my story... (skip to 4 paragraph if you want to get to the point)
i have a 2001 nissan maxima se auto (wish it was manuel. :-()
anyways i bought it in october of 2010 for 900 dollars with 187,000 from an old lady cause she was moving to hawaii.

when i test drove it, there was a very loud vibration and the blinker lights blow but i figured that the tires was really low and need an alignment. she also told me she got rear ended and i saw it needed a trunk and tail lights were cracked. (about a 10-15mph hit)

anyways i bought it from her and aligned the car. the starter dead 2 weeks after i bought it (fixed that).... i looked in the book and she already replaced the starter, the radiator, ignition switch and other little things.....


anyways. when i drove after everything is all said and done the car vibrates very very very very loud alot of road noise. and i was going to do a whole below replacement. (wheel bearings, brakes, shocks, struts, tie rods, control arms, bushings. etc basically everything to get a better ride because it has the original shocks and struts and to mainly stop the heavy road noise.

should i do these with the rear axle beam being bent. when i did the alignment at nissan, the rear left has -2.0 camber because of this and it is non-adjustable of course. it now has 197,200 miles the engine is still a champ and i'm considering selling it in a year to get a manuel maxima but this road noise is killing me. (and i have to save money also. lol)


btw, i did a transmission flush at nissan (200 dollars. :-() and it's been 2,500 miles and it's still running. it does shift better then before. and i love my maxima and take good care of it. i use amsoil in the engine and seafoamed it. i want to keep it forever but the automatic makes me not want to. if it was manuel i would spend the money and get the rear axle beam done but it's not so ehhhh..

 

Sounds more like a bearing for your vibration problem. I would replace all the suspension parts since it is about that time, but bearings are press in and its going to cost a pretty penny to do so.

If after everything is said and done, get another alignment and see where the rear alignment sits as far camber/toe goes. If its out of spec, then maybe you could replace it, if its not to bad, you could ride on it for sure (watching your tire wear). You can just get a rear beam out of a 4th or 5th gen maxima and put it in. Its not that hard.

Also check the rear bushings in the beam torsion link, if they are leaking oil then you should definitely replace those as well.

 

Partially right. 4th Gen ('95-'99) rear beam WILL NOT FIT. IT IS DIFFERENT.

However, any 5th or 5.5 Gen (2000-2003, or 2004 I35) will bolt right up. I bought one for my 2KSE 5MT w/ 17" wheels that came out of an '03 GLE, and it worked just fine. It was $250 for the whole assembly at the local foreign car salvage yard, and they removed it from the donor car and loaded it in my truck for me. The complete assembly should (or did in my case) include the beam itself, with bushings, both hub/bearings, both ABS sensors, both struts, and the complete center link assembly. No brake calipers came with it, but it seems like the rotors did.

That said, my opinion is that you definitely should replace it. You'll save more than the $250 cost of the parts in not having to replace tires that WILL wear out very often.