Quality strut inserts/ not happy with road manners.

[shel155]

02 QX4 here 160k miles, have 4 OME med duty springs which only gave me 1+ inch in the front, more in the rear. Doetche tech shocks and KYB struts Toyo AT's all new. Car has been to Nissan for front end inspection and alignment "all good" they said. Drives ok, nothing terrible but was out on some mountain roads and the locals were pushing me, even an old ranger pickup thought I should be going faster. Thing is, this QX4 does not handle high speed touring, well. Rear subframe bushings replaced by po, Nissan said all my bushings were fine. Am going to try some better shocks/struts for lack of anything else I can think of. Does anyone know a Bilstein part number for strut inserts? Rears? Koni? I can do OME struts kinda would prefer Billys tho. Any other tips appreciated... and thanks for admitting me to the forum. 

[R50JR]

21 hours ago, shel155 said:

02 QX4 here 160k miles, have 4 OME med duty springs which only gave me 1+ inch in the front, more in the rear. Doetche tech shocks and KYB struts Toyo AT's all new. Car has been to Nissan for front end inspection and alignment "all good" they said. Drives ok, nothing terrible but was out on some mountain roads and the locals were pushing me, even an old ranger pickup thought I should be going faster. Thing is, this QX4 does not handle high speed touring, well. Rear subframe bushings replaced by po, Nissan said all my bushings were fine. Am going to try some better shocks/struts for lack of anything else I can think of. Does anyone know a Bilstein part number for strut inserts? Rears? Koni? I can do OME struts kinda would prefer Billys tho. Any other tips appreciated... and thanks for admitting me to the forum. 

Your post is a little difficult to follow along.

 

Are you from WA- Washington in the US or from WA- Western Australia?

 

KYB shocks and struts are perfect for normal driving and some off-roading. Unless you have a source for new OME struts, you can't buy them since they are discontinued. Perhaps you forgot what you're driving, but your QX4 isn't a prerunner. 

 

 

Edited June 25, 2023 by R50JR

[shel155]

4 hours ago, R50JR said:

Your post is a little difficult to follow along.

 

Are you from WA- Washington in the US or from WA- Western Australia?

 

KYB shocks and struts are perfect for normal driving and some off-roading. Unless you have a source for new OME struts, you can't buy them since they are discontinued. Perhaps you forgot what you're driving, but your QX4 isn't a prerunner. 

 

Not only is it not a pre-runner, but as for on-road manners, neither is it = to a 1st or 2nd gen 4R, GMT800/GMT400, or even, it would seem, a clapped out Ranger This is probably why I was asking about struts that had the potential to perform better than a 50$ kyb. Thanks 

 

Edited June 25, 2023 by shel155

[Slartibartfast]

What part of the handling is letting you down? Grip, body roll, steering feel, dancing on washboard? 

[shel155]

10 hours ago, Slartibartfast said:

What part of the handling is letting you down? Grip, body roll, steering feel, dancing on washboard? 

 

I'd say it was what I felt were too many steering corrections to keep it on a path, a bit too much wander, some pitch and roll too. To be fair, I should have aired up my tires more, will do that in the future. Just an anecdote; was talking to a Nissan service advisor on the phone, she confided that she purchased an R50 new and felt that the wind blew the car around too much. Working for Nissan, they tried quite a few things to fix it and never could. So, not sure if OME struts/shocks would help a lot, but I'm going to try and find some anyway. 

[Slartibartfast]

I would check the steering rack bushings and the rear trailing arm bushings, see if anything moves that shouldn't. Also look into the Missing Link. It's a simple mod, connects two points on the undercarriage that look like they were supposed to have a crossmember but for some reason don't. Might firm it up a little.

 

Did they give you a printout of the alignment? 

[shel155]

12 hours ago, Slartibartfast said:

I would check the steering rack bushings and the rear trailing arm bushings, see if anything moves that shouldn't. Also look into the Missing Link. It's a simple mod, connects two points on the undercarriage that look like they were supposed to have a crossmember but for some reason don't. Might firm it up a little.

 

Did they give you a printout of the alignment? 

Yes got the printout, all green at Nissan, tried twice with tire shops which left it out of spec. OK, its not an area im condident in and usually leave that to someone more qualified, ill try and see if i can find anything loose-ish. Am going to gradually install poly bushings wherever i can, cant hurt. On the ome struts, was informed that there is ONE pair left in OZ, i have dibs but bet they go to someones buddy instead. Hey i can at least put billies on the rear, not giving up on finding a strut too. Thanks for the input!

[onespiritbrain]

i would suggest identifying a clear communicable issue, for example, my steering wheel doesnt return to the exact same place after taking a curve (steering rack bushings) or it is harder than it should be to drive in a straight line (tie rod, ball joint, alignment). if you present a vague issue then we can only really provide vague responses. 

 

when you say mountain roads, do you mean paved roads, gravel, dirt? i cant imagine driving in a straight line would be an issue traversing a mountain since there wont be any straight lines. 

[adamzan]

On 6/25/2023 at 7:08 PM, shel155 said:

 

I'd say it was what I felt were too many steering corrections to keep it on a path, a bit too much wander, some pitch and roll too. To be fair, I should have aired up my tires more, will do that in the future. Just an anecdote; was talking to a Nissan service advisor on the phone, she confided that she purchased an R50 new and felt that the wind blew the car around too much. Working for Nissan, they tried quite a few things to fix it and never could. So, not sure if OME struts/shocks would help a lot, but I'm going to try and find some anyway. 

Honestly, this still sounds like alignment, perhaps not enough caster. I know on the wd21s when you lift them it is common to put as much positive caster as you can so it doesn't wander on the highway or on rough roads. I am not sure how much adjustment the r50 has on that, though.