[BriDroid]

OK, my truck is just a few weeks old now, but it is and has been squirly on the highway at speeds around and above 70mph.

I think the alignment is good since it tracks straight down the road and I think the tires are balanced, but when I hit any kind of uneven or rough pavement, or even the little bumps in the pavement when you start to go onto a bridge, the steering wheel just gets squirly. It almost feels like the tires are leaving the ground for about 1 second or so. It is really hard to explain!

I'm going to have the dealer do an alignment and balance all the tires again for me. I'm just wondering is this the way that they all drive? My wife used to drive a 2007 Pathfinder and it didn't do this at all.

Any ideas?

Thanks

 

[Clint]

Check the tire pressure. It should be about 32-35 psi.

Clint

 

[domoMKIV]

I don't notice anything like that.

 

[BriDroid]

Yeah, I forgot to post that.

When I drove it home it was really squirly. I checked the pressure and it was over 48 psi in each tire. When I dropped it down to 35 psi it got better. That is kind of why I was thinking it had something to do with tire balance????

 

[frontire]

I remember driving over certain bumps on the highway that would send the truck in an odd direction. I found it to be mainly the rearend trying to swing around. Once the rear stock shocks were swapped out for 5125 bilsteins (along with aals and ditching the overload leaf), that all stopped. Now the truck tracks straight over those same bumps instead of trying to send me into the next lane.

 

[Clint]

I had 35 in my Pathfinders tires and they wore out in the center first as if they were overinflated. Drop it to 32 and see how it is. Forty eight psi was way high.

Clint

 

[steve500]

It could be the stock tires, I feel like I'm driven instead by the road instead of being the one in control sometimes, getting a new tire/wheel combination soon and hopefully will get rid of this affect, if not, it's tolerable, I'm use to it by now.

48PSI is pretty high! I'm use to driving my rodeo with the tires at 24PSI on the nitto dune grapplers, ohhhhh those are great tires!!

 

[spcycl]

Mine has always done that too. The key seems to be tire pressure. I'e had stock nismo suspension, PRG UCA and Radflo, and D and E Load range tires. Of all the various combinations, the only thing that had a major effect was tire pressure.

Over 40lbs is 'bouncy and squirrelly'. Under 40 seems to be okay. glad to see this post. Now I know I'm not imagining things.

 

[Fishy_Frontier]

Everybody is right about the tire psi I think. 32-35 psi is good. 48 is silly!

 

[colin123]

when your tire pressure is so high your contact patch of the tire on the ground is quite small which will give you much less control. i vote psi aswell

 

[BriDroid]

Fixed!

OK, late yestday I checked them and they were all at 36psi. I lowered them down to 32psi and what a difference! On my way into work today it didn't squirm once!

Thanks again!

 

[kannibul]

Grooves in the road will make you feel like you're fighting the wheel too...


And, just because "it drives straight" doesn't mean your alignment is good. LOL

Bumps will make a tire bounce a bit...this truck is about like other trucks...stiff suspension = rebound issues to some degree.

 

[DPete]

Back when I bought my truck, I noticed the same thing. On the highway, when crossing bridges/cracks at an angle the back end felt a little squirly. Seems like it lasted ~ 4 months or so. I dont really notice it at all now. Maybe the springs/shocks have to settle a bit?