The Nissan Path

Hey folks,
It's been awhile since I've posted on the forum but I'm going to attribute that to having a high degree of satisfaction with and few problems with my 2006 Pathfinder!

Now, however, I do have a question involving my truck. My '06 stock, very stock, PF has abotu 85,00 miles on it. I took it in recently to get the tires rotated where I bought my Cooper tires (they do it for free) because I've been getting some excessive tire noise - kind of a "cupping" or "chopping" sound.

I was told that my struts were wearing out and that was causing the uneven wear. I can understand that but with every other vehicle I've owned, the ride and handling have gotten spongy and soft as the struts and/or shocks have gotten old. But, unless I'm off my rocker, the ride on my '06 has gotten progressively more stiff over the last 5,000-8,000 miles or so.

Help!

They can. Shocks (especially cheap shocks) can get more binding issues as they get older. Damage to the gland/seal on the shaft, loss of lubrication internally due to failure, etc.

Remember these are el cheapo orifice-damped units that come OEM. Swapping them for Bilsteins will be a night and day difference.

FWIW a few thousand miles on the Bilstein's corrected the beginnings of cupping on my tires. Cupping is nearly always a sign that shocks aren't doing their job (or the damping is incorrect) in one way or another.

ShipFixer wrote:They can. Shocks (especially cheap shocks) can get more binding issues as they get older. Damage to the gland/seal on the shaft, loss of lubrication internally due to failure, etc.

Remember these are el cheapo orifice-damped units that come OEM. Swapping them for Bilsteins will be a night and day difference.

FWIW a few thousand miles on the Bilstein's corrected the beginnings of cupping on my tires. Cupping is nearly always a sign that shocks aren't doing their job (or the damping is incorrect) in one way or another.

Thank you for your response. It was helpful. I posted this question on a couple of different forums I frequent and your's was the best explained and least smart-alecked response I received. Not everyone can be a genius mechanic like some of the dudes at least thought they were!