I love the car, but it has been hell trying to chase down vibrations driving and while braking.
Last year it would shake while driving but only at certain speeds. I had Perelli P7 Centerato All Season Plus 2 tires. They were the worst tires I had in a decade. I have previously hd two sets of P7 Centerato AS Plus on a couple vehicles ns they were great.
In contrast the Plus II (now with new, improved rubber compound) were aweful. I would take them to Discount Tire and they would balance them … the car would feel great for a week then a new balance would have it off by half an ounce.
I gave up and threw away 4 of those tires with 9/32 tread left! I got Continental Pure Contact Touring. They haven’t been balanced in a year and are still superb!
****
NOW IT WOULD SHAKE ONLY WHEN BRAKING
Now for brakes. Last summer I was still irritated with the steering wheel shake, so I bought new factory Nissan rotors and installed them. I used the 3M rotor cleaning Scotchbrite thing you put on a drill to clean the hubs, brake cleaned the new rotors to not have a fingerprint on them, cleaned and greases all the hardware and slide pins with Permetex Purple Ceramic Extreme on metal and Sil-Glyde on pins (rubber). I put the purple lube under the clips like SMA does. Result was slightly reduced shake and still quiet.
During the brake job I washed the pads in dish detergent then sanded with 220 grit and paper in a figure 8 because I was reusing them and this always worked for me in the past. Pads had about 5 or 6 mm. I actually bought new genuine OE brake pads but didn’t use them.
My MO is if I only do rotors to address shake and new pads with new rotors if pads
My torque process was correct, too! Used a 55 ft lb torque stick, lowered, then torque wrench when on the ground to 80 ft lbs in a Star pattern.
NOT FIXED
Friend said he felt it in the seat a bit and we theorized some pulses of brake fluid may go to the front or it may pull the car left then right from the rear wheels…. Anyway
I replaced the rear rotors too wirh the same detail oriented process! It was better but not much better but was somewhat improved.
*****
I called it good enough and licked the ball down the road for a year as it slowly got a bit worse…
*****
A few weeks ago, pissed I did a brake job 9 months ago with over $600 in rotors , I decided I will try again!
I got pissed and decided I still had my original factory rotors that came worh the cad and would get them turned and toss them on there again. My MO is I buy a set of rotors for every car then flip flop them getting the set that isn’t on the car turned each time. I personally check that they are above the discard and no shiny sports left (fully turned defects out).
Anyway I went to several O’Reillys and found one that turns them. I expected the worst, but amazingly they were flawless! This time the steering wheel is smooth as silk!
I did swap the front pads because they had about 4 mm, and I was not going to sand on them to try and squeeze another year out of them…that would be silly, so I installed the new pads that were sitting in the garage for a year.
SUCCESS
My next step was going to be to swap back to the thicker rotors and find a place to turn those on the car. Glad that wasn’t necessary.
I have been to hell and back, but the car is driving and braking like it did the day I bought it new in 2013!
These are the old pads (replaces). For swapping a rotor I discard here or below…. If they were braking good with no shaking steering wheel I would run these another 1 to 1.5 mm before doing a pad slap.
All I can say is braking is pure bliss. Now my parking brake is a bit ficked up and week. That’s a ****ty drum brake in the rear rotor. I probably should backup and spike the brakes hard to see if the auto adjuster will work, but I will wait another week.
Here are the pads. They look like less than half (5mm) remaining but more than 3mm. I yanked these off because I did a rotor swap and these won’t provide 2+ years of service before falling to 3mm. Yeah if the brakes were working good I would just squeeze another year out if these.
Last year it would shake while driving but only at certain speeds. I had Perelli P7 Centerato All Season Plus 2 tires. They were the worst tires I had in a decade. I have previously hd two sets of P7 Centerato AS Plus on a couple vehicles ns they were great.
In contrast the Plus II (now with new, improved rubber compound) were aweful. I would take them to Discount Tire and they would balance them … the car would feel great for a week then a new balance would have it off by half an ounce.
I gave up and threw away 4 of those tires with 9/32 tread left! I got Continental Pure Contact Touring. They haven’t been balanced in a year and are still superb!
****
NOW IT WOULD SHAKE ONLY WHEN BRAKING
Now for brakes. Last summer I was still irritated with the steering wheel shake, so I bought new factory Nissan rotors and installed them. I used the 3M rotor cleaning Scotchbrite thing you put on a drill to clean the hubs, brake cleaned the new rotors to not have a fingerprint on them, cleaned and greases all the hardware and slide pins with Permetex Purple Ceramic Extreme on metal and Sil-Glyde on pins (rubber). I put the purple lube under the clips like SMA does. Result was slightly reduced shake and still quiet.
During the brake job I washed the pads in dish detergent then sanded with 220 grit and paper in a figure 8 because I was reusing them and this always worked for me in the past. Pads had about 5 or 6 mm. I actually bought new genuine OE brake pads but didn’t use them.
My MO is if I only do rotors to address shake and new pads with new rotors if pads
My torque process was correct, too! Used a 55 ft lb torque stick, lowered, then torque wrench when on the ground to 80 ft lbs in a Star pattern.
NOT FIXED
Friend said he felt it in the seat a bit and we theorized some pulses of brake fluid may go to the front or it may pull the car left then right from the rear wheels…. Anyway
I replaced the rear rotors too wirh the same detail oriented process! It was better but not much better but was somewhat improved.
*****
I called it good enough and licked the ball down the road for a year as it slowly got a bit worse…
*****
A few weeks ago, pissed I did a brake job 9 months ago with over $600 in rotors , I decided I will try again!
I got pissed and decided I still had my original factory rotors that came worh the cad and would get them turned and toss them on there again. My MO is I buy a set of rotors for every car then flip flop them getting the set that isn’t on the car turned each time. I personally check that they are above the discard and no shiny sports left (fully turned defects out).
Anyway I went to several O’Reillys and found one that turns them. I expected the worst, but amazingly they were flawless! This time the steering wheel is smooth as silk!
I did swap the front pads because they had about 4 mm, and I was not going to sand on them to try and squeeze another year out of them…that would be silly, so I installed the new pads that were sitting in the garage for a year.
SUCCESS
My next step was going to be to swap back to the thicker rotors and find a place to turn those on the car. Glad that wasn’t necessary.
I have been to hell and back, but the car is driving and braking like it did the day I bought it new in 2013!
These are the old pads (replaces). For swapping a rotor I discard here or below…. If they were braking good with no shaking steering wheel I would run these another 1 to 1.5 mm before doing a pad slap.
All I can say is braking is pure bliss. Now my parking brake is a bit ficked up and week. That’s a ****ty drum brake in the rear rotor. I probably should backup and spike the brakes hard to see if the auto adjuster will work, but I will wait another week.
Here are the pads. They look like less than half (5mm) remaining but more than 3mm. I yanked these off because I did a rotor swap and these won’t provide 2+ years of service before falling to 3mm. Yeah if the brakes were working good I would just squeeze another year out if these.
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Well done!
