Slight vibration on the highway...04' Maxima SE

[jroth142]

Hey guys, I just purchased a 2004 Maxima SE with approx 53K miles. I didn't notice it initially when in the city but once I got on the highway I noticed a vibration past about 60 mph. I assumed a tire was out of balance so I took it in for a balance and allignmet. It appears that the vibration is still there and after the allignment the car doesn't pull hard but it definatley vears slightly left when I let go of the stearing wheel. I was thinking maybe they just did a crap job at the body shop but is there anything else this could be that I can check for??? Thanks in advance

[d0zE]

I also just purchased a 04 max se about a month ago, 46k on it. Has the car been in any accidents that you know of? with my car I have no vibration at all on the highway, unless i hit the brakes going 65+. Also if i let go of my wheel it doesnt sway at all, It is tough to tell in the test drive for this stuff.I have a question for you, If you floor it, I mean really open it up nice and get a good acceleration going, do you start to hear an odd grinding noize coming from the wheels? I get that if I really open it up good, then if i turn to the left or right when i come to a slow..Was just curious, I have no idea what it could be, tried to get it looked at, the mechanic has no idea what it could be, he says my car looks mechanically 100%

[MinisterofDOOM]

This isn't entirely uncommon in 6th gens, unfortunately.Mine has a small amount of vibration at those speeds. I know a couple other members here have had the same problem worse than I have. I believe one member even went to their dealer with the problem.

We had another vibration problem with ours when it was newer that was due to a certain brand of tires (I don't recall which, but could probably find out). The stock Eagle RSAs were falling apart so we swapped them out. The tires we replaced them with refused to stay balanced. We had them rebalanced a few times by different shops. The vibration returned every time. When we (reluctantly) went back to the RSA's, the vibration all but disappeared. Nissan couldn't come up with an explanation, and neither could any tire shops we went to.

It is also possible that the shop just balanced the tires improperly. The tire place I used to use was a bit of a running joke in that department. I always ended up having to take the car back in and have it redone. They'd just recalibrate the machine and then everything would balance right.

[jsmithsole]

Several people in my opinion have correctly diagnosed the "Shimmy in the Steering Wheel" problem having its root cause in the "Steering Rack Assembly". Nissan's Service Bulletin now includes "Steering Rack Adjustment" and Tire/Wheel balancing on a Hunter or equivalent balancer, which for some has not been enough to fix the problem or the vibration comes back. It appears that the "shimmy" was resolved in the 2005 cars by two means; Nissan is to have redesigned the "Steering Rack Damper" to be more beefy. Second is a possible strut redesign for 2005

Here's the TSB:http://www.nissanhelp.com/Owne...4.htm

[jroth142]

Ended up being a bent rim, thanks for all the info though fellas

[jsmithsole]

Lu

Ended up being a bent rim, thanks for all the info though fellas

Well that's way better than going through all the stuff I posted!!!