solitarycheese

I did the axle nut DIY when I bought my car with 90k miles as preventative maintenance. Torqued the axle nut to factory 180lb, then an extra 60*. Everything was gravy.

I'm at 117k now and started occasionally getting the rear axle click when taking off, or when changing direction from forward to reverse. Pretty sure it is just on the rear left side.

I thought I'd try the axle nut DIY again, but the axle nut is still on there tight - so tight, I broke my Harbor Freight 25" breaker bar (chinesium...sigh...) trying to remove it.

This makes me think the nut is as tight as it needs to be, but the rear wheel bearings are worn down to the point they may need replacing. Does this seem reasonable?

ISADE

Sounds like it could be the axle buckets wearing in. https://www.s2ki.com/forums/s2000-un...y-pics-241367/

I performed this on my 120k mile S2000 that was vibrating and being noisy whenever accelerating, especially noticeable at higher speeds. Previous owner had a shop replace the rear wheel bearings thinking that was it, and got frustrated when that didn't fix it and the shop couldn't figure it out.

Charper732

I second this.

Also, if your car is lowered the CV spacers can alleviate the problem..it did for me.

jyeung528

you can diagnose the wheel bearing if it is making noise while turning a certain direction.

solitarycheese

There's no noise when turning or at speed. The noise only comes when starting or reversing from a dead stop.

Slowcrash_101

I'd say then at this point the damage is done and you have to roll up your sleeves and change some wheel bearings. FWIW my OEM bearings and Ebay hubs are still going strong after 3 years.

jyeung528

when this happened to me, it turned out the torque wrench wasn't working and not really torquing down the nut.

took it to the shop and they impact wrenched that nut tight. noise went away.

maybe try a different torque wrench.