Karmann

Andy, I have stock wheels, same as the ones you saw. The six spoke alloy SE wheels. Considering I haven't been ramming anything with much force, just sandy two-tracks and washboards, I don't think I'd have bent a rim. I've had no blowouts either. I'm thinking it's suspension related?

Thanks for all the help so far! Definitely some things I need to look into. My struts are probably getting closer to death, but they're certainly not blown out or anything. When I replaced my wheel bearings, I did the inners and outers, and I do have manual hubs up front and run them unlocked 100% of the time on the street (No snowy weather in my part of SoCal). The shake is basically a consistent moving of the wheel back and forth about 1/2" once going above 45. It continues on until 75 or so where it tapers off, or there's enough other vibration that I don't notice. If I'm on a perfectly smooth street, and doing 50, it's very noticeable that the steering wheel is oscillating back and forth, and you absolutely feel it when you drive it. It shakes the whole front end, and I can even notice it in the passenger seat a little bit. I'm having one of the tires rebalanced tomorrow, because I noticed there was a wheel weight missing when compared to the others. Hopefully this helps the problem, but for a few reasons, I get the feeling it won't.

Literally just had the wheels balanced, and got an alignment three days ago.

I just bought some beautiful new Cooper AT3s for my Pathfinder, and as some may recall I was struggling with wobbling on the last set of tires. Well, the problem has persisted at 45-55, and we can also eliminate wheel bearings, front lower control arms, rear upper trailing arms, and sway bar bushings because I've already replaced those. So any ideas?

Yes I would think it should pass, so long as you use their CA specific cats. I believe people use them quite a bit, and have no issue passing. I'd ask a reputable performance exhaust shop for more information, or contact magnaflow directly.

I believe if you're looking to up the ante with your cats that Magnaflow makes some high-flow CA units. Otherwise what worked for me was an 18" magnaflow replacing the factory muffler, and resonator delete. Considering I like to hear my passengers, music and other things, but appreciate a little rumble, it's the perfect balance. I'm in CA as well, and it's 100% smog legal. I'm not sure on the mpg gain, but maybe a half to one at best? I'm not sure, I mainly did it for nicer sound and a little better clearance. Here's a video. (Pre several mods I've done, but mechanically the same)

In theory high elevation air has less oxygen, and therefore creates less power in the motor. But as was mentioned, the ECU already knows this and can tune the majority of it out with different fuel parameters. So I don't think mine sees noticeable "altitude sickness" for this reason. For me, even with the VQ, you notice weight if you have a lot of gear going up a long grade, maybe that's what you're noticing. Over the summer, consistently sitting at 7k or above in Northern Arizona and New Mexico, I noticed no power loss when going up hills, and I usually reside at 30' of elevation on the coast.

2002 SE, no passenger side cylinder. CNAM, regarding your keyless, I've seen a lot of auto parts stores now carrying fobs which when coded should work. Otherwise the dealer should be able to help.

Do you need DRLs? I imagine there's a mod you can do to have your fogs running when the vehicle's on, lots of Xterra guys do a version of this. At worst you could always pop in some of those Phillips DRLs for a very current (but potentially rice) look.

Oh, that makes a lot more sense! Mine definitely angles out as well, that's a normal thing for pathys.

There are some excellent articles on Expedition Portal regarding tall and skinny tires, but the jist is that they yield a larger footprint when you air down. I have ~30.5 x 9.5" on my pathfinder, and have not found an effect on mileage. They are actually lighter than the tires they replaced, yet are 1.5" taller, meaning I got a .75" lift, and no mileage penalty. The majority of mileage issues are related to weight, and ride quality issues are related to tire design, not size (unless you're going low profile). Typically however, a higher aspect ratio tire (taller overall with a larger sidewall) will ride smoother over rough surfaces than its lower aspect ratio equivalent. Taller tires will affect your speedometer readout, as well as odometer, among other distance-based calculations your car will do, but only by the percentage larger than the stock tire you're running. My speedo is 3% off for instance, because I installed a 3% larger tire, meaning the indicated speed is actually 3% less than actual speed. With my 4.63 stock rear end and these size tires, doing 80 mph yields about 2.9k, anything lower and the mileage is tolerable. I would say go tall and skinny because they strike a nice balance between ride quality of the taller tires, and better fuel economy and fitment of a skinny tire, plus when wheeling they can "cut" their way to the bottom of many surfaces quicker, yielding better performance on FS roads, thin mud, rock, and others. As long as you don't go for giant wide meats on heavy rims, you won't be sorry.

Those really are some awesome rims, but there better be a trail on the other side of that river...

I have Toyo AT-IIs, don't even bring up treadwear As much as they wobble the tread on them should last until the next millenium. 45k on them and still has tons of tread. Anyway, what exactly is "tight lock?"

^I was just going to mention tire pressure. I typically run between the factory recommended 30 psi and 35 depending on the conditions or if I try to eek out some fuel mileage. I know over or under inflation can cause issues with tire wear.

I've rotated extremely regularly, always keep it aligned, and have replaced several suspension components, yet still experience similar feathering. So if you find out something that fixes this, let us know.

Smoky Mountains NP

TAG does not have the best reviews. You're much better off making your own bumper.

I wouldn't worry too much about the topping out issue, perfect choice for what you use your truck for btw. They're the perfect combo of ride and handling on and off road.

Pretty interesting, I had one of the Nissan/Infiniti design centers up my street for a little while, always saw all the latest products floating around. Now Hyundai does the same a couple doors down.

Good lord that is crispy. You might want to do some sort of rust-preventative measure on them this time around.

Exactly! It's not a show car, and I never want it to be, so I'm completely ok with it being a 10 footer. And that's my reasoning too. Plus everybody loves a light show.

Hmm, that's not bad at all.... Right now my primary function is turning them on when parked on a level surface (sleeping platform habitat), and I have a DieHard Platinum AGM battery, so typically their draw doesn't worry me too much. But thank you for the suggestion.

I have the OME with Fleurys front 1" spacer to level it out, and I love it. Much better than the stock spring rate for what I do, yet still incredibly comfortable on the highway and around town. See this thread for more info on what people run: http://www.nissanpathfinders.net/forum/topic/19867-max-tire-size-vs-lift-kit-used-vs-custom-or-oe-wheels/?do=findComment&comment=341506

Thank you! That's a great setup, they really are perfect for unloading etc. I have the ability to put the key in ON, transmission in reverse without the motor running, and light up everything I may need to see when taking out stoves, tents, etc. Unfortunately, I looked them up when I was writing this up to find a link, and they seem to have disappeared off the market.

Sure thing bud!