Hey guys,

You know when the car is new and you hit a small pot hole, you can hear the bump and that's it (car seems tight). As the car gets older, when the same bump gets hit, there seems to be a little rattling up front (little loose). What causes this? I have a 00' SE with 137K. Seems to be getting a little loose when I pull out of the drive, or hit a pot hole. I have orig shocks and struts (everything on suspension is orig). How can I tighten this stuff up?

thanks,

G

 

Your bushings or motor mounts are probably worn. There could be other things but bushings are usually the first to wear out.

 

Make sure your wheels are on tight!! Easy and quick thing to check. I knew someone with that problem - they took it to the shop and they found out the car only had 2 lug nuts on the front side passenger wheel. To make it worse, those were loose. That may or not be your problem, but at least its the quickest and easiest thing to check.

 

bushings - replace with poly (or new OEM) bushings
strut bearing gets worn down over time and gets "clunky"
tie rod ends - need replacement after that many miles
lower balljoint - needs replacement after that many miles

and if you're on your FACTORY original struts at 137K miles, you are WAY overdue for new struts. Even the best struts are only really effective for about 75K miles, and it's probably less than that for OEM struts.

 

Ouch,

Can you estimate what this stuff (time or expense) this stuff takes. I don't mind working on my car, but I can not spend 4 hours taking stuff apart. Simply do not have th time.

bushings - replace with poly (or new OEM) bushings
strut bearing gets worn down over time and gets "clunky"
tie rod ends - need replacement after that many miles
lower balljoint - needs replacement after that many miles

thnaks,

G

 

I too have to look at these things on my car. Mine is really clunky too. I just hate the fact of spending money that I dont have......

 

bushings - some are easier than others. front sway bar is cheap and easy to replace bushings...LCA bushings are alot more effort.

strut bearing - very cheap and easy if you've changed your springs/struts before, though this won't have a huge effect, IMO.

tie rod ends - about $50 in parts and an hour or so in work.

lower balljoint - requires replacement of lower control arm assemblies. Costs a couple hundred bucks for the parts (I will be doing mine this week, at 100K miles)

after most of these, it's a good idea to get an alignment too.

 

bushings - some are easier than others. front sway bar is cheap and easy to replace bushings...LCA bushings are alot more effort.

strut bearing - very cheap and easy if you've changed your springs/struts before, though this won't have a huge effect, IMO.

tie rod ends - about $50 in parts and an hour or so in work.

lower balljoint - requires replacement of lower control arm assemblies. Costs a couple hundred bucks for the parts (I will be doing mine this week, at 100K miles)

after most of these, it's a good idea to get an alignment too.

 

Hey I just recently got an 02 6 speed in February and i'm having a similar problem...when i pull out of my driveway, i hear a squeaking sound from my front right shocks/whatever is the problem...

 

I had the same issue a couple weeks ago. Had the coil spring insulator replaced and no more squeaking.

 

I do not agree here...

If your suspension does not have PLAY in the tie rods and ball joints- they are OK and do not need to be repleaced. I have tested my ball joints with a big heavy duty pry bar to see if there is any play in the ball/socket and found nothing. I would do this before you go ahead and put ES bushings on your worn out ball joint control arms. I have ES control arms and they really didn't do anything in terms of stiffening up the chassis. I think the classified info mod to the subframe does more than the Blehmco tie bar and ES control arm bushings... but that stuff is classified for now.

Your front shock(s) are blown, I have a set of STOCK shocks on my car with approx 80K miles on them and the RF shock blew out a week ago. I think my Maxima got mad at me for letting it sit for 3 days while I was out crusing in my Q45, thus blew the shock on me. This ofcourse will get fixed in about a week once I put on my JIC FLTA2/Eibach combo that I run only in the warm weather. I have frankensteined the whole JIC suspension with Eibach and D2 parts to create what I think - the best suspension combo for a Maxima.

 

Classified info mod?? is that a joke or something?

 

There are a few mods a certain .org member and I have put togheter for the Maxima that make the handling one step ahead of the ES bushings. If you look under your car and notice that your whole suspension is bolted to the SUBFRAME, but the subframe is bolted to the chassis. So if your subframe bushings are shot (which BTW they will be if you have the mileage on your car that mine has -150+K miles) your ES control arm bushings will not do anything to improve the handling if the subframe is shifting back n forth on worn bushings. We have came up with a fix for this... its not ready for release yet as we do not have enough sets avalible to sell.

 

thanks a lot...ill talk to my dealer ASAP.

 

Guys,

Thanks a bunch. Can you list the order i should follow. I can assure you that I am not racing my max in the least bit (have a 05' G35 coupe for that). It does however carry my most valuable of positions (04' little guy). It sounds as if I should start with the shocks, and go from there. What do you think.

 

my car makes so many different noises in the front and im pretty sure both of my front shocks are blown. is there a way to see if they are blown without taking them off? when i back out of my driveway and drive off the curb the shock travel is real long and it feels like my front hits the pavement. its super bouncy and every pothole is super rough

 

I had this exact same noise on my old '92 Maxima. I always assumed the noise came from the car being old and having over 100,000 miles on it. It really sounded horrible so I finally decided to change out the front struts, but this time also replace the strut bearing, which I didn't do the previous time I changed out the struts.

The new struts made the car literally feel almost new again, and the new bearing got rid of that clunking sound. If you have that many miles on your Max's original struts, I can almost guarantee the strut bearing is where the noise is coming from.

I just bought an '02 Maxima with 55k miles and to me the struts feel shot. I took an hour long highway trip last night and at speeds over 60 the car would hit the bump stops on the larger road irregularities and the back end of the car felt pretty bouncy. Needless to say after I save up the cash I'll be putting in new struts all the way around.

 

Obviously since we drive Nissans we will need new suspension components every few years, it really sucks that my 91 Legend still rolls around on original stuff all around and handles like a stock 5th gen only wish it did.

6 year old struts will need repleacement, they 1st start to make slow clunking noises over low speed expanssion joints etc in the road. When they do go completly it feels like there is something completly loose in the steering wheel. I tend to hit a speed bump around my fiancees house at low speed and watch how many times the car bounces up and down to see if the shocks are blown. My Left side bounces once but the RIGHT side bounces like 3-4 times and feels or lop sided cause of it. I will get a new RIGHT strut before winter comes around and I have to make the switch to the full winter comando mode OEM suspension.

 

why can't you just install new subframe bushings?

 

Because, its not worth to install jello-like OEM bushings, which I doubt are even avalible separate from the subframe itself. The fix is very eassy, I even have pictures of it on my computer Once we are ready for the release of the mod, I will show pics.

 

ya, but there are urethane ES subframe bushing.

We are not talking about two different things, are we?

 

crossmember is not considered a Subframe. Those things do nothing. We are talking bout the acutall SUBFRAME- the thing that holds the PS rack, your control arms, sway bar etc. Its this HUGE metal whatchama-call it under the car bolted down to the body via 4 huge nuts/bolts. PM me for more info.

 

Let me know how you make out. I get the creek when I'm backout out of my driveway in the morning. I'll bring it in also if it's covered.

 

Mike, your PM box if full

 

Yeah I know and I missed out on a few items I wanted to buy due to that... ups I forgot to clear it.

 

can some one suggest some strut/spring combo for me? i get a slight creak noise from my front left suspension when i back out of the drivway while turning the wheel?

i have a 01 max GLE, and im running on stock suspension. I want to get a good aftermarket strut/spring combo. i do not want to lower my car, i just want a stiffer suspension, that takes bumps and potholes easy.

also sidequestion: when i TAKE OFF AND ACCELERATE, my steering kinda wobbles a little, what could cause that?

thanks

 

That creaking is not uncommon. I have it on my SE. Right now, I'm waiting to install my Tein H-Tech springs and Tokico Illumina dampers. You won't get much argument that the Illuminas are the best choice for shocks short of a full coilover setup, but the argument over which springs are the best is neverending. Ultimately, you're going to have to choose based on looks, handling, and price. Maxspeed springs are a popular and inexpensive choice.

There are several choices that won't drop your car too far, such as the Tein H-Tech or Maxspeed springs, but I don't know what you mean by "takes bumps and potholes easy." You seem to be asking for a magic suspension setup. If you want a STIFFER suspension, you will more than likely notice a harder initial jolt when you hit things like potholes, but your suspension will recover faster instead of letting the car float and bounce around like the stock suspension, so once you get used to the occasional "harsh bump" feeling, you'll feel more in control of your vehicle.

Torque steer?

 

ok that makes since.... so basically that creaking noise is due to the stock suspension nearing THE END OF its life.

i was looking at some illuminas with eibach springs at first, but then i found that eibachs will lower the car ALOT. i live in baltimore city with HORRIBLE STREETS, SO I DONT WANT TO BOTTOM OUT..so ill probably go with your suggestion of maxspeed springs. i know they arent the best but they are an inexpensive, performance wise substitute.

lol@ magic suspension...to be honest thats what i was kinda looking for..BUT since that doesnt exist. Now i know i DONT WANT A suspension thats "TOO" STIFF....but i would like something exactly as you described. Something that will allow me to regain more in control after i hit a bump
any suggestions? i was gonna do like i stated above by getting the illuminas/maxspeed

what is that, if you dont mind me asking?
are you saying to torque my steering? i was hoping an alignment might fix the issue a "LITTLE"


OH BY THE WAY...thanks for all the insight. i really do appreciate it

 

I dunno if its the smae problem you got, but my car feels loose you can say

I just looked at everything and then after just simply pushing down on my car and pushing down on my friends 2k3 i realized my struts are blow

Im a dumba$$ cause its suttin i didnt check when i bought the car, o well