Majestic303

I had gone back to the dealer after that (same dealer) as the shimmy reappeared. They adjusted the steering rack again and In early March of this year, it came back again... They opted to warranty out my steering rack assembly. Now it's April (at into late March), i began feeling and seeing the shimmy. So.. it's going back!

I'm pretty (Overly!) frustrated at this point (much earlier than this to be honest). It's gonna go to another dealer however.

I think this issue with these cars needs to be put in the public. That seemed to work wonders for those with the Ipod Nano's and the faces scratching easily where they (apple) admitted to a "bad batch" of plastic faces. I know these cars are no Ipod nanos compared to size, money, and product, but the defects behind them are similar, basically not acceptable given the price paid to what's expected.

There was an issue here and nationwide on the local channel where a certain model of Volvo was having problems with them turning off and losing power. There was a class action filed and Volvo ending up replacing the faulty part and extending the warranty from future occurences. Sounds like the same situation with our Nissans and the shimmy. Whether they know what the problem is, aware of it and not telling anyone, it needs to be dealt with... somehow. It seems going back and forth to the dealer is just a waste of time because THEY have no clue what the problem is, let alone fix it.

Majestic303

I'd imagine a local attorney who specializes in it and from that point those experiencing the problem as well can add their name to the list of filers on behalf of that lawyer. There are other forums besides this one (Edmunds, Autoweek, and a few others) where people are complaining of the same problem. So there's no shortage of people to add to the list.

Galto2000

I spent all evening reading various posts on the shimmy issue; this is really bad - oh my.

You know, I talked with Nissan Customers affairs about it - in some way;

After I returned my car 4 consecutive times (took it in on Monday, had to return is Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday) since each time I got it back I still had a shimmy. And after all that I still had a shimmy. This was all back in March this year.

So I filed a complaint to Nissan North America. Basically those guys at the Fairfax dealership were kinda making me feel like the bad guy here, so I wouldn't have that behaviour and thus I complained. Also, having to return my car 4 times in a row I found was unacceptable.

Couple of days later the NNA customer guys calls me for a follow up, and I explained to him that I still had a shimmy. Guess what, the Nissan North America customer affairs guy literally told me that he took the word of the dealership over mine; they said they fixed it and thus he filed my case as "solved". What a w4nker! I couldn't believe it!

I think you are right; we need to kick Nissan's behind indeed!

kamski

iTrader: (9)

I just got my NISMO rims on, and now I have the shimmy!

I ran the car with the wheels off and the Wilwood Rotors are smooth and flawless.

I put the wheel on and I see it hopping, (1st gear) so I lift the other side and the other side is smooth.

I hope its just the tires and not the rim, dealrship bought TOYO proxes T1r tires.

Damnit.

Kam

Galto2000

I took my maxima to the local goodyear shop this morning. I asked them to spend half a day figuring out where the shimmy comes from. I figured they are experts at wheels and stuff, and they are not Nissan-biased.

After having read as much as possible shimmy threads on this forum, I am less than hopeful for a solution (or at least a fix that lasts).

Say kamilkluczewski, those NISMO rims, are these the stock wheels or what?

I am also very confused on the procedures you caried out;

"You ran the car with the wheels off"; do you mean you spun the hub and looked at it with your eye or some instrument? I am also not sure what you mean by "lifting the other side".

Sorry, I am not a car 'techie', its all new to me.

Majestic303

I haven't taken my car to Goodyear or any other place for that matter, since i'm under warranty. However, the time i've spent at the dealer could have easily paid for a "second opinion". Keep us posted on what Goodyear has to say.

Galto2000

I am not an expert on law, but here is my 2 cents:

I guess we need to find most of the Maxima shimmy-sufferers first.

If we start a new thread for this with the right subject title, we might get at least more publicity within the maxima.org community to start with.

But perhaps our best bet is to set up a dedicated searchable website where shimmy-ridden maxima drivers can register.

Majestic303

That's just the thing really. You'd need people to join in on the Class Action. Granted, once the lawyer is found, people who have the issue, simply put their name on the list, but it may not be that easy. I agree, perhaps another thread with a poll on who would be interested in persuing a class action.

A good place to start to see that the complaints have already been filed with the government is this link, NHTSA.

http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/pr...aintsearch.cfm

Galto2000

Just did a search for Nissan Maxima 2004 defects.
Nothing about shimmy....

however when I searched on all complaints on Maxima 04: 39 out of a total of 204 complaints where shimmy related !! That is almost a fifth of all the complaints.

Majestic303

Yeah, it depends on what that person who's making the complaint categorizes the problem as (steering, wheels, brakes, etc)

I've noticed that alot of the times owners will label the shaking of the car when they're braking as being "the shimmy", when in fact as you know, that problem is just simply warped rotors.

Galto2000

Correction, 40 out of 205 complaints are shimmy related; just added mine to the list. ;-)

I listed all categories of Maxima 04 complaints, and read through all of them, filtered out ones that did not fall in the shimmy category (including warped rotors etc.), and I copy-pasted them in a word document.

I was thinking to write a complaint to NNA, and attaching the word document as backup and demanding them to fix it. I have written quite a few complaints about this to them, maybe this time they will take me seriously.

04SMOKE

I had the shimmy but I changed my rotors, rims, tires, and got a road force balance and I don't have shimmy anymore. I'll keep my fingers crossed it won't come back.

Majestic303

Definitely cool you got your problem fixed!... just amazes me though what has to be done to get this issue resolved and the cost/time involved. A car like ours should require only maintenance and good upkeep. These issues should be resolved by Nissan themselves and not us going back and forth to the dealer and having spend the cash out of our own pockets... IMHO

There were a few other threads about changing the air pressure in the tires to resolve the issue. Now i know there are other vehicles that also have 40/45 series tires with "sensitive" tight suspension, but it shouldn't be a science just to get the d@mn car to ride like it should be right from the dealership... once again... my frustration coming out

kamski

iTrader: (9)

DAMN THATS RIGHT ON THE MONEY

Majestic303

Thanks for agreeing with me on this!

Any lawyers on the org?

Galto2000

I got my car back from Goodyear last night. They stuck to what they do best; tires and wheels. I also gave them a copy of the shimmy TSB and the steering rack TSB when I left my Max with them.

They did not touch the steering rack and basically all what they did was they used their best balancing machine and did a very careful job.

The shimmy is minimal, but still there. Especially if you take it on a road with a smooth surface at 55 Mph, and keeping the hands of the wheel I can clearly see the shimmy, but the vibration is damped as soon as I put my hands on it.

They recommended I did the road force balance as well (they were not equipped to do this, they had and used the Hunter which was just below the model that does the road force balance)

However, they told me that all my wheels had some impact damage from probably potholes. All my rims have a dent in it, but they could not tell how much of this rim damage contributed to the shimmy. But they say that the dents in my rims were small.

I swear though I can hear the dreaded shimmy say something to me, something like "Oh, I will be back.... I will be back"



G

Galto2000

what tires, rims and rotors did you replace the originals with?

how many days and miles ago did you do this?

Thanks :-)

G

jasonjm

iTrader: (1)

I already sued them and had a very favorable outcome. It was enough to get me OUT of the max and into another NON Nissan vehicle. :-D

If you read my previous posts you'll see all the problems I had.

It was a Pain...I can't believe there are people here still dealing with it...

eh...

MIKEDINERO2000

What was the outcome of your lawsuit?

Majestic303

That's just about where i'm at now... the shimmy is slight (for the most part), but on really smooth interstates, you can feel it in the steering wheel and your hands will absorb most of it, but still annoying enough to where you KNOW this is not normal.

I had about the same responses on on one trip to Nissan, with them saying slight bent rim, out of round tires, alignment, or the best one "perhaps one of your weights fell off" (right!).

Another thought is, somewhat close to my previous post, is there are PLENTY of cars out there with 18in or larger rims with 45s and thinner tires, that don't have to go through all this and hear "bent rims, alignment problem, the suspension is sensitive and too responsive crap".. Granted i'm no expert, but non this cr@p they feed us is making sense, more less excuses. I don't blame the techs, but Nissan for putting out a subpar probuct and can almost guarantee being aware of the issue for some time now, but not coming out with a solution in a timely fashion.

In the beginning those who had the problem sued, but it now seems to be on a much larger scale to where individual lawsuits only make small dents in the bigger picture, but a class action may make them move a little faster on the solution for future owner who hopefully won't have to do deal with this because it's just not right.

Those who don't have the shimmy issue as we do are fortunate enough to truly enjoy this great car, which it really is imho, but for those of us who DO have it, well.. you know the story

Galto2000

How to organize a class action lawsuit:

http://www.ehow.com/how_135688_organ...ss-action.html

Who is up for it?

Majestic303

I think that's a good place to start.. gathering up people interested.. There were a bunch of people on the other thread who had/are having the same issue.

Perhaps a poll, something to the effect of...

Those interested in a Class Action with the Shimmy Issue, select yes or no, but personal info will need to be gathered. I haven't read the link you provided yet, but i believe the lawyer would gather the names and info of those persuing it.

It may be a good idea to make the poll a sticky, if possible, so it doesn't get pushed down with new posted that come on the Org.

Majestic303

In addition to my above post and previous comments, i believe there are other forums on Autoweek, Edmunds, and the NHTSA for other people having the same issue not on this board.

Galto2000

Yes, starting a separate thread is definitely a good starting point - make it clear it is for people that want to sign up on a class action suit.

Per definition of a class action suit, we need a large number of people who suffer from the same act. Unfortunately it does not state how large a crowd. We also are also going to need people for various little tasks.

I think a simple poll is not going to be sufficient, we might have to come up with a website where people can register, and give their information in confidence. We need a web host and someone that can design a website.

I don't seem to be able to start threads for some reason

Majestic303

I'd hope those having this shimmy issue would be willing to jump in on a class action because it seems more time is wasted trying to get nissan address they have a problem with these cars, let alone fix them, so i think there should be ample amount of people.

As far as building a website for people to register, do you know anyone to do this? Nothing personal, but i see where you're going with it being private and a method to get your name on the list, but if there's enough interest and people can honestly be willing to commit, once a lawyer is found, they can register with him, via his/her office/website/etc... no?

Off topic, if i remember correctly, once you've made your 15 posts you can create threads, with polls if you like

Galto2000

I am assuming that when a person suffers from persistent shimmy with his/her 6th gen Maxima, he/she goes to google and does a search for it. It would be nice that the very first site encountered is just a simple one pager explaining the details of the issue and the class action. Then followed by an entry dialog (Q&A type) for registration. It would also be nice if it gave some compelling statistics like how many maxima owners have registered so far.

But this is just one way to go about it. other suggestions are more than welcome.

I am off for an early weekend break to the beach. I will give this some more thought, and when I return I will exercise my new-found org privileges which allow me to make threads and polls

When it comes to a lawyer, we are going to need $$$’s I suppose, that is another issue.

Majestic303

I couldn't agree more.. one location for all the info and what not.. I do believe though that many lawyers do infact post the details of the Class Action on their website and have links to submit your information, in private. Don't quote me on this of course but i'm pretty sure alot of them do.

As far as money is concerned, I would only think that those who purchased this vehicle and is experiencing the shimmy problem, without satifactory resolution, along time and money wasted/invested would be fine chipping in on the cost for a peace of mind and getting a problem fixed that should have been addressed a long time ago

kamski

iTrader: (9)

Can a class action suit be applied to canadian residents also?

Kam

Majestic303

Good question... i'd see why not.... I mean you are having the same issues as us and from what i recall the canadian models have a few differences like DRL, but not suspension changes...