Nissan Repair: 95 Nissan Maxima - crunch/grating noise, grating noise, nissan maxima

Question
In the front left wheel well it makes a noise over some bumps. It is akin to a scraping or thunking noise. It doesn't seem to be related to turning, simply bumps and always in the front left wheel well.   I took it in to get it looked at/oil change before a big trip I have coming up and the mechanic said it was nothing more than dirt in the bearing plate and it wasn't bad enough yet to warrant fixing. I listened to his *giant* explanations on how bearing plates work, where they are, and why they get funky and they made logical sense when paired with the fact that I had driven the car 60 miles a day to/from work on very winding, *dirty* roads. He said that it was ok for now. He said he put it up on the rack and everything else is solid and checks out ok.  He insists it is the bearing plate and that it is not necessary to replace it yet.  HOWEVER, I got up early this morning and went out to get coffee and its getting cold out. I am noticing that when it is cold, I hear the noise on like every single bump. Once it warms up in the day the noise lessens. This makes me nervous, especially since I will be driving to philadelphia in two weeks. Is this congruent with his explanation/diagnosis of a dirty bearing plate?

Is this guy correct? Is it ok to keep driving it the way it is now? He said that I should expect the car to make some slight creaky noises simply since it is older, not to worry for now, and that when the bearing plate got *really* bad/needed fixing I would hear/feel it when I went to turn the car to park. Because I know nothing about cars I'm not sure it is safe to believe him and thus I appeal to you. If it does need fixing then about how much should I expect to pay for it?

Bowing at your mechanically-educated feet!
R.N.Weaver

Answer
R.N. Weaver,

The mechanic is correct.  The bearing plat for the strut is making noise.  I would replace it since the years on the car and do the other side at the same time.  Several years of Maxima had this problem on the side yours is on and the exact same noise you describe.  But, I would not worry about it being a safety concern.  Understand when you turn the wheel the strut pivots on this plate as not to blow the seal on the strut.  So, if it gets really bad it will take the strut out and you will have to replace it too.  But, again, with the miles you are doing good.  Just change the plates when you have the time and money.  $100 bucks for the alignment and $100 a side for labor to change them plus the cost of the parts.  Check the cost of the plates at rockauto.com as they seem to be the least expensive.  Or check the local parts stores.