Alright so this problem occurred earlier this morning. As I was heading to work a weird vibration started to occur.. I would say around 60-70 mph which just came out of nowhere. Now it felt as if I had a flat tire or a bubble, it had the whole trunk rattling. Pulled over and inspected the tires and rear end, all looked fine. Got back on the road and started to notice the problem right away as I started getting speed. Couple seconds later it went away.

Heading back home from work, as soon as I jumped on the highway the problem started again. This time it got me a bit aggravated so I kept driving and problem went away again in a couple seconds 30-40sec.

My work drive is all highway and mainly 30-45 mins. This problem has me puzzled due to that it'll vibrate and then once the vibration has ended it does not reoccur. Need help on pin pointing this issue.

 

check tire pressure, how old are the tires, when was the last time balanced, are the lugs tight/torqued .... aka, basic troubleshooting

 

Tire pressure is good. Lug nuts are tightened. Tires aren't that old, I'll guess maybe a year.

 

The only person that can help you diagnose this is a Nissan tech or yourself, not a bunch of guys on a forum who can't inspect your car for you, just sayin'.

 

I'm aware of that but maybe someone here has experienced the same problem and can chime in.

I guess what I'll do next is remove the rpfs and slap on the stocks and see if the problem occurs again.

 

Did this start after you changed wheels?

 

No. I've had the wheels on for about 4 months already and all has been smooth. This problem just happened this morning as I was heading to work.

 

Without having been in the passenger seat, I have no idea.
Keep utilizing the search feature until someone with more knowledge than myself chimes in.

 

are the tires balanced

 

Tires are balanced, I know tires can cause vibration but vibrate and then go away and not reoccur. Wouldn't it be continuously throughout the drive if it was a tire problem ???

 

not always, when was the last time they were balanced? does it do it more when the tires are cold or hot?

 

Can't remember when they were balanced. As for the hot/cold I'll be finding out in a couple hours when I leave to work.

Possibility that it could be the driveshaft ?

 

i would start with the balancing, that is free... dont throw money at the car trying to solve an unknown problem. check your rear diff bushing, see if there is black ooze coming from it

 

Ok so left to work and 8 minutes into the drive and the problem started again and this time lasted more than a couple seconds, 3 to 4 minutes.

The vibrations are at 60mph and up. I slowed down to 50 and accelerated gradually back to 60-70 and the problem was gone

Lucky today I'm only on a half shift so after work I'll go and check to see if the wheels are off balanced.

 

Noticed that one of my calipers is sticking since the car doesn't roll back to a stop and just comes to a dead stop. I have a feeling that it's the left back since I replaced it sometime this year and is the only one that has some orange oxidation on it. Hopefully this is my problem.

 

Put the rear of the car up on jack stands. Grab the tires at 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock and rock them back and forth. If you have any play, your wheel bearings are probably toast. Then rock the tires at 12 o'clock and 6 o'clock. If you have any play, you have a bad ball joint. If the wheels are both nice and tight, then inspect all your bushings, your suspension system and your brakes for irregular wear or damage. Check the back side of your tires for delamination (bulging).

You need to inspect your car at the source of the problem. If you can't figure out what's causing the issue, or don't want to get your hands dirty, or don't have the proper tools or knowledge to fix rear-end issues, then take the car to a shop; it will be cheaper in the short-run.

 

Alright so I sourced out the problem. It was my rear left caliper that had seized up and was locking to the disc.

 

Really! wow, how'd that get determined? Seems like you'd have other symptoms if that was the case.


Like acceleration loss, smoking from that wheel, pulling in that direction etc... I dunno seems odd.

 

I'm glad you figured it out.

 

I did notice some acceleration loss once I started to think it was the caliper. The caliper paint was silver and then I guess with heat started to turn orangey. Coming to a stop at around 5mph or less there was no roll back, just a dead stop as if I was braking.

When I lifted the rear I spun the left back tire and sure enough it was sticking and the tire wasn't rolling. I found it odd that there was no smoke or smell as well. But I haven't been able to duplicate the problem. I checked all suspension components and everything checks ok.