just curious if anyone has experience with this, i notice my steering wheel vibrates when i brake, (usually more noticeable at higher speeds) i feel like ive noticed it before and then when i get a tune up theyve told me i had a broken rear end link or strut or something and its gone away. now im not sure if i keep hitting a big pothole and doing it again, or if theres another issue at large here like warped rotors, any info is appreciated

 

brakes are shot. They will turn the rotors once under warranty for no charge, this assumes they can be turned if the warp-age isn't to bad. Otherwise, pony up $350 or so for a dealer job, $200 for a home job using nissan parts. In my experience the nissan brakes tend to last and not warp. I have 52K on the car and still on the original brakes. They have been turned once and I do mostly highway but they do see a fair amount of abuse occasionally.

 

I'm also experienced this when I first bought the car...it starts to vibrate when it goes up to 65+, brought it in to the dealer multiples times to have it checked out...they found that the problem was the rear tires, the belt inside the tires were bent...switched out new tires and it vibrates less...it still vibrates a little at high speed, I'm going to change the brake and see if that'll help...

 

vibration while braking means your brakes usually. mine used to do that and i replaced front rotors/pads and its smooth again

 

My 2009 with 36000 miles has started doing the same thing....actually started 10,000 miles ago and is progressively getting worse.

Either Nissan is putting some REALLY REALLY crappy rotors on the car, or everytime the car goes anywhere for service that requires wheels removed, it gets the air wrench. With the lugnuts tightened to 200 ft-lbs (ESPECIALLY with inconsistently torqued lugnuts)....no wonder they warp. My guess is a combination of both.

Actually, the ONLY time the wheels have been removed and reinstalled by someone other than me (and had the air wrench taken to it) was when I had tires replaced @ Discount Tire....that's when it started. Go figure.

 

One of my pet peeves is the way service departments simply tighten the lugs until the air wrench won't tighten them any more.

The Maxima manual calls for 85 foot pounds, but as soon as I get home from any service requiring the tires/wheels to be removed, I loosen and re-tighten each lug (one at a time) to only 80 foot pounds.

My son tightens the lugs on his TL to only 70 foot pounds. He has done this for over a decade, and hasn't lost a wheel yet. I'm not quite that brave.

 

That's exactly what I do (and did). Unfortunately, it was a 2 1/2 hr drive back from the tire shop...just enough time to get the warping started.

I shoulda just done it right there in the parking lot before pulling out. LOL.

Late,
Trav

 

mine did that i just changed the brake pads and i was good!

 

So just to be sure, over tightening lugs can cause rotor warp? If so, is redoing them once you get home sufficient (assuming a relatively short drive to the tire shop)?

 

yeah it can. i only take my car to expensive tuner shops for anything i cant do myself now because they seem to be the only ones capable of giving my car back in the same condition I gave it to them in

 

The length of the drive is probably less important than not putting yourself in a situation where you will be doing a lot of heavy brake usage before retorquing the lugs.

 

Cool, thanks for the feedback! I guess I will start checking that from now on. I have pretty bad shaking both in wheel in car so I am guessing all 4 rotors are shot. I have new ones for the front and will probably turn the rears. Just waiting till they wear down and will be replacing!

 

There are multiple reasons for your issue:
Check brake rotors for warpage and runout.
Balance your tires.
Check wheel play (diagnosing wheel bearings, ball joints, and tie rods)