What is up with Nissan's struts?
 

My '09 Max has been diagnosed by Nissan as having faulty struts at 16k. Set of struts on order. The '05 max we traded for the '09 needed struts in the first 12k. My Titan needed struts within the first 10k miles. Wow! Get those struts checked out.

What indications did you have that the struts are faulty?

If it is just the front struts it could be their insulators that have gone (would cause noise). These have been recalled on some of the 09's made in a certain time - see the sticky. Mine are going to be replaced tomorrow.

Never had any strut problems, 06 or current 09, do you fly over speed bumps

Mine was mfg'd Sept 2008, purchased in March 2009. I immediately noticed noises coming from the front suspension going over speed bumps, accelerating through turns, or going through an intersection with a dip in it (where the car kind of feels like it bottoms out -- not really bottoming out, but you know what I mean).

It only happens when the temp is above 75-80, but it has not been warm enough to take it back to the dealer yet. ugh

I think its you....are you wheeling with all your rides...lol...

Best check with your county commissioners and find out if there is any plan to pave the wagon trails you are driving on.

To be a little more serious, even though I have never had Maxima strut issues, there were a few strut issues with the 5th gen Maxima early on, and there were several dozen folks on the 6th gen board who had bad struts on their '04 Maximas early on. A few had to have theirs replaced several times. Even some '05 and a few '06 Maxima owners had strut issues.

These strut problems show up in Consumer Reports reliability ratings, where the '04 Maxima had a 'black ball' (way worse than average) in the suspension box, and it took Nissan until 2008 to get these Maxima strut issues completely perfect and gradually work the CU suspension rating all the way back up to an 'orange ball' (way better than average).

But, with the release of the new 7th gen, I have once more seen strut noises mentioned here on the 7th gen board, beginning long before Nissan had put any of those bad insulators into cars. Struts just seem to sometimes be an issue with each new gen Maxima.

If none of you guys are having issues, maybe it is me or my wife, but we have decent roads and I consider myself a VERY careful driver. This time my wife noticed it. She said it felt different, took it to the dealer. The service advisor drove the car and said it seemed fine. Sent it in back to a mechanic and the mechanic said it had a faulty strut but they would replace both sides. With the exception of the Titan, both of the vehicles were driven exclusively by my wife. Maybe she is fourwheeling lol.

Maybe your wife drives kinda hard, most newer cars, with modern stiff suspensions can hit potholes and speed bumps with relatively no adverse effects on the driver, now take that smooth drive over a deep pot hole or speed bump and jump into a Ford Explorer, the Explorer has to crawl over the speed bump like it's a fallen tree on a mountain 4x4 trail.

With that said, Im at fault to, I have slowed down over certain pot holes and especially speed bumps, cause I may not feel it but it's beating the hell out of my car;)

My Struts are shot.... Does anyone know where I can buy some aftermarket ones? Dealership has them but they seem very expensive. Over 190 a piece. I need the front struts and back shocks for a 2009 Maxima S

Sorry for jacking your thread.... I am desperate.

I've looked all around for the past year and haven't found ANY aftermarket struts for the 2009+ Maxima. KYB, Monroe, Koni... nobody makes them for the A35 that I can see.

Yeah. I have tried too but havent found anything yet. I am not too car-savy, why would that be? Why wouldnt there be any aftermarket struts?

Honestly I don't have a clue. This model has been out for long enough for some aftermarket strut manufacturer to come out with one... or maybe they think it hasn't been a long enough time span for folks to need new struts lol.

Just have to "search"
http://www.partsgeek.com/catalog/200..._assembly.html

Wow... I feel dumb! :o

He he...when you own a benz and want to get non OEM stuff you explore all the corners of the web :)....this was one of them...
Very fast shipping and their customer service is awesome!
Not a plug, but telling how it is :)

I've literally checked out umpteen auto websites and didn't come across anything. Just wished KYB would offer their AGX series (adjustable) struts sometime soon...

Thanks! I will try them. I bought some off of another parts website and when they arrived, they were not for the 7th Generation Maxima. Took me close to 4 months to be able to return them and get a refund. Hopefully, these struts are not the same ones I was sold recently.

Nissan struts/shocks are crap. It has always been like that.

Just as an update. I ordered the struts off of this site and they are the exact same ones I was sent by another vendor. These struts claim to fit an 2009 Maxima but do not. Several sites are selling them as replacements but they sure aren't. The websites are not being misleading, the manufacturer is....

Sucks because you have to take everything apart to figure out they don't belong.

^ now that's bogus! Sorry about your misfortune, twice.

Hahaha... I am starting to get used to it.

I am going to return these and buy them from a Nisan dealer. :(

nissan struts suck donkey balls... they are a problem in the 6th gen and the same with the 7th gen..

What I can not for the life of me figure out is, why the Nissan suspension system, on all their vehicles, have air compressors on it so that when you go over speed bumps, etc, it makes this loud air compression noise. I've had vehicles from Acura, Infiniti, Caddy, Chevy, and Lexus over the years and not one of them make this noise when going over bumps. So there is a way to have the suspension, not make this noise when it goes over bumps, but for some reason, Nissan hasn't been able to figure out how.

i think ever since they form that alliance with renault they gave away all there good parts manufactures and went with the lowest bidder for parts...they won't fix it cause its not a problem in there eyes.. I'm still considering a honda or a toyota..