Entropy

iTrader: (1)

I'll try to keep this short, even though I have a tendency of rambling.

1999 Maxima SE-L with 190K
Maxspeed Springs and GR2 struts (so you know there is a slight drop)

Slight vibration at highway speeds while going straight. Could be mistaken for a wheel balance problem.

If you turn the wheel slightly to the left - or if you're in the right lane (you know how that lane sometimes slants to the right and you have to keep slight left pressure on it) then the vibration disappears.

A little pressure to the right will increase the vibration a bit, but not exponentially. The changes happen in a very tight band and anything past that just stays the same. So a turn or slight curve to the left eliminates the vibration and a turn to the right has a little more vibration.

I suspected a CV Joint at first - but RAxles seems to think that is unlikely and that it is the driver's side wheel bearing.

I just went out and looked at the car on my smoke break and I noticed the drivers side REAR wheel is very low on air. So I'm gonna get that back up before I go home and hope to God that is all it is... but I kind of doubt it.

This is stressing me out to no end, because it just started happening noticeably - and I am moving to Florida on Sunday. Which means this car has to make a 1200 mile trip in a few days. I need to diagnose and get it fixed in a very short time frame. I can't afford the time or money necessary to throw money at it and I can't afford the wheel bearing having catastrophic failure in the middle of Indiana.

I am hoping that jacking it up and doing the 12 o'clock / 6 o'clock test will tell for sure.

Still, any insight or ideas would be greatly appreciated. Sorry, I really did try to keep it short.

alset2

iTrader: (1)

sounds like you're on the right track with jacking it up and checking. see what you find and post it.

TunerMaxima3000

iTrader: (4)

You say it could easily be mistaken for a wheel imbalance, why 'mistaken'? Are you implying that you've had the wheels balanced already?
How old are the tires?
Have you had the wheels off lately?
When was the last time you did brakes?
A 'resonant' vibration (which is what this sounds like) could be due to a number of things, you'd be wise to investigate instead of starting up the parts launcher, it could well be nothing more than a wheel imbalance.

Entropy

iTrader: (1)

I ruled out wheel balance issues because it has gotten worse and it disappears when there is left pressure on the drivetrain. I've never experienced a wheel balance problem that gets noticeably worse in a week and disappears when you turn the wheel a certain way. I offer that with the understanding that it is only within my experience that I make that determination.

The tires were new at the beginning of the summer season. Still I put a lot of miles on the car (80 mile roundtrip commute). I took the passenger side wheel off a couple of months ago to replace all the wheel studs.

Also, there is no perceptible wear problems with any tire on the car.

I couldn't tell you on the brakes. I'm so scatter brained right now with trying to get my stuff together for the move that I'm lucky I am thinking half straight.

If it weren't for the fact that the vibration disappears - I would suspect wheel balance first. That part just doesn't add up to me.

thedwyer00

iTrader: (2)

Make sure to check your balljoints. When they start to go it will shift from side to side and give a wobble when it throws the balance off.

TunerMaxima3000

iTrader: (4)

Are the wheels stock?

Why did you replace the wheel studs on one wheel? < that is suspect to me due to your explaination of the issue.

Is the vibration in the steering wheel or in the seat?

Most importantly:

How bad of a vibration are we talking about here? 1 being mild shake - 10 being violent shaking.

Entropy

iTrader: (1)

Heh, now that you mention it - it is kind of suspect. I was convinced that it was the driver's side - but that was mostly a knee jerk reaction.

When changing out from my winter rims to my summer rims I busted two of the studs on that side. I assumed it was just corrosion from salt. Wheel studs on the driver side were fine and tightened down fine... but the passenger side ones were "sticky". I imagine overheating from a bad wheel bearing could do that - but I'd imagine I would have noticed it sooner as that was at the beginning of summer.

The vibration is only in the steering wheel right now.

The vibration is very mild. Someone not used to the car wouldn't have noticed it - you could have tossed it off as road vibration. Even now, when it is slightly worse, you could ignore it if you weren't thinking about it.

I'd say it started as a 1 and went to a 2 very recently.

It would almost be hard to pinpoint except for the fact that it disappears when you turn the wheel to the left ever so slightly. It is repeatable and noticeable. That lack of vibration and smoothness is what makes it so pronounced.

Entropy

iTrader: (1)

Oh, and both my winter and summer wheels are stock 5 spoke SE rims.

TunerMaxima3000

iTrader: (4)

What do you mean by sticky? That they were hard to tighten?
"Overheating for a bad wheel bearing" would have absolutely nothing at all to do with the studs.

And how on earth did you manage to break the studs? I'd have to assume from your previous statement that they were likely overtightened previously and stretched, therefore weakend and would make them hard to thread a nut on.
If the wheel isn't 'trued' properly due to studs, centering, it will vibrate.
If the wheel is out of balance, either due to a bad tire or wheel balance it will vibrate.

That indicates it's in the front end, to verify.
I would check torque on all wheels, particularly the front wheels. Then I'd get the wheels balanced, if you pull them yourself and take them in it's cheaper, but either way it's cheap.

Start there, it may just be a bad wheel (shifted belt, wheel weight fell off)

When did the problem start? was it soon after putting the summer tires on?
Was it soon after replacing the studs?

acercomp71

If a car STOPS or STARTS vibrating on turns, it is a shot bearing and often gives you simptoms only under stress. Wobbling the wheel back and forth in the air, using 6 o'clock or 3 o'clock methods will not cause enough stress to the bearing and everything will seem just fine. The question is- which bearing is shot? YOu can try to remove all the brake hardware and spinning the hub by hand, listen carefully for abnormal noise. This is how I found mine, it was passenger front- at least this method helped. Good luck.

Entropy

iTrader: (1)

Alrighty then...

Driving it home (with all tires aired up properly) I paid a lot more attention to what was happening. Stereo off, a/c off, and listening and feeling it out intently.

There was a faint noise associated with the vibration, but I can't think of a way to describe it. Also, I could feel it more in my feet then the steering wheel. It was most pronounced after 75 or 80 mph.

Anyway, got to a friend's house and we jacked up the driver's side. Sure enough, the wheel had A LOT of play in it. A surprising amount... I couldn't believe it had that much play in it and there weren't more symptoms. Figured the bearing was shot.

Took the wheel off to check it out and we figured we'd retorque the axle nut to see if it helped any, although we doubted it with that kind of play. While he went to get a breaker bar, I grabbed a hold of the nut and spun it right out by hand.

You can probably imagine my surprise at being able to unscrew a nut that is supposed to be torqued down by like 200ft/lbs.

We retorqued it and it seems fine after a test drive. I can't figure on exactly what kind of damage was done to the bearing, but everything checked out OK - so I'm going to risk it to Florida and change it myself... since I noticed a crack in both CV joints and a faint glistening of grease peaking out... so I'll be doing that job when I get there too.

Can't really complain. This will be the most intrusive repair to the car in 190,000 miles. Last Max had 225,000 on it and didn't have anything that intrusive either.

Thanks for all the help.

Curt Deiner

iTrader: (1)

You did put a new cotter pin thru the axle nut right?

Entropy

iTrader: (1)

Actually, we did. The one that was on there snapped when we took it out - and Mark had a handful of them from his DSM days - and they worked fine.

acercomp71

Well I guess somebody forgot to tighten damn nut, glad you found the problem the easy way.

Entropy

iTrader: (1)

Honestly, I think it just backed off over time.

That nut hasn't been touched by anyone since I've owned the car and I've put 120,000 miles on it.

Good thing though - it would have been a lot harder to diagnose and fix on the road if it would have cropped up there... not to mention finding a socket that big (think it was around 1.5").

...and I caught the small cracks in my CV boots - so at least I know I have to replace those and I know I have time, instead of waiting until I'm flinging grease and clicking around every turn.

TunerMaxima3000

iTrader: (4)

Nut size is 32mm,
well get some axels and a wheel bearing. Best of luck!