It surely is the damn cowl!
I removed mine and took a quick drive with it off. It didn't make one noise!
Ill have to go buy that seal from Home Depot and do this.
It was killing me hearing this thing make that noise constantly.
Thanks!

 

There should be a permanent fix to this. I'm taking her in tomorrow to see what they say about it.

 

Caught a big rock on the windsheild... Was fine cruising with a star on the
windshield but the other day in the real cold... I came out of work, went over
and uneven grade of road where there was a bump... I hit it, not too hard,
and CRACK... Windshield star cracked almost all across the windshield.

So, since I need new glass... Should I get this cowl for the installers?
Can somebody post a pic of this fix?

 

Hello all,

found this thread on Google, sifted through dozens of pages and created an account to post a reply with my experiences on the dreaded window popping noise.

I, too, have had this occur on my 2008 G37s. I've lived with it for a long time since no car is noiseless. However, this winter (I live in Atlanta) I experienced this popping and grinding noise just by closing the driver side door. It was getting ridiculous.

So after reading the posts here and people pinpointing it to the windshield cowl, and a local Infinity service tech telling me "yeah we've fixed some creaks and pops but we don't know what's causing them" I decided to take matters into my own hands with the guidance of this forum's posters.

I took the cowl off and took some pictures of the damage caused to my windshield from the cowl's plastic rubbing on it over time. I was actually quite shocked at the scratches. You can clearly see, after I scrubbed the windshield with a plastic brillo type pad, at how the windshield looks after the cowl plastic rubbing and popping on it. You can see in picture 1 on the bottom right (arrow) where there was the most damage done. That's the area, driver's side, that I heard the most noise. The 2nd picture is just more proof that it doesn't just happen on one side or the other. It's all the way around. At least on my car it was.

So I cleaned it all, including the cowl, and then on the windshield I taped some thin weatherstrip seal (picture 3). This is a 1/4" thick strip, but it's very spongy and laid almost completely flat when the cowl was placed back on. The strip had a sticky side, so that was put on the windshield below the scratch line.

Once everything was put back together I did a few test drives over various bumps, small pot holes, dirt, etc. Not one pop and the car sounded and felt more solid than ever before. May just be wishful thinking or the repair has some placebo effect on me, but I really do think the car is more solid now. I had no idea that cowl made so much noise that I found to be acceptable until now.

Hope my little story helped someone else.

Happy G37'ing!

#1 Driver side damage
#2 Along middle of windshield
#3 Seal I used ($5 from Walmart)

 

Just got my car back from the dealer. I brought it in for different reasons but while it was in they called me to say that the car had a popping noise from the windshield. They were trying to reseal the glass but cracked the windshield and gave me a new one The noise is gone for now.

 

I fixed this a few months ago. I used a seal I bought from home depot. It worked for about a month. The seal moves cause of the flex and will have to be reset again :/
So I will be taking it off and using silicone in the cowl for a more permanent solution.
It makes me angry that a car like this makes so much noise. >:0

 

I just want to let you guys know I have this problem too on my 2009 FX35. When ever it's 55 degrees and below outside my windshield cowl making a creaking, popping, and ticking noise when going over uneven pavement and small potholes. At first I thought it was my dash but it's not. I took the cowl off and drove around and the noise went away. Oh and believe it or not when I removed the windshield cowl there were rubbing marks at the botton of the windshield where the cowl had been rubbing the whole time.

I never bothered taking it to the dealer because it's a super super easy fix. Just removed a couple of push pin clips. Pull the whole cowl up one at a time since it's in two pieces like the G37. Wash on any dirt, grit, and sand where the cowl meets the windshield. Let it dry and finally apply felt tape to the bottom of the windshield where the cowl comes in contact with the windshield. Put the cowl back on and confirm if the noise is gone. Which in my case it was gone.


After some research, apparently this is not only a common problem on the G37, but it's also common on the 2009-2011 FX35/FX50, and 2008-2011 EX35. After looking through some threads on other websites I found out the windshield cowl's are exactly the same which would explain the similar noises we all have.

I even found out the Nissan Juke suffers from this exact same issue and they sent out a TSB for it.

Other than that my 09 FX is 100% rattles free at 33K miles.

 

Thanks for the update. Did you have to take the wipers off? If so, how hard was it?

 

No problem!

Yeah I had to take the wipers off, but it's really easy. You just pop the cover off the lower part of the wiper arm and it exposes a bolt. Remove the bolt and the whole wiper arm comes off. It's the same way on the G37. Easy as that

 

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Im currently, having this issue and already took it to the dealership and was unsuccessful in fixing this problem I have. I will take it to them and inform them of the issues found in this thread.




Let me know if this is the same. Thx

 

My noise is different. It is more of a popping/crackling sound coming from the windshield area.

My dealer is very good. We went for a drive to duplicate the noise and they heard it too. They replace the cowl and put felt tape under the cowl.

No more noise for me. I'm glad this problem is taken care of after four months with it.

 

I've found it can sound like either popping, cracking, or even loose marbles.

It is the cowl that needs to be taken out, cleaned, and lubed.

 

I have and 08 Coupe purchased in April 2008.

Two months in, A-Pillar creak - 3 attempts but resolved.

Lately:
1) Muffler rattles like a can of marbles when accelerating hard - diagnosed as bad baffles - new part ordered and delivered - service app booked.
2) Creaking from sunroof when frame is tourqued (speed bumps, turning out of uneven driveways etc) - mentioned to Service Manager to be checked out during muffler fix.
3) Good ol' popping noise from front windshield area - mentioned to SM along with the fixes you guys have discussed (THANKS). SM said he had seen this before and knew what to do...

So I will drop her off on Monday May 16th and will keep you guys posted.

Cheers!

 

I have never heard this on my '11 EX35, however it was very annoying on my '08 Altima Coupe. I haven't noticed it much lately but that could be because I'm so used to it by now. Anyway I'm considering trading the '08 in on an '08 G37S, so I'll have to listen carefully for this on the next test drive.

 

I fixed the creaking from my sunroof when going over speedbumps/driveways by just putting some vinyl/rubber conditioner on the rubber seal around the sunroof. Need to do it every few months.