This doesn't have anything to do with the quality of the tire, Nissan, or the type of air they put it in. This is a stick operator malfunction. You should have regularly checked the tire pressures. The tires were over-inflated. You can't blame that on anyone, but yourself. Over-inflation will kill the middle of the tire, under-inflation, the opposite.
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R. Long
2011 SV KC 4WD
"The first time you forget to turn off the VDC before the stink, will also be the last time you forget to turn off your VDC before the stink."
Glad you and the truck are OK. Get some better rubber, and rotate/check the pressure regularly. Most importantly NEVER automatically assume everything is perfect just because a dealership has done all the service. An owner should always be aware of basic things like tire pressure.
__________________ 2012 Pro-4x CC
Mods: Bilstein 5100/OME coils, Shackles/Bilstein 5125, Hefty Sliders, BFG 255/85r16 KM2's, Tinted windows, LEDs (interior, cargo, backup), Amsoil Ea filter
Pipe Dream: Custom bumpers, Calmini/Titan swap with full length coilovers, Alcan rear springs
This is my first truck, and rear wheel drive for that matter, so same boat as you are. My truck is manual, so I have a bit more control, still though it it slides quite a bit and got me off guard quite a few times as well. The biggest difference in my experience were tires and VDS!! I was always skeptical of electronic aids as all my previous cars were manuals with FWD and fairly light, read very easy to manage in all situations. But this 2.5 ton vehicle is completely different beast, VDS saved me on couple occasions when it reacted faster than I ever could, especially when it corrected the truck on black ice going over 100 km/h with family inside and full bed of gear, thats with winter tires on and going into a very moderate turn! So, anticipate you moves, check tire pressure and tires for that matter, and be safe out there! Happy motoring!
I will say that, it is very easy to intentionally break the rear end loose by way of that skinny pedal under my right foot, I have never had a problem with the truck wanting to slide when I don't want it to though (yes I did some "testing" lol). I've had the truck for only about 2 months and have driven a 94 Accord and 93 Integra for the past 5 years. Honestly I think that the 87 Dodge Ram 50 I used to drive which was much lower (better center of gravity) with much better tires. I expect a large improvement when I put new tires on in the spring so I don't believe the truck is the problem.
Not taking any shots at the OP here just sharing my experience being someone new to the Frontier who came from a FWD car.
Here's a good way of thinking of the traction of your tires: All tires have a certain amount of traction which remains basically constant while driving which I'll call "x". Some of this traction is taken away by things such as road condition (weather) "a", speed "b" and deceleration "c" which leaves us with the remaining amount of traction left for turning "t". So, x-a-b-c=t. Moral of the story, be mindful of a,b and c and t won't be a problem. The biggest mistake I see most people make is riding their brakes through a turn which increases c, decreasing t and results in understeer and you going into the wrong lane, oncoming traffic and possibly sending you into the ditch. Brake before you turn and wait to accelerate until after the turn to maximize turning traction. You most probably know this concept already, but if it saves one truck/life it was worth writing.
I don't have any issues in the turns but with trying to take off from a stop in the rain. I try really hard to not accelerate quickly but I end up with wheel spin 50% of the time.
I am not trying to badger the OP. I have good tires but no weight in the bed. I think that I will look into adding some weight to the bed some how.
My truck kicked completely sideways on me last night on the way home when I DID NOT try to get it to slide around. I can't even put into words how much fun it was, though. Going around the turn and the back end kicks out with people watching and then just countersteer and throttle it into a perfect drift. It makes for a damn good time.
That being said, I love throwing the back end around in the rain. Turn off the VDC and all that and it makes for an awesome time. I almost view the ease of breaking the back end loose as a cool feature on the truck. It's like a bonus feature that I didn't expect to get when I bought the truck. No way would I trade it away for a ton of grip. I enjoy slip sliding WAYYYY too much, be it in the truck, on the dirtbike, or on the r6. Gives me a great rush.
Tires are THE most important part of the equation, they're the only part that's supposed to touch the road. Simply put, you CAN go too fast for the conditions, you CAN'T go too slow in my experience, and you MUST look where you want to go NOT at what you might hit/slide off/roll over.
38 years of driving front, rear and 4 wheel drive vehicles, driver's ed., defensive driving and high speed driver's ed, not to mention enough OOPS butt pucker moments to learn this lesson.
the same curve has had 3 wrecks this week, light rain again. so far no one has been seriously injured.
2 pickups, and one front wheel drive.
3 seperate accidents.
Sounds like there has been a fluid spill in the corner before (diesel/oil/antifreeze/etc) and the city has not been to clean it up.
Rain will not wash it away, call your city's engineering branch and tell them to clean the slick corner.
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2000 Silver Frontier, SE 4x4 V6 Crew Cab (5spd) - 288xxx km and counting
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butt pucker moments to learn this lesson.
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