Strange noises from the front suspension

It may just be a bad stablizer bar link (a common problem when that gen came out. Even the slightest play gets amplified through the suspension and it sounds like your whole strut is loose. The links attach the front stablizer bar to the suspension, are about 4" long and have a ball joint on each end. One way to test them (often works, but not always) is to grab each of the links, twist them all the way in one direction and then drive the car to see if the sound goes away. If it doesn't, try twisting them in the other direction. If the sound does goes away, you'll need to replace one or both. Don't think twisting them is the fix..they'll eventually rotate back to their natural position and the noise will return. But they're pretty inexpensive (less than $20 if I remember correctly). You can replace them yourself, but removing the nuts can be a bear. The nuts are jam nuts, i.e. can only be used once. So you'll need to pick up new ones from the dealer when you buy the links.

...What is the repair?... Preventive Maintenance keeps from unnecessary repairs

- like swap all4 shocks every 50kmiles.

At 50 kmiles each shock has moved up&down some 800.000.000 times, in swirlin dust & gravel... Their purpose is to stop wheel jump on u bump: after they are worn out, wheels really start to jump wearing all bushings. Check out. When shocks are out, vehicle starts to sail; I do like sailing but not on the road.

The shocks wear out first on its most used travel 'area', resulting in bad steering, also causing oil leak. On extereme positions, both ends, they still function quite well, until enough oil has been lost.

--->Take wheel off, peek under shock dust cover. If any oil leak is seen, its hi time to swap - if u want control instead of sailing. Check for any loose bushings using a prybar, trying to move support rods. Whatever u do, make sure car is propped up securely.

I think you need a new struts. Check my old posting about this metallic noise a while back. What happened is that one (or both) of the struts no longer is dampening(sp?) the spring travel and thus hitting the stops as you hit pot holes or rough road. I went through the link replacement stuff and it was a waste of money. Didn't solve the problem. Replacing the struts solve the noise and gave improved ride back. BTW, did you know that Nissan has significant price difference between the left and right links? They look almost identical except for the left and right orientation!