Hello,
My 2000 Maxima SE has 288K miles on it and in really good condition and no weird noises, however, I've noticed that at interstate speeds, it feels like I'm spending a fair amount of time keeping it in the lane. Almost like strong winds are pushing the car left and right. Alignment was recently checked and all is well on that front. Maxima is in stock form and shocks/struts/springs replaced about 30K miles ago with KYB GR-2's and Energy Suspension bushings were installed at this time as well.. Premium tires are installed. I dropped it off at my mechanic who handles jobs that are above my skill level and he checked it earlier today. He cannot find anything obviously wrong and tie rods are tight and in good working order. He cannot say for certain, but thinks it is possible that the rack and pinion is just old and has suggested that I might want to consider replacing it. Note that I have no leaks. At interstate speeds, I would guess the steering wheel can be rotated around 10 degrees before direction is changed. What do you think? A remanufactured rack and pinion from BBB and the labor will set me back about $500. I can afford that but I want to check with other members here before I pull the trigger. Thanks in advance.

 

Control arm bushings? I've never seen a worn out rack no matter the miles on these.

 

Hmm, the mechanic said he checked and didn't see anything not tight but after reading your reply and Googling symptoms of bad control arm bushings, your suggestion does seem plausible. The passenger side was replaced 2 or so years ago but not driver side. Since these are less expensive than the rack and pinion, I might buy both sides and try this first.

 

Check your wheel bearings ,also. And replace endlinks.

 

And most of all, check your alignment !!!!
And, do it before replacing any other parts! Next, find a new mechanic .... and I am serious.

 

Alignment was checked within the past 3-4 months, it is tracking correctly and no uneven tire wear. That being said, alignment is under warranty so I'll have them re-check it.

 

Have a tire shop check the tires for damage.

Seems that the problem would be more pronounced in a linear fashion as speeds increase and not just an issue on freeway.

Seems odd that this issue doesn't appear at say 40-50mph???

Just a thought. Don't overlook tires.

 

I thought the same thing, but he mentioned premium tires. I had Hankooks on mine when I got it, looked great from both sides.
But when the wheels were turned full lock you could see how badly they were worn on the insides.

He mentioned the mechanic didn't see anything so that's where I'm guessing it's not the problem. What a difference the new tires made.

 

My tires are Pirelli Cinturato P7's and they were installed 3K miles ago. There is no even tire wire wear. This is a spare vehicle for us that my son uses to drive back and forth to college so I, nor he, can say with 100% certainty if this wandering issue existed with the previous tires but he does believe so. At 40-50MPH, the vehicle feels normal.

 

Maybe I did a poor job in describing my issue. I just picked it from my mechanic and took a video of my steering wheel at 78MPH and one at 50MPH. To me, it feels like there is way too much left/right movement in the steering wheel before the vehicle changes direction. Maybe, my brain is telling me I'm fighting to keep the vehicle in the lane due to this steering wheel movement. My other vehicles are 2014, 2017, and 2020 Acura, Honda, and Mazda. and their steering movement is significantly less than my Maxima.

The video I took at 78MPH is here:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/AzvSajYqjRR8XJBK8

And the video at 50MPH is here:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/gYgFM6tr2UztrfsH9

Is this amount of movement normal?

 

No, this is not normal.
This is what my car was doing when out of alignment (actually, mine wasn't quite as bad).

 

Whoa

 

Wow. Neither video is normal.

Now, I don't see how it could not be a bad rack or front end.

I mean, even if alignment was off I would think it would respond if things are tight but your response is not up to par at all.

Maybe lift front end and see what tire response u get with turning the wheel. That should give u similar results to your videos I would think.

Then, I would try ANother shop. Just my thoughts.

 

I agree with you in that even if alignment was off, I should still get a faster response. That, and it tracks very well and was re-aligned in the past 90 days or so. I decided that I'm going to replace both tie rod ends and the stabilizer end links first as they are inexpensive, I can do this myself, and last time I changed these parts was in 2009. If this still persists, then I will entertain taking it to another mechanic who is more skilled on steering or may just have my regular mechanic replace the rack and pinion. He quoted me $150 labor to do so which I think is real good.

I really appreciate all the responses I've received so far.

 

yea keep us posted ! let us know how the next steps go.

 

Could be either your control arms and bushings, or wheel bearings. The wheel turning about 10 degrees before any movement are symptoms of either of these being the culprit. Control arms sounds more likely, but wheel bearings go quietly on these cars and tend to go unnoticed in the grand scheme of travel

 

The thing is, though, when u swap tie rods u need alignment again. Tie rods should be ok if the align shop checked them well. Seems like u will be paying again unnecessarily but in this case u may just have to just to soove it.

But I would have it aligned at a diff shop just be safe. One less issue in my opinion.

 

I spoke with a different mechanic, showed him the videos, and he's confident it is the rack and pinion. Current plan is that I'm going to go ahead and replaced tie rods and stabilizer ends as it is easy, not expensive, and last time I did this was in 2009. After that, I'm carrying it to the second mechanic along with a replacement rack and pinion. He's assured me he will pinpoint the root cause before he begins the R&P replacement and if he's wrong, he'll cut the labor in half of what was quoted. His price includes an alignment as well. Assuming he's right, all in I'll be in around $700 so not too bad.

 

I have a high mileage 2002 SE and the first real suspension issue I ever had was rear trail arm bushings. the rear would sway like crazy so I did a full energy suspension set up front and rear.

My car always felt real bouncy with the Megan racing springs installed so I recently went with a set of Sensen struts from Autozone which I figured would be better than a set of KYB that I put 100,000 miles on since I got the car and it felt the same. Today I installed a set of Gabriel Ultras and the handling feels great. even though my car is an 02 I ordered mine as 2000 since I saw on a post reply saying 2000 has stiffer suspension. From part number research the Gabriel Ultra uses same on rear from 2000-2003 but he front have 00-01 and 02-03 as different part numbers from what I see the 00-01 front struts that I have use different style mounting for the ABS sensor on just one of the clips on each strut.

I have also replaced lower ball joints, strut mounts and outer tie rods

 

$700 that can be done by you for under $350......It's your rack and pinion bushing bro!

 

If that's the problem, then I say just make some collars out of big washers. That's about a 5 min install job.

 

thats a great offer from that mechanic and pretty fair! i like that honesty and putting costs on the line if he is wrong. maybe talk to him about what Cmax03 said with the rack and pinion bushing

 

Update for those following. The second mechanic validated it as a bad rack and pinion, he replaced it with a re-manufactured unit I provided, and I just picked it up this evening. I'm happy to report that steering is significantly improved. The steering feels tight again and you're not fighting to keep it in a straight line. It's not as tight as my newer vehicles but it isn't far behind now. He indicated that the inner tie rod ends were shot on both sides, demonstrated how they should operate and I'm pretty confident he is correct. Now, he might could have replaced the inner tie rod ends alone and have witness improvement, but he felt best course was to replace the whole R&P given the vehicles age and mileage. There is zero tension on either end of the original R&P. He performed a manual alignment and it is pretty good as-is but I'm taking it to have a computer alignment ASAP. I'll keep an eye out for any leaks but assuming I find none, I'll be satisfied with the work.

 

good stuff !! great to hear !

 

So 700 in labor alone for the rack swap? This is a good price?

Wow, mine leaks a little bit but doesn't drip. Didn't want to do it myself when that time comes.....but 700 was more than I would have thought.

 

$700 was my all-in price including the new outer tie rod ends and stabilizer links. Rough break down is $400 labor for R&P labor, $210 for R&P part, $65 for tie rod ends and stabilizer links.

 

Great, hope you go back for more....