Well my steering wheel fells really lose - it is a constant battle to keep the car
tracking in straight line , and when coming to complete stop on rough road
the wheel is dancing all over the road.

the alignment is within specs , car has new shocks and tires - is there any way
to make the steering wheel more "tight"
I know our steering system is way overboosted - but maybe there is something that could tighten things up a bit ?

it drives me nuts to have loose steering on nice overall solid car.

on the other hand my winter beater 93 geo prizm lsi with brand new shocks and fully independent suspension drives much better when it comes to absorbing bumps and road imperfections.

Nick

bump

i'd like to know also! could it be the power steering?

on my dad's expedition, you only have easy steering until about 15mph..after that it gets harder and harder..and that is how ours should be

The Maximas' steering is natually loose. I learned to live with it.

wonder if the power steering pump could be hacked, or disconnected, or one from a 300zx used or something??

My steering is a little bit loose as well. I'm hoping its because of my bad rack/pinion bushings. My alignment its also on the correct specs but occasionally on bad roads I have to fight it.
Any way I just got brand new OEM bushings for $12 a piece x2. So I'm gonna replace them this Saturday.
This might not be your problem but might want to look into it. Here is my other post about this.
http://forums.azmaximas.org/viewtopic.php?p=602#602

oh BTW. They had this bushings on stock at 3 different Nissan dealers, so this might be a common problem

The over-boosted power steering was adjusted (if not fixed) for 1999. Having owned both a 97 and a 99, there's a huge difference. Don't know what was changed though.

I don't think that it is normal to have your car wandering so much. The tires make a HUGE difference in terms of it tracking straight though.

Also, if your car is daily driven in town and has higher mileage, you should check for play in your tie rod end ball joints. The lower ball joints (on the control arms) can develop excessive play and cause handling probs as well.

will i also have a lincoln town car wich the stering you can move
it with one finger so my max feels tite like a virgen

I had the exact same symptoms as you described...I was so use to my 89 acura legend and the way it felt tight on the highway...I was very determined to solve this issue...After reading a few articles from some old issues from Car & driver and road & track, these articles did not mention of loose steering, in fact they found the ride very acceptable and pushed our car all to way to 143mph..If indeed our cars were supposed to be this way it would be very unsafe for them to drive at these speeds..This is what I did to solve this issue..I had my car aligned twice, changed my tires (kumho hp716),balanced these tires, changed my front end struts to monroe sensatrac, replaced my front end strut bearings..Finally, this nagging issue went away..I recently pushed my car all the way to 130mph before I finally backed off..This car felt solid as a rock, no loose steering, no shaking/wandering whatsoever...I hope you find a solution to this annoying issue.

Thanks for all the inputs guys !

Knight71 - i wish i could push my car up to that speed , right now @75-80 mph gets realy scary
and to add to this irony i'm on Kumho HP716 tires !!! I was just starting to figure out replacement for those ( had them for 1 year , less than 12k miles - thy hold up pretty good - but got them in 225 size instead 215 and there is lot of sidewell flexing.

Well - it is almost imposible to acheive "new car like"
ride from vehicle with 130k and accident under the belt.

I will get some sticky tires in summer along with new drive shafts and new bushings for control arms and sway bar.
Hopefully it will help a bit.

Nick

Our steering sucks. When i drive hte Mazda6s it feels ways better. It feel wierd going back to the maxima. The 6 is easy to drive because of hte Tighter steering too.

ES front sway bar bushings and end-link bushings solved this problem for me

Get a front strutbar, rsb. Helped for me.

They fixed it with 5th gens...I notice whenever I'm on the freeway the wheels is just swinging and vibrating everywhere...kinda embarrassing to have someone driving next to you and seeing you hold the wheel with it moving so much.

95 se 5spd 80k
1 accident - salvage title (front clip replaced)
My tires= 3 yokohama 1 firestone

My cars steering is not loose at all
I can let go of the wheel for long periods of time (with my hands almost touching it of course)
It comes in handy when talking on the cell and shifting.
j/k

But I doubt its the tires or an accident.

I have not confirmed this information yet, but the technician at my local speed shop suggested to try the aftermarket power steering pulley available for the 300ZX. He mentioned that the pulleys have the same bolt pattern for mounting on the pumps but the diameters are different and therefore the 300ZX pulley would yield a higher effort on the steering.

Forgot to mention in my last post that "Stillen" would be the most likely source for the pulley.

I love the steering in my 99 SE-L. The car is planted to the ground with H&R springs & Tokico Illuminas and my steering is nice and tight. Feels like a true sports car.

Has this guy ever worked on a Maxima before? I'm just afraid of the typical "Well it's a Nissan and they both have 3.0L V6s so it must be the same belts" type of mentality. I'm more than willing to do it, I HATE this loose steering feel.
-Cyrus

Didn't you have a 97 GXE? If you did there is a difference between the 97-99 SE rack vs 97-99 GXE/GLE rack. Also the various suspension differences between the SE vs. GXE/GLE will make the SE feel sportier.

Nissan parts dept can verify this.

Nick try energy suspension polyurethane bushings for the front sway bar and endlinks. I never had any complaints about my 97 SE steering (just lived with its sensitivity) but like CullenJ76, after installing the ES FSB bushings it did tighten the steering noticeably. Cheap mod and doesn't take much time to install.

I never have a problem, just hold it tight.

Yup, musta been fixed because my buddies 96 SE is SO light. Its rediculous. He was amazed after driving my 99, as well as my other friends 99. I couldnt stand driving his 96 just for the overboosted feeling. Makes the car feel like a completely different car...




Eric

My 96 GLE's steering has improved quite a bit after doing the following: a) Installed the Front strut brace, making sure that the car was level and that there was a good amount of tension out towards the strut towers. b) Finally found a shop that did a great job with the alignment. c) After having two shops try to balance my tires, found a third that got it right. This got rid if the steering wheel shaking at speeds above 70mph. d) Since my front control arm bushings were just about worn out (One of them was so far gone, it fell to pieces once it was removed) I replaced them using the Energy Suspension Polyurathane bushings. This definitely helped tighten things up. Less dipping when braking as well. e) Replaced my worn out stock tires (205/65/r15) with Toyo 215/60/r15's. Definitely requires a little more effort to steer these tires than the thinner ones, though they do tend to follow ruts in the road more. Better grip and feel in the corners too. And don't forget to check your tire pressure.

Well, he has worked on a few Maximas. He mostly does import cars. I think he knows all the engines pretty well. But like I said, I haven't fully verified the info simply because I have been busy with other projects.

I went to Stillen's site today and they have the 300ZX pulleys for about $85. I am not sure if the guy was referring to the turbo or non-turbo pulley because they are different. If I recall correctly, both the Maxima and 300Z pulleys are 4-rib designs.

If the steering system is indeed different on the 99 model vs. other 4th gens, then the Nissan parts department could verify all the changes.

I wonder if it is possible to tweak the control valve on the pump.

Well I don't think you can buy the power steering pulley seperatley, only the crank pullies right? The power steering pullies are only sold in sets, or so by Stillen and eBay. The heaver, the bigger the pulley the better though, so I'm thinking these underdriven, lightened pullies for the 300ZX won't do much for us. Does that sound right?

I was also thinking of going to the Nissan dealer and looking at the part number differences in the 1996 and 1999 power steering pumps lol. Great minds think alike. :-D
-Cyrus

i remember that maximas had " speed sensitive steering " back in the days when my maxima had 80k steering wheel was nice and easy to turn at low speeds ( parking etc) and than with speed increase the tightnes in the wheel increased as well

I used to love that feature - it made me feel like i got the deal of the century - car drove so nice with 80k on it.

after i started tweeking the suspension with various spring and strut/shock combos , sway bars etc - i have relized that things got really "loose" in the steering system - speed sensitivnes was gone forever.

Nick

1991tsi, yes the PS can be hacked. Just cut the belt, but don't do it. With stock tires/rims its is very difficult to turn the wheel in parking lots. Driving straight is awesome. I would gues it gives about 5hp. If you go any larger than stock tires forget it. I'm putting mine back on tomorrow.

CullenJ76, where can I get these bushings? I need the front sway bar bushings. I believe they are about $40 for Motivational. I've been looking for a while at custommaxima, SWA, RedlineMax... Do you like yours? Would it be benificial to get entire bushing package?

I'm not sure why you guys are investigating the ps pump. I don't think Maxima power steering has anything to do with the lack of road feel. I think it's the ratio in the rack and pinion. There is zero play with my wheel, but it feels like cr**. It's not precise, needs a lot of input to get the car to respond.

What is totally bizarre is almost any rental car you get feels so much better than the Maxima. When you come back to the Max after a few days in a rental, everything feels so soft and effortless, like a 1975 Cadillac. Really poor design on Nissan's part. Thing is, relatively speaking, they put this loose feel into the 350Z. It's not rocket science, it's called reverse engineering. Buy a 325i and just copy the steering Nissan. Oh, I forgot, they don't want to do it they want to save money. Just like charging Japan prices and building a car in MS.

I installed a power steering fluid cooler a few months ago. The steering effort on highway seems much better, about 30% stiffer. BTW, it's 98 GXE with stock suspension + FSTB + RSB.

My buddy has a copy of the Nissan FAS system for the 4th gen and we're researching paet number differences between the 99 and the 95-98 steering racks. We believe the difference lies in the pump.


Dave

Description - Year - List Price - Your Price
P/S PUMP, Maxima - POWER 95-03 $420.69 $336.55

according to http://www.newnissanparts.com

I know you know what you're doing, but I'm just going by what would "seem" to make sense. I could see the pumps making a difference at low speeds, but once the vehicle is moving, it shouldn't matter. Otherwise, cutting the belt would make things night and day at highway speeds. Some vehicles, especially trucks, have various gear ratios to choose among. I would think the ratio is what makes how much you move the steering wheel affect the front wheels.

I do know for a fact my friend with a 2000 328 had the dealer retrofit his steering rack because BMW E46 owners had complained that the steering was too light when compared to the orig 99's. That was thanks to the clout of the BMWCCA and their members. Then again, older members and established.

I believe that Nissan is satisfied with the way the steering is because the typical Maxima buyer was not 18-25 but over 45. Ditto with the Altima's stick and clutch, so soft with no feel. designed to be so imho.