Hi. About 2 years ago the once smooth ride of our 2000 Maxima (which currently has just 55,000 miles on it) started getting very rough. These days it’s just awful. I’ve brought it to 2 different Nissan dealers and a few different independent shops and nobody seems to have a solution (most don’t even agree that it’s a rough ride, but I can assure you that it is. A couple did agree it was a little rough, and said it was probably just due to age, and hardening of assorted rubber gaskets…). I don’t buy this as an answer, since my 1995 Accord with over 100k miles on it has a much more enjoyable ride.
Basically, going over any sort of rough road, no matter how minor, is just awful. I feel that the car is thudding and thumping and the steering wheel wants to jump out of my hands (again, I can’t figure out why no mechanic agrees with me). I have had the rear shocks and springs replaced with genuine Nissan parts (this was done when the problem first occurred & one mechanic thought it might be them) but it didn’t help at all. None of the mechanics see anything wrong with the front ones either (original Nissan).
The tires are a few years old (Continentals of some sort) and don’t seem to be relevant to the problem (checked by mechanics). Though technically they are different from whatever was originally on the car. But the ride is just so bad that I can’t imagine they are the cause (and the timing of getting the new tires did not coincide with the timing of getting the rough ride).
Any help is greatly appreciated!
The problem may be a combination of things. You need to find a good independent mechanic who will sort out the problem. Have them check out the front struts because the vehicle is over 10 years old even if it only has 55K on the clock. Also…your Maxima will never ride like your Accord even though it’s a few years older. You might consider rotating your tires front to back to see if that changes the ride. I have never had any luck with Continental tires so part of the problem could be there.