xviper

I'm tending toward wheel bearing.

I think this would indicate your alignment is at least OK (symmetrical side to side) and what Mike said is the case with your tire wear pattern being track related. Since you only use those tires for the track, this puts Mike's reply into context.

A bad wheel bearing "can" have ON/OFF resonance noise and vibration, especially if the hub nut is a bit loose.

The bearing itself (should consider doing both sides) shouldn't cost that much (about 50 bucks maybe), but the wheel hub must be removed and the bearing pressed out and new one pressed in. I'm guessing a couple of hours with air tools. If you're going to do an alignment, do it after this job.

This may very well be why.

Yes, Honda has a Technical Service Bulletin on this (it may not apply to you due to age of car and track use). They remove the nut and grease up the area and re-install the nut with more torque (from 181 to 220).

As for fragile diffs, this mainly occurs when the car is abused with repeated hot launches and very little regard given to maintenance. Yours doesn't appear to be this and I don't think your diff is the problem here. I'll let the track junkies respond more to this as well as the topic of track reliability.

ps. 10K to 15K miles for a diff fluid change is something I advise for a street driven car. If it were a track car some of the time, personally, I would change it more often.

xviper

[QUOTE=HoshNasi,Dec 8 2005, 11:37 AM] I had a question about my diff that I noticed when taking tight fast turns.

Race Miata

Just curious why you want a more oversteer setup if you were already drifting 80 of the 90 miles on a track day. Were they drifting events instead of track days? Tons of people have turned a whole lot more track miles than you did but I haven't heard anybody drifting 90% of the time at the track and still want more. Maybe the extensive drifting causes the diff to overheat?

VAG

OK maybe the 80 out of 90 miles was not accurate. What I am trying to say is that when cornering the effort was to drift the car rather than follow the optimum line and since in a track enviroment you need more speed to make the car drift such drifting took place at relatively high speeds (I guess this translates to more load being put on the dif/driving shafts/wheel bearings and especially so in the rear left one)

As for the rest I am thankfull for your attention to the matter I am at a crossroad really between wanting to continue driving the car the way I like it (including some visits to the track) and being afraid that if I continue enjoying it the results will be dear

Greece_S2000

Dear VAG the circuit of Megara is not too harsh on the cars , because is pretty slippery and it doesn't require great full throttle time either . You shouldn't worry too much about tracking your car , just make inspections before and after the event . Always allow for warm up and cool down lap , change fluids more often , and if you can run lower temperature . As for your noise problems here are some thoughts I'm hoping to be of some help . Clicking sound , as othrs said re torque the halfshaft nuts at a higher torque , additionally repack the CV boots with fresh grease as these tend to be low and wear especially the inboard ones . Check rear pad rattle shims if they get loose the pad has some rotational play and produces a single click . Hissing sound , if alignment is off and you constantly correcting , the torque sensor always sends signal for the motor to work . Alignment problems ? take a look at front lower arm bushings the rears tend to fail . Also take a look at the front upper A arm brackets , it has been reported that these shear off the frame . Good luck and try Serres circuit too !

VAG

Thanx pal, your info was instructive really (I would appreciate a pm with instructions in Greek as well as Honda garages that know what they are doing ) I too tend to think that a well serviced car and diff would not have dif issues after a 3-4 visits to Megara...For sure I am not going anywhere before I get the noises fixed, I do not want to subject the car to further harassment unless I am certain of the problem...

apex2k

Bearingshere in US list for $82 at the dealer, $62 over the net. I realize these prices are probably different overseas, but it is a starting point. Also, I believe one of our members here ( https://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.php?showt...bearings+gernby ) had bearing damage that lead to hub damage, so consider having it closely inspected and possibly replaced ($122 / $91).