless.... IMO lol

-J
 
I knwo what you mean...I searched and could only find them on protege's and a 6. :/ The "ticking" only occurs when driving normally. Not just over bumps. I'm at work, but I'll try to get a better listen to it afterwards. I cannot "feel" it, but I can defiantely hear it. It's kind of like a piece of plastic tapping the wheel or such, but if that was the case, it seems it woudl go faster as I speed up, which I don't think it does, but I'll check for rocks. And I just got brand new tires. They said it coems with mounting and balancing, but it was kind of a ghetto shop so Idk. Thanks!
 
Hmm.... ok, well since it occurs during normal driving, then my guess is that when the installers at the ghetto shop installed and mounted your wheels, they could have knocked something loose up in your wheel well. If it sounds like plastic tapping, it could be your splash guard in the wheel well. It's probably "tapping" the tires when you're driving at a high speed, or pretty much at any speed. You know, when the plastic taps the tire, it bounces up only to go back down and hit the tire again, and repeat.... make sense? If the shop was ghetto, they more than likely just threw on some random weights on your rims, and called it a day... I'd definatley take it back to another wheel/tire retailer, discount tire or american tire... someone more reliable. Ghetto mounting and balance FTL! lol So maybe, just maybe that's your problem. Get a flash light/drop light and check that mofo for any loose objects just hanging in there.

Hope you find the source of the problem.
 
Back