Winter A/C problem discussion!

[chow]

Hey, I just wanted to know what you guys are dealing with, with your cars in the winter.

So today it snowed around 2 feet and the roads probably have 6-8cm of it slush/snow consistency. Again im getting this WIERD super vibration from the (Who knows where) But its strong enough for me to think that theres either an alignment issue or somthing wrong with the engine (Knocking).

I doubt its either of the two because when i drive on a dry road my cars fine (At least before it was). And now, on the snow. When i hit around 70 KM/H the car vibrates sooo hard that if i were to open my mouth and let air out you could hear what the vibrations were doing through the sound. (The thing you use to do when u were a kid). Im sure this is abnormal and asked about this before on this site. I was told that it was snow in the rims.

Now that i think of it.. Why would snow in the rims make the car shake like crazy? Even after 20 minutes of continous shaking at speeds above 20km/h? Also, it ONLY has happend so far during snow fall.. Which is wierd.Anyways, suggestions please?

[vi3t89]

are you reffering to when ur trying to break and all this vibration comes out and it feels like a chuuk chuuk feeling and noise? and the car like sways ?

[SHIFT_COUPE]

Is the shaking happening when your braking on slippery conditions? If it is then its the ABS doing what it does best. If there is snow packed inside of the rim I can see that creating somewhat of a problem.

[Malves85]

Just think of a washing machine with an uneven load. It starts shaking like crazy as if it were alive and coming to attack. I've never had enough snow to experience this first hand but ive heard from friends upstate of this happening and like others here said its snow packing on part of the rim so when the tires are spinning at whatever speeds it creates the crazy washing machine effect. Jump in your washing machine and turn it on. Let us know if its the same thing you are experiencing

[vi3t89]

lols snow gets stuck in the wheel well the abs thing is a peice of **** it would probably cause me to get into an accident and its not like im slamming on the breaks or driving fast ... when i back out of my driveway n i go to the stop sign down the street the cars rolling at liek 20 and i slowly break and that abs just turns on theirs so many things about this car i hate times like this i wish i bought the 3 series bmw i wanted instead

[Scagbearer]

Considering I have almost no tread left on my tires, I find the coupe handles pretty well in the snow. I'm still gonna get a set of winter tires for days like this with 20+ cm of snow. Sounds like you have snow or ice built up in the rim, it happened to me a couple times when i had my neon, feels like the car is gonna shake apart.

[1stRaleighCoupe]

Hey maybe is trying to stop your from driving so fast in the snow. My friend has a jeep wrangler 07 and whenever his jeeps takes turns to fast it starts shaking alot it even scares the hell out of you. I hate driving his jeep. but yeah just a thought.

[CanadianWino]

Hey chow, I had the same problem...it's snow or ice inside your rims. These cars are very, very sensitive to the wheels. I couldn't believe it the first time it happened, on the 401 no less. I thought my car was f****d, but I got home and noticed a load of snow and ice inside my wheels. It was easy to clean out with my fingers. I guess I always thought that the brakes would generate enough heat to melt any snow in the wheels, guessed wrong. Clean out the wheels, problem gone.Cheers Mate

[chow]

I still dont understand the theory behind snow in the rims.. How does snow in the rims make the car vibrate like its going to blow up?Also, i was already weary about the problem so i got out, took a look at the rims and they were all fine. (No snow was lodged inside the space of the rims)

Even then, i was driving for 20-30 minutes BEFORE it started. So when there was snow from the initial snowfall in the rims, nothing happend. It just started out of nowhere. Anyways, im going to head out tonight (After a blizzard) and test the car...Hope nothing happens.

I hate the vibrations, makes me think the car is horribly made. But i love driving in the snow..... bah.

Where exactly are you located in Toronto Canadianwino?

[spockrock]

Hi I have a Altima Coupe 3.5SE but I have steel rims with winter tires I dont have that issue, however I have noticed when the temp is below 0C that when I shift into first (I have a manual) and start moving I hear a single 'clang', noise that happens only once but it seems to happen if I dont let the car run long enough. Anyone else??? Other then that I have had no problems driving in winter with the coupe.

[08altima35]

that single clang only happens when you take off moving forward for the 1st time since you started your car. a nissan tech told me that it's a brake system check and all of the new nissan's do it and it's nothing to worry about unless you don't hear it.

[LegendRacer]

lol read my thread about other problems...

abs is a piece of **** for nissan, stupid annoying as **** "self-test" when u first start and move ur car. I guess im used to the noise now, but ****, 2008 and htey still have this type of ****? why cant it be 99% quiet, or good enough to not need a self test, i know the new honda civics dont have this ****...****!

i hate to agree with you, but sometimes these lil things annoy me enough to think "hmm a 328i... or a 330i..."

[leeroy300]

lol read my thread about other problems...

abs is a piece of **** for nissan, stupid annoying as **** "self-test" when u first start and move ur car. I guess im used to the noise now, but ****, 2008 and htey still have this type of ****? why cant it be 99% quiet, or good enough to not need a self test, i know the new honda civics dont have this ****...****!

i hate to agree with you, but sometimes these lil things annoy me enough to think "hmm a 328i... or a 330i..."

I don't need any little noises to make me always think BMW ........

[canadiantj]

I still dont understand the theory behind snow in the rims.. How does snow in the rims make the car vibrate like its going to blow up?Also, i was already weary about the problem so i got out, took a look at the rims and they were all fine. (No snow was lodged inside the space of the rims)

Even then, i was driving for 20-30 minutes BEFORE it started. So when there was snow from the initial snowfall in the rims, nothing happend. It just started out of nowhere. Anyways, im going to head out tonight (After a blizzard) and test the car...Hope nothing happens.

I hate the vibrations, makes me think the car is horribly made. But i love driving in the snow..... bah.

Where exactly are you located in Toronto Canadianwino?

Think of it kinda like adding a rim weight to the rim when it doesn't need one. The wheel will no longer act as if its round causing all of the vibrations that you are talking about. Might need a trip to the car wash to melt that out of there.

[chow]

So im assuming that the stock rim sucks in the snow?

[pdrumans]

lol read my thread about other problems...

abs is a piece of **** for nissan, stupid annoying as **** "self-test" when u first start and move ur car. I guess im used to the noise now, but ****, 2008 and htey still have this type of ****? why cant it be 99% quiet, or good enough to not need a self test, i know the new honda civics dont have this ****...****!

i hate to agree with you, but sometimes these lil things annoy me enough to think "hmm a 328i... or a 330i..."

I just traded an 06 Civic Si for my A/C 3.5 and I can tell you even though I loved my Si, it had its noises too. Just let it go. So what if it makes a noise while it is self testing. For the Altima, this is a normal noise. If you look in any forum, you will see some people complaining left any right about this and that. What I am saying is that every vehicle out there has someone making complaints about it. The A/C is the tenth new car I have had in 20 years and I have had many different makes and models (Ford, Pontiac, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Infiniti, Saturn and Honda) and none of them are perfect. I still have an 04 Accord Coupe and it's good, but it has more rattles and noises than my A/C. The Accord brakes are inferior compared to the A/C. Even my Si did not have brakes as good as the what the A/C has.

So go get a BMW.

[Idok]

If you get snow/ice build up on the inside of the rims it will throw the wheels out of balance and cause the car to shake. Quite a few years ago I had a brand new Mazda 626. I was living and working on the Navajo Indian reservation and one of our distractions was fishing in the mountains. There are a few paved roads but to get to most of the good fishing spots you have to go off road. When the dirt gets wet it dries almost like concrete. My wife was taking my parents out fishing one day while I was working and when they started out every thing was frozen, but when they were ready to come home the roads had thawed and were muddy. Well the mud got up in the frame and on the inside of the wheels. A day or two later I was heading to Phoenix and when I got up above about 50 the whole car started shaking. I had to stop and remove each wheel and CHISEL the mud off of each wheel with a screw driver before I could continue. What a P I A.

[leeroy300]

I just traded an 06 Civic Si for my A/C 3.5 and I can tell you even though I loved my Si, it had its noises too. Just let it go. So what if it makes a noise while it is self testing. For the Altima, this is a normal noise. If you look in any forum, you will see some people complaining left any right about this and that. What I am saying is that every vehicle out there has someone making complaints about it. The A/C is the tenth new car I have had in 20 years and I have had many different makes and models (Ford, Pontiac, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Infiniti, Saturn and Honda) and none of them are perfect. I still have an 04 Accord Coupe and it's good, but it has more rattles and noises than my A/C. The Accord brakes are inferior compared to the A/C. Even my Si did not have brakes as good as the what the A/C has.

So go get a BMW.

BMW is not any better or worse just a nice looking RWD car is all- that is out of my price range .......... and now if I could afford a higher end BMW I would hold out for a GT-R

Anyway snow or mud stuck to any rim will cause vibrations but should not rattle a car so much that it feels like it is being shaken apart ...... you may want to get your rims checked one may be bent