I’ve been trying to figure out a strange suspension issue on my 07 G35. For the longest time, it’s had a weird pull to the left or right while driving. Basically any time it hits an imperfection in the road, it feels like the car shifts to the right or left depending on how it hits, and you have to fight it in the wheel to correct it. The steering wheel feels fine, the slop isn’t in the steering but feels more like a subframe shifting, for lack of a better description.
I’ve checked over everything and the previous owner had already replaced the front struts and lower control arms. The rear looks good as well, with the exception of the toe arms appearing slightly bent. I already have a new pair of those on the way.
The subframe bushings also look and feel good, no excessive slop when prying around.
The car has been in a collision before my ownership, so I checked the front subframe for any cracks or damage and it’s in good shape all around.

I know these cars are sensitive to tires, and the rears are pretty worn, however this car has done this on various sets of wheels and tires so I don’t think that’s the main problem.

Obviously I’m going to change out those toe arms and align it, but is there another common issue to check for? The fact that it pulls both left and right is what’s throwing me off.

 

Dude the 2 smartest people on this site re G35's are Cleric and Urban Engineer. They have helped 10's of thousands of G35 owners. Neither of them have posted in over 6 months however so they may have retired. Either of them can save you a ton of time however pointing you in the precise direction. That is the best help I can offer you my Brother.

 

cleric670 to be precise on his handle

 

Well, I replaced the toe arms and the left one was definitely bent. Waiting on new eccentric bolts to get them back together, the old ones were very seized and damaged upon removal.
We'll see if that improves anything...

 

Driving the car around today and it definitely wanders with the new toe arms. I still need to get it aligned, but I'd really like to know if there's anything in particular to look for aside from chocking it up to tires and alignment. Driving down a relatively straight two lane road, it'll occasionally pull me left or right depending on the crest of the road. Steering wheel does not feel like it's affected, it's either the rear end "steering" or something else of that sort.

 

Here's a video of the rear end. I'm thinking maybe the subframe bushings may be worse than I thought. Clearly the diff moves around a bit, I know those bushings aren't great, but you can kind of see the subframe shift around. That's exactly what it feels like, you almost feel a "clunk" occasionally, then the carp pulls left or right.

 

I drove the car today after checking closely over the rear suspension on the lift (found nothing of concern) and being that the rear tires are shot, and it was wet, I realized that it could be a problem with the differential, or simply the tires. I know for certain this car did the same thing on other tires, but I can't remember how much better than these they were.
I also made note that this happens when I'm on the throttle, and rarely off the throttle. Although when I was slowing down earlier, I noticed it was pulling right a bit. I'm thinking tires and an alignment might do the trick, even though I feel like the pull is pretty dramatic for something as simple as tires. I've driven on bad tires before, and I've never experienced anything like this.

 

Is your car lowered? I thought the 2wheel drive spd sport sedans had a slight 4 wheel steer, built in from factory, is yours working correctly?

 

It's stock height. They might have a passive rear steering setup, but not the full RAS/HICAS system. At least this car doesn't have that.
I'm able to move the forward rear lower control arms a little, but it's nothing more than expected from the bushing. It's a very odd feeling, and I can't replicate it by moving around anything in the rear suspension. Unless the subframe bushings are just THAT bad, and shifting around, that's all I can really think.

Either that, or it's a combination of worn out tires, limited slip trying to figure out where to put power, worn bushings, and poor alignment. But I'm getting ready to sell the car and I'm not interested in throwing parts at it.

Update... just realized when attaching my Go Pro to the rear right quarter panel to see what the wheel is doing that there's some Bondo on there... it definitely got hit on that corner. That answers a lot of questions!

 

any updates? check the rack and its bushings/mounts also. the diff will move some and that's normal (it has its own bushings in the subframe).

 

I did check the rack bushings, that was a thought of mine as well. DIff movement is normal, but this car was clunking pretty badly, and the bushings were visibly torn.

I ended up selling the car as is though.

 

yeah, sounded like this car was a handful lol

 

Oh yeah, it definitely was lol. The new owner plans to get it all straightened out!

 

How much did you sell it for?

 

I sold it for $3200. Less than I wanted, but I really just needed the car gone. I'm surprised a manual V36 was so hard to sell honestly.