G35 Quirks

[impulsive84]

Hey guys, I've had my '04 Sedan 6speed for over a week now, what can I say? I love it! As this is a previously used car, I've noticed it has a couple of quirks that maybe you guys could elaborate on.

First, rowing through the gears as the ratios are pretty close, is awesome, wouldn't trade it for anything else (well, in this price range). I find that when I am in downtown city traffic I do a lot of 1st gear downshifts to keep momentum(no need to stress the motor under 1200rpm). As the car has 117km's on it, how easy is it for you guys to get into first while rolling? (10-25km/h). I'm just wondering how much effort you need to get it into the gate. I understand that 1st gear on most cars will not engage over a certain speed.

The second quirk I've noticed is the whine of the transmission/driveshaft/diff, is this characteristic of Infiniti's, or performance rwd's in general? I don't find it annoying or anything, it's growing on me, how do yours sound? Kind of a whirrrring sound that is drowned out by the motor/exhaust/road noise above 20-30km/h or so.

One last thing, my back end is a little squirrelly, any ideas? (bushings, struts, etc?)

Thanks peoples!

[Sentientbydesign]

From my experience, you're not supposed to down shift into first while moving. Anything over about 5 mph is very difficult. I'd imagine it has something to do with the torque multiplication and the stress it puts on the synchros.

I have the "whirring" sound too. It annoyed the hell out of me. You basically have to keep the RPMs above a certain point in order to avoid hearing it.

I think Nissan developed a semi-bullet proof drivetrain at the expense of lots of weird noises. Which is really funny...They use two resonating chambers on the intake...actually 3 if you include the upper and lower on the G-tube and they resonate the hell out of the exhaust, but the transmission is as noisy as a big rig.

[impulsive84]

Cool, just the response I was looking for. I'm glad I'm not the only one with funky noises.

Oh, I forgot to add earlier, I get a mild shimmy/vibration at around 110-120km/h, anyone else get it? It could be the fact that when I bought the car it had an odd tire (Eagle rs-a on the left rear and turanza's on the rest). I still gotta talk to the dealer about that..

[BrandAidDesignG35]

I think these are normal issues you're experiencing... nice job on the 6mt

what do you mean squirrelly? is it squeaking when you go over dips and bumps? probably strut mine are squeaking sometime, lol, time to get some lowering springs/

[BrandAidDesignG35]

Oh yeah, Sentien and the sedan has two additional resonators in the exhaust as well, so that would drown out even more of the exhaust tone... making the other sounds even more noticeable...

I have performance exhaust on now, but still not as throaty as my altima KA24DE with similar mods... Still have some work to do!!! Coupe midpipes will solve that for you, and you may have a mechanical fan to, which is robbing 15hp or so...

Stay on this site, we'll help you improve you "loved" car, into one you'd bend over.

[impulsive84]

By squirrelly I mean...it doesn't seem as planted in the rear end as it should be. At hiway speeds it tends to jump around a little bit, maybe it's the 215's?

[Sentientbydesign]

It could be the fact that when I bought the car it had an odd tire (Eagle rs-a on the left rear and turanza's on the rest). I still gotta talk to the dealer about that..

Get that tire fixed ASAP.

I had mix matched tires on my I30 because I was poor and didn't want to spend more money on that car and it hurt me.

I was driving a little "spirited" on the freeway and had to brake and dodge a car that came out of nowhere. My tires locked up and I literally went from the fast lane all the way to the slow lane (4), then back to the fast lane and ended up hitting the right wall.

Mixing front to back isn't so bad. Left to right is a killer.

[Jacko3]

iMPULSIVE84:

You are alright! Wait until you drive the 6 speed manual transmission. You will hear sounds that will make you cringe, and this is in a car that has 20k + miles. I have an aftermarket exhaust which drowns out other sounds due to rattles. The manual transmission in the G-35 Coupe is unbeleivably strong and reliable---it actually protects itself by ensuring you don't exceed a certain RPM for each gear.

[impulsive84]

I do have a 6mt