Just noticed my wife's 2001 5spd SE's steering shimmies seemingly between 50-60 mph and then goes away when you accelerate beyond 60. It feels real good at 100. My Nissan guy checked the wheel balance and said the right rear was off by .50 ounce. The balanced it and told me to drive it. They also asked me if it shimmied under braking. I said that it didn't but I just got it to do that by braking fairly hard at 50 or so. They want to send it to a local tire guy who has a very high speed balance machine that is better than Nissan's. Nissan says it is not an alignment issue because the car is not pulling. It tracks straight and true. Does anyone have any ideas?

 

Check the threads relating to Warped Brakes and TSB's. There is a load of info out here about 00-01 models having warped rotor issues. I had mine turned down once and then replaced free due to this problem. Not sure about the shimmer at 50-60MPH. I get it occasionally, but I can usually identify the areas on the highway as being at fault because it doesn't happen everywhere.

 

A shimmy under normal driving (without brakes) is either a wheel balance issue or a tire problem. Also, a balance problem on a rear wheel would not cause the steering wheel to shimmy. I would have the balance checked on all 4 wheels by a shop that specializes in tires and wheels, preferably a place that can handle high-speed balancing.

If the balance is ok, it's possible you have a tire problem. Have you ever had a flat repaired with a plug? Those, on rare occasion, can cause the belts to separate and misalign, which can make the tire less than perfectly round or create a ripple in the tread. That would probably be visible to the eye if you spun the tire fast enough.

I'd be willing to bet it's a front end balance problem.

 

Check tire pressures?
My car felt kinda "loose" (not sure if that's the right term) after getting new tires... this morning I discovered the pressures were around 29psi (cold) all around. Set them to 36 front/34 rear (warm) shortly afterward, and the car feels a lot tighter/more responsive... although I noticed a little shimmy on the way here. They probably balanced the tires at 29psi but raising the pressure changed the balance a bit (? )

 

I HAVE THE SAME EXACT PROBLEM. My car is in the shop now, UNDRIVEABLE (according to tech) until the part arrives. The service manager said it was a axel bearing or something. I suggest you have them look at that. I too had it balanced somewhere else, but the problem remained.

G

 

I had exact same problem. Balancing made it go away.
If the tire is defective, this should be noticed during the balancing process.
If balancing doesn't fix it, it may very well be an axel problem.