Hey all, longtime lurker, first time poster, hopefully all the G35 gurus should be able to point me in the right direction. My 04 G35x is coming up on 75,000 miles, and I've noticed a lot of undamped bouncing from the suspension. It's basically only on slightly bumpy roads that there's a lot of side-to-side motion bouncing the driver and passenger up and down a lot compared to previously. Hard cornering and smooth roads are still fine. A dealership told me that the front compression rod bushings were cracked and needed to be replaced, but another mechanic told me they were fine. Are these the same as lower control arm bushings? Would replacing these even fix the problem?

The other obvious possibility is shocks, so I'm thinking I'll replace the shocks and bushings, but I need some help determining what my possibilities are before I start replacing parts at random. Does this sound reasonable, or am I missing something? Also, are the bushings sold separately or is there a Nismo part that replaces the whole arm? I'd really appreciate any recommendations you all might have.

 

I have similar performance from my 04 and have long suspected a spoiled bushing somewhere. I have had the car checked out several times and they don't see anything. I have put new tires and shocks on it with some improvement but still not like new. I still think I've got a bad bushing in the front, maybe in a compression rod.

The compression rod is not the same as the LCA. The LCA is a lateral link and the compression rod is the longitudinal link. There are many threads on bad bushings in the compression rods, and apparently they're not that difficult or expensive to replace.

 

Besides shocks, bushings are definitely a wear and tear item. 75k is plenty of miles on them, and it generally is cheaper to just replace the whole lower control arm, upper a-arms, etc. than having new bushings pressed in. At 5+ years and 75k miles, bushings get a little sloppy/cracked/worn, especially if they've been exposed to the elements a lot. The compression rod could definitely be a factor, and they are known to go early on these cars, but have the other control arm bushings inspected as well.