Fluttering Sound When Cornering

[HairyHabibi]

Hi everyone. Hope you're all doing well. So I am new to this platform. First time CTR owner. Love the car. Just hit 1k miles and did an oil change. Up until now, been driving the car soft without pushing it much in corners or in a straight. Figured I would wait until I hit the 1k mark and do an oil change before I start pushing the car.

First things first, WOW! She grips very well and is pretty quick. This is where my issue starts. On my maiden trip to the twisty canyon roads, I noticed something that I can't really put my finger on. So under hard lateral forces (going through a corner with heavier load), I hear a fluttering/ticking sound. Say I take a hard and quick left turn. The sound comes from the right. And the same in reverse. I take a hard and quick right turn, sound comes from the left. This is with the windows down. With the windows up, I hear literally nothing. The car feels solid and planted otherwise. Driving straight or normal and slow turns, nothing. Though sometimes I hear it when driving around town. Usually when I enter a side street or something like that without braking, I hear it faintly.

I've done a bit of digging, and maybe it's the brakes? Any suggestions as to what exactly this could be, or how to diagnose it? I am almost tempted to take it to the dealer and just tell them. But at such low miles, I can't imagine anything wrong with the car. Though I could be wrong. IDK. I'm just a little bummed. I drive hard and just want to make sure everything is safe and sound. Anyhow. Let me know your thoughts and experiences.

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[Cueyo]

I had a recurrent ticking sound coming from the wheel mounting surface to the knuckle. I would check that first since it could easily be something stuck in-between the two surfaces. Pull the wheel off, cleaning the mounting surfaces on both sides, and if it goes away, you know what's wrong.

Even just remounting the wheel can make it go away for a while if what I described is your problem.

 

[Pekingduck]

I have the same problem. They say it the sitting of wheel to hub causing it because the matting service is dirty. They say to remedy it is clean the hub and grease it. I just been living with it for a 20k miles.

 

[HairyHabibi]

Hi there. Thank you both for the responses. So I took the car to a shop my buddy has. We listened to it together. I ended up taking the front wheels off to inspect everything and did not see any rocks or debris. I put the wheels back on and torqued them to about 100. Factory calls for 94 I believe. Took the car out for a short spin to test. I had the steering locked to one side and was doing circles at a relatively higher rate of speed going both ways. No sound. Maybe it was not torqued to spec from factory? Can't say but it appears to have gone away. I'll be doing a bit more testing in the coming days when it's not raining and I will report back. But for now, no more sound.

 

[Cueyo]

Hi there. Thank you both for the responses. So I took the car to a shop my buddy has. We listened to it together. I ended up taking the front wheels off to inspect everything and did not see any rocks or debris. I put the wheels back on and torqued them to about 100. Factory calls for 94 I believe. Took the car out for a short spin to test. I had the steering locked to one side and was doing circles at a relatively higher rate of speed going both ways. No sound. Maybe it was not torqued to spec from factory? Can't say but it appears to have gone away. I'll be doing a bit more testing in the coming days when it's not raining and I will report back. But for now, no more sound.

I can all but guarantee it's not the wheel torque, because just like you I thought torque was wrong. You're going to end up damaging your studs if you keep it at 100 ft/lbs, you should take them off and put them back to 94 ft/lbs. Also you wouldn't see anything when you took them off, it's more like smaller particles and stuff get stuck in the mating surfaces. If it comes back you should take them off and clean them thoroughly. It took me 3-4 times of the sound returning and cleaning the surface for it to finally go away.

There's also the smallest chance that it's your summer tires.

 

[HairyHabibi]

I can all but guarantee it's not the wheel torque, because just like you I thought torque was wrong. You're going to end up damaging your studs if you keep it at 100 ft/lbs, you should take them off and put them back to 94 ft/lbs. Also you wouldn't see anything when you took them off, it's more like smaller particles and stuff get stuck in the mating surfaces. If it comes back you should take them off and clean them thoroughly. It took me 3-4 times of the sound returning and cleaning the surface for it to finally go away.

There's also the smallest chance that it's your summer tires.

I appreciate the input. I'll go ahead and re-adjust the torque for the lugs. I just found it interesting how when everything was put back together, the ticking sound went away. If it is in fact just particulates getting stuck in the mating surfaces, I'm alright with that. Could just make it a part of regular maintenance to clean it. I am just glad I am not the only one to have experienced this, and there seems to be a solution for it. The road I was driving on is mountainous and there is lots of debris. Could have probably gotten dirty when I was pushing the car and things were getting kicked up all over the place. Anyhow, I appreciate the input. I'll update the thread in the coming days once I've had some more time to drive the car.

 

[Cueyo]

I appreciate the input. I'll go ahead and re-adjust the torque for the lugs. I just found it interesting how when everything was put back together, the ticking sound went away. If it is in fact just particulates getting stuck in the mating surfaces, I'm alright with that. Could just make it a part of regular maintenance to clean it. I am just glad I am not the only one to have experienced this, and there seems to be a solution for it. The road I was driving on is mountainous and there is lots of debris. Could have probably gotten dirty when I was pushing the car and things were getting kicked up all over the place. Anyhow, I appreciate the input. I'll update the thread in the coming days once I've had some more time to drive the car.

If you dig a little we have like 2-3 threads of people having the exact same problem. I think it could be something about the assembly process, but not sure

 

[AZCWTypeR]

There is margin to the lug nut torque spec and tightening a bit over won't cause any harm. I did 5 lb-ft over spec for years due to winter salt corrosion on Honda lug nut seats.

If you don't believe me, take your car to a shop installing wheels using an impact. They'll be tighter than heck and the studs survive.

Also new threads give a bit under full spec torque, mainly due to creep on metal high spots. This lessens as the threads smooth with use.

Another consideration is temperature. Aluminum expands 3X more than steel for a given delta temperature.

In other words, re-torque your wheels every now and then to be sure you're good.

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