At about 60-70 (and above) the steering wheels starts to vibrate. I am sure that small vibrations are nothing to be worried about but mine vibrates kind of a lot. What could this be?

 

start with the simple stuff: check tire pressure and get tires balanced.

 

alignment too

 

I had the same problem and my tires were warped check that as well

 

I pumped the tires a few weeks ago and they are still good (visually). Can potholes screw up my allignment? Cause I did hit a big one yesterday...

 

Pot wholes possibly if it slightly bends certain parts.

If you havent gotten an alignment in a while, then it wouldnt be a bad investment.

 

do you have aftermarket rims? If so, it's possible that you need hubcentrick(sp?) rings....

 

where would one get these hub rings that you speak of?

 

Do the vibrations start to go away at 80+?
You have aftermarket rims, right? Could be that one of the weights on the wheels came off. Aftermarket rims need special weights and just taking it to autozone usually doesnt cut it. Check to see if all the weights are in place, I know with my old rims the weights were on the understide of the rim and detached at times.

 

check your lugs!!! i put on 350z rims and 1 lock nut per tire. one day i notice problems and take it to the garage. every other nut was lose as if someone tried to steal the stuff and then realized i had lock lugs. my wheel vibrated, i heard knocking noises and a lot of other stuff.

 

I had the same problem with my car. I looked into it and found out that my brake calipers were loose and of course that made my pads deform a little, causing it to viberate at high speed. So i cleaned it and sanded down my pads until it was surfaced and clean. since then I have no problems. I also had the problem when I got ice on top of my transverse link unit after hitting a snow pile. That totally made my car shake but I melted it down so it was ok.

 

If you get your rims from a tireshop they usually come with the rims......but you can get them from pretty much any shop that sells aftermarket rims.

 

this could be unbalanced rims, bad tires, or bad front brakes......let me know how thing come out

 

Thanks guys. My rims are stock though.
devilz05 - i havent gone above 80... a bit scary when the steering wheel is going crazy. At 80 though its still the same...
darklegend06 - my dad suggested I do the same lol.
I'll try an allignment, check the tire pressure again, and tighten my nuts (lug nuts). If that doesnt work, mechanic's it is. Thanks all.

 

I would start getting used to it. I have had vibration on my Maxima since I have owned it. Alignments don't make it go away. New tires don't make it go away. Balancing sometimes improves it a bit but then it comes back again. The only thing I haven't done is to replace the LCA and inner tie rods, as suggested on the Org by one of the members who stated that this cured the steering wheel shaking.

This, unfortunately, is a common problem with 97 Maximas. Many mechanics are aware of this condition.

Other than that, I love my Maxima and it's the best car I have ever owned. The car is a "beast" and I love driving her!!!!