Wishfull thinking?

Ozzie

Ozzie

Member
Location
Netherlands
Car
2008 FX35 AWD
Name
Tony
Before popping the question, let me say that I have spent a few nights reading post's about suspension but just could'nt find the right answer for my situation........ So here go's, is there a part(or parts) that I could replace that would improve ride comfort while maintaining road performance on my FX(08 + sport pack.)?
I know, I know, its part of the deal, ride performance = les comfort, and 21's with 265/45 don't help, especially with 44-45 psi like I prefer, it's just that looking at my mileage, replacement could be around the corner, and I don't want to be kicking my butt after spending money while I could have done better......... so, as the titel say's, is it "wishfull thinking" or are there other options?

Footnote: I don't want to "drop" the FX and I definetely don't want rubber with higher sidewalls!
Thanks in advance!
 
Your biggest problem is running 45 psi. Drop that down to a more reasonable level and your ride will improve. Your handling might even get better too - 45 psi is way more than the stock 32 psi inflation recommendation. I'd bet dropping to mid 30's would improve your ride by a lot. Not sure what advantage there is to 45psi unless you're a hypermiler. I run 40 series tires on my FX and run 32psi. I run 30 and 25 series tires on my BMW and run 36 psi.

Unless you're operating your FX outside normal conditions, then just use the recommended inflation pressure. Aftermarket wheels and lower sidewalls have less impact than people think on inflation requirements since the weight of the car isn't changing.
 
+2 on your inflation pressures, that is way too high, I run mine at 36 which is still pretty high and my ride is good with 21's.

The Owners manual for the 21" tires specifies 33psi cold pressure
 
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Thanks for the responses, I know 44/45 is high and is not making my ride any softer. Thing is, when I bought the FX, tread wear was uneven, in + outsides were down 2mm more than the middle. Went high on pressure to even out wear, which has evened the wear out, but at the cost of a harder ride. I've run 32 for a while, just to get a feel of it, grip was great, but steering at slow speeds felt sluggish.
Just trying to find a balance between ride comfort, handling and wear, considering new rubber will cost me over 1k, I would like to keep wear pretty even. I think i'll try 36 like Wayne (same wheels), could be a good balance.
As for the suspension, I'll look into a few options over here, there are a couple of german manufacturers offering aftermarket sets for Infiniti's, just have to make some calls and see what they can offer.
That's the weird thing about running a FX in Europe, there are plenty of US aftermarket products at reasonable prices, but before we have them here the price has at least tripled, making german + european aftermarket more interesting to us.
 
For sure bring it down. Couldn't imagine running that high. Grip falls away at pressures up in that range and they will bounce around on any bumps and push in turns . I'm not getting sluggish feel with lower pressure. Could be the tires you're running. What are they anyway?
 
Dunlop SP sport 01, on the FX when I bought it, tread is getting low. Been looking at options to replace them in +- 6 months, leaning towards Pirelli P Zero or Dunlop Sport Maxx RT2.......
 
Those are some good options. Summer stickies & I like.
Dont expect much wear out of them with 220-240 ratings, but they should have grip . . as should the ones you have on there now.
 
Yep, Zero's get a lot of bashing about tread wear, and a bit about noise. RT2's are getting great review's online and in german mag's(germans are pretty anal when it comes to testing), european labeling has them higher rated than the Zero's(and lower noise) but the RT2's are Dunlop's latest development and pretty fresh on the market, so they should be.

I know tire's differ in width between manufacturer's, even though they have the same spec's. Any idea where I can find this info online? If the Zero's are marginally wider it could push me their way, not going up to 275's, sidewalls get too high for my taste.
Thank's in advance!
 
high PSI will make the ride bouncier and not necessarily ride better (or so I have noticed on my FX when turning the PSI up) I run mine at the 33PSI recommended and think it rides best there.
 
Not really any official information on how true a tire runs size wise. And really, it's not going to matter for handling. And it can also depend as some models of tire from a manufacturer may run smaller while others may run larger when compared to other brands. It only matters to stance guys who have no clearance. I have aggressive offsets on both of my cars so I tried to research this a lot but found no rhyme or reason. I know that Nexen tires are much larger than Accelera since I recently made that swap and ran into clearance issues, but that's of no use to you since you don't run those brands. I once swapped from Toyo to Pirelli and the difference was so pronounced I had to roll the fenders. And Hankook run larger than Nitto. There's plenty of anecdotal information out there, but nothing formal and basically zero on any size or model you'd run on the FX.


Ozzie said:
Yep, Zero's get a lot of bashing about tread wear, and a bit about noise. RT2's are getting great review's online and in german mag's(germans are pretty anal when it comes to testing), european labeling has them higher rated than the Zero's(and lower noise) but the RT2's are Dunlop's latest development and pretty fresh on the market, so they should be.

I know tire's differ in width between manufacturer's, even though they have the same spec's. Any idea where I can find this info online? If the Zero's are marginally wider it could push me their way, not going up to 275's, sidewalls get too high for my taste.
Thank's in advance!
Click to expand...
 
Thanks for the feedback guy's, at least I can close the book on exact tire width's, not really a big thing, just would have been nice to know. I've dropped the PSI to 36, sure, ride has softened a bit, just bit worried that wear will be heavy on in + outside at this level.
 
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