OK, new tires, new struts, new axles, repaired rad support,new endlinks, strut bar = a much better handling car. Alignments and balancing have been done. Now when I'm on the highway at high speeds, 60-80 ish and going straight, the steering feels loose and wobbly, the wheel shakes slightly. If I turn the wheel, it's nice and tight, but going in a straight line at high speed feels loose.

Any ideas?

 

Yeah it happens to me also, I mean everything on my car relating to suspension is working fine and I had recently bought new tires too.

I guess that is how some cars naturally are?

But its so hard to keep the car right in the middle of the lane, it feels like the car wants to turn left and right ever so slightly by itself.

 

I had a '97 SE back in '97 (bought it brand new). I don't remember it being like that, maybe a little floaty, but not like this. Maybe it's just old? I haven't replaced the control arms yet, could those be the culprit?

 

alot of this may just be because the car is getting older... 12+ years wears on the car

 

Could be the inner tie rods or possibly tired lower control arm bushings or ball joints. Have you replaced these items?

 

haven't gotten to those yet.

 

I have the same issue in my 00 SE with 128k. Was this resolved?

 

No, for a 13 year old car it runs great. The control arms are nasty looking and should probably be replaced.

 

I think if u want the car to handle nice and straight, replace the rack and pinion. There is nothin major wrong with but a new one would prolly help

 

It's just how the car drives. I've replaced nearly all suspension parts (5th gen) including the rack & while it does improve, highway steering still has a loose feeling. Pretty much the only thing I hate about Maximas - their suspension. Have driven 4th & 5th gens, same thing.

 

You can try lowering the tire pressure.

The 4th gen is known to have poor on-center feel, perhaps adding more toe-in would help.

 

HOnestly its weird; cuz i have owned two 4th gens. My first one felt sorta loose but nothing bad. My second one feels nice and tight. THen again my first had 150k+ on it, my second only got 117k+.

 

i agree with sicivic89 check your ball joints and your inner and outter tie roads.
also you control arm bushings if they look worn to **** then replace them.
all these things contribute to your steering wheel feeling shaky. or loose when you turn..
i don't think your rack will fix anything. but it wouldn't hurt anything by switching in a new one. since theres seals and bushings and stuff inside. but i don't think that that will fix your gap between when your turn your steering wheel to when your wheels actually begin to turn.

 

I'm someone who did replace his rack. And all I can say is, if it's not leaking, leave it alone if you can't replace it yourself, since you're looking at like 4-5 hours of labor at a shop. While my rack was worn in the pinion area (but no leaking), replacing it stiffened the steering but is still loose at highway speeds while going straight.

Also, I don't think he mentioned there being a gap between steering wheel input & effective wheel direction. If he was experiencing that, then yeah, there's something that needs to be fixed/replaced.

 

Same thing happened to me, turned out the alignment was off, well actually, the tow was off, causing the steering wheel to wanna go left to right while going in a straight line... I had my alignment redone, never had a problem since.

 

We all seem to have similar problems but except mine seems to be a super sensitive steering wheel. Like it seems like the free-play before the wheels actually turns is non-existent and the slightest movement of the steering wheel will turn the car.

 

In the How To section Kevlo99 replaced the leaking steering rack in his '97 GLE with a rack made for the '99 SE, saying the SE rack was stiffer. He replaced a few other parts too and ended up with a feel that was close to his G35. It sounds like that is the solution to some of the steering issues. at least stiffness wise.


The '97 I30 i've been considering also has that super sensitive steering issue that Leo mentioned above...