M35X side-to-side shimmy at highway speeds.

[fxmercguy]

I just picked up a Certified 07 M35X with 24000 miles. On smooth roads, its awesome! On rougher roads, especially on highways, the car seems to shimmy from side-to-side. You know when you're on a road thats being milled and the car pulls from side to side a bit from the milling grooves? That's how it feels. I'm questioning whether there is something wrong with the all-wheel drive system. The dealer says this is normal and "due to the wide track of the car". I think its BS. I have an FX35 and have also driven the G, and neither did this on rough pavement.

I know the M goes mostly on the rear wheels on dry roads, so I cannot understand the way this car handles on rough pavement. It almost feels like as the tires are bouncing on the irregular road, the AWD system is trying to bring power to the other tires to get traction, which is causing the irregular side-to-side feeling.

Has anyone else experienced this? Is THIS normal?

Thanks~John

[striz923]

hi i have an 06 m35x and when i hit a pothole or some bump which "lightens" the car, the back end wiggles quite a bit. I assumed it was something with the setup of the suspension. I haven't had the problem with normal driving and normal bumps.

[szh]

I just picked up a Certified 07 M35X with 24000 miles. On smooth roads, its awesome! On rougher roads, especially on highways, the car seems to shimmy from side-to-side. You know when you're on a road thats being milled and the car pulls from side to side a bit from the milling grooves? That's how it feels. I'm questioning whether there is something wrong with the all-wheel drive system. The dealer says this is normal and "due to the wide track of the car". I think its BS. I have an FX35 and have also driven the G, and neither did this on rough pavement.

I know the M goes mostly on the rear wheels on dry roads, so I cannot understand the way this car handles on rough pavement. It almost feels like as the tires are bouncing on the irregular road, the AWD system is trying to bring power to the other tires to get traction, which is causing the irregular side-to-side feeling.

Has anyone else experienced this? Is THIS normal?

It is the tires. I bet you still have the original Goodyear RSA tires on the car! If so, get rid of them, put on something appropriate for your part of the country (use summer tires now, and get a set of wheels and snow tires for the winter if you live in snow), and the problem is very likely to go away.

Z

[antzrus]

Yes! Your problem is very well recognized. It's called tramlining. There is loads of information about it on all the Infiniti sites. And as mentioned it's due to the tires; most often the Goodyear OEM RSA's. Get rid of the damn things.

I got a set of ContiExtremeContacts (I live in snow country and I wanted an excellent all season). It was like a whole new machine!

[nordy]

I just fixed the same problem as yours by Buying New Tires, there is a night and day differene! WOW!

[fxmercguy]

Thanks to those who replied. I checked out more info on the web about tramlining and, sure enough, there it is exactly describing my problem! And I do have the Goodyear RSAs...

I guess I'll be going back to this Infiniti dealer to argue for some different tires since it seems like it was a known problem.

Thanks again. ~John