Changing power steering fluid, that's funny! The only thing that might make a difference would be tire pressure, you're running 34 psi try 37 and see how that works....Gary

 

I noticed this is more pronounced after adding my hotchkis sways on my ride. I have Firehawk GT tires on stock 18" sport rims.

 

when I had an 07 G sedan with Hankook tires, the car was all over the freeway. The tires were brand new and did not improve as the miles piled up. On my newer G37, with OEM Dunlop tires, the car tracked pretty straight (but the tires were crap otherwise). When I replaced those with Michelin Pilot SS's, the handling improved greatly, but tram lining appeared. I will say this: the 07 G sedan felt different in it's side to side motion from that of my current G; I think that the suspension was a bit worn and tolerances loose enough to cause the car to tram line more than what the tires would produce on a tight suspension. Just MHO.

 

I have v12's and don't have any problems.

 

I have tramlining going on with my Xs where I am running fairly agressive Dunlop high performance all-seasons (not the OEM tire). I would say the tramlining is fairly significant compared to other tires/cars I have driven. Tires are fairly worn (unevenly) and issue got worse with rotation. Alignment is good however.

Right now I am driving a G37x loaner with the crappy all-season 17" goodyears and there are no problems with tramlining what so ever.

I figured it was all on the tires. However, I will check the rear sway bar bushings because I changed out the sway bar last year from the thinner bar on the "X" to OEM rear wheel drive bar and the bolts coming through the chassis to connect the bushings were rusting and it did not appear they were going to hold well. I realize this is the rear bar and tramlining is likely due to front end issues, so its probably not related.

 

I've had tramlining issues since I changed my rims went from 17" to the M45 19" wheels. I've had the stock wheels and Yokohama S-Drives and experienced lots of tramling with both tires.

I just recently about 3k miles ago replaced all four tires (rears were at the wear bar, front two were about to get there soon) with Hankook V-12s.

My car does not tram line any more.

I would have never believed that tires would make that much of a difference but I've got about 44k miles on my car and around 40k of those I had problems with tramling.

I'm not saying that only these tires will decrease it, but from my personal experience along with E-Ticket ( per his post above), these tires seem to fix tramliing.

 

I also noticed more tram lining when switching to M45 19's, however it was also there when I had stock 18's. My 19's came with 2 tires more worn, at first I kept them up front to even out the wear however I found the newer tires up front reduced the tram lining. I now keep my brand new tires in the front and more worn tires in the rear. There has been two times where the dealer rotated the tires against my wishes and the tram lining comes back more with worn tires up front.

 

To follow-up on my original post:

I almost got into an accident due the tramlining of my '07 G35X. Some twit stopped on a yellow light and I was already on the throttle to make the light so I had to slam on the brake not hit him... fine... however, as soon as the car hit the ruts closer to the light it pulled wildly to the right and almost slammed into a truck stopping in the other turn lane! ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!

As soon as I got home I did the following:

- got some silver auto paint out and painted a fine line across the steering linkage, lock nut and tie rod.

- broke loose the nut and turned the linkage about a third of a turn to increase my toe in.

- locked it down.

Now, I'm happy to report that:

- the car tracks true - I can drive with one hand again! No more fighting with the car to keep it going straight.

- it feels like I finally have power steering. The steering is lighter than it was before.

- the car doesn't change direction by itself when going over rough roads, groves in the pavement or ruts (I ran over the same ruts where I almost had the accident and was able to stay in control).

- my steering wheel is straight again It was off level by a degree or so... Minor, but, eh!

So, while everyone has been saying "it's the tires"... it was apparently excessive toe-out on my car DESPITE the fact that the Infiniti dealer and NTB both said the alignment was basically "in spec".

Does anyone know how many degrees of toe are changed by one revolution of the steering linkage in the tie rod?

Thanks!
Sunil

 

Glad you figured it out. I, as with others, would probably have mentioned the Toe were it not for the initial comment that alignment was fine. Should've known. :\

In any case, a lot of shops will say in spec even when it's not completely in line with the OEM #'s, or even if one side is off from the other. They don't look at the numbers, they look at when the #'s are "green."

 

Ehh. . . .Excuse me, but apparently you missed my earlier post (#7):


(BTW, negative toe = toe out)

 

Yes, I did miss it but now I regret not reading it apologies I think I glossed over the whole "power steering fluid" discussion which it appeared to me you had responded to. I should have said "most people said it was the tires"...

What still puzzles me is how two shops with two different alignment rigs could tell me that my alignment was ok... and I even stood there and watched the alignment at NTB so I can confirm that their system showed all greens. However, I do recall that even the tech was a little confused by the specs the Hunter system pulled up because they appeared to be from the Coupe, not the Sedan.

In any case... I'm happy ... so far

Sunil

PS, I actually got the idea to change the toe from a local speed shop here in town.

 

I saw your post.

That's the thing, most shops, especially the franchises and chains, tend to just see green and be done with it. If they also didn't pay attention to thrust alignment, for example, you could still have greens but the car would be "crabbing" down the road. Some alignment shops won't even show, or print, all the adjustment numbers. One shop i work with won't show x-alignment or caster.

In the case of toe, one side could be close to 0, the other a higher number, which would make that car pull. Still green, just not right.

There's also the thing about which car specs they're using as baseline. When i go to the shop, in nearly every instance, i just give them a piece of paper with the #'s of how i want it adjusted.

Which makes me think, i probably should get a lift and an alignment machine installed in the garage.

 

That's an interesting point. This morning i felt the back end ever so slightly wandering around on some truck-ruts in the asphalt. Can I toe in the rear wheels a tiny bit to fix that? Or just leave well-enough alone?

Sunil

PS, I also wish I had a lift... the bad experiences I've had with moron mechanics makes me wish I could do everything myself (to be clear and not offend anyone, I'm talking about a small percentage here - I respect everyone's profession as long as they are good at it).

 

How's the wear on the front tires? Are they wearing evenly?

My g35 does have some tramlining on my stock 17s but I think it has to do with my worn tires. I've noticed as my tires start to wear, tramlining becomes more prevalent. Tramlining is even more pronounced on my 18s with summer tires. My g35 also tends to lean on the road depending on the grade of the road I'm driving on. So I've noticed my front tires wearing more on the outside due to counter steering to keep my car straight. I might try adding more toe in just to see if the lean will go away. But I did replace both compression rods and the lean is still there. I'll probably replace bushings all round and maybe the suspension if they're bad after I check them, and if the toe adjustment doesn't work.

 

Great info. My 05 coupe went straight as an arrow until I replaced the worn hankook v12s with some new v12s and now it tramlines in a couple certain spots on the road and is twice as bad in the rain.