Strange noise at the track
 

This past weekend I took my car to the Shenandoah in WV. It is a new track just start operational early this year. It has lots of twists and turns which is really great for our car.

However, whenever I'm making sharp cornering and pulling some g's, I can hear some very faint ticking sound coming from underneath the hood. It sounds more like an electronic device rather than some mechanical sound. I've checked my oil level and its fine. I've even add in a bit more to see if that's help. But nothing changes! I've tried with my DSC on and off as well and its not the source of the sound either :confused:

Btw, this is not my first time taking my car down to the track and actually this is my second time to this particular track. I've never hear any strange noise coming from the car before. So, I'm wondering did anyone ever have similar experience with his/her cars while running at the track?


TIA,
Pete

I have been on that same track and never heard that sound, does that sound happen on both left & right hand turns? Uphill / downhill, also do you run with the engine cover on?

I didn't hear it the first time I was there either.

It comes from the driver side from what I can tell. And it doesn't matters whether its up or down hill. As long as I pull enough g's, its there.

And no, I get rid of the engine cover since day 1 :-)

You using R-compound tires on the track? One time, in fact at Summit Point I picked up a huge tire marble ( tire rubber left on track ) and it sounded like a ticking sound.

when I ran my car on autox, there were some ticking noise too. and I heard the same noise from another rx8. I remember somebody told me that it was a noise made by the LSD.

>You using R-compound tires on the track?
No, I'm still on the RE040's

LSD? I suppose it maybe possible. But shouldn't it come from the back end instead?

The ticking sound you hear during sharp turns is most likely the improper torque on the wheel nuts combined with rust on the hub surfaces. There was a TSB issed many moons ago.

Basically, remove the wheel, sandpaper the hub-wheel surface and then retorque the wheel nuts to 108ft/lbs (this is higher than spec'd in the shop manual).

Presto - ticking gone. It happened to me a year or so ago and this fixed it. :)

Does it happened to you on day 1 when you took the car down to the track, or is it developed later on? And how come it only happens on high speed driving situation??

I've always torqued the wheels to about 85 ft/lb and it never gave me any problem whatsoever. Isn't 108 ft/lb a bit too excessive!?

Can you provide me with the TSB link if you still have that? And what grade of the sandpaper do you use for the job?

I really appreciate your advice and its indeed a very interesting suggestion, but I still can't see the relation of the two phonomens???

Here's the TSB link http://www.finishlineperformance.com...2-04-1301b.pdf it does indicates slow speed, and that is where I heard it, not at high speed...so you may be experiencing something else. But 108ft/lbs is the right torque number and is actually not very much when you do it.

Mods rule Wankel that!!!

The RX-8 has a Torsen LSD, a Torsen diff doesn't make noise unless it fails

You have to be more of a mechanic. Be specific. Is it metal? Is it plastic? Are you sure it's your plastic flaps that are loose inside the wheel well?

>Are you sure it's your plastic flaps that are loose inside the wheel well?

I haven't check that. I can take a look at it later on and see if anything in there is loosening. But I really doubt that since I don't hear a thing on normal driving. If its really a loosened plastic flap it should be heard regardless of speed.

As I've said before, it is a very faint ticking noise that's more sound like coming from some kind of electronic device rather than from a mechanical device.