Poor handling (2006 Infiniti M35 Sport)

[Nonoxsmith]

I have a M35 Sport the handling is poor. Could it be the tires or is it inherent to the cas as my dealer wants me to belive. What can I do to help it stay put on groved roadways?

[exbmwdude]

Define poor handling please ? This is one of the finest handling cars I've ever owned...

exbmwdude2006 M35S

[Q45tech]

Tires represent 95% of what's possible and suspension the other 5%.[assuming new shocks and correct alignment].

Tires with more than halfworn tread or outside their temperature range are just asking for problems................using Summer Tires when temp falls below 60- 50F.

Study Tireracks suspension mods on their BMW test car. They worked hard to get a 1.5%-2% improvement with shocks, springs, and sway bar changes.http://www.tirerack.com/suspension/testing.jsp

[Nonoxsmith]

The car has a hard time staying in a straight line. It darts from side to side as if it catches a ridge and jumps to the other side.

[Q45tech]

Not the cars fault that the roads don't meet specification.

You will have to experiment with tires and find some inferior ones that don't perform well..................the snap back is called " self aligning torque" by tire engineers.

[MagicM]

Get an alignment, unless you have very little tred on your tires, i wouldn't suspect them to be it. That is assuming you are using the oem bridgestone pontenza which are very good. Could also be the roads, or maybe you have a formula 1 car in your backyard and you're comparing it to that, many possible reasons.

[Agent M]

I had issues with my 2006 M35x similar to what it sounds like you are describing. It was very hard to keep in a straight line, and seemed like whatever you did with the wheel to make corrections was amplified 100x. Dealer did an alignment, and also "recalibrated the electronic steering." I don't understand exactly what they did, but it helped tremendously. I'd have your dealer check it out.

[badfish25]

If the car is being led by grooves in the pavement it is usually the tires.

[InfinitiSvcMan]

I had success switching from factory tires to Yokohamas. This has helped keep the car from wandering.

[caug1]

sounds that m 35s come with too agressive aligment setting from the factory that are good for perfect highways and good cornering, but we dont drive on the tracks .so you need to bring the car to the place that will listen to the problem and will align the car base on what you are saying other then stock setting that they should go by.i had afew cars that had the same problems and i have a guy that does knows what he is doing. less agressive alingment you want and tell the guys just that.easy fix. tires could cause the problem a little, but again i had bad tires too and aligment fixed it all. trust me.caug.

[super_call]

It's called tramlining and the M is well known for it. It is more prevalent in the NEast just because the roads are in worse shape.

Good article at TireRack http://www.tirerack.com/tires/...id=47

I've not heard of anyone who has had a non-factory spec cure the problem. Best I can tell, it's a "live with it" problem. My service tech agrees - but not officially.

[F1SportsFan]

Like a few others have said, I would go for an alignment and a different set of tires and you should see some improvement. The other choice is to move to somewhere with better roads...

[Bocatrip]

The car has a hard time staying in a straight line. It darts from side to side as if it catches a ridge and jumps to the other side.

I have noticed a number of threads with regards to the issues you are experiencing keeping the car in a straight line. Most of the problems seem to be with the Sport M with the 19s. I'm sure the suspension but even more so, the tires are making these issues more prominent. It's probably going to be apparent even after an alignment although it couldn't hurt. The more expensive method would be changing tires and trying to go with non directional tires. This may change your handling but improve your steering problems.

[lawcdav1]

Hello all,

I have a 2006 m35x with about 43000 miles. Whenever I make slow right turns i notice a grinding or pulling sound. I've taken her in for service and had the steering racks and power steering pumps replaced. Can anyone tell me if this a common problem and if anyone else has dealt with the same issue and gotten fixed? Please help!!