hmm.. ok... so i finally saved up some money to start troubleshooting this really wierd steering vibration problem I have.

The Car: 2001 nissan maxima gle 141K miles auto.

Recent work done:
All fluids flushed n filters changed.
New plugs.
Struts springs upgraded to Illuminas and H&R.
New Tires.
Brand new outer tie rods.
One rim found to be bent was fixed.
all rims balanced again.
Car has since been aligned.

Current Issues:
At speeds over 60-70 mph the steering starts to vibrate.
Earlier it was worse but with the new tie rods it has considerable gone down.

Things I am thinking about:
1. check all brake rotors: Is it possible that either the front or back rotors are warped causing this vibration? There is no vibration in the steering wheel while braking but I dont know if the already existing vibration is masking the rotor vibration.

2. wheel bearing: With the front wheels of the ground, there is no real play in the wheel when i shake it at the 12-6 positions or 3-9. With the older tie-rods there was play at 3-9 which is now gone. any other symptoms of wheel bearings going bad? I know they make some kind of noise, but I have never had a bad bearing so dont know what it sounds like.

3. lower control arms/ball joints: from some research, I found this could be another issue.

4. sway bar end links/bushings: With the front wheels taken off the car, I can easily see noticable gaps in the sway bar bushings almost 2-3mm. The sway bar itself can be slightly moved if I tug on it.

What do you guys think? Where should I start? and what path should I take to get rid of this vibration issue!!

thanks

 

#1 is the right answer.. if u search around u will find this

im sure more people will say this....it is a transfer of materials from the pads to the rotors that cause this,......


try to resurface the rotors and get some new pads.. Hawk hps seem to be a favorite here....or buy a new setup-brembo blanks seem to be the favorite for that.... g/l..

 

thank you mistmax...

holding state for more responses

 

If the vibration doesn't get worse while you're braking then I'd be doubtful if it's brake material transfer to the rotors. I've dealt with that problem fairly extensively.

If the problem occurs only between 60 to 70 mph then that means something is out of balance and at that speed a sympathetic vibration is occurring. Did you have all of the work you noted done before the vibration started or afterwards?

 

The vibration was really BAD before.

With each iteration of work it has progressively reduced. Basically it starts to get noticeable after 60 and then stays on ... even at 80 or more..

This saturday Nissan is having a customer appreciation event at the local dealership so I will also have the opinion of a tech

 

It is most likely your control arms and tie rods. Not that I condone doing this but when u go over a pothole, does the steering wheel pull to a side severely? If so it's your control arms. A friend of mine has these symptoms that you described on his Altima and a friend of mine with an 00 max is currently having this issue.

 

it must suck for that kid in the 00 max

 

I did replace the outer tie rods on both side...

I tried to get estimate for the lower control arms...

dealer in Jax wants 188.50 each... and the best deal as usual is from DaveB for about 150..

I guess I'm going to have to wait until saturday for the tech to check out the car.. good thing is it comes in even at 60mph so he can easily recreate it... I did pop the rear wheels and the left rear rotor is visibly warped.. but the wierd thing is there is not steering vibration while braking... also with the new outer tie rods the steering has become really nice and tight... closer to the feel of my 330

One more question.. I know that the sway bar/sway bar end links are not really used for straight line driving.. however can looseness in those components cause any of this vibration? any way to check the end links?

I think right now... even without the tech checking the car out... here is path of action...

1. get front rotors checked for runout and replace if reqd.
2. replace rear rotors n pads.
3. check sway bar and sway bar end links. Replace sway bar bushing.
4. check for inner tie rod issues. replace if reqd
5. check for play in lower control arm ball joint. replace if necessary.

Other than that I am wondering if I should get road force balancing done to the tires. I know for the BMW that is the requirement for stability at higher speeds... does anyone know if Nissan recommends the same?

 

Im having the same issue and it started after i put my 18"s on the tires and everything are balanced. I felt the difference as soon as i started driving the car didnt have the problem with the 16"s and i had performance tires on those to. The installer said its either the bearings or the Rack & pinion it only does it between 45 and 70mph anything after that is a way smoother ride than what i got on the 16"s im hoping its not the R&P.

 

Just got of phone with service advisor.

He said as part of the nissan car care clinic on saturday they will:
1. check rotors for runout
2. check play in LCA
3. check steering linkages

above all ... its all free

 

liift the front of the car, grab the wheel, try to wiggle it side to side, and then up and down. if you get exccesive movement then you can worry about wheel bearings.

It is must likely a wheel balance issue, i had this same poblem after a budget shop installed and balanced my wheels, my dealear was able to correctly balance the wheels and eliminate all vibration, make sure you have a reliable shop do the balance.

 

I had the same problem as you discribed. My Rack and Pinion needed to be replaced.

One other thing that could be wrong is tire ware. If its uneven, it will cause vibration at higher speeds.

 

Yes it really does... fishy lol

 

turn the rotors.. that is if they legally have enough space left on them to turn them.. and get rid of CRAPPY nissan brake pads and buy some better pads...

im almost positive this is your problem as i stated earlier..

and just because you dont have excessive vibration while braking doesnt mean it isnt this,.. the brake pad materail transfer onto the rotor feels like there is something that has play that goes back and forth ..when in reality it is the buildup of material on the rotors=''warped'',.. and the natural rotation of tire and rotor causes this imbalence to be felt in the steering wheel... tough to explain.. ..i hope u fix ur problem also....

dont let the dealer steal your money.. cuz if they are doing safty checks for free that just means they are looking for things to make u pay for. . .

 

Got all tires checked for wear...
After 6K on the tires... the front read an even 8/32 and the rears read an even 9/32 so that department is taken care of.

about rack and pinion ... anyone know the test to check it?

 

Thank you sir Appreciate the advise.

The car care clinic is a free event the dealership is doing this saturday. It is a Nissan sponsered event. I intend to basically let them check the car, tell them i dont have mucho dinero to fix anything and then buy everything from Daveb and do it myself.

As for brakes, yes I intend to get the brembo blanks and PBR deluxe pads from importrp here at the org. With the wheels off I know the fornt rotors appeared to be in good shape so will wait for the runout report, but the rears were gone I think I'll take a pic n post it.

 

good plan^^^

 

heheheh... yeah... thats the plan... now heres the next question... who shud i buy the brembo blanks from... importrp or automax 95?

 

i plead the 5th. . .ha no i really dont know though. . . who ever u trust more and get the better deal with. . .

 

got that done yesterday and it was great!!
only things i need to do is pads (doing tomorrow) and belts (doing soon). everything else was perfect. they said they can tell the car has been taken care of. the best they have seen in these events

 

This really sounds interesting.... what else did they check out for ya? how was the experience?

 

it was good...took about an hour and a half.
they pretty much checked everything - cooling, steering, exhaust, suspension, brake, etc.

 

Awesome.... cant wait for saturday....

I just want to get done with this darn vibration.... have saved some $$$ so hopefully dont have to hit the plastic

 

When you give advice s like that you could mislead people. Brake pulsation and steering wheel pulsation while cruising are 2 completely different issues. He said no brake pulsation while applying the brakes.

 

I would just rotate tires and see if it goes away. -easiest thing of course with checking for excessive play like the previous poster said. Raise up one wheel and pull at 12 oclock and 6 back and forth. No movement at all and no cluncks. Then try at 2 and 7 then at 3 and 9 oclock. 3 and 9 will move the tire but no clunk is supposed to have that is rack and pinnion issue or better said inner or outter tie rod end. Now since the guy replaced the tie rod i have a feeling the whole suspension is ok and you have a tire issue most common.
If it fixes on rotation you have it narrowed down. Spin the 2 tires and look for bent rims. and of course ballance and notice alignment issues like feathering coupping or uneven wear across threadwear.
Hope to narrow it down for you.

Oh and how did you tell by looking at rotors that they were warped? lol you can't even see that visually even on a brake lathe machine.

 

LOL advice like what and how am i misleading hin anyway,.. u also missed my second post where i said ill be very very interesed to see what happens after the weekend and what fixed it,.. and if he got it narrowed down . . . .

 

This is was rather easy.

The rear rotors were gone really bad.

1. They had gotten thinner than spec.
2. With the wheel off and the rotor turned you could easily see between the pad where it was actually doing an in and out thing i.e. the face of the rotor was physically messed up.

 

good to hear u hopefully figured out ur problem.. are u stil lgoing through with front rotors and pads or what?

 

To start with thank you to all you guys again for all the help.

I just got back from the dealership.

The root cause for the vibration was diagnosed to dry rot in the lower control arm bushings and play in lower ball joints.

As the car now has 141K miles, I decided to go ahead and place an order for the entire control arm assembly.

While DaveB had given me an estimate for $150 each, there would be $45 shipping from TX to FL. I also found some websites online that quoted about 160. I kind of spoke to the parts manager about the fact the car has been serviced there its whole life so can he help. I basically found out the 150 is the dealer cost and the 188 previously quoted is the actual selling price. He sold them to me for 151 each. They should be in on tuesday.

Other than that everything else checked out to be in spec. They actually said the motor and trans were in great shape for a car with over 140K miles

Cant wait to get the control arms in there!!!

Thank you guys. Appreciate all your help

 

Thanks for your continued help again mist max2000.

They checked all rotors for runout and the front rotors and pads are well within spec. So I guess with spending the 310 on control arms, i'm going to hold off on the brakes

 

all good conclusions and possibilities guys. how about hub facing and brake rotor hats. debris such as rust and road hazards can get behind between the hub and rotr hat to cause a vibration. when i diag veh vibrations i always look at hub conditions. try cleaning the hub face and behind the hat of the rotor where it meets the hub. wire brush or bristle pad works fine. keep it simple before spending the cash.

ABC NISSAN TECH PHX,AZ

 

why not just replace the c arm bushings...

 

I thought about doing this.

However, the bushing from ES were about $70 and the LCA ball joint was quoted at $50. It would already go over $200 for parts and then the task to get the old stuff out and put the new ones in.

For 300 I got a brand new set of control arms with new ball joints and bushings already installed.

The hours I saved easily cost more than a 100 LOL....

If you have access to a press and other tools then yes, you can do just the bushings and ball joint....

 

gr8 suggestions...

I did have the car checked out by the nissan dealership. They checked out the full front end with the wheels off... rotors were checked for run out etc. They came back with the LCA issue. With the new LCA's on... man this car feels like a true sport sedan.

 

Do you have aftermarket wheels on your car? If you do i'm pretty sure almost guarantee you need what they call a Hub Centric Ring. What's happening is there is space between the hub and the wheel. The wheel hole is larger than the car hub). They sell them on ebay and amazon just type in hub centric ring. Also go to youtube and type in the same thing and it will explain everything. Hope this helps.

 

Certainly hope the problem was resolved as it's been 9 years since posted.

 

Lol

 

I bet it was his motor mounts....stop trolling old threads lol