rpn453

Yep!

Yes, that's what's happening. My OEM struts didn't have much damping left when I replaced them with GR-2s at almost 100K miles, so there was a big improvement.

I've changed a few sets of struts and shocks and have never changed any springs. Unless there's visible problems with the springs, there's no need to change them.

Just pull the panel to see if there's anything else that could be causing it to stick or bind. If not, the actuator is probably shot.

I think it's that, and, as XPLORx4 mentioned, the difference in shoulders. The ATs have a sharp transition, while the Forteras were very rounded. Four BFG ATs would probably be okay. I'll consider this my lesson in tire mis-matching. Sounds exactly like what I had. I guess you could call it "sashaying": tramlining with the back end only. The BFG ATs have the severe winter service snowflake rating, so they must be pretty good on hard-packed snow. Like most of you, I'd think that MTs would be better in slushy or really soft sticky snow and maybe even really deep stuff too. The 205/50R17s on my Mazda3 don't tramline at all. I could do a 300 mile trip on grooved roads with just a finger on the steering wheel. I've had Goodyear RS-As (stock) and Michelin Pilot A/S (current) on there.

Yep, it didn't take much searching to find the answer to that one! The 5-speed was a good find. There was an automatic of the same year with the same mileage and $400 cheaper that I was going to look at after if this one had any flaws. I was the first person to look at it. I showed up, inspected it, took it for a drive, and paid the guy what he was asking. I didn't get it for really cheap, but he was asking a reasonable price and had obviously taken care of it, so I didn't even dicker. It looks like it has never been off pavement, it has never been in an accident, the interior is mint, and the Carfax report, which I checked for peace of mind between giving him a deposit and getting him a bank draft, showed that it had been into the dealer for service every 3000 miles or so for most of its life. Better fuel economy would be nice, but other than that it's a very nice ride. It gets compliments from most of my passengers.

I had a set of Goodyear Forteras (265/75R15) on my Pathfinder when I bought it in the spring. It drove fine, but they were highway-only tires and I planned on upgrading them with new 31X10.5X15 BFG ATs along with new rims in the spring. Due to a flat, I ended up getting two ATs early and putting them on the back. With the ATs, my back end was getting thrown all over the place by grooves in the road. Now that I have four Cooper Discoverer winter tires on there, it drives fine again. It's not ideal to have different pairs of tires on a vehicle, but I've never experienced anything like this with any other vehicle. I've tried different tire pressures, I have new shocks and struts, my wheels are aligned, my front-end components are good, and all the suspension bushings look good. Does anyone have BFG ATs on their Pathfinder? What do you think of them? Any tramlining?

New member here. I'm a mechanical engineer and a car guy, but I took an oilfield job and needed something that could handle muddy rig roads, so I ended up buying a '98 Pathfinder. It was the best well-maintained, off-road capable, private-sale SUV I could find, and I was fortunate that it even had a 5-speed. I found this site while searching for the largest tires that will fit on a stock '98 Pathfinder. I like discussing and performing automotive maintenance and my job gives me a lot of late nights with nothing to do but the internet, so I figured I'd hang around here to learn a few things about my Pathfinder and hopefully contribute a little too.

Another vote for Redline MT-90.

Exhaust and O2 sensors are cheap and easy fixes. How does the tranny fluid look? Find out where that coolant is going, and go from there. Do you have any maintenance records? If not, I'd change out all the fluids, spark plugs, and timing belt.

The most memorable way to find out why engineers used the design they did is to do your own "engineering" and see what happens!

I recently installed the KYB GR-2 struts and Gas-A-Just shocks to replace my worn-out OEM units. The GR-2s appeared to be identical to the OEM KYBs. The Gas-A-Justs are supposed to be a step up. I have no complaints. marcelo_emoto, You won't have to do anything with the mounts unless yours are worn out. At 100K miles, mine were still good.