I bought my 96 new off the showroom floor and it's never had any accidents. Having prefaced with that, during the first couple of months driving the car I perceived a very, very slight drift to the left, It was difficult to detect due to the normal crowning on roads, but when I found a straight section of road with no traffic and I could straddle the center line, at 40 MPH with my hands off of the steering wheel it might take 8-10 seconds to drift far enough for the right-side wheels to be on the center line.
I took the car into the service department, and the service manager went for a ride with me as I replicated the above-described test. He agreed that it seemed to be drifting left, and commented that cars are intentionally designed to drift to the right (if anything) so that if the driver were to nod off, the car will more likely drift towards the shoulder than into oncoming traffic. The service manager's initial diagnosis was a toe-in problem (which made no sense at all to me), but after checking it was found to be right on the mark. At that point the official interpretation of the situation shifted to one of no-drift at all! It was my imagination!~Why was I not surprised???
More recently during a full alignment at an independent shop, the tech found that the left-rear had toe-in that was more than spec. Now this all started to make sense: too much toe in on the left rear would cause the back of the car to want to move to the right, thus pointing the car slightly to the left, and hence the drift to the left. Also, with staggered wheels and directional tires, tire rotation is not simple and ends up flipping each tire on its rim (and rebalancing) and then mounting on the opposite side. I've noticed that the tire on the left rear will tend to exhibit a little cupping.
So here's my question: have any of you guys experienced anything like this? I suspect that this was a manufacturing problem when the stub axles are welded to the rear axle beam, and it was out of spec. Given the precision of such machinery and the quality control procedures, I suspect that mine might not be the only one with this issue. Before I consider looking for a replacement axle from a junkyard, I'd like to try and find out if this was a problem unique to my car, a common problem to all 4th gens, of just common to maybe the 95 and 96 model years.
Thanks, guys.

 

i also have a 96, got it used, but i really believe that the alignment on the back wheels arent ajustable, ive looked at the back end of my car a few times already, doesnt seem to be any bolt or any "tie rod" lookin part anywhere, its just a solid beam axle in back, maybe the beam bent a little were it connects to the wheel bearing and rear rotor. . .

 

i just want to get this straight...you are thinking of replacing the whole beam on your 12-13 yr old car because its drifting to the left or right when you let go of the wheel???

 

Correct, rear alighment is non-adjustable and camber and toe are determined during the manufacture.

With all due respect (and I seriously doubt that much resepct is due), what's it to you? If you don't have something worthwhile to contribute spectfic to the question that was asked............crawl back into your hole and quite wasting other peoples' time.

 

he has had the car since new and loves it like I love mine. I don't see why not repair it if everything else is still good and as we all know this thing will last for long years when taken care of.

 

wow...that was a simple question. Nor did i mean to offend you. I was going to suggest you checking on other things before changing out the beam. I took the time to read your post, if i thought that you were ignorant i wouldn't have even responded. I guess i could have worded my question a little bit differently, what i was asking was, is the only thing making you think you need to change the beam axle coming only from the car drfting from left to right?

We cannot adjust the toe or camber in the back, we all know this. However, if you have not gotten into any accident or hit anything which i believe you have stated, i'm not sure if the beam will just bend that significantly ( i can be wrong on this). Have you checked the bottom mounting brackets for the rear shock? It could have gotten bent out of shape. Or instead of replacing the whole beam, get it shimmed so the toe will be perfect.

However, if you had said that the rear beam is looking like its rusting out or going to go really soon, by all means go and replace it. I am not here to make enemies and nor do i usually bash on other people. Hope that you don't try to hunt me down now..-= 0

Edit: i still think changing out the rear beam with a new one is too expensive for a 12-13 yr old car. You won't want to get a used one since it can even be worse than the one you have now. I can't even imagine how much a new one would cost. My guess would be more than $600. But if you have the money and are planning to keep the car until it truly dies, then by all means, go for it. Otherwise, i would opt for bending it back to spec.

 

no, he is indeed a moron for letting go of his steering wheel than complaining about the alighment.

 

Post a recent alignment spec print out, lets see how far off the rear is.
The only way of correcting it is indeed with a replacement beam or hub.
Perhaps a shim can help you out? An alignment specialty shop might be able to help you. But again, lets see the specs so we can see how far off it is.

 

The lack of adjustability of the rear wheels is a sad fact with these cars.

I installed lowering springs and now have to live with the short tire life and nasty wear issues of a camber problem. You can fix the fronts, but not the rears. I am amazed that topic doesn't come up more often when people are thinking of lowering their Maximas.

 

Fellas, let's try to stay on point: My question was - and still is - "have any of you guys experienced anything like this?" That's the only thing I'm wanting to find out!

 

Lowering the rear of our cars does not in any way change camber, caster or toe.

Lowering the front causes excessive toe out and some neg. camber, but is easily adjusted back to factory spec via an alignment.

 

Surprisingly enough, less than $600 - http://www.courtesyparts.com/beam-compl-p-380622.html

Shipping is ~$150 though. Better not need it next day air, over $700 in shipping charges...ouch.

 

If you are lowered, you rear beam will be off to one side. You can check this by measuring from the wheel well to the tire. it will be off on one side. Search around and you will see the procedure for centering the rear beam. This may effect your problem.

After that, have the alignment shop do a 4 wheel thrust alignment. You may want to look for a specialty race shop, instead of the usual NTB, Pep Boys, etc.

 

Just to reiterate, this problem existed when the car was brand new, before any modifications to the suspension. So, nobody else has experienced this problem (which was my original question)?

 

Ever since '01 to current my rear passenger toe-in is more positive than the driver side; opposite of yours. Driver side is right in the middle of the spec range (slightly pos), and passenger is slightly more toe-in than spec range. I've hit my share of bumps but no solid hits except a very slightly bent rim. Original owner. I've never centered my rear beam but those measurements apply for both lowered and stock heights.

 

Thanks you.
Finally someone's actually focused on answering my specific question. However, since the only thing actually adjustable on the maxima's suspension is front toe-in, I've got to guess that many alignment shops never even both checking the rear end!

 

I always get Hunter optical aligns and they always show rear camber and toe.

 

there is a write up somewhere on here about re-centering the rear beam, mine is off a little bit but the car tends to drift towards the right and it takes quite a while, so i dont have a problem with that

 

Has it happened to me? Yes, my car has pulled to a side before. No, my rear alignment has been within spec since day 1.

Dr J <-- puzzled what's the point of this thread?

 

Be "unpuzzled."
The point is to try to find out if this is a common problem that's not likely to be cured by replacing the axle beam. Not really all that complicated (except for all of the extraneous posts that never addressed my basic question).
merry Christmas.

 

http://forums.maxima.org/advanced-su...centering.html

Try that