camaro1698

I'm still having steering wheel vibrations. I bought two new front tires Bridgestone Potenza re950, had them balanced on a hunter gsp9700 balancer and still the same shimmy. I shimmy only happens at 78 mph. I'm going to look into the wheel bearings now. Any ideas on what a bad bearing feels or sounds like. I've never done bearing on a maxima so any help is appreciated. If anybody knows step by step how to change them or diagnose a bad wheel bearing please post!!

Daniel B. Martin

Bad wheel bearings will make ugly sounds. Shimmy, especially at one particular speed, is not a typical wheel bearing symptom.

camaro1698

If not wheel bearings, then what would possibly cause a shimmy at one speed. I'm trying to find the next part to look into!!

Jason96GLE

I reported a shimmy about 3 weeks ago. Since that time a bought 4 new Dunlop D60s had them mounted and balanced and did a wheel alignment too. The steering wheel still vibrates 60 and above. I had two different mechanics look at the front end and they swear it is tight. I checked it myself, ie, ball joint, sway bar bushing, inner control arm bushings, etc. This is really bothering me. Any ideas? Could it be struts? They are original with close to 100K on them?

Daniel B. Martin

Bad wheel bearings are a faint possibility. More likely causes include ...
- bent wheel
- bent hub
- tire defect such as tread ply separation
- excessive free play in ball joints or tie rod ends
- deteriorated control arm bushings

Replacing front wheel bearings on the 4Gen Maxima is a big job. Don't go to this expense unless you are sure the bearings are bad.

I suggest you rotate your tires, exchanging fronts with rears. If the shimmy goes away it was related to wheels or tires.


Wheel bearing test...

1) Verify that all wheel nuts are tight.

2) Raise the car. If you have a floor jack you can raise the entire front end at once, and test both front wheel bearings. No need for jackstands, as you will not get under the car.

3) Grab the top of the tire (12 o'clock) and push away from yourself and pull toward yourself. Yank it to and fro in this fashion several times. If there is noticeable free play or a "clunking" sound, the wheel bearing may be damaged.

4) Spin the wheel. If it spins freely but makes ugly sounds the bearing may be damaged. If it won't spin freely the brake may be dragging. This could indicate a sticking caliper.

camaro1698

Thanks I'll try that today. Are the control arm bushings on a maxima hard to change. I just bought new ones from energy suspension. I also bought new sway bar bushings. How hard are those to put on??

riggy

i have been having this problem BUT it depends on road condiitions.....sometimes the steering wheel shakes sometimes it doesnt...i have yet to go on the turnpike and tyr it where the roads are good. so i dont expect problems...i went to a wider tire when i bought my wheels so this is something i will just have to deal with..

humaras

awhile back, I had the same problem after I bought new tires. I think there are a variety of factors which contributed to my problem--road conditions, bad balance job and also the brand of tires. I have the firestone sh30 tires and for awhile after getting the tires I noticed that around 70 or so miles, there was a shimmy...
I got the tires rebalanced at firestone (which didn't work) and finally I got another balance job (and it did). BUt I notice that when i went from 205/65 to 215/60 tires, I felt more of the road--which could also be a result of the materials they use in the making of the roads.

goldmax

I had the same problem and everything seemed in place...new struts and alignment 7 months ago, tires are wearing very well, and even did the wheel bearing test Daniel M. mentions in his post. Tires had been balanced with the new Hunter maching. I double checked the torque on everything and still no luck. Yesterday I checked the rotor run out with a dial gauge, and all rotors are within spec. I've had rotors cause a similar vibration to the one you talked about, so they were always under suspicion until yesterday. BTW...you can get a great dial guage at Sears for about $32 to do this...it's not with the automotive stuff, but in another section with compasses, etc. So...to end the story, I rotated the tires and the vibration nearly disappeared. Something must have gotten out of balance since since I had these tires balanced...maybe 2 months ago or so on the Hunter. May have thrown a weight or something. Rotate the tires and see if you can isolate it that way. Good luck with it...I know it's frustrating!

goldmax

I had the same problem and everything seemed in place...new struts and alignment 7 months ago, tires are wearing very well, and even did the wheel bearing test Daniel M. mentions in his post. Tires had been balanced with the new Hunter maching. I double checked the torque on everything and still no luck. Yesterday I checked the rotor run out with a dial gauge, and all rotors are within spec. I've had rotors cause a similar vibration to the one you talked about, so they were always under suspicion until yesterday. BTW...you can get a great dial guage at Sears for about $32 to do this...it's not with the automotive stuff, but in another section with compasses, etc. So...to end the story, I rotated the tires and the vibration nearly disappeared. Something must have gotten out of balance since since I had these tires balanced...maybe 2 months ago or so on the Hunter. May have thrown a weight or something. Rotate the tires and see if you can isolate it that way. Good luck with it...I know it's frustrating!

feege

I have been having the same problem on my 95. The car has always had a faint vibration since it was new, but it is more noticeable now that I have put Dunlop D60 255/50 16's on it. Along with the new tires and rims I have also added a number of upgrades, Eibach springs, new struts, and power slot rotors/PBR pads. The vibration has been there through it all, fading in-and-out at 65+ mph. I have had the tires balanced 5 times in 7 months, with no effect. Let us know if you find a solution….I'll do the same. Has anyone played with adding negative the camber after adding wider tires (to modify the contact area)? I added a camber kit with the new springs but have it set at 0. I don't know enough about suspension dynamics yet to know if this is a possible solution.

njmaxseltd

iTrader: (19)

I had a similar problem with vibrations when I went up to 17" rims. Got them with Dunlop SP8000 "Z" rated tires. The car would shimmy slightly just over 60 but then after a few minuts of driving would go away. So I stopped by the tire shop and had the tires balanced again. They were perfect. So I started talking with the owner of the shop about what I'm feeling and here's what he told me. Aparently "Z" rated tires have nylon belts in them. More so then H or S rated tires. Well Nylon is kind of stiff when it's cold. So if the car sits overnight you get a flat spot in the nylon. This slowly goes away after about 5 miles of driving. The tire heats up and the nylon runs true to the tire. This makes sense to me. My drive to work is about 5 miles. Car will sometimes shimmy a bit but by the time I get to my exit. SMOOTH SAILING!!! Take it on long trips, not a single shimmy, it's smooth as silk.
I also went up to 35psi front and 32 rear. "Z" rated tires should be run with slightly higher pressure then "H" rated stock tires. Well after running a bit more pressure, I can't even feel the shimmy for the 1st 5 miles of driving and after that, totally smooth, not a single vibration. So conclusion - bump up the pressure about 2 or 3 pis ICE COLD on "Z" rated tires and pay attention to what the tire does after it's all heated up. If you still have a shimmy and your rotors and hubs are all true. Then you definately have a tire problem!

Jason96GLE

It could be the tires but in my case I don't think so. I just replaced all 4 with new Dunlops and the same vibration is still there. It is the same reguardless of the distance I drive and seems to change with different road surfaces only. I am going back to the tire shop this Firday and try to get them to re-align the car and balance the wheels. I do not have confidence in their workmanship. I am considering going to Nissan and getting ripped off at this point because the vibration is really starting to bother me. I will keep you guys posted.

camaro1698

does anyone know how to test for a bad hub???

njmaxseltd

iTrader: (19)

A good tire/alignment shop can do this test for you but it's pretty easy.
Jack up the front of the car and put it on safty stands (both wheels off the ground) Now go start your car and put it in drive. Got take a very close look at your now spinning wheels. Watch for any wobble side to side or up and down. Stare at the tread on the tire and make sure there is no "squirm". Everything should run perfectly true. No side to side or up and down motion. If you see any movement that isn't perfectly true, rotate the tires/rims to try and isolate it. If it's a rim, it will follow from hub to hub. If it's your hub, it will always appear on the same side. You can also see if the tire's tread is nice and straight as well. Be careful while you do this. You may have to hold one wheel to make the other one rotate, thats the diff. at work. You might need a friend to hold one side to make the other side spin. Good luck and be careful !!!

camaro1698

could a bad also contribute to warping rotors. I rotors keep warping every 15000 miles. I make sure that evrytime I put the tire on the bolts are torqued to 85 foot pounds. It always seems to be the right rotor too. Does this help diagnose my shimmy problem??

Daniel B. Martin

Your post says could a bad also contribute to warping rotors. This sentence seems to have a word or phrase missing. Please clarify.

camaro1698

I meant a bad hub. Could a bad hub contribute ot warping rotors. The other thing I noticed was that the vibration only occurs when I travel at a constant speed. If my speed fluctuates then the vibration goes away. It feels like the car can't stay at one speed because it becomes unstable!!

Daniel B. Martin

I don't think a bent hub would cause your rotors to become warped... but a perfectly straight rotor mounted on a bent hub will exhibit lateral runout just as if the rotor was warped. That's why it sometimes happens that a technician will remove a rotor which appears to be warped, mount it on a brake lathe, resurface it, install the newly-cut rotor on the same hub and discover it is still warped! Well, not truly warped but it still looks that way because the hub does not run true.