Turning/ Handling Issue
 

Hey all, first post here.

I've been having an interesting issue with my 09 370, hoping yall can help shed some light on the situation.

I hit a healthy pothole while taking a pretty hard corner a couple weeks back, and that's when I started noticing the issue. The turning feels degraded, definitly not how it used to be. The car feels uneasy and almost queezy feeling at higher speeds. Hitting any bumps while taking a corner throws the car all over the place it feels like. It used to track right over bumps no problem. The most significant thing Ive noticed is the leaning and G-force when turning. I remember distrinctly that when I'd take hard corners in the car, I'd be glued to my seat physically. After this incident, I'm leaning all over the place in the car. To the point that if I take a hard left, I have to brace myself on the center column with my knee to not fall over. In general, the handling is much worse than it used to be, and it's very annoying.

Now, I've taken it to two shops. The first was a mom n pop, and they "looked at the car" and said there was nothing wrong. and I say "looked" very loosely. Alignment was a tad off, so we did that and moved on. No change.

The second was a local dealership. They looked at nothing unfortunately. The shop foreman took it for a test drive.. a very calm and leisurely test drive might I add, and said there's nothing wrong with the car, and it's all in my head...

I'm going to have to move on to self diagnosis. Once I know the issue I can force the dealer or a shop to look at what I suspect is busted and move from there.

Any ideas?

I've read similar threads here with similar issues, but none feel as though they are my same problem.

Thanks

Jake

Check the wheel to see if it got bent

Don't waste your time at b.s. dealership or mom and pop. Go to a real alignment shop and have them inspect the front suspension for bent arms or other damage.

If steering is an issue, then its the tie rod or tie rod end. If ur car has high miles they may be worn already, then you have the impact and it gets worse

Also check struts to see if they're blown

Might be a damaged shock/strut. Not enough damping on one corner.

I vote blown strut as linkage damage would show up in an alignment. Strut damage might not show on an alignment or tame test drive. Still be good to go through all linkage end points with a prybar and compare each bushing with the opposite side for excessive movement.

No "struts" in a 370z .... there might be shock damage if it bottomed out.

The other item is the lower control arm impact bush could be FUBAR as a consequence of the pothole - prybar test will tell you

You know I always thought a strut was the assemblage of a damper and pre compressed spring so I went and looked it up. According to this Basics of Shocks and Struts | MotorWeek the key difference is that it replaces the upper control arm, simplifying the suspension, and reducing build cost. Correct me now if I'm wrong before I store this new info.

You are correct, the Mcpherson strut (aka the Chapman strut) combines damper(shock)/spring and acts as a replacement for upper control arm all in 1 unit.

All,

Thanks for the input. I'll be visiting a legitimate suspension shop next week.

Hi,

bringing this back to life, did you ever find out what was wrong with the handling on your car? thanks!

Hi, bringing this back to life, sis you find out what was the problem with the steering / handling on your car? cheers

That dude has Ted visited the site in two and a half years ...


If you have a question, just ask it
Although I suspect e answer will have been in this thread

I guess I should ask the question. I've looked everywhere fon here for a similar issue and found a few. However none have described my issue exactly and even further it seems like when they've found the solution (assuming they have) there is no more posting to describe what was wrong.
Anyway, here goes mine: 2011 sport, bought with approx. 60k kms.
Since i got it pulled left. Much more pronounced on roads tilted to the left. On completely flat roads ( parking lot) doesnt seem to happen. I have yet to find a real road that is completely flat to test. The car i also not comfi or easy to drive as it seems to take to the left ussually.
I must say that on roads tilted right it can do the same but much less pronounced.
Sometimes when going really slow like approaching a red light the steering may take a life of its own if let loose. This is mostly on roads used by trucks which create grooves on them.
Most annoying is when turning at speed it does not really inspire to much confidence because of the behaviour.
I have done: shocks, Front upper arms, lower control arm bushes, steering rack (2nd hand), sway bar and endlinks.
I was probably thinking to try tie rod ends and subframe next but need to find a similar issue and solution.
Also got new tyres (minimised the issue but Till there in lesser degree).
Appreciate if anyone has any info about a similar situation.

What's your alignment specs?

All this and no mention of alignment specs?