His problems almost word for word were similar to mine and with some other members. Here is what he said after I emailed him some questions:

Jason, I eventually had to file for the lemon law. A Nissan Rep finally came to repair the car last Tuesday, it took them 4 days fixed the problem. The tech note said that the problem was a result of excessive road force in the tire. They changed the Continental tires to Michelin tires and got the road force to be below 10 compared to a range of 18 - 30. My number is xxx-xxx-xxxx if you wish you may have the dealer call me I will give them my VIN number so they can see the tech notes. Now I am just afraid when it’s time for new tires I will go through this same issue again. The car drives very nice, but there is still a little vibration in the steering wheel more than I am willing to accept in a brand new car. I think the issue is with the SL model; their softer shock absorbs less shock than the shocks used in the SE model. In addition to the suspension the Continental tires are cheap. Whatever they say stay on them until they fix it and don’t settle for anything less than what you are comfortable? At this point Nissan should have a recall on the SL model to have this problem fix.

 

Would this be in connection with the shimmy problem, or ... ?

What do you figure he means by "road force"?

Mike

 

I think it has to do with the road force balancing machine for the tires.

but the tires aren't just the problem

 

Mike_TX - He isn't talking about the classic 'shimmy' we have been discussing here for a year and a half. How do we know this? Because our 'shimmy' is strictly a LATERAL vibration of the steering wheel, with no up-and-down component, so the (softer SL) shocks would not come into play.

The number of SE owners with our 'shimmy' seems to be about the same or higher here than the SL owners. That is another thing that tells us he is not talking about our classic 'shimmy'.

Thank goodness my SL rides like a top (at least at speeds up to 100mph). On Contis, no less.

 

Light - you are a lucky man - I finally got rid of the "shimmy" this weekend when the Goodyear dealer re-balanced the front end after replacing a tire because of the RSA issues below:


Front passenger side was off by 3/4 ounce, and after the work was done the shimmy was GONE!! It is now the way that the Nissan Gods thought it would be from the start! PERFECT!!

 

I am supremely happy that there are owners with working vehicles. Thats great guys! I just don't know why my SL isn't stable. At 100mph the car might as well just blow up from all the shaking. Today I had my best friend in the car just to reaffirm that I wan't crazy as we went for a drive. He noticed the vibrations and couldln't believe it. He said the visors were about to shake themselves loose.

Did I mention he is a Nissan Sales Rep?

...sigh...


But bravo to the guys and gals with working cars. Must be sweet..

 

no, i saw the shaking in my steering wheel too. it was really cold outside and the it only lasted for about 2 miles. that was scary until i remembered that my 2000 had similar shakes on that part of the roadway i drive to get to work.

it hasn't happened since (knock on wood) and the car is 2 weeks old now.

 

If **** goes south, I'll be selling my newly aquired Greddy Exhaust and my Brand spaking new (didn't even open the box) Injen Intake.

 

I just had a set of 17" steel rims and winter tires balanced on a Hunter 9700 machine. They used to have a vibration around 100kph and up. Had them rebalanced on normal equipment twice and they couldn't get rid of the problem.

Now after using the Hunter 9700 they are rock steady up over 160kph. I'm never letting my wheels get balanced unless its a road force variance machine.

 

You are lucky that there is a Hunter in your part of Canada - here in Omaha there isn't a machine to use anywhere - guess that they figure that tractors don't go fast enough to need that expensive of a machine to balance them... HAHAHA!!

 

Hunter has a website you can locate dealers with: http://www.hunter.com/pub/product/balancer/

 

just get it fixed. It is a waranty issue and a TSB is available (many possible causes so I'd print it and take it along). make sure Nissan or Goodyear has this like CanadianMoFo said: http://www.hunter.com/pub/product/balancer/

I promise once you get it resolved, you'll love your 04.

 

if you do let me know.. I live in your neck of the wood.. i'll be happy to have them...

 

Well, after reading the Hunter website info, "road force" seems to be another term for out of balance/out of round, etc. I guess what I don't understand is why Maximas would have more of a problem with this kind of thing than other cars (if in fact they do).

All I can figure out is that they have such "lively" - or sensitive - steering that these small imperfections telegraph through the steering wheel instead of being damped out. You'd think cars like BMWs and Porsches would have more of this kind of problem than lowly Nissans if that's the case, since they are known for their communicative steering and road feel. And face it - there's no new technological ground being broken by the Maxima's alloy wheels and Goodyear tires! Oh, well. At least I'm one of the "lucky ones" who don't have this problem.

Mike

 

I got Conti, not Goodyears.

They already turned my roters, and adjusted the steeringrack. Balanced and rotated my tires three times already.

So whats left to be fixed?

 

well, I'm with lightonthehill; no problem with my SL. 13k miles today.

 

Just wanted to say that this site is the best. I thought I was the only one with a vibrations in my steering wheel. What is the best to remedy this problem???

 

jasonjm - I'm sure you are aware (from the many related threads here) that the Hunter GSP9700 is the ONLY tire and wheel balancing apparatus that is accurate enough to do the Maxima properly. In cases like yours, a properly operated 9700 will usually find a problem, such as a bad tire or two or improper road force balancing.

I hope you will be very persistent in pursuing this problem. The car is under warranty for 36,000 miles, and you should expect the car to perform properly for at least that long.

If your steering wheel vibration is noticable at most speeds, it almost has to be a tire-wheel thing. If the vibration is just at a small speed range (such as 55 to 60 mph), it could be a tire-wheel thing, or they may not have done the steering rack TSB procedure properly.

I can assure you the friend who feels this is an SL problem is not correct. The only problems I have read about here that do not apply to both the SL and SE are the cracking Goodyears (SE only) and 6 speed manny problems (SE only).

 

thanks for the reassurance.

Today was my apt but they wanted it moved to Tue at 5:30.

I was told they had the machine but I'll have them show me.

No doubt I want this problem solved. I wouldn't have gone ahead and invested in aftermarket parts If I didn't like or want to keep the car.

Hopefully It all goes well cause I'm dying to hear the Injen Intake. I've been a good lil boy and didn't open the box yet.

 

at what mileage does this shimmy thing start again? I remember having it fixed in my 04 SL...my 05 SE has about 750 miles on her now. In Canada the SE comes with Goodyear tires...I'm guessing the US too? When do these crack's appear in the tires?

 

Mine had a slight "shimmy" between 45 - 60mph, and after the rebalancing I do not feel it anymore. The "shimmy" was a sporadic thing on my Max - sometimes nothing, sometimes there and it was hard to predict when it would show up - took it to the dealer for the TSB and they could not get the thing to do it so they said that they would wait and see if it returned.

After the trim to Goodyear and the rebalancing, it has not "shimmied" since. Am really happy about that!!

The cracks can show up anytime - I have had my Max for 18 months - only 6K miles +/- but one of tires had cracks on the inside. I would advise checking them everytime you get the oil changed (on the inside while it's in the air) and in the sunshine on the outside while you're waiting for your wife in the mall...HAHAHA!!