New 2015 Quest Owner to the forum with questions

[vert_guy]

Greetings. I am middle aged Nissan guy that has finally entered that phase of life that requires a Minivan.

I bought a Nissan certified 2015 Quest SV two years ago with 5,000 miles and the odometer now shows ~ 26,000. I installed the factory Tow package, auto-dimming rear view mirror with garage door buttons, and a set of weather-tech floor mats. The van now runs Mobil 1 oil to make things last. I also undercoated when I got the thing with

Here are my current questions:

1) CVT Fluid change at 40K ok or is this required more frequently to avoid problems? How long do the CVTs appear to last with proper fluid changes? I believe my Nissan certified used car warranty covers me to 100K miles on the power train, but I would like to run this van out to 200K or so. Is the OEM stuff best or is there a better synthetic from Mobil, Redline etc?

2) Tires: Tire wear appears to suck and I am looking for recommendations as to what seems to be an improvement over stock. I was looking at General Altimax RT43 ( Forum thread seemed to say good things and they have a good number of stars on Tire Rack) The actual reviews on tire rack complain about tread wear though. I live in Michigan and I want tires that: work in snow, offer improved tread wear, and can survive the pothole Apocalypse that Michigan is famous for. Thinking about changing sizes slightly to 225/70-16 ( Factory is 225/65-16) and running some light truck tires. Has anyone tried that? thoughts? ( I am ok with small speedometer errors)

3) Rear deck lid corrosion. I have what this thread shows: 2016-nissan-quest-rust-on-rear-hatch-t619486.html
and I have seen many mans with this issue. I plan to take my decklid apart and stop what I can then apply lots of grease before reassembly to hopefully prevent this in the future. has anyone already done this? If so can you share pics? Dealing with the dealer on a repair that wont last does not sound very appealing.

4) Paint: This thing collects dirt and rock chips in the paint like nothing I have ever owned before. Has anyone tried ceramic paint coatings etc to improve the life of the paint? I am using simple pain sealants for now but I'm interested in something better that keeps the car looking cleaner, prevents scuffs and scratches on the doors etc.

Thanks,

Will


PS- As an introduction I have owned many fun Nissans in the past all with some level of mods ( 94 SE-R, 94 240sx Convertible, and 01 Maxima with manual trans etc) . I am a pretty handy DIY type. I did not even think to check that there would be a minivan forum but I am excited to see that NICO has a resource for it. I don't own any fun nissans any more so please dont let my username fool you I just could not change it to something current.

[PoMansVan]

1) I would say the 30-40K mile range is a good spot to do a drain/fill or 2 on the CVT. You probably saw some threads on my 2016 Quest SV that I also bought certified used, but it had 32K miles on it when I bought it in 2017. The CVT fluid was quite dark at that point. Almost like used motor oil. Again.. lots of posts on this in the first few pages of this forum.

You have super low mileage on yours if you're only currently at 26K. We're at about 57K on our 2016. Yours should look too bad yet.

2) I agree that tire wear sucks, but I've found it to be mostly on the fronts. I still have the original Goodyear comfort treads on the rear of our van, but replaced the fronts with a cheap set of Antares Comfort A5's from Walmart last fall. They are about half shot with only ~15K miles on them. All I can figure is these vans are so darn heavy, these little tires on 16" wheels are going to take a beating.

3) The liftgate paint issue and overall paint concners? I would have attempted a DIY repair on mine had it costed me more than $100 for the dealer to fix it (cost me less than $60). I dunno what to suggest other than try to keep up with touch-up paint. Get your 3-letter paint code off the door label and order a tube or get it from a local auto parts store. Get the one where one side of the tube is the paint and the other is the clear coat.

[far raf]

If you have excessive tire wear, take the van to a reliable alignment shop who know what they are doing.
Quest does wear front tires noticeably quicker than rears due to heavy weight and strong engine, so frequent rotations are a good idea.
With tires you get what you pay for. Michelin is a good choice, I drive all year round in Ontario, Canada, wearing all season Michelin and they perform totally fine.

[TeamFRD]

RE your mirror swap -- How did you power it? Is the wiring up in the headliner on the SV (or all trims levels) even if not used? I miss my compass.

[TeamFRD]

RE your mirror swap -- How did you power it? Is the wiring up in the headliner on the SV (or all trims levels) even if not used? <I miss my compass.>