http://www.6thgenmaxima.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1925

how likely does this seem?

 

When it comes to the 6th gen Maxima, i'm not one to state anything as being unequivical. It may be that the aerodynamics of this plastic do affect some Maximas.

But I have had my Maxima well over 100mph, and am almost three years into driving my '04 SL with the referenced plastic intact, and I don't have 'the shimmy' at any speed. I can let go of the steering wheel, and, if the road is smooth, the steering wheel looks as if I am standing still.

On the 6th gen, tires MUST be balanced on the wheel, and the wheels MUST be on the car and spinning. Further, the balancing MUST be done on a machine that tells how far (and in which direction) from the centerline of the wheel the weight must be applied. Simply sticking in on the centerline will not do the job on this car.

In fifty-eight years of driving, I have never owned a vehicle that is so sensitive to tire and wheel balance. But when things are done carefully and correctly, the result can be a wonderfully pleasurable drive.

 

My 04 Max does not shimmy and this could be the reason. I noticed that the plastic is missing on my max. I was going to go to the dealer and buy it, but I'm gonna hold off on that until I see where this thread goes lol.

 

I'd say possible since that lip stands on the way of the windflow. I was going to simply trim it off since I scrape that piece alot.

 

can someone post a pic of what this piece is?

 

our 06 had a bad shimmy until the allignment was done by the dealer before we picked it up. now it rides great

 

The fact some Maximas with the plastic piece in place do not shimmy at all, yet other Maximas that do shimmy seem to improve when the piece is removed would seem to indicate that if something (alignment? balance?) is not exactly right on the car, and it is borderline to having the shimmy, the piece in question affects the aerodynamics just enough to cause the shimmy to emerge.

At least that is the only explanation I can think of that would seem to cover all the situations we have seen posted in this thread.

 

as soon as I get home to get my digicam

 

subscribe...want to see the pic too.

 

thx xoomer.com!

 

The fix does, in fact, work.

This whole shimmy issue was created by substantial wind resistance over the one inch lip that hangs from the plastic piece at the bottom of the car.

This will not fix the shimmy if the cause is the wheel balance, or the alignment.

It does fix the factory shimmy at 55-75 miles an hour.

The plastic shield is easy to locate. It's attached to the bottom of your front bumper. It protects the bottom of the engine.

The lip can be shaved and the bumper replaced and your shimmy will magically disappear.

Glad I could be of service! I hated the damn shimmy.

Joshua

 

Ok here we go fellas... It was already dark but the pics should be good enough.







Hope this helps

 

have u tried it xoomer?

 

That is the most ridiculous yes magical awesome fix I have ever heard off. I bet Nissan Engineers are feeling like a bunch of tard wads right about now.

Good Find Josh,

and

WELCOME TO THE .ORG!!!

Kamski

 

I got that piece ripped off running over a piece of truck tire @90MPH. My wife has it ripped off parking the car over the blocker and backed out. I had to drive without the piece for a couple of days, but I didnot pay attention to this. But but that's how I discovered the shimmys. If I don't pay attention to shimmy threads, I forgot about the shimmy. Because of these discussion, I found out my Pathfinder and my boss's Escallate both have the shimmys. I got to try my buddy's new RL out to look for the shimmy. Now I'm afraid to find out my 1-month old Murano may have a shimmy. I got to get it out of my head.

 

I laughed out loud when I read that.

We've already had two other people say the shimmy was fixed this way...will a couple others with factory shimmy try it out? It's worth taking a plastic piece off in 15 minutes to see if the car is corrected.

Joshua

 

I'll take it off this weekend, provided weather improves and trim off the lip. I don't have a big shimmy issue per se but have been wanting to trim it off for the longest. Will update then.

 

This is exactly what happened to mine...and I never do that. Always over-careful (is that a word?). Guess it happened for a reason.

Great find!!!

 

People that are saying, "well my 05 doesnt shimmy so this cant possibly fix it" .. the problem is known for 04's specifically, just to clearify..

 

He guys - I still have that plastic but I'm not sure I want to believe that story.

I've had my 04 since 8/1/03 - 10/1/03 while driving to FL. from Wa. state I had the tires rotated @ a dealer on OKC. They were not able to properly balance so they sent me to some one with a roadforce hunter 9700 machine that properly aligns the weight of the tire to the sweet spot on the wheel - then balances. After that I felt like I was riding on ice it was so smooth. I now get the shimmer at high speeds & when breaking lightly.

Im @ 90K now with new yokohama tire on Neeper Saapphire wheels and I first plan to replace my struts/ Pads and rotors and get an alignment - then roadforce the tires again. Anyone have any other suggestions

PS
I was told you must be carefull with pot holes and banging the tries not only will this mess up an alignment but also caus the tire to spin/shift on the wheel voiding the balance.

 

Just a quick clarification on what Road Force Balancing really is/does...

It does involve matching tire-to-wheel mounting position, but not based (entirely) on weight. The trick is finding and matching the softest point of the tire (sidewall stiffness) to the high point of the wheel. A wheel/tire combo can be perfectly balanced and perfectly round when unloaded, but when loaded a soft spot in the tire will become a "dynamic" roundness issue since it will flex more at that point of its rotation. The Hunter 9700 will attempt to find the high point of the wheel and match it to the soft spot of the tire so they can counterract each other (to a degree).

A quick check to verify if you suffer from a dynamic out-of-round issue is to temporarily overinflate your tires (no more than the tire's max pressure rating)... the extra pressure will help mask the tire's natural soft spot. If your vibration varies with tire pressure, chances are you will benefit from a good Road Force balance job. And a really thorough tech will actually go through all 4 wheels/tires to match up the best combinations.

So far... no vibration issues on my '07. Hope this front lip fix works out for you guys - definitely seems worth a try.

FYI - Possibly interesting tidbit of relatively useless info: Road Force balancing was introduced to the masses back in the 80's at the factory producing Cadillac Cimmarons. It was probably the most effective thing GM did to differentiate the Cimmaron from its Cavalier sibling. Fortunately the Cimmaron went away but road force balancing did not.

 

Dude you are discarding the whole idea without even trying. It would appear that it has worked for more than one person. Try it and then chime in.

As far as tire spinning on the whell, highly doubt that would be possible without ripping the tire to shreds (like during an accident)

 

OK.... My shimmy seems to have come back full force over the past few weeks. I have had my tires road force balanced, tires replaced, and been to the dealer about 5 times trying to get this fixed. I have however noticed something...

Before my 2006 Maxima puchase in Fall, I had a 2006 Altima SE that seemed to "shimmy" and I thought it was just the Bridgestone Fisher Price tires that were on the car. That being said, I wrote it off..

Yesterday, I had my Maxima in for a new grill and new rotors... Guess what my rental was. It was a '06 Altima. It was the 4-cyl but none the less, had the same freakin vibration on the wheel.

Something is definately up with these cars....

 

so what does it mean when i had no shimmy at all.
lost this air damper plasitc piece you are talking about since my new bumper could not match up with it (still no shimmy).

I changed my rotors (minor shimmy).

I changed my wheels (more noticeable shimmy).

the plastic may cause it to be more noticeable but surely is not a cause or solution. Unbalanced rotors, tires/wheels have contiuned to increase shimmy. We have a suspension issue that allows us to notice these unbalances more that other cars. I just see that certain parts transfer the vibration causing it to be more sensitive and noticeable.

 

Jesus.

First of all, there is more than one cause to the "shimmy" issue. Therefore, if one person fixes the shimmy on his car by rotating tires/balancing, very well. That was the cause. But for the people who have the factory shimmy, that is, the shimmy that came from the car new, I'm telling you that this is the cause. Now you don't have to believe me, and it really doesn't matter, because my shimmy is gone. Since you do not drive my car, and I do, I am happy and it really doesn't matter if you want to debate this or not. Several people now have taken off the piece/shaved the lip and corrected the shimmy. So instead of arguing over what the cause is, I suggest, and I will say this again, that if you have a shimmy and you've done all the obvious things to correct it (balancing, alignment, rotation), then take off the plastic piece and see what happens. It takes 5 minutes.

Isn't it worth it?

Joshua

 

Yes, the Altima has the same plastic piece.

I'm telling you....

Joshua

 

I'm having my tires balanced tomorrow at my dealer. (they're also replacing the chrome roof strips which are still under warranty)
Anyway, if the balancing doesn't fix my shims, that plastic lip is history.

 

I doubt, the dealer will properly balance your tires but hey, you know whats best.

I have a guy here in Brooklyn who uses Hunter 9700 to balance tires. On several ocasions I had the tires balanced by the dealer and costco and they dont know what they are doing. Before the guy rebalances my tires, we always check how much off the other places were. But if you have somebody at the dealership who will take care of you, it would be a different story. Just my $.02

 

Thanks for your feedback- actually, I don't know what's best, just doing everything I can think of to rid the problem, which is why I'm following this thread. I'm definitely going to ask what they use and see how confident they are about accuracy. Over the phone today, the service mgr was "willing to bet the shimmy was from tire imbalance". I said no way b/c the shims were always there on both sets of wheels/tires on this car, same speed everytime for me. Alignment done twice this year as well(Hunter). If it seems shady , I'll just take my free oil change, replacement trim and be on my way...
to a pro w/ a 9700 Thanks again Xoomer, good lookin-out.

 

My shimmy began after my tires were rotated and balanced, also had a wheel alignment at the Stealership. It occurs between 55 and 80 mph. They even tighten the rack and no resolution. I removed the plastic piece and no resolution. I took it back and they triple checked the balance and alignment and it was dead on, they let me stay in the bay and watch them. I removed that plastic piece that didn't work. They told me that it may be my tires and that are inferior to what was stock. I also think my rotor are worth checking for warpage.