hey guys,
i had another thread but i guess some of you are tired of seeing it or dont care to help. im just so anoyed with the violent vibration on the steering wheel and i dont know what to do to remedy this.here is the other thread:
http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=488238

wheels balanced,rims not bent,driver axle changed,passenger axle good,pads are good both ball joints in the control arms replaced. notice the vibrations visually and physically on the steering wheel(shakes violently), and on the gas pedal. my driver axle seal/bearings are not leaking. i noticed the vibration afer the driver axles was changed, and wheels were put on before the axle were done.

anyone have any ideas or suggestions please? PM me or email me at rogroc325@yahoo.com thanks

roger

 

welcome to my nightmare.... its especially bad when i got over bumps.. the entire dashboard makes noise...

 

something i live with as well. going 60 - 70mph is straight up dangerous, shake shimmy shake. I've done all suspension work + bushings except for the LCA bushings and balljoints. I'll be doing that soon and hoping it fixes it. if not, this car's gotta go. too scary to drive on highways

 

mine only shakes up and down over bumps.. i have replaced everything except the rack itself (which im not gonna)

 

Have any of you guys ever thought of just taking it to the dealer and telling them whats wrong and have then check it out? Im not being sarcastic, seriously. Let them figure it out, ya know....

 

I have experienced this vibration since I have owned my Maxima. I purchased mine with 29,000 miles on it and it now has 127,000 miles. I just recently replaced all four struts and for the first time since I have owned this Max, the vibration has improved dramatically. Don't get me wrong, it is still there between 60-70 MPH, but not as bad as before when the steering wheel felt like it would fly off. Between 70 and 80 is another story... the vibration gets progressively worse. However, I am pleased with the results of the strut replacements and enjoy driving my Maxima more now than I have in the past. Some things we have to come to accept and deal with.

Keep in mind that the suspension on the Maximas is subpar. It is the only thing that Nissan did not get right on these cars. Otherwise, the car is simply amazing and bullet-proof reliable!

 

I would look at the condition of the tires as well, sometimes an inner thread can break that you don't notice and cause excessive bounce or play in the wheel. Pull off the tire visually inspect it for popped threads. If you can't find/don't see any put it on the rear and see if the vibration goes away if it does thats your problem.

 

Rotate and test drive.

 

sounds like a dumb response but have u checked the torque on ur lugs lately.....also are u lowered...are u running wheel spacers...have u checked the wheel bearings for play....are u on aftermarket wheels if so do u have hubcentric rings....have u tried rotating ur tires to the back to see if it goes away....

 

wheels and tires were put on brand new and properly balanced with hub rings and torqued down. no wheel spacers and the car is lowered with Tein springs and tokico struts. how do i check the wheel bearings for play? would that cause the steering wheel to vibrate? i did have tthe car up on a lift and did the 3/9 o'clock and 6/12 o'clock moving of the wheel. there is no play in the wheel and the axles are not leaking.
like i said,i noticed the vibration after the axle had been replaced. would a LSD axle make my car vibrate?because i dont know if my car has LSD or not and i would hope that they both aren't the same size. thanks again for the replies.

roger

 

have you checked the LCA bushings? 'Cause that was my broblem

 

were the lugs re torqued after driving 50 miles......if u put an lsd axle in ur car it might be ur problem....USDM 4th gen maximas dont have LSD....they are a tad longer than that non-lsd ones....also ur axle could not be torqued down enough

 

if you're positive it's not coming from out of round tires or you have stock wheels.. Put your car up on a lift and drive it in the rpm range that you usually feel the shaking.. and take a look at you axles spinning.. they shouldn't wobble... pay special attention to the joint where the passenger axle meets the other part that goes into the transmission.. this happend to me after changing my driverside axle.. brand new from ebay.. $150.... I would have never believed it was coming from the axle cuz it was new.. I changed the clutch and the axles at the same time and though maybe I did something wrong but I checked the car running on the lift and saw the new axle was wobbling slightly... I replaced it with the used one and all the shaking went away..

I'm not saying this is going to fix you're problem but just give it a try.. and it'll be easier to see if you have jack stands holding up you're control arms as if the car was on the road..

 

None of the USDM Gen 4's have LSD's. I just put an Infiniti LSD in mine. The LSD left side axle is several inches shorter and the input shaft is a different size. You can't put the wrong axle into either because they just won't fit.

I was getting the same vibration in mine for about the last 5000 miles before the auto tranny died. I changed the trans and the left axle because I put in the LSD. No more vibration. I hit 105mph this morning on the bypass on my way to work. No vibes.

jjam

 

This is EXACTLY the same problem I've having, and what's even more odd is that it happened EXACTLY the same way. I changed my passenger side axle and that's when the vibration started. Changed the tires/balljoints/tie rods and vibrations is still present. I'm thinking of finally changing the passenger side axle again to see what happens.

 

I had the same problem on my 95 gxe. I took it to a mechanic and ended up having new axles put on, replaced the bearings, replaced the motor mounts, etc. By the time I was done I had a new front end and it still shook like crazy. I ended up getting rid of it last year because I couldn't find the solution to the problem. The only thing left for me to change was the rack and I definitely wasn't going to do that given that it would've cost over half of what the blue book value of the car was.

 

im going to try to put my car on a lift this weekend with a jack stand holding up the control arms to simulate the car on the ground. im going to check to see if the joint section of the driver axle wobbles,i think that couls be my culprit. i hope thats all it is. i do remember the vibration being annoying and i tried to take the axle off again by pullin on the axle. you guys think i migh thave pulled the joint seperate a little?
will let you guys know how it goes. is there anything i should ask for specifically when it comest o getting another driver axle? thanks again

rog

 

Did you check the engine mount?

 

i did this over the weekend and no luck. the axle is not shaking but im thinking about just replacing the axle on the driver side again anyways to see what happens. its better than changing the tranny. has anyone else had this problem and changed the axle again to fix the problem?

 

dont tell me another problem that cant be resolved...

 

i have a similar problem the steering wheel vibrates SLIGHTLY at higher speeds, above 140 km/h it dissapears, but from 80 - 120 it is really present.

if i am driving around 80 km/h and let the wheel go for a few seconds i can c the wheel rapidly moving left to right about 1 centimetre back and fourth, my wheels are balanced, everything is stock alighnment is fine. 97 max

 

My car vibrates when i turn it off...yea...?

Is this normal?

 

so has anyone ever found the answer to this problem yet? i still have the vibration,but now i am starting to notice it in the seats/car but only when im accelerating. seems like the vibration goes away when i let off on the gas.

 

A simple, but often overlooked item is the rotors. If you have any pulsing in the brakes, your rotors are warped and you will get nasty vibes at speed. Don't grind them...just replace them with good, quality rotors. I personally wouldn't waste any $$$ trying to be cheap on aftermarket rotors..go with stock Nissan and make sure you correctly torque the wheel lugs. If you let the someone else rotate your tires, make sure they hand torque your lugs or you'll end up ruining your new rotors. Also make sure you have good alignment...especially if you have had suspension work done. If you've lowered the car, get the alignment that gives you a printout so you can see if the caster and camber are in spec. If those are really out, you'll never get that thing to go down the road correctly. You'll need to do camber bolts or camber plates.

For those having vibration while accelerating, my guess would be the axles, so pay to get someone who really knows those things to sort it out, even if it means paying the Nissan dealer to do it.

 

ok here is why my maxima shook

when i bought it its front two wheels were different from the rear two wheels
when driving slow like 40km/h and BELOW and letting the steering wheel go, the wheel would move left and right on its own. the wheel also vibrated during high speed driving

took it to my mech, he hoisted it and spun the wheels, both front wheels were not straight, i could see them not being exact circles from the side of the car, my mechanic flipped the front and rear wheels and the problem was gone,

im not sure how this could have happened to the tire (or both tires dont remember) but i as basically driving on square wheels!!!!! ;-)

 

Yeah..the tire pull will come back once you do another rotation. You have a tire pull and rotating the tires to the back proved it. Only way to really fix it is to replace the tires.

 

yeah i know, unfortunately i cant afford that right now, this IS a temporary fix, i should have stated that in my previous post, but i dont plan on rotating the tires again!

my front ones right now ( the good ones that Do not vibrate) have a ton of rubber on them, the rear bad ones are at about 50% i would guesss, im gona drive and kill the front ones and then get all 4 replaced at the same time, they are two different brands anyways.

Do u have any clue as to WHy a tire would not be straight ? like if u hoist it and spin the tires, looking from different angles it looks like an EGG shaped!!!

 

I have dealt with the steering wheel vibration since I have owned my Max. However, in recent months (130,000 Miles on my Max) I replaced "all" the struts on the vehicle (they were all bad) and the vibration has improved dramatically. However, if I take it over 80 MPH the vibration returns. I am currently satisfied with the improvement.

 

I have the same sort of problem. I get vibes when I accelerate and when braking. I'm going to change out the axles this weekend and then all the struts in about 2 weeks.

 

I think any tire can get a pull, and it will look normal from the outside. I think it has to do with something being off in the internal belts. Also, most tires will be egg shaped for a little while if you've just raised them off the floor...remember...they were carrying a lot of weight. For tires that are permanantly egg shaped, don't waste your time having the tread shaved since the internal part of the tire will still be egg shaped and you'll most likely still have vibrations.

 

whole car would shake, not just steering wheel.

 

This is a very common thing on Nissans. We develop a shimmy over time...some get it worse than others. I think you'll have to do alot of work to fix this problem.

 

i bought a passenger side axle from autozone and advance autoparts, both of which caused vibrations in the front end. turns out that they were a little less than a 1/4 of an inch longer than they should have been. i would make sure that the axle u are puttin in is the same length and looks exactly the same as the one you are taking out. doesnt matter if ur vlsd or not. a vlsd axle will not fit in a non vlsd car. it wont fit not only because its for the wrong setup, but im pretty sure the vlsd axles are a little longer where they click into the tranny.
make sure you got an axle for abs or non abs.
theres just something about the aftermarket axles that i didnt like. i returned the ones from autozone and advance and ordered one from raxles.com
very happy. my friend got one from napa i think and he loves his.
new axles and new tires balanced properly should help with vibration. if all esle fails bring it to nissan for a quote as stated above.

 

whats a shimmy and how do our cars develop this ?

 

How much do they cost from raxles.com?

 

shakes too much on highway?=drive slower

 

this problem is drivin me crazy

 

changed my front axles and still have the car vibrating. tires are good and alignment done. this is so F-ing annoying!