Without having other maxima's to test drive, I'm turing to the forum for some help.

FYI: I have a '02 Max. 6-sp w/1800 miles. When I let go the steering wheel, the car tracks straight. Here's the prob:

Senerio 1:
After coming to a stop and turning, I can't just release the wheel to let the car go straight. I have to hold on to the wheel to bring it back because the wheel turns back WAY too fast! If I try and let the wheel slide in my hands to bring it back straight, it's kind of hard to do because the wheel is trying to go back straight so fast.

Senerio 2:
Under hard acceleration, the car pulls to the right. (Kinda major sometimes)

Senerio 3:
When going over man hole covers and stuff, the car pulls to the right.

Also, I checked and the dealer checked about the lower control arm issue and my car doesn't fall in the category.

Could this be a simple wheel alignment issue?

HELP ME PLEASE?! As I have my MaxSpeed's but don't want to install them before fixing the problem in case it makes it worse or the dealer gives me s!*t about warranty issues.

Thanks in advance

 

im no expert but heres what im thinking...

scenario 1 - what car did you drive before the maxima? perhaps youre just not used to the tires? my car does the exact same thing as yours... but i never really gave it a second thought until i read your post. if it's not the tires, maybe a power steering issue? the power steering on my maxima is crap compared to my sisters g20 or my parents q45. it's definitely not effortless.

scenario 2 - torque steer?

scenario 3 - hm, dont most cars almost always pull to the right? most roads are inclined that way... the yellow lines being the highest point and it slopes down from there to the shoulder. are you talking about some major pulling or what?

i know i didnt help any but perhaps some of my questions help isolate your exact problems!

 

in my auto shop class my teacher told us that the reason cars steer towards the right is if let say you fall asleep on the highway would you rather it steer towards the left towards oncoming traffic or steer right and scratch the **** out of your car on a wall but with your life still?

i dont know if i am right but thats what i know

 

Hey maxamilion-
Do you have HLSD in yours.... I noticed that scenario in mine, with the steering returning very quickly... I also noticed under extremely hard acceleration on a sharp corner the car tends to pull tighter in to the corner. You sort of have to pull away from the corner. I love it though. HLSD definitely worth it....

STEVE

 

I don't agree with your auto shop teacher's assessment. My understanding is that roads are graded from right to left to eliminate water buildup. This accounts for the gradual right hand turning.

To answer the original poster's questions: #1 is by design (different manufacturers do things differently), #2 is most likely torque steer (the non-symmetric response to power by the half shafts feeding back through the steering), and #3 would depend on the depth (and size) of the man hole cover. A deep cover (large enough for the wheel) could force the wheel to turn. A shallow cover should not turn the wheel. This again is partially by design (e.g. road feel).

If your car is noticeably turning towards the right on a flat road (parking lot) then chances are you need a wheel balance/alignment check.

Hope this helps.

 

Yup, I got HLSD. Do you think it's normal for the steering to return THAT quickly? At times, it gets a little embarassing because when I'm turning and nailing the gas, it looks like I'm drunk or something because I can't control the car.

 

I had lots of cars before including a 91 Maxima and a 94 Integra w/17's and ALL my cars never steered like this. (Maybe because they were all JUNK).

Torque steer? Well, could be, but it's pretty severe.

 

Get used to it... I found that you definitely have to pay a little more attention when performing high speed corners, but I feel like I am in more control. Hang on and matt it.... I definitely feel a difference w/HLSD vs. w/o....

STEVE

 

Any front wheel drive car will return to near center after a sharp turn VERY quickly if you're under even modest acceleration. My Altima 2.5 does it, the Celica does it and my old SHO did it. I do have to admit though that the Altima does it ALOT worse than even the SHO, which had a ton more power. This effect is related to torque steer, in this case the front end is trying to equalize the power to both wheels because they're both getting traction and its happier when powering both front wheels. Try going around your corner, let off the gas and push in the clutch and see how fast it returns to center if you release the wheel...I bet its far slower to center than when its under power.

I'd say you're experiencing normal front wheel drive behavior in all these questions.

 

I dont think the scenario I have felt is normal fron wheel drive... I have driven a 2k2 w/o and a 2k2w/hlsd. The difference I have felt like I said is that when your in a nice corner, and you really hammer down the gas pedal the car tends to pull even sharper into the corner almost like a "oversteer" condition, but without the *** end going out sideways. In a normal 2k2, I did not expierience this. It tended to "understeer"

 

Thats probably the HLSD doing its job of sending more power to the outside tire than a non-HLSD car would. This would make the car's front end turn in sharper I think.

 

Yep. It feels pretty cool when taking sharp exit ramps at like 60 or 70 with the pedal mashed...

 

I have this on my 2k2.. and i have HLSD and 6speed..

What i noticed was that sometimes after a hard turn and mashing the throttle, the car feels funny after a while...

But it takes getting used to, because my other car was open diff and the HLSD definitely locks tighter...

I need suspension work to get this beast under control...

ED

 

Thanks for all of your comments! I'm not too convinced that it's normal so I'm going to find another Maxima here in town and drive that one. I guess everyone's opinion about what's normal makes it kind of difficult to say if my car is acting normal or not.

In any case - THANKS FOR ALL YOUR COMMENTS!!!!