Good morning all

2014 Maxima SV, 78k miles. a couple years ago the wife ran over something in the road at night. Since then there has been an intermittent vibration at all speeds but can be worse at higher speeds, sometimes its perfect. and I do feel it in the steering wheel sometimes, thought there was a bad rim (garage told me) bought new rim, no change, new tires, no change. had a garage look at it to "FIND SOMETHING" they said they could not find any issues
Any suggestions on what I can do myself? I am an aircraft mechanic so I can do most stuff myself when I have the time...LOL
thanks from a newbie. the car is parked in the winters in Maine for 5 months a year up on jacks
Larry

 

Something in the driveline/suspension is affected.

look closely at the Lower control arms, links, and rods…..rims and tires….

 

Agree with Les. I had a similar issue where I hit a bag of concrete left in the middle lane of the turnpike at night. Bent a rim sure, but afterwards, would still get vibrations at almost any speed. Turns out there was something that either hit or wound its way around the passenger side axle that, while not breaking the boot, fubared the axle/cv joint just enough to cause it out of balance. Replace the axle and voila, no more vibrations. My Mark I calibrated eyeball could not discern anything amiss but, get on the road and I could feel it.
Please let us know what you find out!!

 

….. @LtLeary 👊👊
and my latest discovery when shop installed two front tires.

the biggest dent/lip on the inside of the rim.
the spin bounce was unlike I could imagine.

so am in search of a rim…

 

thanks all
will be a while before I dig into it as I work away from home and a new well (emergerncy one. ) is being done in the next couple days and I leave next week, Will look into a CV joint/axel when I can, thank you. I will for sure post when I find the issue.

 

And if you do find yourself in need of a new wheel or two like Les7311 and I, this one from Amaxon works well and looks factory.

Factory Wheel Replacement New 18x8" 18 Inch Silver Aluminum Alloy Wheel Rim for Nissan Maxima 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 | ALY62511U20N | Direct Fit - OE Stock Specs https://a.co/d/9Awu8id

 

Thanks
I have a wheel here I removed when I was told it was bent. Took it to 2 other shops to check it out after the new wheel made no diff. So I have a good spare wheel. Plus when I put new tires on I made sure the wheels were checked really good.
I am leaning towards the CV axel's
thanks and what a great site.
Larry

 

UPDATE on work this week and CV axel and wheel swap was today. I work away from home a few months at a time so sorry for the dely
put new tires on as old ones were getting worn, used 2 oz balance beads per tire and did an alignment. not much diff as before. Just replace front driver CV myself and went for a drive. a little better but still a shimmy at 55 plus, then swapped front left with left wheels, big diff for the better now slight shimmy at 65. then swapped right front with right rear and WOW. that was the final puzzle I guess. 75 mph and fells good. later this week my wife will be the final critique as it is her car. I rarely drive it.
Next question is since swapping tires front to rear and steering wheel shimmy goes away which wheels are most likely bent the now front or now rear? If the wheels are bent it will kinda **** me off as I have had 2 shops look at the front end and checked the wheels. Maybe the shops only did a balance and never really did pay close attention to a slight bent wheel
Thanks all for all your help. more updates when it get perfect

 

Most likely the rear has a bent rim….

 

Same thing on mine a few years back. I finally bought a dial indicator with a magnetic base mount and found a bent rim on the inside of the wheel that I was unable to detect with my eyes. Replacing the wheel helped, but it turned out that the tire was also damaged and it was only after I replaced the tire that the issue was solved.

 

Thanks
I actually have a nice magnetic dial indicator. I will check it. Wife and I took it out for a drive to out camp 22 miles and 75 mph only felt a hint of vibration. will check the rear right tire 1st as that was on the right front and still had some vibration, Now on rear its pretty darn good

 

UPDATE
1. rear left and right tires runout on the inside of the rim vertical plane with tires on (makes sense?) was max .008 on both. when I checked the outer lip (horizontal plane) it was .005 max. so basically both rear tire run outs are the same. I don't see a .008 runout bad or am I wrong
2. I removed a rear wheel and installed the wheel I was told was bad 3 years ago and it had a .011 runout
3. Left and right front were both the same except I saw a .028 runout aprox on both on the inside rim vertical plane.

I still feel a very small vibration sometimes at 65 plus, sometimes nothing. At 75 there is a hint of steering wheel shake consistently. kicking my butt. I guess take the wheel/tires to a shop and watch them spin them to see for my self it anything is weird???
thanks guys
Larry

 

Another update today
Did a runout on the passenger side CV and it is .055 on both sides of that weird coupling in the middle. the new driver side I installed last week was .005.
any thoughts???
thank you all very much for all your help and suggestions

 

Road force balancing on the tires? I have had to use that on annoying vibrations.

 

Thanks
But UI live in BFE Northern Maine and it takes 20 years before "REAL" technology comes up this way....... Ordered a new passenger side CV and will install this week and see

 

Today Update
replace passenger side CV today. got up to 80 for a very brief time seems very acceptable. roads are wet so hard to tell for sure if it made a diff. I need to go on the I 95 and do 80 for 20 miles to see. at 70 seemed very nice.

 

UPDATE:
yesrerday the wife was finally able to do some real driving, doing 75 to 80 for a few hrs on I95 she said the car was really good, better than it has been since she hit whatever it was a few years ago. so balance beads, and axels took care of the issue