Maxidriver

This message is for 98maxse and 6thGenMax; they sent me a private message for the fix of the shimmy steering wheel.

Well just dropped off the car and gave me a loaner, do not laugh but it was a minivan. Need to pay for homeland security tax of $2.50 and Gas and Sales Tax. The service consultant Walt Burton is very knowledgeable of the problem with the steering. They are fixing it all the time. They are performing the TSB and a steering rack adjustment. I am also fixing the sunroof, which came out of track, I think. I’ll find out when I go back to pick it up. I was doing well so I asked about the rattles, he will look into that. The dealership is called DCH Freehold Nissan at 4280 Route 9 South in Freehold NJ. Told him I’ll refer everyone to go to him to fix this issue. By the way, the 05’ Maxima’s are out already.

Frank Bonsignore

Monotaur

Really... got any more info on the 05's?

Chris_RI

what do you mean they are out already?

Maxidriver

The service manager told me they are on the lot to be sold. I'll check them out once I pick up my Max today.

6thGenMax

iTrader: (6)

Please Keep Me Posted On The Shimmy Repair!!!!!

andymax95

I checked their inventory on the net and all I saw where 2004, the dealship i deal with said they won't be in till fall. But they suck *****

Maxidriver

i think you're right. I'll check it out. He seemed very confident that the 05' at out in the lot. As long he fixes the shimmy, sunroof and rattles, I really don't care about the 05'. I'm stuck with the 04's Maxima for another 2 and half years.

hofb99

Maxidriver, I just checked the official TSB listing on NISSAN's tech-info website and didn't see anything about the steering/shimmy problem... I too have started to experience this shimmying @ around 40 - 50 mph and would like to very much get rid of it! Do you have a reference for this problem? Are you sure the dealer will know EXACTLY what to do? Will call my dealer probably tomorrow about it... Thanks in advance!

hofb99

Never mind, Maxidriver... I found a good reference in the below thread:

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=328792

TSB webpage is:

http://www.nissanhelp.com/Bulletins/Maxima/2004/1.htm

lightonthehill

maxidriver - Please try to make it a point to see if there are '05 Maximas on that lot. If so, please get a VIN serial # for us. Also try to spot any differences from the '04.

I will be very surprised if they are there, as a load of '04 Maximas arrived at my dealer's this afternoon, and the VIns were in the 930000s and 931000s. They were fresh from Smyrna.

I will be surprised if there are '05 Maximas sitting on any dealer's lot today. I would not be terribly surprised to see them in a week or so. I actually expect to see them the middle or last half of this month.

Thanks in advance for your efforts.

Maxidriver

An update to everyone. The steering shimmy is FIXED. They did the TSB and also a steering rack adjustment. The service tech made me drive with him to see whether i liked it. It was very stiff, which i like alot. It felt like a sports car. Prior to the adjustment, the steering wheel jump out of my hands when I hit every bump in the road. Now I feel nothing. I really feel the road that's because of the large tires. That's OK. The service manager also told me he heard that many dealership around have not heard of this problem and not sure how to fix it. This dealer is great. I sounds like i work for them when writing this post. DCH Freehold Nissan on Route 9 in Freehold, NJ in Monmouth County. I told him he'll be getting more visitors soon.

Service Tech also confirmed that the big boss inside the showroom is driving a 05 Maxima. I picked up the car this morning at 8am but the showroom was not open to see the 05 nor did I have a chance to look around the lot. I needed to get to work. Sorry. But I'll keep you posted, I'll go back this weekend.

Maxidriver

One more thing; My loaner minivan (Ponitac Montana) had the name of the radio station as well as the name of the song playing on the radio. I loved it. WHY DOESN'T MY MAX DO THAT. It is because I have the Non-Navi system. None of my CD's have that too. That's bulls**t.

Robert_J

It should. I have a non-navi and any radio station that broadcasts with RDS (Radio Descriptive Service) displays the station name, artist and song title. CD's with the CD text option also display but I have very few that have that option. When burning my own CD's though, I always enable this feature.

-Robert

Maxidriver

Is the RDS a standard thing in the Max. I seen it writen on the radio of the Pontiac. I don't see it on the Max.

Robert_J

I've got the Bose with non-navi screen. It must be standard on the Bose then. I've never looked inside a non-Bose '04 Max.

-Robert

Maxidriver

That's it. I don't have the Bose but am very happy with the sound of the stock. I know for a fact that the minivan Pontiac Montana did not have an upgraded radio system. Nissan could have gave us RDS on the stock and also 6 disc cd changer.

6thGenMax

iTrader: (6)

Having Walt call my service tech this afternoon to explain how the SHIMMY repair should be performed. seeing that dealer is VERY FAR for me to have service done, IF.......... my dealer cant figure out how to open there toolbox and fix this for the 4th time in, then ANYONE in the freehold area know of any good hotels?

Maxidriver

There's a large mall down the street or they'll drop you off if you don't like to walk. Go watch movie or two. They should take no more then a few hours.

akaxmrxhammer

how did you get them to perform the tsbs? my dealers not aware of any tsbs that i got from this site

bluemaxx

Not aware of or deny the existence of?

6thGenMax

iTrader: (6)

most likely deny that they exist. my dealer is well aware of the TSB's... matter in fact i braught it in for the glove box and came out with resurfaced rotors somehow. they said there was a problem, im not complaining.

sitnonchrome76

hey maxdriver thanx for the recomendation i took my car there 2day and they adjusted the steering rack like you said ....the steering is a lil tight but atleast the wheels not shaking anymore!!

Maxidriver

Hey congrats!!! I'm glad you did. I like the steering tight, it really feels like a sports car. Well anyway, many guys on the forum are having problems with there dealership on fixing this issue. I glad this place addressed the issue. I hope all of you do the same on getting your Max fixed.

04 maxse

I have an appointment Monday,, I have to drive an hour to get it fixed.

Chris_RI

maxidriver im glad nj has good dealers, cause most suck over hear in new england

04 maxse

Well now my car is at DCH freehold nissan. The service over there is the best I have ever seen, they call you with anything they are doing to the car. I have 4 bad tires, 1 bad rim, and the rack was adjusted. I am waiting for the new rim and the tires before I get it back to see if it's fixed. If the car is not fixed after this I don't want it anymore. I will let it go for 20K.

Maxidriver

Nice to hear from you. It's been awhile. I like the steering tight but at least it doesn't shake. Wow about the tires and rim. I really doubt other dealership would do that. Not all NJ dealerships can fix it. I took it to 2 other ones and they couldn't. This one in Freehold was the best. What I do notice that the car shakes at a high speed, not the steering but the car. My seat and pass seat shakes especially if no one sits in it. Anyone have the problem. This also happened when my steering shook too. So it didn't just start shaking.

04 maxse

If my car has any kind of shake or shimmy I'm gonna go crazy. Man sometimes I wish I had my 98 back.

HypeMaker

I currently have the same problem .... which is frustrating because i have rotated (no pun) through all of the problems described in thsi thread.

A quick summary of my issue...

My car started to shimmy at about 20K miles. I had my wheels replaced under warranty because they were bent (They ACTUALLY COVERED IT UNDER WARRANTY to my surprise...)
The tires were cupped because of the shaking caused by the bent wheels. But the dealer doesnt want to replace my tires.
Can they do that? I mean the tires were cupped because of a warrantable defect... doesnt that make nissan (at least partially) responsible for my tires? I'm considering suing for breach of warranty if they dont cover the tires. Anyone have an opinion or advice? Nissan Consumer affairs is the worst FYI.


Alright, so here is my shimmy story/ongoing dispute/questions

I started experiencing shimmy when my car had 20K miles. (I've had the max for about 17 months). When i took it to the dealer, i was told i had 4 bent wheels. They took FOREVER to get the wheels and told me to go ahead and drive my car normally while they waited for the wheels to get in.
2000 miles later they replaced the wheels but did not replace the tires. I took the car off of the lot and sure enough once i got on the highway the shimmy was still there. I went right back to the dealer and i was told that the problem was outlined in a TSB put out by nissan and that they did not have the equipment to correctly perform the TSB. So i went to another dealer 50 miles away to get the TSB performed.

http://www.infinitihelp.com/Ownershi.../NTB04-084.htm

The second dealer told me that my tires were cupped. They didnt fix the shimmy. Since my alignment was within specs and given the wheel problems, the dealer told me to go back to my first dealer and have them resolve the tire problem.

When i went back to the first dealer they told me that they wouldnt cover the tires since they didnt diagnose the cupping problem (This is BS to me since the only reason they didnt diagnose the problem is because they didnt have the right equipment.) I kept arguing with them and in the meantime went ahead and ordered my tires on TireRack.

I went to yet another nissan dealer (this one in NJ, the other two were in NY state. They install the new tires. I STILL HAVE SHIMMY. I go back and i am told i have two bent wheels cuz the tires keep bouncing up and down on the balancing machine. I'm so IRATE (because its only been 800+ miles since i had the new wheels put on) that i completely forget about the TSB. Now i realize that they had my car sitting for 2 hours before they took it in for a balancing and the TSB says you have to drive it around for 20 mins and then immediately put it up in the air.
So my car STILL vibrates, but they put the bad balanced tires in the back so now instead of a steering shimmy, my car just shakes EVEN with the new tires and new rims with less than 900 miles. I am going to Ramsey Nissan tommorow and hopefully get this thing resoplved once and for all. (They are the guys who sold me the car, they are like 60 miles away but i figure its time i took this thing back home. Plus they won a customer first award so i figure if anyone can get the problem resolved without giving me a headache it HAS to be the dealership that sold me my car.)


Any advice on the tires and getting nissan to replace them? I mean i think i should at least be partially reimbursed for the premature wear to my orginal tires.

Sorry if its a bit disorganized but it was a long post and its late and this problem has become the BIGGEST headache. I used to LOVE my car before this and now i am slowly losing my enthusiasm. I even had a bit of a judgement lapse and let my GF talk me into test driving a 330xi and consider trading in the Max :-o .... . ITs a shame i cant lemon law this thing for the vibration since its been in over 3 times. :-/. (It has 22000 miles) Otherwise i would just start over with a new 05 :-D

Maxidriver

The key is to perform the TSB and also the steering rack needs adjustment. That is very important. Steering rack adjustments makes the steering wheel stiffer and tighter and fixes the problem. It worked for me. Before signing anything, drive the car with the tech before and after the fix.