A tall glass of Merlot: 2002 Nissan Maxima style

[Stereodude]

Look what I parked in my driveway.

That's my new car in case you're wondering what I'm talking about. It is a 2002 Nissan Maxima SE loaded with every option except for the GPS navigation system. It is a 6 speed manual. Getting a autotragic/slushbox would be a sin.

Stereodude

 

[Handruin]

Congrats on the new car!! :b-day: (It may not be your b-day, but it's a time to celebrate!)

The Maxima is a great car, it's been around a long time! I hope you get many miles out of it and nothing but sweet riding! I looked at getting the 20th anniversary edition last January with the 5 speed manual, but I was unhappy with the transmission. It must be nice to have 6 gears though!

Those pictures came out great also!

-Doug

 

[Stereodude]

Congrats on the new car!! :b-day: (It may not be your b-day, but it's a time to celebrate!)

The Maxima is a great car, it's been around a long time! I hope you get many miles out of it and nothing but sweet riding! I looked at getting the 20th anniversary edition last January with the 5 speed manual, but I was unhappy with the transmission. It must be nice to have 6 gears though!

Those pictures came out great also!

-Doug

The tranny is still a little stiff, but the HLSD (Helical Limited Slip Differential) makes things darn interesting. Getting on the gas in the corner is an experience. I've yet to finish breaking it in, so I'm trying to drive it gingerly, but it's darn tough to resist stomping on the gas.

My Canon PowerShot A20 seems to get the job done. I think it's got probably the best image quality of any of the 2.1 Megapixel point and shoot cameras. Unfortunately its flash is its achilles heel (poor range and coverage). I got it as a "tide-me-over" until the Canon EOS D60 drops in price (actually at the time it hadn't even been announced). Anyhow...

Stereodude

 

[Handruin]

Maybe when I test drove the 5 speed it was too new, because the shifting was very rough. I had a 92 Integra with over 100K miles and it shifted so much smother then the new Maxima. (not trying speak poorly of the Maxima, I like the car very much other then the tranny.)

This is my baby (year old now) the pictures aren't as good...

 

[Stereodude]

Update

Well... Withing 34 hours of driving off the dealers lot the rear bushing snapped off the lower control arm on the front passenger side.

I took my new Maxima to my friends house tonight. We were going to get some grub and catch a flick. I was going down Woodward Ave. and needed to take a turnaround (Michigan left/U turn). I was going about 50MPH and stepped on the brakes fairly hard to come to a stop in the turnaround. It wasn't a panic stop by any means, but it was a fairly hard stop. Before the car came to a complete stop I hit an slight above average sized bump in the road (about 2-3") and I hear a really loud bang. I look over at my friend and we both make some comment about the car bottoming out. In the back of my head I was really kinda puzzled how those conditions would cause the car to bottom out.

I put the car in 1st and went to pull away (light turned green). I hear another odd noise and was a little concerned, but continued to drive. After few hundred feet and some more noises during braking and shifting it was obvious that there was something seriously wrong with the car. So I pull it over turn on the flashers and get out expecting to see a wheel laying on it's side. Everything looks pretty normal. I'm still not sure what's going on at this point, so I back the car up a few feet into a driveway on the side of the road. My friend and I get out again and try to see what's wrong with the car. We can't see anything obviously wrong with it.

I noticed that the front right wheel didn't look quite right so I straightened the steering wheel and looked again. Sure enough the front passenger wheel looks to be toed out a little. So we get out the jack and jack the car up and take the wheel off. After a few minutes of looking at it I realize that the lower control arm is no longer attached to the rear bushing. I reach in there and felt it. Sure enough the metal snapped. I couldn't see real well, but it appears that there is a bolt or something that is welded to the control arm and that weld broke.

Anyhow... I called AAA and got the car towed to the closest Nissan dealer where it will sit until Monday morning at 7:00am when I get to have the service people accuse me of abusing the car.

What a pain. Within 34 hours of driving the car off the dealers lot, the lower control arm breaks loose from the rear bushing.

Stereodude

 

[Handruin]

Update

Well... Withing 34 hours of driving off the dealers lot the rear bushing snapped off the lower control arm on the front passenger side.

I took my new Maxima to my friends house tonight. We were going to get some grub and catch a flick. I was going down Woodward Ave. and needed to take a turnaround (Michigan left/U turn). I was going about 50MPH and stepped on the brakes fairly hard to come to a stop in the turnaround. It wasn't a panic stop by any means, but it was a fairly hard stop. Before the car came to a complete stop I hit an slight above average sized bump in the road (about 2-3") and I hear a really loud bang. I look over at my friend and we both make some comment about the car bottoming out. In the back of my head I was really kinda puzzled how those conditions would cause the car to bottom out.

I put the car in 1st and went to pull away (light turned green). I hear another odd noise and was a little concerned, but continued to drive. After few hundred feet and some more noises during braking and shifting it was obvious that there was something seriously wrong with the car. So I pull it over turn on the flashers and get out expecting to see a wheel laying on it's side. Everything looks pretty normal. I'm still not sure what's going on at this point, so I back the car up a few feet into a driveway on the side of the road. My friend and I get out again and try to see what's wrong with the car. We can't see anything obviously wrong with it.

I noticed that the front right wheel didn't look quite right so I straightened the steering wheel and looked again. Sure enough the front passenger wheel looks to be toed out a little. So we get out the jack and jack the car up and take the wheel off. After a few minutes of looking at it I realize that the lower control arm is no longer attached to the rear bushing. I reach in there and felt it. Sure enough the metal snapped. I couldn't see real well, but it appears that there is a bolt or something that is welded to the control arm and that weld broke.

Anyhow... I called AAA and got the car towed to the closest Nissan dealer where it will sit until Monday morning at 7:00am when I get to have the service people accuse me of abusing the car.

What a pain. Within 34 hours of driving the car off the dealers lot, the lower control arm breaks loose from the rear bushing.

Stereodude

Real sorry to hear the news...I can't believe it broke!!! That's mighty depressing to have happen on a new car...sorry about the bad news. Hopefully they'll fix it right up for you...

:bigeek:

 

[Bartender]

Sorry to hear the sad news Sterodude. We all felt your joy for the new car, and now feel your pain. Have a drink (or more if you like), it's on the house (when do I charge anyway?). :roll:

 

[Stereodude]

Here's the pictures of the broken control arm.

Stereodude

 

[Clocker]

Wowowow. That is a terrible safety issue. I have encountered a lot of LCA testing at the Lab I used to work at and, indeed, heavy braking over chatter bumps is a worst case scenario for LCA attachments. WHat you have there must be some type of manufacturing defect in the casting. I would not be suprised if you get treated *real special* by Nissan.

LCAs don't break without a real good reason if they are designed half-way correctly. Watch your mailbox for a campaign notification (i.e. recall)...

C

 

[Stereodude]

Wowowow. That is a terrible safety issue. I have encountered a lot of LCA testing at the Lab I used to work at and, indeed, heavy braking over chatter bumps is a worst case scenario for LCA attachments. WHat you have there must be some type of manufacturing defect in the casting. I would not be suprised if you get treated *real special* by Nissan.

LCAs don't break without a real good reason if they are designed half-way correctly. Watch your mailbox for a campaign notification (i.e. recall)...

C

Well I got the car back today. The dealer (not where I bought it) was polite about the whole thing. They didn't accuse me of doing anything to the car. They overnighted in a new control arm from the parts warehouse. They checked out the other side to make sure it didn't have a bad weld also. It was done yesterday, but I was out of town. It's nice to be back in my new car. They did say that this was very unusual and they'd never seen it before on a brand new car.

I showed the pictures to one of my friends who knows about welding. He seemed to think that it looked like a dry weld.

Stereodude

ps. I bought the car in Canada and imported it myself to the US (which is why I got it serviced where I didn't buy it).