I have had my car for about 2 month's.. The whole time I had the car I relized that my steering felt a little weird.. Didn't really pay attention to it because it was a new car and thought it was in my head. Then I made someone else drive it and they felt the famous shimmy.. I took it to the dealer with 3,000 miles on it. Service manager " We have a problem" the steel inside the tire is bent.. OK.. Get this, they are trying to say that I hit a pothole and that's the reason the belt is bent.. CMON man have a little showmanship and tell your customers who just spent 30,000 on a car 2 month's ago the truth. They are telling me that I have to pay for another tire, NOT HAPPENING.. I am going to fight this problem.. What I will do is tell them to put the "bent tire" on the rear and if my shimmy is still there, so help me God.. Man I love my car but **** like this is unacceptable.. Am I right????

 

I have the infamous shimmy as well. The dealer originally rebalanced my tires. When I returned the car because it had the same problem, they told me that 3 of my tires were bad (slightly out of round). After the 3 tires were replaced, I returned my car to the dealership with the same complaint. They determined that 2 of the replacement tires were bad. The dealership then replaced my tires with a set of Michelin tires. I will pick up my car up this evening. Hopefully, the shimmy problem will be gone. Apparently Nissan will try to fix/cover up the problem in the least expensive manner as possible rather than trying to determine the source of the problem. I am not optimistic that my problem is fixed. I will know this evening. I will reply later tonight.

My car had approximately 3500 miles when I originally took my car to the dealership.

 

I don't even think that is possible! What a crappy dealer

 

shimmy still there, but to a lesser degree. Vibration is gone.

 

Change up the air pressure it helped for me 32psi front and 38psi rear.

 

Isnt 38 psi in the rear a little high??

 

Ok well here is an update. They rotated and rebalalenced the tires.. Problem still there.. They are now telling me that they are going to send my car to some tire place to replace my tires. Fun Fun Fun.. To top it all off they replaced my window regulator and scratched my tint.. I am not going back to this dealer.

 

Steering rack friction adjustment. That's what fixed mine. It was done AT THE PLANT. My car was taken back in by a neighbor who works at the plant. It eliminated the problem. I had already switched to Michelins and that made NO difference. RACK FRICTION ADJUSTMENT!!! Tell your dealer to contact the plant if he doesn't believe it. I'm going to let my neighbor know this is still going on.

srm

 

Did that adjustment make the steering wheel more difficult to turn?

 

Not at all. Actually, it made it tighter and felt much more solid. It was an improvement all the way around. The explanation my neighbor gave was that the part was set to the build specs of the part but not to the service specs of the car. In other words, there was adequate room for adjustment to be made, and it was adjusted to comply with what the service specs call for. That's about all I know, but it's enough to know it worked, and I am really disappointed to hear that so many are still having this as an issue. Get to a service tech that knows something, and have them call the plant for support. My car got a lot of attention when it went back to the plant. There are people there that know what it took to make it right. Do not settle for the run-around. There is a solution and I can prove it.

 

38 in the rear is way to high, especially since all the car's weight is in the front and it's a front wheel drive at that!!

 

Hmmm, I had my front rotors turned (they were warped) and my shimmy is gone... at least from what I could tell so far.

 

Ask your neighbor what the solution is for squeaky brakes that the dealership says is normal. Embarrassing to pull up to a stop light and people are checking your car out only to hear the brakes squeak like hell.

 

Actually, it is possible for the steel "belt" in the tire to be out of whack, but it's usually a manufacturing flaw, not the result of hitting a pothole. Usually, it's a matter of the belt being laid in out-of-line with the axis of the tire, and this will cause a "belt-pull" where the tire will not track straight.

In any case, if the tire is defective, you have a tire warranty. You'll have to take it to a tire dealer who handles your brand of tire, but they should make it good for you.

Mike

 

Yes, the rack for my 04 MAX SL came in this morning, cost the dealership $1,850. for parts and labor. They did not try to adjust the new rack, just installed it. Steering and alignment afterwards were about the same, I did get to see the old "Rack" so I believe the work was done. No Shimmy what so ever!! until I took it on the interstate, there it was the "famous Shimmy" when driving above 55 MPH. Well what should I have Nissan replace next at their expense, rotors, transaxle, bearings, wheels, tires, struts? One interesting fact I've found is that the dealership will replace anything ask without hesitation. Perhaps I should go twice a week and replace anything that moves in the front end of the car except the engine...continue doing this until the problem goes away, there is a recall or bulletin, or I just go crazy and drive the car under 50 MPH at all times...

 

It may seem high, but running a combo like mentioned, 32F 38R, will reduce understeer. It is within the tires range, and will not make any difference except a stiffer ride in the rear.

 

Took my vehicle back to the dealership again this morning and talked to the Service Manager about where to go next since the rack didn't fix the problem. The Service Manager claims now that the problem has been fixed with the new rack when really the problem has not changed at all it's still there. Now I have to go to another dealership and start over, I'm thinking about having the rotors changed what do you think? I do love this car, and agree with you once the problem is fixed there's nothing in this price range I'd rather be driving. I need to focus on this a mission and try not to let my emotions get the better of me. I believe with this many complaints and NISSAN spending big $$ to remedy they will be forced to put out a service bulletin or volunteer recall.

 

True but lots of times the higher pressure will contribute to a shimmy as well, lots of guys with 01's-03's had a shimmy problem as well. Ours was a result of the pressure and just plain bad potenzas with flat spots etc.!

 

I think you guys are nuts to continue spending time and money on this. Take it to the dealership the required # of times under your state's lemon law provision, and then file to have it purchased back as a lemon. You just paid around $30k for a brand new vehicle, and you're spending countless hours fixing the thing.

Don't justify it as a "great car if this could just get fixed." The dealers are incompetent, the car has an obvious defect, and neither of those things are your problem. Dump it and spend your hard earned money on something that doesn't rattle your fillings out on the interstate.

Just my opinion.

 

I had this problem and took mine back to the dealer two days ago. He wanted to try rebalancing but for some reason his balancing machine wouldn't work w/ my wheels so he took two new front wheels off a new car in the lot and swapped them out. The shimmy is pretty much gone.. But I have a slight vibration. I'm not sure if its normal or not. Should I feel ANY vibes from the steering wheel on smooth pavement?

 

On smooth pavement, no.

 

It would sure be nice if this were a TSB. Does your neighbor have enough influence to make this into a TSB? Better yet, how does a fix become a TSB? I think it would have to be a repeatable fix. I suspect that none of the dealers have ever tried rack friction as a fix. They're fixated on the balancing and out-of-round stuff. The service dep't I go to in the Toronto area have a RFV machine and they told me they have been receiving requests from other dealers in the area to balance wheels for 04 Max owners. They did mine but the problem is still there although much less noticeable at within a smaller speed range (around 90 km/h - it used to occur anywhere between 80 and 110).

A TSB would definitely steer stubborn dealers in the right direction. Every time I bring the car in (it seems like once a week - the shuttle bus driver knows my work address without asking) and I try to explain something that I've read in this forum or in the freshalloy.com forum, their eyes glaze over. It's as though I am speaking alien. They don't listen at all, and this is the one good service department I've found.

 

Maxmann, do you know if they did the service at the "plant" itself, or at the lease maintenance center?

 

it seems nissan has had this "shimmy" problem before...but in the 240sx:


"NTB93066


Some 240sx may exhibit steering wheel shimmy at approximately 55 mph. Wheel shimmy complaint can usually be resolved by balancing front tires. However, in those cases where complaint is not re solved by this repair, adjustment of steering rack friction may be necessary. "

here is the link to this TSB:
http://www.nissan-techinfo.com/nissa...5.asp?mscssid=