Hey guys. I have a 2010 Maxima S with an eibach pro kit.

My suspension recently started creaking at low speeds going over different road surfaces and when turning.

My best guess is that the springs are causing this? Is this an issue I need to get fixed or can I keep driving around?

Thanks in advance

 

This might be the famous front suspension recall a lot of people are talking about. I noticed it on mine (during slow turns, a small creak/pop on the left front side). According to the VIN number my car should not be affected but it sure sounds like the other users are experiencing.

Here's the official thread: http://forums.maxima.org/7th-generation-maxima-2009/599282-front-suspension-recall.html

 

Tried that link and got error.... Also the guy was saying he has eibach springs, not the stock but i would like to see the the page anyhow.

 

Crap I hope this is not caused by the recall. I was told the factory warranty covering my suspension was voided because I put the eibach springs in.

 

i hear the same noise my vin is not in the window of the recall but my dealer said they going to replace them anyway ill let u know what happens

 

Sounds good, looking forward to hearing how it turns out for you.

 

Same here -- my car is getting the insulators on Tuesday.. it was not in the recall either but a drive with the tech in the car showed him the same exact symptoms.

 

I have an '10 that did not fall in that recall date either, but the noise seemed to progressively sound worse, so after showing the tech, they replace and that part has been fixed; I still have vibrations at highway speed(they did a force balance?) yesterday and it seemed to help a little, but i still see the passenger seat vibrating at certain speeds- so i will be going back again. I am really getting irritated with the dealer visits with this vibrating problem. I had an 07 that drove the way i expected this car to drive. bottom line is if they hear the clunking sound, they will fix it...

 

Dude there are other threads about the vibration issues. I'm going through the exact same thing as you and there is a TSB for the vibrating passenger seat. They performed the TSB on my passenger front seat and balanced/aligned my car and the vibrations remain. Come to find out, it has all to do with the RS-A tires. They are known to have inherent vibration issues b/c they were designed to give rough feedback into the car, was told this by my Nissan stealer and by a local Goodyear Tire Dealer. Only way to get rid of the vibrations is to get new tires on, perferentially Michelin MXV4s but good luck getting the Nissan stealer to do it for nothing, despite the fact some Nissan stealers do. Mine would not but it was okay for me to pay full price out of pocket for them on a pratically brand new 38k dollar vehicle!

 

I had the new insulators put in and it helped, but it still creaks, I was wondering if it had anything to do with 20s but who knows, the sub hides all of the sounds now lol

 

smarty- I did read about the tires, but did hope that the strut insulator and balance would resolve; so , I am calling and making an appointment tomorrow and will go from there. will let you know if i get any resolution, because I will keep going back until its fixed- at least that is the plan as of right now- cant see me dropping money for new tires on a brand new 37k car w/under 10k miles

 

I know man, I feel the same way about the tires as you do, but so far, from my vibration experience and what others who are having bad vibration experiences on here have said, getting new tires seems to be the only thing that really solves the problem, but I'm at the point, I don't want to pay for brand new tires on a new vehicle either so you might have to live with the vibrations.

I have had the car balanced on Hunter GSP9700 with straightrak twice and an all wheel alignment done and the vibrations continued. I'm pissed I spent the extra money on performance balancing and they still remain so balancing and alignments is not going to solve the problem. I can't speak for the strut insulators but I don't think replacing them will solve the vibration problems.

My Nissan stealership, though they were not going to help me, even came out and told me that the tires are the primary cause of the problems and that when customers paid to have Michelin Primacy's put on that the vibration problems went away afterward, but that they are not going to swap the tires for free, despite the fact others and two Nissan techs on here told me that some Nissan stealers are doing this!

 

heading out to my dealer this Friday am- talking with their manager(if that helps any?), but if you think that it is the RS-A tires currently on your car and not everyone else is having the same problem with their tires(and getting the michellins sounds pretty difficult) why not opt for a swap for a new set of RS-A tires? if the problem remains, then you can be fairly certain that it may be something else or just unlucky to have picked another set of problematic tires, but that is a minimal chance- anyway, i may opt for that course as they may be willing to go that route.

 

well I'm not the only one though on here going through this with vibration issues. The service manager at my local stealer even took me out in a new Maxima they just got in and the passenger seat vibrated and he is the one who told me that it all stems from the tires. Since it occurs on other Max's it can't be just from my specific tires. When I was in for an oil change on my Acura at my local Goodyear dealership, I asked them about the RS-A, and the guy told me that they have a enormous amount of people come in complaining about those tires and vibrations/shimmy and they typically recommend getting a different Goodyear tire that has less of that on it. Problem is, the the Eagle Responsedges are rated for noise and vibrations as well.

 

funny thing is there were two silver '10 's on the lot and i picked the one with the funky tires -- i am still going friday and will try my luck with this dealership and see what results i get-just cant see them balancing the car indefinitely; any luck with changing PSI on tires???

 

no, it didn't make a different changing PSI!

 

i am getting this creaking problem on my 2014 SV sport, ever since I had the eibachs put in. Is there a part number for the recall isolators? I doubt they will warranty it since I have the drop springs I will just get the isolators put on if it will fix it.

 

Welcome to the eibach spring creak club. This has happened to a lot of us. The springs are progressive so the first spring rate is soft. If you look at the springs the coils are bottomed out on each other and when you turn the wheel they "bind and release" on each other. I found that if I out my car on a lift to take the load of the suspension then I grabbed the spring and rotated it a half inch a way from the stop on the perch. I then used some spiral wiring loom to cover the rear of the coils that could touch. I then used a slight layer of bearing grease to lube the coils that touched. The sound went away. It drove me nuts until I figured that out. Give it a shot.

 

I was looking at my stocking springs, and it looks like there was something that would cover certain coils, it isn't there anymore so I'm guessing they swapped it to the eibachs. I'm going back to the shop and am going to have them make sure the springs are seated correctly, and lube the springs. I'll grab some wire loom to bring them too, just in case.

 

There probably wasn't anything that covered your stock springs because they are linear springs and not progressive springs with different spring rates. Should be some insulator on the eibach springs on the springs that touch.

 

I thought there might have been because I thought it was a tsb for the older 7th gens. So wire loom is fine it will last? Or did eibach forget something in my spring box? When you had the problem it was kind of like a popping you could feel thru the steering wheel?

 

That is the exact sensation. Jack the front up a little bit to unload the spring and lubricator the springs that touch and see if the sound goes away or gets better. That will tell you if you are having tug and release spring bind. The combo of spiral wiring loom from radioshack, rotating the bottom end of the spring a half inch from the stop on the perch and lubricating the springs made all sounds on my springs go away. You do not need to take the front end apart to trouble shoot this. If nothing that you do makes the sound better you can go further to verify why it's happening. Start at the spring.

 

Thanks Abe for the great info, I am going to give my mechanic your suggestions. I'm so glad I found out what the problem is, having suspension noise on a brand new car is driving me nuts! I will post up the results after I go back to the shop.

 

I brought it back to them, they said the strut bearings are fine since the car has only 10k miles on it. They put the spiral loom on which made it a lot better but it's still doing it a little. I am just going to bring it to nissan so they can figure it out I guess