NashMax,

They perform the runout whenever I bring it in for this problem. That's how they determine I need new tires. The tire always end up being out of spec. They aren't when they get them new though. I'll definitely demand new rotors under warranty.

Why the new bench seat Bad Black?

Did you guys see the TSB for the loose headliner issue? I get some rattling up there as well as from the sunroof area. Also, the cheap finish around the guage cluster is starting to flake off. Of course, everytime the dealer takes something out or replaces it they scratch something else and have to order a part to replace what they scratched. Sometimes they source out the job to someone to try to refinish the scratches instead. I guess they use some sort of dye.

Next visit will include the following: the vibration still needs addressed, rotors warped, rattling headliner, peeling finish around instrument cluster, new info screen scrathes, glove box rattles and is misaligned, chrome strips have mismatch finish, noisy struts and car performance is sluggish. I know there are a couple more things, but the list is so long I can't recall everything right now.

I'm coming up on two years of ownership and they are still addressing issues that have been going on since my purchase. This car now tops my 93 Pontiac T/A and my 99 Chevy Silverado in terms of issues for a complete 1st year re-design. Worse than the General, which is kind of unbelievable.

 

Why the new bench seat Bad Black?


When I got my car there was a cut in the seat. They tried to repair it but the repair turned yellow. So they ordered me a new seat. Not bad.

 

Clipper:
I may be mistaken, but I think runout is horizontal or side to side. I found this while learning. See below. It is from the gsp9700 website. It actually says that an rfv of greater than 9 means the tire is bad when Nissan says 21. Give it a read and it should definitely give you some more questions to ask when they replace your Michelins.

http://www.gsp9700.com/pub/technical/ITW.pdf

 

Nashmax:

Nissan tells me when the rfv is above 10 it's out of spec. When my Pilot Sport A/S were 1st mounted the were 7 or 8 all the way around, which is great right? Bet they won't be when I take her back in thogh. Some of the RSA's they kept ordering would come in at 20 plus. The tire issues have to be problematic on other vehicles too. I have never had another vehicle have these issues though. Three of my vehicles had after market rims and never had this issue. The dealer tries to blame it on the rims, but when they mount the tires on the stock rims it's the same result. There are just some design issues with the vehicle that have to be causing this. I think I'm finally just getting used to it though. Probably because it is still much improved with the Michelin's vs. the Goodyear's.

 

Clipper,
Don't know if you received the PM I sent you when I got my trans. But I have taken two 70-100 mile jaunts and the severe vibration is not shown itself as of yet. Now it's down to the regular vibration just like everyone else. Of the two dealers that I dealt with I have been told that an RFV max spec is 18-20 on these cars I have had mine to a min of 6 max of 14 and the car still vibrated badly. You might concider trying to push them about the Trans issue as your car has shown the same characteristics as mine did before the swap.

 

Well, congrats are in order that you got the severe vibration taken care of, now onto the smaller vibration. I hope it will be as simple as a new heavy rack or rear control arms. It is a new rear suspension over the 5th Gen, maybe it needs to have some beefier parts- not every part can be a weight savings. Every day when I log on here I hope to see that Nissan has finally issued a recall on the Max b/c they have solved the problem. Maybe they can invite some Honda engineers over to try and solve this, never had this problem with my 96 and 98 accords or my 02 TL-- or even my 78 Chevy Monza hatchback. Heck, my 05 Pathfinder has a smoother ride than my Max. It is slight and it is annoying, but the vibration/shimmy problem takes so much away from an otherwise great car. I look at my Max and REALLY like it, the interior is great and it has all of the options I could want, except for one.... I wish I didn't buy one that shakes at 60 MPH. Damn.

 

BadBlack:

Can't agree more.

Daves04: I mentioned the trans to the service manager today. He isn't scheduling an appointment for me until he talks to the regional rep. I guess Nissan Consumer Affairs wants the rep involved since I have been complaining so profusely. I asked Nissan CA to buy it back. The Nissan CA Rep has been very understanding and realizes this is a big issue. She pushed through the extended warranty free of charge in less than a day. This is the 5th Nissan I've owned, so hopefully that helps my case for buy back, but I doubt it. I've been fairly loyal to them, so you never know. I told them I'm about ready to graduate to the next level on my next purchase, which is Infiniti. They need to do something to keep me or Lexus and Acura are looking offly appealing.

 

Pertaining to the steering wheel shimmy I definately believe this happens to my car because of the tires developing flat spots when parked. I have GY F1's that cost an arm and a leg and are made of a very soft compound compared to the OEM tires. I never had a problem with the OEM tires until they split, and the wheels were rotated, rebalanced, and different tires were put on. As it is now, the shimmy only happens enough to notice when the car has sat parked overnight. That is enough for me to believe it is the tires being cold and flattened on a spot to cause the shimmy. Therefore, im not really concerned anymore..I suppose putting a little extra air in the tires may help alleviate that problem as well.

 

Clipper,
If you want to mention the DTS that worked on my car, his name is Jimmy and he is out of the Atlanta area. I hope you have better luck with the buy back than I did. But the trans seems to be addressing the issue. Still have to take a long jaunt so we shall see. PM me on what you said to get them to extend the warranty. I think that I am going to try and push that myself.

04Black
Please understand that what we are talking about in this thread does not have anything to do with the shimmy, all of us have that and it is something we just have to get used to. The issue we are dealing with is a vibration throughout the car, very strong and as my case was on the edge of dangerous to drive.

 

Thanks Daves04. I sent you a PM. I'm still waiting on the Service Manager to call me back. The Nissan Rep wanted informed before I came back in. They may be bringing in someone that actually knows something about this issue unlike the tech's at my dealership. I sure hope so. Kind of hoping for a buy back now. A 350Z sure sounds good.

 

they had to changed the brake pads at 4,000km on mine, vibrated like a #$#%!, even when not braking.

I would lemon law it if thye keep jerking you

 

Hey all, just an update......big supprise the trans did not fix the car..... still shakes like a bear, although not as bad as before, still pretty bad. So now they are supposed to do the subframe replacement........... I'm going to name my car Nissan TSB or maybe Nissan test project...LOL

 

My 2005 does the exact same thing...been in and out of the shop going on 3 times. Nothing. I even had an area rep from Nissan drive it, and listen to the door rattles, dash rattles, etc,etc...now I have to go back to get both door rubber mouldings replaced because one has wind noise. I asked the rep what kinda deal we could get as a trade in, to up to an Armada or something....nothing....
will be my last Nissan product. Period.

 

I have been planning on buying a 2005 for the last couple of months. Wanted to wait until we got closer to the '06s to make a move. Last week I drove two cars and the vibration was horrible. Both cars were the same. 45-65 mph just like everyone has reported. I have been a Maxima fan since 1985. So I figure maybe I'll check out the Altima. According to their forums they are having the exact same problem.

I can't understand how a company can let this happen. They obviously know by now what the cause is. I hate that they are forcing me to look at other manufacturers.

 

I hate to say it...but they lost me as a loyal Nissan fan...shame, this was my 3rd brand new Nissan.

 

Guys...quite a few Gen 5's (the 2000-2003 models) also shimmy if the balance and road force are not spot-on, meaning, less than 10 lbs of road force. I know because I swapped out a set of nearly new Michelin Pilots for a set of Bridgestone Turanzas in part because the damn Pilots would not balance well, meaning, there was always a bit of shake and shimmy in the car -and these tires were Road Forcing about 12 to 15 lbs....well within what the Hunter 9700 machine calls 'good'.

Most techs ands shops that have the Hunter 9700's Road Force Analyzers rely on the machine to classify a tire/wheel assembly as 'good' and the machine will call anything less than 20 lbs of road force as 'good' for a 17" or 18" diameter wheel. Unfortunately, at 19 lbs of Road Force, our cars (yours too) will shake like *****, so....you have to ensure the tires/wheels are mounted (and remounted and remounted and remounted) as many times as u have to to get the Road Force to 10 lbs or less. You also have to specify to have the assemblies balanced to tenths of ounces instead of to quarter-ounces as they do normally.

Get a shop with a 9700 and a tech who know how to use it and get the RF to less than 10 lbs, then we can talk about lemons...

 

After 3 visits to the dealer, 4 new tires, and repeated balancing, and match-balancing, my vibration is pretty much resolved. Never had the front end shimmy. A little buzz in the floorboard, but nothing like it was. I can live with this. I have the OEM Conti's...I wonder what will happen when I need new tires at 20K. Dealer also fixed rattle in roof liner on second try. So, two months after taking possession, I think it's finally right. The car has so much potential with that engine and the interior space. Too bad that Nissan has these quality issues across the model line. I'm just going to drive the thing now. Keeping my fingers crossed, as I put on 110 hwy miles/day.

It's going to be real interesting to watch the Consumer Reports on this car. The initial review was favorable, but the follow-ups should be revealing.

Quick off-thread question: Any tricks to pulling the trunk liner out so I can install my OEM Sirius? A special tool to pull the fasteners, maybe?

 

off-thread answer: hands. Just pull. You will probably only need the ones toward the back of the car to install the sirius.

 

Did the dealer charge you guys for the balancing and/or new tires to fix the shimmy? I just started getting the shimmy at 14k miles, and I just want to know how much if this is covered under the warranty.

 

They did not charge me, as they have been working on it since it barely had 1000 miles on it. Now, my problem was not the '04 shimmy...I never have had a problem with the front end....it was the '05 vibration, if we want to call it that. Good luck.

Nash, thx for the off-thread response.

 

Last update, and last time that I will resurect this thread. Had my Max in last week for the subframe replacement................ well I'll just say it was successful at 2 things.........1) it SLIGHTLY stress SLIGHTLY reduced the vibration (for now) 2) now it vibrates all the time (it does not come and go like before) Made a 200 mile round trip to south carolina yesterday and it started immediately. The biggest thing that I noticed was that the front starts to shake a bit starting at about 74/75mph the rear kicks in around 78 and above that it is just wonderful.....called my DTS and I guess we will see what happens

 

wow man, If its really bad, have you considered biting the bullet and trading it in? Is that in the cards?

 

Man I really feel bad for you guys. I have had my 04 for almost 2.5 yrs and have had no real issues. few rattles here and there and my springs make some noise but nothing to write home about. Can't imagine what a dreaded vibration would feel like above 75 . Mine is smooth as silk ESPECIALLY at high speeds. Sorry to hear about your experience...