Hi guys,

I've been noticing over the last few days that my car is starting to shimmy at around 39-41 MPH (just barely), although it's slowly getting worse. Does this sound like it's characteristic of the shimmy, or perhaps a wheel imblanace issue? I only really feel is at around 40 (and just like +/-1 MPH or so), so I find it unlikely to be a wheel imbalance issue. But, isn't this a bit on the slow side to be "the shimmy"?

Any thoughts? I've got nearly 14.5K miles, and haven't really had the shimmy before (I've maybe felt it for about 100 miles, but wasn't as bad as it was today - just barely noticable before if at all - today I could see the wheel vibrate very slightly if I let go). Sound familiar?

Thanks!

Oh yeah - today is the one-year anniversery of getting my Max!

had my tires balanced and steering wheel rack adjusted and it still shimmys.

Mine appears to get worse with time and I notice it at lower speeds. When i had the dealer verify it it was occuring at 45 mph, not too far from 40

Monotaur - It is possible you have the 'shimmies'. Or it could be a tire/wheel situation.

I'm assuming you keep the tires inflated properly. The '04 Maxima is extremely sensitive to having different pressure in the two tires on the same axle. Pressure differential between front and rear tires seems to cause no problem. I use 35 front and 33 rear. I've seen others here use 34 front and 33 rear, and some use 33 all around. The drivers manual specifies 33 all around for the SL and 32 all around for the SE.

Most cases of shimmy are between 45 and 60mph. But an occasional case around 40, and an occasional case above 60 crop up here.

If you can clearly feel the shimmy through the 'seat of your pants' while your hands are off the wheel, it is more likely to be a tire/wheel issue. If the only symptom is the steering wheel vibrating rapidly side-to-side (not up and down), then you probably have the shimmies.

Keep in mind that the '04 Maxima is extremely sensitive to road surfaces, and you will know if you run over anything, even an acorn. Also, if the vibration is not enough to bother you when holding the steering wheel with your normal driving grip, you may decide to delay turning your Maxima over to the illiterate greasemonkeys as long as possible.

My only noteworthy shimmy case occurred only an hour or so after buying my '04 SL. I was heartsick. But the shimmy stopped within minutes, and has never been very noticable since.

Let us know if yours gets worse, or if you take any action.

You need to have your car balanced with a hunter rfm machine model GSP 9700 something like that. You can go to the hunter engineering website to find out where one is located near you.

http://209.176.154.132/

What happens is, and hopefully I make sense, balancing wheels not only does the trick. Especially with high performance tires like we have. You can pretty much balance anything under 17 and be fine, but once you get into the 17" 18" you need a hunter balancer that also contains the road force measurements. This machine takes the wheel and tire, simulates a road test, and find the low and high point of the tire and wheel and matches them up. This is something that most dealerships do not do. Some new tires are marked with a red dot, and some wheels too. This is to tell the installer where the low and high points are. However most ignore. Anyway, when the low and high points are not matched correctly I guess you feel vibrations from the road at various speeds. Sometimes you do not because the various patterns in the road even it out.

Anyways, I got my wheels balanced with this at a shop with the machine, about 100 bucks done right. NO SHIMMY. But, it is coming back slightly, after 6000 miles and after I just rotated them. That’s partly because the good years are easy to become unbalanced. And you should balance your tires on each rotation.

Again I may have worded some things wrong, but that the general idea. The cars equipment is fine, it just needs to be installed right.

Great point Chris..

Here is my story.

1st time i brought it in they balanced tires and cut rotors
2nd time they balanced again and replaced the two front tires and adjusted steering rack

Now I am driving and i feel a hard vibration as i get past 60mph..I filed another complaint with Nissan and they are going to have a master tech call the dealership to work with the shop foreman to see if they can fix it. NJ has a lemon law that says three strikes and your out..

"should balance your tires on each rotation" sounds like a cash grab. I can't see why they'd need it with each rotation? Just have them balanced when they become unbalanced. Especially with $100US for balancing the four on the Hunter machine.

ya, this is what documentation says and what the hunter people said, they recomend that you balance on each rotation. But I only balance when I need to. THe $100 is the large fee due to the qualified equipment.technician.

$100 is a lot, and its a one time shot for me. I just drive my car, yea it has its issues, but no car is gonna be showroom quality if you drive it 60 miles daily like me. I just deal with the minor annoyances. I still love it.

If it bothers you, hunter will fix it.

lightonthehill,

Yes, it is getting worse. I can now start to feel the shimmy up to 45 MPH (but it's not always there - which is strange). It's not so strong that I 'feel it in the seat of my pants', and it just makes the wheel oscillate a degree or two when I let go... and is hardly noticable with my hands on the wheel (but I can still barely feel it). Something else that is interesting is that my steering wheel is slightly 'off'... ie, when going stright, it is slightly turned to the left. Anyone else have this issue? Do you think that this could be fixed under warranty easily? Not a big deal, but kind of annoying...

Also, my rotors might be warping again... I've noticed that my sterring wheel is also starting to shimmy when I brake (again!)... I just had my rotors turned about 3K miles ago... unbelievable. And also, now when I brake, I've started to notice that the car will pull (just slightly) to the left. I've read that this is bad, and could potentially be dangerous... anyone remember why? Something about one pad engaging before the other?

And, I just checked my tire pressure... after a few minute drive the to store and back (like 5 miles max), I checked the pressure (at around 70 deg F ambient temp). They are as follows:

Front Driver: 30.5
Front Passenger: 30.0

Rear Driver: 30.0
Rear Passenger: 31.0

I know these are a bit low, but I don't think that 0.5 psi would be enough to cause the vibration that lightonthehill described. Could another reason be misalignment of the front wheels?

Thanks!

why don't you just have the dealer apply the TSB to fix it? if they already trued your rotors, now you get new ones (if under 12k) if not, i'd ask for 12k after truing. if passed that, get some aftermarket ones. Nissan rotors apparently suck. Print out TSB for shimmy and take along.

If Nissan cannot fix shimmy (very well should) go to Goodyear, make sure both use the Hunter machine to balance. tires may be culprit and you get new ones prorated of course. some have gotten new tires almost free with even 20k miles on them.

Yeah, I've now at almost 15K.. I barely got the rotors turned before the 12K warranty expired. What do you mean "asking for 12K after truing"? When I had them turned last time, I told the service manager that they'll just warp faster next time and that I wanted the warranty extended.. but he didn't budge (even though all Nissan approved warranty work comes with a 1 year/12K mile guarantee).

What aftermarket rotors would you suggest?

I'd persue that warranty, although rotors are a tough battle. I'd at least call Nissan. I meant try what you already did, ask for 12k more.

All I know the rotors are $$$$$$$$ Stillen are nice but prob the most money. some got them on eBay. classifieds on here had them awhile back. I'm just trying to make mine last. I want the slotted and/or drilled ones with zinc coating. it wears off surface, but supposed to get rust and dust down elsewhere.

I recommend replacing the pads as well. especially if the old ones are used on warped rotors. that's what sucks about truing, pads are still uneven.

Good luck

I used to have this problem with my 2004 MAX when it was brand new; it is now 15 months old. I was to 6 dealerships and had most of the front end replaced, tires, rims, alignments, your name it. I finally then took the car back to xx NC where I bought it (two-hour drive) and had the first "real conversation" about the problem from the Service Manager. The first thing you need to know about the "shimmy in the steering wheel" is that I guarantee you can go to any dealership in the world and test drive either the SE or SL and you will notice what is referred to as a shimmy. This is what I did and after months realized it is a characteristic of the car, don't worry this can be tweaked by several things. First, you must get the continental or cheap Goodyear’s off the car the rims it comes with are fine and expensive don't trade them in like I did. Put on the top of the line Michelins, don't go cheap. As the person above mentioned, YOU MUST get these balanced and road force run-out on a Hunter Machine like he said any good tire company has these machines. The tires must be balanced perfectly; I can't stress this enough I mean dead-on. The reason I believe this fixed my problem is because the front end of the six gen max is super tight and ultra sensitive. The second thing you must do which I leaned from someone on this thread last year, tires front and back must be set at 36-37 pounds cold (buy a good gauge and experiment a little). And last, I thought the Service Manager was blowing smoke when he told me to just drive the snot out of the car and get more time and miles on it. This he said over time a couple things would happen, one the bushings, springs, and suspension loosen up a little bit. Secondly, you will realize and grow accustom to the front end and will no longer feel the shimmy due to the tires, balance, wear on the suspension, and really getting to understand the super high performance that the suspension was developed for. Don't take my word for it, go back to the dealership and pick out the same exactly max like yours and drive it over the same stretch of road, it will be exactly the same. Remember the suspension is designed to give you this feedback in the steering wheel, however I believe most of us are having to perfectly balance our wheels and tires to "over-compensate" for the under-sized "steering rack damper". This explains why the 2005 Max's don't have this problem where they installed a beefer damper I'm told. --Bob

Is this confirmed that the 05's have a Beefier steering damper? Why don't they just replace all 04's with this new part?

MaxMus, I have no official confirmation that a TSB will be released for a beefier "steering rack damper". I have been following several threads in here where others have been told by Nissan this would happen in the next several weeks. --Bob

I have had my 04 for 13 months now and only 15,000 km or approx 9300 miles. I have SE with 18" Goodyears .I have to admit I had the shimmy problem for many many months but the level varied on the road conditions and I found it annoying mainly on ultra-smooth paved surfaces. I was not terribly happy with it but attirbuted it mainly to the steering being very tight and the large tires as often described in previous posts. I have actually found that the shimmy is pretty much gone now..havne't noticed it in a few months.

Thanks for all of the input guys... I'm going in for my 15K maintenance next week, I'll see if I can bug them about this then (the service manager hates seeing me come in - you should see his cheasy smile as I walk in the door...)

Well, no more shimmy.... it seems that the tire rotation fixed it.

Does this mean that my tires are not wearing evenly?