Recently I have noticed that the steering wanders after hitting the smallest bumps on the road. It's almost like a loose feeling in the steering. Anyone else ever have that problem? She has 115K and I am sure the bushings are worn. I am just not sure which ones to change and how.

Any ideas????

 

I have the same problem ever since i lowered and put 18's on

 

it is very irritating. almost feels like the wheel is going to come off. with mine, it does not happen all the time. only after i hit road bumps. that causes it and also play in steering...

 

Yeah I'm in the same boat, lowered with 19's...hit road bumps at low speeds and the wheel has a mind of its own.

 

me too.. lowered the front only... and it is very loose.... was thinking of doing the back but now I see that it is not the rear that is causing it.......

 

these things make me wanna get rid of her. do the coilover guys have the same problems??

 

pm from a fellow orger:
It sounds like your struts are blown if your car starts floating when you hit those bumps. You "might" need to replace the control arms when you hear some clunking noise which means the ball joints maybe on it's way out. Also when your steering wanders around, kinda loose, this means that your bushings are worn. Worn bushings cannot keep the alignment in spec. I hope that helps.


i know the struts are fine. so i guess next would be to check the control arms

 

Yeah, I have noticed this as well. Anyone know which bushings need to be replaced?

 

Next Im going to replace the bushings and the balljoints.... the car has 92K miles so I think it is time.....

 

I have this EXACT problem... which is funny because i was thinking about making a post about it today. this issue is very annoying, it feels like i have no contol of my car. i know that when i take a hard turn, something makes a loud creak/cracking sound, so something is wrong... and i am still trying to figure out if i have bad shocks. it is hard to tell with such stiff springs, and i do not want to rip apart my whole suspension for nothing.

I need to call nissan very soon... i keep putting it off.

 

well i am having the same problem also, i just replaced my suspension last weekend and the problem still exists. i get pulled to the left a little bit.

does someone have a service manuel picture of the front end suspension components that shows what could be damaged, so that we know what me might have to replace??

 

I have the same problem with 58k and all stock suspension. A couple of times when driving out of my garage up the hill I have heard a spring popping like noise so I don't know if this has something to do with this.

 

and here i thought i was the only one who has this problem. i am waiting for irish, and blackbird to read this and give their 2 cents!

 

Me too. I have 49,xxx on mine, stock suspension, and when I go over bumps I can feel almost a "rattle" in my steering wheel. It has just recently come on. At first I thought it might be my rotors warping or something because it was pretty noticable when braking, but it happens over bumps when I'm not braking too. I just took it to the dealer a few weeks ago and asked them to take a look at the front end (shocks, struts, bushings, the whole deal). All they said was that I needed an alignment and a tire rotation. Didn't help (plus they bled off some of my tire pressure - annoying - I filled them past 32 for a reason).

 

I have coilovers, it is called feedback. Get used to it.

 

JIC FLT-A2, no such issue.

Sounds like yall need to see a good alignment shop

 

well mine was never like this unitl i put my rims on as soon as i did that i noticed right away

 

Different tires = different ride/handling qualities. Also short sidewalls=you must pay attention to path control

 

attention to path control? Pardon my ignorance, but what do you mean by that?

 

going straight.....tires with shorter sidewalls have less tolerance to deflection, therefore you must pay more attention to going straight. However, there is alot more to it than that. Tread pattern, road surface, tread depth, inflation pressure, suspension stiffness, caster settings, etc... take the car to a good alignment shop and be done with it.

 

Also, for those in states whose highways have truck grooves...that will play havoc with your car going straight as well

 

Oh, I understand now... I seemingly was just misinterpreting what you were trying to convey. Thanks for the clarification.

 

but it still does not make sense. why would this happen all of a sudden? tires are the same, wheels are balanced, alignment is fine................

 

i have the SAME damn problem, i think i know the answer to this though, the CV boot is leaking grease and needs to be regreased. this is what causes the sounds (cracking) on hard turns.
but i have the same problem as everyone else in this thread, might be that our springs aren't compressed enough and we're just riding out our springs instead of our struts like we're supposed to be. i'm running progress with GR-2 and i'm floating all over the place.

 

oh and btw, my lower ball joints are worn and this also causes the car to feel loose and wobbly in the front end.

 

Have you had it checked to confirm that?

 

i got her aligned a few months back from firestone. perhaps i should take her back and have them re-do it

 

yes, you should.

 

A few months is enough to jiggle the alignment out of place...

 

now that i think of it, it was not that bad before i got her aligned. damn firestone

 

Firestone sucks....the TKperformance shop here in miami is the best in the state. Before you ask, TK performance is a branch of tire kingdom.

 

Guys , replace your inner tie rods/ LCA bushings / balljoints and sway bar bushings . align the car and it will ride like new again

check out my thread on replacing LCA and I have Inner tie rod writ up in my signature.


http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=391391


Nick.

 

i think this happens more with wider and smaller profile tires. going from 205x15 i feel a lot more road inconsistencies now that i have 225x17 rims. you are going to have a more responsive steering than in other cars with smaller rims.

 

nice write-up. thanks

 

I have that rattle problem too. If you ever ever figure out what it is PLEASE TELL ME!!! I have had everything inspected from bushings to ball joints, tie-rod ends, the works, and for the life of me can not figure it out. Dealers keep giving me the infamous...Can't reproduce the problem.

 

Firestone does blow. Avoid them.

 

those truck grooves already screw me up on stockers.....they've almost guided me into other lanes/cars at times and i was paying attention mind you.

 

the steering is crap. i get this odd pull to the left at times while sometimes it is good, or pulls to the right...

on certain roads at 60+ i get an odd humming/bumping noise coming from the rear (think of a jeep with a busted differential noise). 95% of the time though it isn't there.

i looked at it several times and it looks good.. i don't get the per say floating problem but i do get others, including an always kinky alignment.

wohoo sweet. i need to stop putting it off then..

 

this is making me more and more so many of us have suffered from this. i thought it was just me!!!
yet another fuqued-up NISSAN problem

 

yea i know what you mean. i have the exact same problem of EvilsRoadsVictim, i was just too lazy to type it out, though i dont have any humming coming from the rear.

so im assuming there are not aftermarket parts for this. where do we buy these things.