after a minor accident where the drivers side wheel was hit sideways, i had problems with balancing and alignment. went to local mechanic & nissan dealer to take care of problems. nissan advised new tires. so the work that was done on the car is: new bearings (was told that hub is ok), new control arm, new wheel, new 4 tires (toyo proxies 4), had wheels balanced like 3 times, and have done an alignment 2 times. still problems: 80+ mph wheel shakes alittle, car pulls to the right alittle and the wheel itself is not straight. after the second alignment i had the same results. whats the problem here?

 

Vibrations can be caused by worn suspension components, bad balancing, worn bushings, etc...

If the wheel is still not "straight", clearly replacing just the LCA didn't fix the damage inflicted on the front end during your accident. I would expect that the alignment would have caught that though.

 

i am not really worried about the balancing since there are too many things that can be wrong. but the alignment is important for me. those 2 times that i have done it, the guys at NTB told me that everything is just fine and after i said that the wheel is not straight and the car still pulls to the right, they just told me to bring it again. i am affraid that i will just waste time and the results will be the same. ps. i brought the car to different shops.

 

Post the alignment specs, we can assist you better that way...

 

couldn't find the specs....but shouldn't the shop tell me if they were unable to do it right. like on my previous car something was bent and Direct Tire shop told me about it.

 

You should have got a print out of the alignment with before and after specs on it.

I suspect your knuckle is bent, the alignment readings will tell us for sure.

 

my girlfriend's maxima got new tires put on it all around a few months ago. She got an alignment at the time they were installed. She has been complaining about it pulling to the right while driving. The car has 160+ miles on it. Do you think the suspension could be shot, thus affecting her ride quality and alignment? The ride does feel "mushy" to me. I'm thinking the suspension could be done. Any suggestions or info on when nissan suspensions need replaced?

 

*** that's kinda thread jacking silver *** im not trying to be an *******, but don't post new topics in someone else's thread or you might get banned for 3 days. it happend to me lol just wait till you get ur 10 posts or w/e it is that u can make a new thread

 

at 80+ mph my wheel shakes a little too. I figure its normal since your going pretty fast in the first place. I dont get the shaking in 40-50mph tho. but my car doesn't pull. Normally it is just suspension wear and tear. Since you got stuff done to one side and shows how worn stuff is on the other side which is the passanger side, it being loose can cause your slight pull.

I don't understand why they told you to get 4 new tires after something like that. I understand getting 4 tires when you need to replace them. Or just to remount the olds ones and balance them again. Why would they tell you to get 4 new tires? Unless you were due for some tires.

 

well the only difference to sides is a new control arm on driver's side (which by the way probably was not bent at the first place. i just didn't care if the shop replaces it or not since my insurance paid) as far as bearings, i changed them on both sides. and as far as for new tires, nissan recommended to changes my old (almost bold) tires, and they said it should take care of the the "wheel shaking" problem.....it did help, but not to 100% satisfaction. the thing is that the same tires were on the car before the accident and i didn't have any problems.

i guess i will have to do ANOTHER alignment (for free of course). i just need to find time.

 

My current pull is b/c my rear toe (which is not adjustable) is uneven. - Why Nissan put factory toe there to limit oversteer still puzzles me. - In your case, if you had no frame damage and nothing happened to the rear it's probably: uneven camber (front), tire pressure, slightly smaller tire (L/R sides), uneven caster (front). Caster and camber are not adjustable, but you can buy a kit for both. I have the eibach camber bolts ($20) b/c I wanted to be able to set my camber after I put sport springs on my car. Since you're getting another alignment check anyway, check those and have them set the camber with the eibach bolts if it still bothers you. That might fix it. I've also heard some say that the type of belts in certain tires can cause a pull. Good luck. Let us know what you find.

 

well. i finally have done another alighment. it's much better now. i cannot post specs since the guy forgot to print it. now i want to switch rear wheels with fronts and see if that takes care of vibration.

 

Did you see the post about the new lower control arms, and how they fixed a hard to find vibration? They're $140 pair, and should make the car handle tighter. If your insurance would pay for it, by all means... do it. They can be bent or have worn bushings. My car is better now that I put another set of springs on. Pulls a little right now, but I think that's b/c my camber is more negative on the left. Needs to use the free alignments I have. There has also been a "knock" nearly as long as I've owned the car, and coincidentally, a minor vibration with every set of tires on the car and two sets of wheels. Go figure. Probably the control arms... Let us know what else you find!

 

i have replaced one control arm, however i don't know if the machanic replaced the bushings.

btw. i found the previous alighment readings......don't know how to read them and what the numbers mean.....

 

You'd think he would replace them, but who knows.

Basically you want the readings to be the same for the L/R sides. I can't quote specs for you but it should be close to:

Rear Camber: -1.0 L/R
Rear Toe: 0.0 to .25/.25 L/R (factory set or could be bent)

Front Toe: 0.08 L/R (sorry, corrected)
Front Camber: 0.0 to -2.0 L/R (depending on your setup and what you request.)
Caster: 2.4, 2.5?

 

Left Front Toe: Actual 0.09.....Before -0.25
Left Front Camber: Act. -0.2...Before -0.1

Right Toe Act. 0.08 Before 0.23
Right Camber Act. -0.3 Before -0.4

Total Toe Act. 0.2 Before 0.3
Total Camber Act. 0.17 Before -0.02


these are after like 2 or 3 alighments in a half a year period

 

That's pretty close. If anything, it would pull very slightly to the left based on the minor camber differences. Rear toe settings or front caster differences may cause a pull as well. Those alignment settings alone look ok to me, so if you're still having vibration problems it should be something else.

 

Had a crazy pull to the left for a while (extremely annoying on the highway) - calipers were sticking from time to time (cleaned out the guide pins when I did a brake job - also noticed that one of the pads was completely worn while others were probably around 50% worn)

When I went to a body shop to get a quote the guy was running a $10 oil change so I told him to do it. He told me my inner and outer driverside tie rods were bad (causing the pull). I also had the "feather like" feeling on the highway (car would feel unstable at high speeds - steering wheel would feel light and the car felt like it wasn't planted to the ground). All of that is fixed now with new ES control arms bushings and new inner & outer tie rods (no more pulling problem - the car still doesn't go completely straight b/c I didn't get it aligned after the tie rods - going to get it aligned tomorrow since I just got new tires yesterday)

 

how much did u pay to get that replaced? and do both control arms have to be the same brand? i already have one arm from nissan

i am just asking. i guess i am pretty much allset. i did not get a chance to drive on Mass Pike yet. after they resurfaced and made it really smooth, i can really feel all the vibration. but as far as other highways, 80 mph didn't give me much vibe. (just a reminder: i swiched rear wheels with fronts)

 

left front caster: act. 2.7 bf. 2.7
right front caster act. 2.4 bf. 2.4

left rear toe: act. -1.1 bf -1.1
right rear toe act. -0.6 bf. -0.6

and again....there was a pull after this alighment ! another alighment was done after those specs. ! and it did help. i just don't have the print out

 

yeh ma car does this same thing..itz been doin it since I got the car from the old owner in July...itz normal until you get to 80+ but if you hold the wheel reeal tight it stopz shakin..My steering wheel has to be held to the left all the time too, If I hold it straight itz like I'm turning right...think I deff. need a new suspension cuz when I hit even the littlest bumps the whole car shakez like crazzy.

 

from experience, what makes the BIGGEST difference in an alignment is the person that does it. i went through about 6 different shops until i finally found a guy that knows how to use the machine correctly. i had a constant pull, and my wheel wasnt centered. he was the only guy that fixed it, and used the same machine as some of the other places.

on another note, yes, there are no adjustments in the rear, but if they are way out of spec it is possible to have it shimmed back into place.

just so you guys know, if you get you car back, and your steering wheel is not centered, step 1 on the computerized machines tells the tech to " straighten steering wheel". that should tell you how much effort they put into doing it.

 

yeah, but everytime u go to a different shop u end up paying and paying.......i am just sick of this. it's been over 6 month for me trying to align and balance

right now i am kinda alset. it's defenatly NOT perfect. i think i still have a pull and my wheel sure does vibrate at around 80mph+. maybe it needs better balancing who knows. "road force analyzer" is not perfect either. i've done that 3-4 times on my previous tires and every time i had different results. so i don't feel like doing it this time and wasting money.