Been driveing my G for a couple months now and have noticed a handling problem when cornering hard. Seems the rear end tends to skip when approaching the limits of tire traction. I put more air in all the tires and the problem is lessened but it's still skips. The car is all stock with perf susp and oem 19's with 39 psi in all tires. It does this with VSD on or off. The skipping feels like the sidewalls are rolling, but if that were hapening I think I would hear the rims hitting pavement.
Does anybody have an idea what the problem is? A friend says it may be the shocks.

 

Not exactly sure on what you mean by skipping, but you could be describing oversteer. Your rear springs or sway may be too stiff.

Edit: sorry I misread your post, I though that you had aftermarket suspension. I'm not real sure about what your problem could be.

 

You sure it's not just the VDC kicking in??????

 

Rear springs are stiffer in 2005 w/performance suspension than previous years (same for Sedan), but it would not think it could be too stiff... (from the OEM)
Gary K

 

Infiniti didn't publish any changes for the sedan's sport suspension other then package changes and sway bar changes that went to both models. Where is your info comming from that 2005 sedan sport suspension rear springs went stiffer?

I've tested the 2005 coupe sport spirngs, I know they went stiffer in the rear, 427lbs, up from 342lbs. A 24% increase.

 

Your rear shocks are the same one's used on the revised suspenion setup applied to 2004.5 350Z's, I've never seen any reports of what your experiencing on any 350Z and I follow the Z boards for that sort of thing. I'm more inclined to suspect the tires. Which oem tires are you on?

 

Running OEM tires: Bridgestone Potenza RE050A 225/40 in front and 245/40 in the rear. Tire Rack rates these tires really well, but I don't have any previous experience with them.
I'm thinking tires are the problem too. Maybe more air is the ticket, maximum recommented inflation is 51psi. Funny feeling when the traction goes the tire hops then grips again. I'm more used to a gradual slide as the rear end hangs out.

 

BobiBravo, I think I know what you are talking about. I can reproduce this on my G35X, this happens when I make a sharp left hand turn onto a side street while going home, and if I give it a bit more gas I notice the rear wheels sort of skip. This happened when I had the stock X suspension with 17" Bridgestones and even now with my Eibach ProKit and 18" Yokohamas. I think to better relate for those that have been go karting the same thing happens when you gas it through tight turns and its very noticable.

BobiBravo does your car have an LSD? This is my half a$$ guess semi-educated guess and maybe those more in the know can correct me, but could it be because that both the wheels are spinning at the same speed while making these turns when they should be spinning at different speeds and when you give it a little more throttle the inner wheel sort of tries to catch up to the outter wheel causing the skip? and with the LSD the wheels would be able to spin at independent rates and eliminate this skipping.. or something like that. Or I am just totally off base here?

 

plus, probably not enough power to make the rear slide out.

My car doesn't hop like that but if I select a higher gear (due to bad judgement
of the corner) the car would slide alittle bit but with the rear camber setting I
have along with the 275 S03's will grab mid-point though the turn and upset
weight transfer. If I would've selected a lower gear, the car would power
through the turn with a little bit of oversteer.

 

I've been driving my '05 for a few months also. Today, doing a fast onramp left hand turn I experienced the same "skipping". I have been suspicious of "traction control" from the beginning (except for straight line acceleration) and looked at my speedo when the skipping occurred. The traction control light was blinking on and off rapidly. On hard right hand accleration the light comes on and the power (engine) goes off abruptly till grip is reestablished, then engine power comes back on. Yes, my '05 has LSD with factory performance suspension with 19 inch wheels and Brigstone Potenzas. I will be exploring the difference between left and right turns for a while and will be turning off the traction control too. Can anyone tell me if turning off the traction control also turns off the vehicle dynamic control too?

 

Yeah I get the skipping as well but when I make sharp right turns. Haven't had the same problems with Left turns. Except if I drive really hard and take the turn too fast my whole rear will slide out instead of skipping.

 

Bigwilly,
Now your making me think deep technical thoughts. I hadn't considered the LSD. The perf susp package for ATs has psycho-dillic LSD 6MTs come w/ LSD std I believe. Depending on the lock up rate of the "diff" it could cause strange traction anomolies that depend on speed, agressiveness and traction in the turn. The inside tire would want to spin while the other would have good traction. I don't know enough about the Nissan LSD to make any real conclusions. From some of the posts above the LSD seems to be having some interesting effects with turns in one direction which implies unequal rear axle lenghts. I wonder if the LSD needs a break in period too? Or maybe the slip rate can be adjusted? Or a change in fluid (Redline?) would make a difference?
I don't remember seeing a maintenance interval that suggests changing the diff oil after so many miles.

The start up check list includes switching off the VDC which is a nice feature when there is snow on the ground or when it's raining cat and dog, but what's the fun when big brother cuts the throttle just when the fun begins.
Bobi

 

Ofcourse, im not using VDC unless it's raining...