Front Tire Vibration

[reds13]

When I drive between 50 and 65 mph, the steering wheel shakes. Nissan dealer told me that the tires are out of round. Replaced them with the Good Year's rated for my car. Did the alignment. Balanced. Still the same. After about 10-15k the inside of the front tires wore out. (I did the alignment once during that time) All the rubber bushings look intact but they are original. The car has 70k. The rims are original alloys. My next step would be to replace the control arms and and that other link that connects to it.
The question is: should I get the propylene bushings or the regular OEM from Nissan? I heard that the propylene ones really stiffen the ride...

[yenpit]

id suggest takin your car to an import shop that can check the suspension for worn parts like ball joints, tie rod ends, inner steering knuckles, etc.....all these can lead to a "shimmy" in front end----steering wheel. also, u may have a bent rim, have a good tire shop check it.
u can waste alot of $ by just replacing parts that may NOT help like control arms....if bushings are still visually good, id leave em alone, unless u want to go to urethane bushings....they DO stiffen any flex and u get more "road feel" in the steering wheel.

[tanabs]

I think that is a good idea.  Funny thing is that I have the EXACT same problem.  Weird how the mph is exactly the same too.  I am planning on sending my car to a place that specializes in suspension and alignment so that they can hopefully fix the problem.  Wouldn't mind hearing some other  advice/suggestions.

[Jeff240sx]

Suspension bushings... factory are rubber and crack, and fall apart.  The aftermarket are urethane and are much smoother sounding.  Pray its the bushings, cuz they are kinda cheap...
-Jeff

[reds13]

I guess I should start with the bushings. I don't know of any shops that can press them into my control arms so I'll probably get the control arms themselves. I'll replace the tie rods as well. The boots on them are cracked badly. There is no play in them but it's only a matter of time...  I also checked with a tire shop and decided to change to 17' rims. They have Maxxims that are made by Konig. Should be cheaper.. They also have the AVON tires. At first I laughed at the name but the tires are made in England!
I'll probably do this in a couple of weeks, before it will get cold..

[HippoSleek]

This is one of those that I would recommend taking it to a couple of shops and getting opinions.  Bushings are cheap, but getting them pressed in is not.  Nor are all the various components that *might* be causing your problem.  It may be a cheap thing or not, but not knowing where it is may just lead you to throw a lot of money away replacing perfectly good stuff up there.

[tanabs]

Hey redS13, keep us posted on your fix of the problem.  I will do the same as soon as my suspension guy can look at my car.