Yea I tend to agree seems to be too much of a widespread problem for such an easy fix....such as the tires/wheels not being balanced at the factory. It this is the case, doesnt sound good in my opinion.

 

I wonder if it was a specific group of cars. There are a lot of people in here that haven't had the issue, so it wouldn't surprise me if it were a specific range of VINs.

 

All I know is that my shimmy is fixed and whoa, what a ride. My wife bought the Maxima, but I like it so much, I'm thinking about trading in my Pathfinder for one.

 

For those of you having problems, what are the last 4 digits (5 Digits for some) of the VIN#?
Maybe this problem exists upto a specific range of VIN#'s.
I have not gotten delivery of my Maxima yet but the fleet manager at nissan let me know what my VIN # is and it ends up w/ ....36100
Does anyone else have any updates from Nissan regarding this problem. Seems like a LOT of 04 owners seem to have the shimmy problem.
Let us all find out if this problem was related in earlier builds and the later builds do not have shimmy in the steering wheel.
Thanks!

 

I had a problem: VIN is 22458

 

I Have the problem VIN # 26198

 

My SilverMax that I bought on May 15 does NOT have this problem (from 0 mph up to 85 mph anyhow).

For my Max, I'm adding another digit to the Vin # 809284

 

I have the problem (between 80 km/h and 110 km/h) VIN # 805608.

 

No problem -- VIN 811814.

 

first time posting to this thread
i have problem 820113

i am planning on putting on 20s, but have to delay until i get this taken care of...i just thought shimmy was normal for larger rims...like 1SICKLEX said:

 

sorry, i meant vibration normal not shimmy. i have vibration problem on 04 maxima SL

 

I had this same problem. Dealer cut my rotors, since they got warp from long distance driving and that took care of it.

 

After numerous calls to the fleet manager, I finally got some response back from him today about the shimmy issue in the 2004 Maxima.
Fleet Manager had contacted a chief engineer via E-Mail at the Smyrna, TN plant and his reply to the shimmy problem is as follows:

"...The '04 Nissan engineers have identified a VERY SMALL tire balance concern. The specs have been tightened up at the factory which will remedy the problem. There are no other 'shimmy' concerns with the Maxima...."

Just thought i'd share this in this forum

 

2004MaximaSE5AT

Thanks for the update ! It would have been better if they also said they were informing all dealers the shimmy problem exists ?
Spoke with my dealer yesterday , They know of no shimmy problem with 04 MAX. Service rep indicated it could have happened when car came off the car carrier. I told her that it is not always noticable, she said then it is not a problem. I asked to speak to the service manager , who could not belive that I have a shimmy problem , but
was willing to check balance and rebalance if necessary. So very soon I will bring the car in to have this checked.

 

Picked up my 04 spirited bronze Max on June 27. Vin # 830189
Absolutely no vibration or shimmy. Hopefully they got this problem fixed.
The problem I had was the dealer never set the tire pressure from the way the cars are shipped. When I drove it home it was like riding on rocks. 3 tires had 50 lbs. and 1 had 47 lbs. After setting them all at 33 lbs. it is as smooth as silk. Love this car! All options except rear buckets.

 

Cars leaving the plant have been allowed to be as much as 13 grams out and be determined to be within spec. This isn't just a Nissan thing. However, through the research done on my car, the outcome is that there is increased sensitivity in these models to balance issues and 13 grams can no longer be an acceptable tolerance. I expect that as a result, these tolerances will be reduced, but to what I don't know. There may likely be other remedies to further mitigate the shake/shimmy/vibration, whatever you want to label it, but it would appear the balance issue is a significant factor.

srm

 

Guys,

While at the plant a couple weeks ago, there was an adt'l adjustment that was made to my car. Along with the balance that I already described several pages back, the steering rack friction was adjusted higher than design spec called for. The result was a much tighter steering feel and presumably, mitigation of the vibration/shimmy issue. However, in the process of ruling out trouble spots, the car wasn't driven between the balance and the rack-friction adjustment. As a result, we can't be sure which was the larger part of the problem. It is believed that the balance issue was and that's where I learned of the 13 grams within spec tolerance level issue I just mentioned. The rack-friction adjustment is not something that has been validated to be a global issue so it has not been introduced into production nor has any TSB been developed as a result in order to address vehicle already out on the road. It is possible that that may occur but not a certainty.

My suggestion to you is that if you try the balance adjustments and the problem isn't resolved, talk to your dealer about rack-friction adjustment. Again, the current setting on the part is to "design" specification, but the "design" specification is not up to "service" specification. Mine was adjusted to service specification, and I have to believe it has made a difference; steering certainly feels better. Now, not all the vibration/shimmy is eliminated. I periodically detect it around 45-50, but it is so dramatically improved. Previously, I couldn't stand to drive this car on the interstate. It was brutal. Now, the car is as you would expect, and I look FORWARD to driving it. Now, at last, it is smoother than my SE.

Oh, and by the way, despite the fact I had put Michelin's on the car shortly after delivery, they couldn't overcome this problem, so it isn't a tire issue exclusively. And see, these were mounted and balanced by another company (NTB). I don't drive this car all the time, so a couple months later when we took it on a road trip, I thought perhaps THEY had not done something right, so I let my Nissan dealer try to solve the problem. They balanced and checked RFV, but obviously that didn't take care of my issues (I noticed no detectable difference before and after they did whatever they did). It was the plant that determined there was still a balance issue...how much I don't know. The reason I overlooked the problem upon first drive of the car is because I thought it WAS a stock tire issue and knowing I had a new set of Michelins waiting on it (well, had been on my trade for about a month, so I knew they were ok), I didn't concern myself with it. Obviously, it wasn't. That's why I think the rack-friction adjustment was the bigger fix,but sounds like for some of you, the balance adjustment takes care of it so to be honest, I don't know what to think. All I know is that I'm anxious about the next time I decide it is time for a balance and you better believe I'm going to be standing right there when the work is done. In the meantime, the car is an absolute joy to drive!

srm

 

The balance solution is indeed possible but does indicate some very sensitive wheels. For example, I used to own a '93 Porsche 928 GTS and the wheels were very sensitive to balance. Most all balancing equipment out there rounds off to the nearest 1/4 ounce; however sometimes the rounding is even more(+/- 1/4 ounce). What I use to do is to tell the balance technician to set the scale to grams and balance to within 5 grams. It was a real pain to get within this spec and technicians gave me some drop dead looks, but it worked. Without doing this, the car would never balance out right using the regular ounce scale and its inherent rounding.
So, I might suggest that if anyone with the shimmy issue is going in for rebalancing, ask the dealer/technician to use the gram scale (not the ounce scale) and balance to within 5 grams(at most 7 grams). They won't like it but, if balance is indeed a major factor, it should help a lot.

 

It sounds to me like increasing the rack friction just covers up the problem. Isn't 13 grams ~1/2 oz? Just for fun go stick a 1/2 oz weight somewhere on one of the front wheels and go for a spin.

 

bluemaxx,
what will the 1/2 oz weight on the wheel do? And can you elaborate why you think the rack friction adjustment was done to cover up the problem.

 

If the tires are otherwise correctly balanced; attaching a 1/2 oz weight to an arbitrary location will set up a subtle vibration or shimmy or shake, which is what most seem to be experiencing.

If something is out of balance, out of round, not true, bent or warped it will shake, shimmy, vibrate or wobble. Unless it is the rack that is loose and wiggling around, increasing the friction will just mask the problem.

 

So, increasing the rack friction in the steering wheel is not a remedy but pretty much covers up the shimmy issue as bluemax had wrote?
If that is the case, seems more of a design flaw and I dont think Nissan or anyone else can do anything at this point. Guess you'll either have to wait till next year for a legitimate fix or live with the fact that shimmy problem is inherited in 04 Maximas and is certainly not a tire/wheel balance issue.

 

That isn't exactly what I meant to say.

If the problem is that 'play' exists in the rack, then by all means, tighten it up.

But if the tire, wheel, rotor, hub, cv joint, half shaft, other cv joint or anything else I forgot to mention is out of balance, out of round, warped, bent, stapled, bent, folded or mutilated; increasing rack friction will only mask the problem, not correct it.

 

My first post on this board goes to this thread. I've been reading for about two months and I finally registered.

Anyway, I took delivery of my SL w/ Elite package on June 28 and I haven't had any problems with Shimmy. I reached the 1500 break-in mark this past weekend and I let my foot down. Felt no shimmy at any speed and I got the car up to 130, before I started to worry about the cops and my safety. The car drives like it's floating on air.

I'm starting to think that you guys that are having the problem just ran across some bad luck. My car runs like a champ without any problems. No rattling in the rear window brake light, no shimmy, and definitely no problems with the RPM needle dropping unusually. Solid and beautiful!

Maybe the dealer reads this forum and fixed the problems you guys noted.....

 

I think they make production changes whenever a problem is identified. Some changes aren't practical to make mid-year and get pushed out for the next model year. People who wait and buy a 2005 will probably be very happy. I was aware of the inherent risk of buying first year of a new model, early in the production sequence... They really improved the 5th gen from 00-03. I still love my new Max.

 

Well, I have the Shimmy. I've taken it back to the dealer 3 times but to no avail.

First time was to the dealer who sold me the car. They said the tires were out of balance and they tried to balance them. You should see the amount of weights they added to the rims. They must've been really out of whack. The shimmy now turned out to be worse.

So I took it to a local Nissan dealer that has a road force variance machine. They balanced the rear wheels but could not balance the front. So they ordered two new Contis for the front and put 'em on and balanced. Guess what. Shimmy. Not better nor worse.

So I took it back to the dealer with the RFV machine. Unfortunately the shop foreman wasn't there to do a road test with me so apparently they did a road test on their own (scary). They rebalanced the tires, this time moving the new contis to the rear.... yada yada yada... Shimmy!!

I think I will just live with it and try not to drive myself crazy with this issue. I will also write a letter to Nissan HQ to make sure they have it on record in case of any future derivative problems.

 

Hanzar,

I'm assuming since you have contis on your car it is an SL? Do you have VDC?

 

Yes on both counts, MaximumMike. Same color as yours too. But I didn't think they made an Elite SL (see your signature).

 

Yes, I have an Elite SL. Bucket seats in the back and everything else.

 

I have the se with 3500 miles on it and have felt this shimmy ever since i bought the car. I see it side to side quiet a bit until you grip the wheel, 40 mph to 70 mph. I am very displeased with the shake.

 

2 things:

1. Quality control of the new Max is suffering
2. People have NO idea what they are getting themselves into when they buy a car with 17" or 18" wheels. You can't expect it to drive like a car with 15" or 16" wheels.

 

#801079

Same as Hanzar, starts around 80kph and gets smoother over 100kph.

CM.

 

If these are both true, then why didn't my car have a shimmy?

I think it is a new year car, and this is what you should expect, a few minor issues. Bring the car to the dealer, give them a test drive, get them to admit a problem, get them to fix it. If they don't, then call your local <channel number here> on your side reporter and have him go down there with you.

If it bothers you that much, spend the $10-40?? to have a tire place balance them for you.

Quality control suffering? They don't have any recalls out there for it, yet past models have had 2 and 3 in a year. Yeah, looks like the quality is down the sh!tter. Man, you have to give that a break, only time will tell. Come back next year and tell us told you so if you are right, worst you could do is not look like an a$$ for being wrong.

 

Took my 04 SE in for shimmy between 45-65 mph. The dealer's first concern was my aftermarket rims. They rotated the tires and did a static balance. Shimmy lessened slightly. They also stated that my rims are supposed to have hub rings and that could be the problem. America's Tires confirmed the hub rings and called an order in. They went ahead and speed balanced and stated none of the wheels were balanced when the rims were put on. Next week I'll have the hub rings installed and post results. If you have a shimmy and aftermarket rims, check to see if you have hub rings. Take care

 

Seems as if VIN#'s after ...825000+ do not inherit the shimmy problem. After looking at various threads and contacting a chief nissan engineer, seems like they have fixed the problem and I was told that it was strictly related to improper wheel balancing.
Does anyone experience shimmy in the steering wheel with their car with a 825000+ Vin# and above???

 

I agree with your assessment. Most places have their balancers calibrated to 1/4 ounce (or 7 gram) round off mode. For metric weights, which come in 5 gram increments, this round off mode is 5 grams. Even when the tires are balanced propely, 1/4 ounce round off mode is barely sufficient for corectly balancing large diameter low profile tires. 0.1 oz round off would be much more appropriate, but this requires custom wheel weights. I also have less and less faith in quality of new tires on the market. About the only brand I fully trust now are Michelins.

 

You say the original tires are Continentals. It does not surprise me that you have vibration problems. These tires are junk! I bought a set for my Mazda 626 several years ago. On one of the tires the belt came loose within several thousand miles. I bought two new ones for the front, and both turned out to be out of round!!!!! These were Continental CH4 tires. I will never buy Continental tires, I do not want them even for free! I threw all four of them away. I know a man who had the same experience with his Mazda Miata. Threw away all four Continental tires after several thousand miles of shimmy and vibration. Get yourself a good set of Michelins and your problems are over.

 

Flat spots in the tires? Only in cheap tires. Good tires should not develop flatspots, and even if, they would be temporary. The problem here can be summarized in one phrase: cheap low quality tires. Until Nissan decides to quip their cars with decent rubber, I am not buying one.

 

Flat spots in the tires? Only in cheap tires. Good tires should not develop flatspots, and even if, they would be temporary. The problem here can be summarized in one phrase: cheap low quality tires. Until Nissan decides to quip their cars with decent rubber, I am not buying one.

 

Balancing of tires is a very serious problem in the U.S. Most places are not capable of balancing the tires correctly, either balancers are not calibrated properly or the round off mode is too high, or the personnel are incompetent and enter the wrong parameters into the machine or mount the wheel wrong on the machine. Just because a balancer dispalys zeros does not mean it is done corectly. My coworker had all kinds of wheel shimmy problems with his 98 Durango with Michelin LTX tires. Had his tires balanced twice at a local Dodge dealer. Still shimmy. We took the vehicle to an Air Force hobby shop that just purchased a brand new $ 12K Hunter balancer that is one of the best balancers on the market. Spun the tires on the machine and both rear tires were 3/4 ounce (21 grams) out on both sides. Rebalanced the tires, and my friend took his vehicle on a 2500 mile trip. No problems, smooth as it could be. Now for a reality check. This Durango has large 31X10.5-15 tires. If you had your Maxima tires out by 3/4 ounce on each side it would shimmy and shake like crazy.

Personally I had tires balanced wrong on my 98 Maxima by the local Nissan dealer. It ruined my 2000 mile trip. I took the car to another place that had a well calibrated balancer and the guy used metric weights in 5 gram incrememtns. Rebalanced the tires and the car was smooth again. But before this, I took it to another place that screwed up the balancing twice. Two people used the same machine within ten minute period and got completely different imbalance readings! This is ridiculous!!!!. I am seriously considering buying my own balancer. You can get a nice unit for about $ 3K.