I have a 2009 Maxima SV Sport/Tech. Let me start by saying I absolutely love this car. Everything about it except for the way it rides at highway speeds(60-75+). From the day I owned the care it has suffered from what I would call an annoying vibration. It has 18000 miles on it and is now on its 3rd set of tires. When I purchased the vehicle i noticed a shimmy in the steering wheel and took it back to the dealer. After Balancing and re balancing (Road Force) the dealer finally decided that the tires must have been a bad batch. They replaced the tires with Michelin Sport Pilots and it seemed to have fixed the problem. After a few thousand miles the vibration resurfaced so I took it back to the dealer. They rebalanced the tires with no apparent change. I was then sent to Bahrain for 2 years during which my car sat in storage. When I returned the vibration was still there so I took it to a different dealer. They informed me that the front tires appeared to be feathered and it would need to aligned. After the alignment I replaced the tires (all 4). They were road forced balanced and i was sent on my mary way. Frustratingly the vibration is still there. To be more specific. The car rides like a dream up to 60 after 60 I start to feel the vibration in the seats primarily the passenger seat. The steering wheel has a slight shimmy but nothing i can't live with. The vibration seems to come and go and is most felt in the seats. if no one is in the passenger seat you can watch the headrest move. Like I stated before its more of an oscillating vibrate (comes for a few seconds then smooths out). Any info from similar experiences would be greatly appreciated. Forgot to mention the car is out of warranty even with 18K. It has been over 3 years since I purchased the car.

 

The headrest passenger Vibrating is a known issue not sure though about the vibrating over 60mph

 

Find a friend with another Maxima and swap wheels with them for a few days. If the problem clears up then it be your tires or maybe the wheels.

 

Yes, the passenger seat vibration is something that many '09s had. But your problem seems to be much worse than just a vibrating passenger seat. I have over 30K miles on my original RS-A tires, with no vibration and plenty of tread left. And I have never had my car realigned. I only rotate the tires every 15K. The fewer mechanics that play around with my car, the better it seems to run.

I seem to remember from several years ago that folks here on the ORG seemed to find that proper load force alighment on the 7th gen Maxima can only be done successfully on one alignment machine, which I think was the Hunter 9000.

With few exceptions, all steering vibrations are tied to tires, wheels and alignment. A skilled alignment person should be able to find and fix your problem. Sadly, most alignment folks are not truly skilled in how to pinpoint problems.

 

The symptoms you are describing could be a brake rotor runout issue. Although, in the case of rotor runout wheel balancing shouldn't help the problem unless it serendipidously offsets the brake rotor imbalance. Since you went through so many tire rebalance trials it may be worth checking that your brake rotors havent been worn asymetrically and are still balanced.

 

Thanks for all of the advise guys. Much appreciated.