Qx4 sways side to side on freeway

[Bradyb1993]

Hey guys,
So my qx4 has been starting to sway side to side when I hit any bump,pothole, ect when I'm on the freeway. Usually speeds of like 55 to 65. I live in portland so that's pretty much as fast as your gunna wanna go lol. But I have no idea what it is. It'll be chugging along fine, but then I'll hit something, anything, doesn't really matter, the problems pretty frequent. Anyways it'll hit and sway side to side, and it's very noticeable. It feels like 2 people on either side of the car rocking it back and forth. And it'll continue until I either brake or let off the accelerator. I've heard it could just be shocks , but I'd like some other advice. The cars got close to 190k, and I'm not 100% sure I want to invest a chunk of change to fix it. Any ideas? I'll probably be doing it myself, cause last time I got the rack and pinion fixed at a shop they charged 700 for parts and labor.

Thanks again everyone

[EdBwoy]

Hello and welcome to the club.
If you would, look up "pathfinder wobble" or "death sway". Different ways to call it but most common is worn rear trailing arm bushings.

[JPK Omaha]

Do a search on here for death sway or death wobble. There is lot's of stuff about this.

[MisterH]

As the others mentioned- you need to replace the trailing arm bushings. However, I just did that repair to my QX4 and here's my advice: unless you have a lot of time and a lot tools, don't bother replacing the bushings - it's a huge amount of work. There are two upper and two lower trailing arms. The cost for completely new arms is around $50 each ( got best price at rockauto.com) Sure, you can save money by replacing the bushings at about $8-12 each x 4, but the amount of time it would take to remove and install them on the old arms is probably three times what it would take just to replace each arm as a single unit. The Dorman aftermarket arms are sturdy and a fine choice.

If you don't want to tackle both upper and lower arms at once I would do the lowers first - they do most of the work of stabilizing the chassis to rear axle movement so that might suffice for a while. You could probably get a garage to install all four for around $300 or less if you supply the parts. If you decide to do it yourself you're going to need an impact wrench to dislodge the securing bolts. Chances are they will have a fair amount of corrosion in their sleeves and won't want to come out without a lot of force applied. I bought an electric impact wrench rated at 230 Ft/lbs and even with that I had to heat the bolts up with a torch to get them to break loose. Installation was quick and painless. Lastly, don't tighten the bolts to their specified torque of 119 lbs until the car is sitting on the ground. You'll feel much safer in the vehicle once you take care of this!

[Freeze Time]

Here is my thread on the subject

topic590302.html

I went with the permanent fix and had my mechanic do it. It's a great bullet point to have when I do decide to sell my car.

[starbai]

Had this issue on my 02 pathfinder. I bought two new lower trailing arms with bushings preinstalled from rockauto (didn't do the uppers) and that took care of it... no more sway.

[atraudes]

I put together a guide on how to do it yourself with general information on what to buy as well. The thread also has an excellent discussion on folk's experiences.

replacing-rear-control-arms-guide-t587665.html