Noise from rear of 2006 M35X

[hsi88]

Have a rumble in the rear of the car somewhere. Its not there all the time, but sometimes it gets bad and then smooths out and disappears. But when its there, its pretty bad. Any ideas? Wheel bearings? Differential? The weird thing is it's not constant. I can drive all day and never feel or hear that low rumble. But it generally happens at least once every time I take the car out. When its rumbling, changing gears and playing with traction options makes little or no difference.

The rumble is never loud as in drown out the radio. But its audible even with the radio on. Its sort of a low growl. And you can tell its from the rear of the car. I noticed the brake pads are almost wore out on the rear (125K miles). Will start there and will probably pull the hubs when I change them. While I have it up on a lift, will check the driveshaft and differential. All fluids were replaced after I bought the car. The noise started around 5k miles ago. Its steadily getting worse and more frequent to the point I don't want to drive anywhere too far away.

Was checking to see if there were frequent driveline issues with the M35X (2006).

 

[hsi88]

The rumble/growl turned out to be a locked (frozen) rear brake caliper. Every now and then it would drag on the rotors. This happened to my Lexus LS400 after 200K+ miles. On that car, it generated enough heat to turn the rotors red. Popped the pistons with an air compressor and rebuilt the calipers. This time, just replacing them. Much easier and not much difference in cost. $70 a side. Money well spent !

 

[Jerry Lawson]

I had drilled Luk Schaffer rotors and the Carbon Metallic pads on my previous car Infiniti M35h and loved the combo, so when my new car needed new front pads I went with what I knew best. I totally agree at first they seem almost ""soft"", but when you get on them they grab just as hard as the stock pads. So for me that was a benefit because I always felt the car kind of shake slightly when first applying the brakes with the stock pads, but with the it's a much more gradual grab so it's smoother braking.

 

[svard75]

Had the exact same issue. Turns out it was something in the actual rear brake line. The right rear caliber was ok to compress the pads but this derbis did not allow for the caliber to release. The mechanic ended up replacing the right rear caliper, blowing out the rear brake line with compressed air and new rotors/pads.