The Nissan Path

So I'm noticing that my 08 has some serious bump steer when hitting even small potholes. Is this normal? I just got out of a 2007 Murano and it did not exhibit anything like I'm experiencing in the PF.

yeah My 05 exhibits a ton of bump steer, compared to the murano yes it will be very noticable (my family member has a murano so I drive both frequently) the pathfinder has more bump steer than my 96 explorer that was slightly lifted as well.

nissan4me wrote:So I'm noticing that my 08 has some serious bump steer when hitting even small potholes. Is this normal? I just got out of a 2007 Murano and it did not exhibit anything like I'm experiencing in the PF.

yep and i can't stand it. coming from an '04 T4R Sport w/ the XREAS suspension spoiled me as that thing was real solid. the Pathy is all over the place.

I dont feel any (bump steer) at all. The steering is on the tight side but not true bump steer. Bump steer -term used as a way of discribing the feeling that the steering is jumping all over the road from small improfection on the street. (And it does feel like its jumping and no matter what steering correction you make it just makes it worse) If your front alignment does not have the correct caster this will happen. On most car/trucks the caster is set close to 2-5deg of you do not have correct caster you will not have a the steering wheel go back to center after turning as well as skipping on turns. From what you discribed it sounds like you just are driving on some realy bad roads.

If you truly think that your PF has to little caster take it back and have a alignment done and sujest that they put in a extra degree of caster into to it. I am a alignments specialist for Peterbilt

Thats the sad thing, the roads here in arizona are actually pretty good. It doesn't take much of a bump or hole to get the steering wheel to react, its kind of sad. Maybe a steering stabilizer would settle it down, but it shouldn't be needed for small tires and a new vehicle.

So when you hit a bump, it is actually taking off from your intended path requiring steering corrections? I've had a lot of experience with bump steer in lifted straight axle Jeeps and Fords. My '08 S doesn't bump steer at all. I feel the hit through the wheel when I hit a bump, but I don't need to make any steering corrections to keep it steady.

I had a lifted 4x4 chevy with bump steer and the PF drives like a dream

just got back from a 600 mile round trip in the pathfinder and the steering is completely solid. gets a little sloppy at higher triple digit speeds