severe body roll

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mcarpenter152
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Joined: Thu Sep 12, 2013 11:14 am
Location: louisiana

severe body roll

Postby mcarpenter152 » Thu Sep 12, 2013 11:21 am

I have a 2008 Pathfinder with 48k miles. over the past year i have noticed body roll getting worse and worse. i brought it to Nissan Dealer and they told me front shocks needed to be replaced. i replaced both springs and struts as well as rear shocks. I am still having this severe body roll. Both sway bars are intact and sway bar bushings do not appear to be damaged, What SHOULD I DO>>>>PLEASE HELP!!!!


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ShipFixer
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Joined: Sun May 24, 2009 9:52 am
Location: San Diego, CA

Postby ShipFixer » Thu Sep 12, 2013 8:26 pm

The sway bar bushings may look good, but they get old. Some here plan to replace them every year or two. I'd try that first.

There's also the sway bar end links. One of my rears was really cooked in addition to being so rusted; it took several attempts with power tools to remove it. Despite having new bushings I didn't get the full effect until I replaced both of those with a new one from Moog.

Rear springs also help fight body roll. Airlift 1000 springs in the rear with separate lines for each side help a lot. Most here overinflate (yeah, you do!) but 0-7 psi in the springs make a tremendous difference with a balanced front-to-rear feel.

This is about the end of what you can do, but my truck corners really flat with this setup for what it is. With this plus all of my sound damping I consider it as close to a giant Camry as you can get body-on-frame...

skinny2
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Location: BFE, Ohio

Postby skinny2 » Thu Sep 12, 2013 8:33 pm

The front sway bar bushings are usually toast by your miles....they have an updated part as well because the originals fail prematurely. It makes a difference.

I have similar setup as Shipfixer (guilty of overinflating bags) and it corners pretty good...and I drive some real doozy roads. Car and Driver usually tests sports cars on the roads I drive daily because they're so much fun....in a sports car!

DanJetta
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Joined: Wed Oct 03, 2012 6:47 am

Postby DanJetta » Thu Sep 12, 2013 8:44 pm

A few suggestions:

- Sway bar bushings: change them even if they look good. They're cheap and the swap is relatively painless.

- Sway bar bolts: make sure you haven't lost any and that they're all tight and torqued.

- Strut mounts: did you replace them when you changed your struts?

- Body mount bushings: they connect the body to the frame and can cause your center of gravity to change slightly when worn.

- Have your alignment rechecked: a toe-in misalignment will give the feeling of too much body roll when turning. I've never gotten an alignment that was done properly the first time. Ever. I always have to go back for a realignment.

If everything looks good, get the air bags and new tires.

skinny2
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Location: BFE, Ohio

Postby skinny2 » Fri Sep 13, 2013 4:55 am

The alignment is a great recommendation. These are very picky about alignment and you can get some goofy handling/ride quite easily if it's out. I usually look for small shops that specialize in alignments. A gray-haired dude running the alignment shop is usually a good thing. Most of these chains just put anybody they can find and hope the machines do most of the work.


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