Ever since I bought it used, the rear suspension in my QX4 seems very rough. I didn't think much of it when I test drove it cuz I was going from a BMW 3 series to an suv. However, my passangers have been complaining about how rough the ride is in the back. It actually feels like it is bottoming out over minor pot holes and stuff. Does everyone else feel this in their Pathfinder/QX4?? I really don't think the shocks are bad. The only other possibility is that my springs are bad.. but that seems odd cuz I only have 35k miles on it.

Does anyone have any suggestions or similar experience??

Thanks.

i haven't really had those problems, but i did have a broken swaybar end link that made some nasty noises and also made the rear of the truck feel abit unstable. check the tire pressure in the rear tires too to see if they're too high. what kind of 3er did you have? i went from a 325i to a QX as well.

Thanks fo the suggestion. I don't hear any noises. But the rear definitely feels unstable.

I had an '02 330i. I kinda miss it, however I'm torn between the great handling and performance of the sports sedan and the comfort, room and ruggedness of an SUV. If had my way, I'd have both.

robo77 wrote:Thanks fo the suggestion. I don't hear any noises. But the rear definitely feels unstable.

I had an '02 330i. I kinda miss it, however I'm torn between the great handling and performance of the sports sedan and the comfort, room and ruggedness of an SUV. If had my way, I'd have both.

Hey Robo77 thanks for posting. I thought I was the only one with a rough ride. I have taken the Qx4 to Infiniti countless amount of times and they all say that the truck rear is fine. I upgraded my tires to bridgestone performance truck tires because of performance additions i added to my truck. THAT WAS A MISTAKE, the truck was running even rougher than before. My neighbor has an pathfinder and he put comfy michelin tires on and he says he doesn't have a rough ride anymore. I think tires play a huge factor in our suspension, and I hate the stockers. I just put 20 inch rims and tires on my truck, and believe it or not, my ride with goodyear 20s is alot better than the stock bridgestone tires.

One thing i hate about the 01-03 Qx4s are the rear suspension. I used to own a 97 pathfinder and I was able to change the whole suspension. My mom has an rx330 and I want her shocks and struts. I searched all over the internet and at dealers for replacement shocks and struts and the Qx4 has none except OEM. This really pisses me off. Even KYG doesn't make shocks for our truck. When I get down time I will examine the rear suspension thoroughly and see if the shocks can be swapped with KYG or another good brand adjustable gas shocks like the ones on the Rx330. :thinker

Well, it is certainly nice to know that I'm not imagining it. It is dissapointing though. I read so many positive reviews and pathfinders/QX4s and they failed to mention this drawback.

Had I noticed this before I bought it, I'd be in something else..

What else have you done to your QX4? I noticed you have dual exhaust. Other than added horespower and fuel efficiency, did it remove the grainy sound of the engine?? That kinda bugs me too.

Have you modified the stereo at all? I have a sub I'd like to add, but I'd have to run RCA cables from behind the dash.. The dash doesn't appear to be owner friendly when taking it apart.

Thanks,

robo77

robo77 wrote:Well, it is certainly nice to know that I'm not imagining it. It is dissapointing though. I read so many positive reviews and pathfinders/QX4s and they failed to mention this drawback. Had I noticed this before I bought it, I'd be in something else..robo77

I kinda knew about the problem being that I have owned a pathfinder before. What I didn't realize that we can not change the current suspension setup.

robo77 wrote:What else have you done to your QX4? I noticed you have dual exhaust. Other than added horespower and fuel efficiency, did it remove the grainy sound of the engine?? That kinda bugs me too.

Well, I can't really recall hearing a grainy sound in the engine. I added ngk laser platinum sparkplugs, Stillen short ram air intake w/ heatshield in the engine bay and I did that right after i bought the truck. I don't think I had my truck for one week, when i started modding. The engine noise now sounds like I have a beast underhood. Under WOT, the truck just sounds like animal but not too loud.

The stillen exhaust was loud though. Really loud. I had to deal with it for a few months before I started looking for ways to chop it up. When I took my truck to a performance race shop, on the lift i noticed two catalytic converters. I removed those and added free flowing ones. I then added a 1-2 magnaflow muffler. Then added an extra pipe to go around the spare tire. Now I have a tip on each side of the rear bumper, it look really nice not like an expedition or tahoe exhaust. I added resonated oval tips to the end of the pipes to mute the sound of the magnaflow muffler and thats about it for the outside except removing the ugly gold pin stripes. I have giovanna 20" Anzios which are actually lighter than the 17 inch stocker wheels and PIAA h3 extreme whites in the foglights.

[quote=" robo77 Have you modified the stereo at all? I have a sub I'd like to add, but I'd have to run RCA cables from behind the dash.. The dash doesn't appear to be owner friendly when taking it apart. [/quote]I can go into a very long thread on stereo install. Nistech can tell you about that. I had spent probably over $5,000 on stereo and navi equipment for my truck and NOW I am back to stock all over again. If you take a flat head screw driver and stick it into the back of the vents that have the clock in the center, the bracket just pops off. After that just, unscrew the two main screws in plain view and wala. Dash is disassemble. My current setup is: 12v Voodoo capacitor + 1 JL500 amp + 1 JL12w7 sub + Subzone USA Enclosure.

If you click on my user name and go to my homepage you can see my old chopped up dash and stereo. Keep in mind that was about a year ago and I have completely changed my truck since then.

Lee

Thanks for the advice Lee. You've been a great help.

Shane

Inifiniti had a fix for the Bottoming out...They will install new bump stops in the rear springs...A free factory fix...Helps...

Thanks for the info. I just called and they confirmed that they will do the conversion. However, they said it would make the ride more rough. Have you had this done?? If so, did it make the ride more rough???

Thanks again for your help

Shane

Shane...Had it done last year and do not notice a rougher ride...But do notice that it doesn't hit bottom when we go off road...That's when you have someone in the back seat...

As a free conversion, it's worth the cost...

hey shane - Are you going to get the fix done to your qx4, I am curious on how this will turn out? I am tired of going back and forth to infiniti (the one near me is pretty far) and I only want to make one trip if this fix work. Reply to this thread if you do get it done, and let us know how the ride feels. I will be next.....

lee

Lee,

Yeah.. I'm getting it done Wed. I'll let you know how it turns out. According to Jack, above, it solves the problem. I can't wait!!

Hello.. I finally got the fix. It cost me a total of $0 and it rides MUCH better. If you're unhappy with the ride, get this done asap.

Good luck!!:ylsuper

robo77 wrote:Hello.. I finally got the fix. It cost me a total of $0 and it rides MUCH better. If you're unhappy with the ride, get this done asap.

Good luck!!:ylsuper

Great! Thanks robo77, I am next I am going to call my service advisor and ask for this fix. How long did it take them to fix the problem, did they give you a loaner or did you wait?

Oh and what is the exact procedure they are doing or what is the TSB#

the tsb# is outside in the car so I can't get it now. I just told them about the bottoming out type feel with the rear suspension. They told me that the suspension was intentionally designed that way to give it a smoother ride. They said they had new spring pads of some sort to eliminate it, but warned that it would ride rough. It seems to ride much better from my perspective. They have the fix info in their database for the model and year. I think they'll only do this for '00 - '02 QX4s. They seemed to know what I was talking about immediately. If your service advisor seems confused, have them call Infiniti of Austin Service Center and ask for Mark. He's the person who told me what they can do and set up my appointment. Tell him that I, Shane Robson, just had this done. He'll be able to see what they did through paper work.

Hope it works out for you.

robo77 wrote:the tsb# is outside in the car so I can't get it now. I just told them about the bottoming out type feel with the rear suspension. They told me that the suspension was intentionally designed that way to give it a smoother ride. They said they had new spring pads of some sort to eliminate it, but warned that it would ride rough. It seems to ride much better from my perspective. They have the fix info in their database for the model and year. I think they'll only do this for '00 - '02 QX4s. They seemed to know what I was talking about immediately. If your service advisor seems confused, have them call Infiniti of Austin Service Center and ask for Mark. He's the person who told me what they can do and set up my appointment. Tell him that I, Shane Robson, just had this done. He'll be able to see what they did through paper work.

Hope it works out for you.

Thanks alot Shane, that helped out alot. They are ordering the spring stops as we speak and will call me in when they receive them. Hopefully I will have them installed before I take my gf and family to the beach. I appreciate the help.

lee

My 2002 Pathfinder definitely suffers from the same.

For those of you who got this fixed on their QX4's, maybe you can enlighten me. I asked the dealer to check this out. They acknowledged the problem and the TSB. They then quoted me $157 for the install. Did you get yours fixed for no charge?

A TSB is ONLY for technicians reffrence to asist in diagnostics. This is not a recall. It will however be cover if the parts involved are still under manufacturer warrenty.

They told me it was free for the '02 and earlier models. They didn't specify weather it mattered if it was a pathfinder or a QX4. I did recently ride in the back of someone's pathfinder and the ride was terrible.. I can't believe they put them on the market like that... jUst a sign of laziness in their design.

It was free for the QX4's...

The backseat ride is really embarrassing for such an otherwise great vehicle. Time to start negotiating with my dealer...

Hi robo77,

I don't think my 02 QX4 has the rear suspension problem. Nobody including myself sitting at back feel anything bad. The thing I don't quite get is that you said after the fix, the car rides MUCH better. How could it be? If the fix is to avoid rear bottoming out, then it will make rear suspension harder not softer, so that the back will not easily go down...

If it really makes it better, I'll ask my dealer to do the fix, although I find it perfectly OK now.

On the suspension thing, my '02 QX4 has the same problem. It's built to ride very comfortably and that means that the rear is soft. In fact, it's downright miserably soft with anything more than my 2 year old back there. This thread says that there aren't any shocks/struts available, but there are. Check out http://www.4x4parts.com for more details (I'm not affiliated with them). Rancho makes some nice adjustables with in-cab controls. You're looking at $75 per shock and $150 for the controls (optional) for an adjustable ride. Just look for anything that'll fit a Pathfinder of the same year (RS9000X). If you're interested in seriously stiffening up the ride, grab the 2" lift coil springs and the longer shocks and struts.

One time I had lots of bricks, maybe 300 pieces, and the other time had like 10 bagsf 60 Ib concrete. The back was really low, not much gap left between wheel well and the tire. I drove gently and slow, no prblem.

Talking about soft, my RX300 is much softer than my QX4.