Front Tire Rubbing?

Dk if this has been mentioned before but yesterday while turning left onto a street that was a smidge lower than the street I was on, I heard a rubbing noise coming from front right tire. Sounds like tire was rubbing on wheel well?

Any one else see this? Do I need to look at getting shocks or something replaced?

do you see a rub mark left in the wheel well? I have never noticed any rubbing with the stock suspension/tires/rims even when hooning around.

DaveinOlyWA said:

Dk if this has been mentioned before but yesterday while turning left onto a street that was a smidge lower than the street I was on, I heard a rubbing noise coming from front right tire. Sounds like tire was rubbing on wheel well?

Any one else see this? Do I need to look at getting shocks or something replaced?

Click to expand...

If you figure this out let me know. Think I’m hearing the same scraping. Sounded like I ran over an object turning in my driveway and a couple other times turning into the driveway of my 2nd job. Was definitely a mild left turn onto a slight upgrade and difficult to reproduce. Every instance is low speed so don’t believe I’m bottoming the suspension and can’t see any obvious rub marks.

rogersleaf said:

DaveinOlyWA said:

Dk if this has been mentioned before but yesterday while turning left onto a street that was a smidge lower than the street I was on, I heard a rubbing noise coming from front right tire. Sounds like tire was rubbing on wheel well?

Any one else see this? Do I need to look at getting shocks or something replaced?

Click to expand...

If you figure this out let me know. Think I’m hearing the same scraping. Sounded like I ran over an object turning in my driveway and a couple other times turning into the driveway of my 2nd job. Was definitely a mild left turn onto a slight upgrade and difficult to reproduce. Every instance is low speed so don’t believe I’m bottoming the suspension and can’t see any obvious rub marks.

Click to expand...

Same here. I "thought" I heard something a while back but not completely sure but the other day was unmistakable and both incidences were left turns to a street either at a different level or had a tiny dip (nice way of saying pothole)

DaveinOlyWA said:

Dk if this has been mentioned before but yesterday while turning left onto a street that was a smidge lower than the street I was on, I heard a rubbing noise coming from front right tire. Sounds like tire was rubbing on wheel well?

Any one else see this? Do I need to look at getting shocks or something replaced?

Click to expand...

Possibly the traction/stability control activated briefly. It can feel like rubbing.

Nubo said:

DaveinOlyWA said:

Dk if this has been mentioned before but yesterday while turning left onto a street that was a smidge lower than the street I was on, I heard a rubbing noise coming from front right tire. Sounds like tire was rubbing on wheel well?

Any one else see this? Do I need to look at getting shocks or something replaced?

Click to expand...

Possibly the traction/stability control activated briefly. It can feel like rubbing.

Click to expand...

ZERO chance that is the case. Besides, I don't feel anything. Its just sound

My first question would be if you are using the original rims and tires... If you got larger rims or tires, you can get rubbing.

Also, there are some strange situations where you a driving, turning, in bumps or changes in pavement that will make the suspension move in ways that is typically does not..

I would not worry or further investigate.

If you can test turning right and left (in a flat parking lot) from a full stop to about 10 MPH, then you are ok..

powersurge said:

My first question would be if you are using the original rims and tires... If you got larger rims or tires, you can get rubbing.

Also, there are some strange situations where you a driving, turning, in bumps or changes in pavement that will make the suspension move in ways that is typically does not..

I would not worry or further investigate.

If you can test turning right and left (in a flat parking lot) from a full stop to about 10 MPH, then you are ok..

Click to expand...

All stock equipment- SL with 215/50R17 tires.

The driveway entrance where mine was observed is designed for commercial over-the-road buses that have relatively poor underbody clearance. So doubt it’s an angle of approach or body-suspension twisting event due to changing road grades.

The sound reminds me of rolling up onto a parking space curb. Just a quick light plastic scrape like when I had a Honda Civic frequently scuffed the small front air dam.

DaveinOlyWA said:

Nubo said:

DaveinOlyWA said:

Dk if this has been mentioned before but yesterday while turning left onto a street that was a smidge lower than the street I was on, I heard a rubbing noise coming from front right tire. Sounds like tire was rubbing on wheel well?

Any one else see this? Do I need to look at getting shocks or something replaced?

Click to expand...

Possibly the traction/stability control activated briefly. It can feel like rubbing.

Click to expand...

ZERO chance that is the case. Besides, I don't feel anything. Its just sound

Click to expand...

I have had it activate where there was only sound.

rogersleaf said:

powersurge said:

My first question would be if you are using the original rims and tires... If you got larger rims or tires, you can get rubbing.

Also, there are some strange situations where you a driving, turning, in bumps or changes in pavement that will make the suspension move in ways that is typically does not..

I would not worry or further investigate.

If you can test turning right and left (in a flat parking lot) from a full stop to about 10 MPH, then you are ok..

Click to expand...

All stock equipment- SL with 215/50R17 tires.

The driveway entrance where mine was observed is designed for commercial over-the-road buses that have relatively poor underbody clearance. So doubt it’s an angle of approach or body-suspension twisting event due to changing road grades.

The sound reminds me of rolling up onto a parking space curb. Just a quick light plastic scrape like when I had a Honda Civic frequently scuffed the small front air dam.

Click to expand...

Same here. all stock and the description on the sound is spot on and only seems to happen turning left.

DaveinOlyWA said:

...
Same here. all stock and the description on the sound is spot on and only seems to happen turning left.

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Is it reproducible? Might be worthwhile to pull the wheel and closely examine the tire for any signs of rubbing, and also give the wheel well a good inspection for signs of rubbing or any loose plastic. Give all of the plastic liner components a good jostle to check for looseness or play. There are a number of bolts and plastic clips which hold the shroud(s) in place and something may have worked loose or cracked as the plastics get more brittle over time, allowing a rub. If nothing stands out, a go-pro type camera might be useful to get a visual while you try reproducing the sound.

I would not take the wheel off to examine this.. It takes away all of the evidence..

Stop the car. Turn the wheel all the way that makes the sound. With or without a jack (and jackstands) look to see the clearance of the tire and the wheel well. Above and below.. You will find something that has been bent in the way of the tire...

I have the same "issue" & it does happen more on LH turns & it's your front air dam scraping/scratching the road.

Apparently our cars have very little torsional flex due to the skateboard battery pack so in those turns the scraping is more likely to happen. Heck my 2013 Prius with lower ground clearance & 135K on its suspension doesn't scrape at a higher vehicle speed where my leaf will scrape every time if I'm going too "fast" as I turn onto my road leading to my house...

Probably not the case, otherwise besides the scraping noise your car would be handling(steering) very oddly......but our '12SL had an unfortunate encounter with a curb, just the tire and from the outside nothing really looked damaged but what happened was the "A" looking thing that supports the lower part of the front wheel got bent, it was basically very thick sheet metal which shocked me! I could have sworn on past cars they were forged steel or much heavier metal. Anyway when I looked closer I noticed the drivers side(the one that hit the curb) the tire was not half way between the front and rear of the wheel well, it was several inches closer to the rear and several inches further from the front. When you'd steer a particular way the tire would rub inside the wheel well. Now in this case the car had some really weird steering but if I were you I'd either look at that lower "A" thing looking for it to be bent or measure the distance from the front and read of the tire to the front and rear of the wheel well and compare sides, on ours the passenger side was dead centered, not so on the drivers.
I ended up taking the car to a local Meineke repair shop where for about $700 they replaced the lower "A" and aligned the car, no more rubbing and runs and steers like a champ now. I can only imagine what the repair work would have cost at my local Nissan dealer :roll:

The 'a shaped thing' sounds like a control arm and they are often made of two pieces of stamped steel welded together around the outside seam to form a hollow part. It is sprung weight so making it as light as possible is good although obviously it needs to be structurally strong enough for the suspension loads.

goldbrick said:

The 'a shaped thing' sounds like a control arm and they are often made of two pieces of stamped steel welded together around the outside seam to form a hollow part. It is sprung weight so making it as light as possible is good although obviously it needs to be structurally strong enough for the suspension loads.

Click to expand...

It could be the control arm, it's the closest thing to the ground(obviously other than the tire) and basically supports the tire itself. I was just shocked to see it bent the way it was and how relatively thin the metal was. Of course if it hadn't had that unfortunate encounter with a curb it would probably have lasted the lifetime of the car. A pothole would have been more an up-down force, hitting the curb while the tire was turned was probably the worst possible angle for the part.

I have the same problem.
Had my Leaf around 4 months.
Noticed the past two months that when I turn a sharp right at slow speeds a rubbing sound at the front passenger side.
Sounds like the tyre is rubbing on the bumper!
Now notice a cut on the side of that tyre! Not impressed so far. Will be discussing with the Nissan dealer.

I have noticed the same issue on my 2020 Leaf with only 600 miles on it. Has happened 3 or 4 times, also while turning left. Sounds like I ran over something, a loud 'crunch' or 'scrape'. I've inspected underneath the car and there is definitely nothing hanging down or low enough that it would be scraping the ground. Total mystery. Anybody find out what this is?

Scotrob76 said:

I have the same problem.
Had my Leaf around 4 months.
Noticed the past two months that when I turn a sharp right at slow speeds a rubbing sound at the front passenger side.
Sounds like the tyre is rubbing on the bumper!
Now notice a cut on the side of that tyre! Not impressed so far. Will be discussing with the Nissan dealer.

Click to expand...

Ok, its been over 2 months. What did the dealer say? I have the sound which seems like the tire rubbing on the wheel well but no cuts (or any other signs of wear) on the tire. When I rotated them last month, I did an inside inspection of the tire as well and found nothing.

DaveinOlyWA said:

Ok, its been over 2 months. What did the dealer say? I have the sound which seems like the tire rubbing on the wheel well but no cuts (or any other signs of wear) on the tire. When I rotated them last month, I did an inside inspection of the tire as well and found nothing.

Click to expand...

Dig up this old discussion. Noticed the same odd scraping noise coming from my '23 Ariya. Had the same basic left turn while decelerating on regeration. This time was in a frozen gravel parking lot with some light snow. Relatively certain it's the ABS activating in the turn.