Had an experience this weekend were I was changing lanes and hit a dip in the road. The ZR front end "bounced" so bad that the front tires momentarily lost traction with the road. Scared the cra* out of me because I was in the middle of a lane change with the wheel slightly turned and the car felt close to out of control when the tires grabbed. I'd just merged onto the freeway so my speed could not have been over 65 mph.

Anyone with similar suspension rebound experiences on the roadster? I haven't owned a sports car in some time so perhaps "user error" gets a share of the blame.

The freeway was here in northern California on 280 south near the 92 junction. The road is in very good condition save for this slight dip. If I work up the nerve, I may try the same stretch again this weekend….

 

 

I have not experienced that with my roadster. Maybe you were just accelerating too fast and started to pull a wheelie. :-) Just Kidding.

 

Hello

Yes you have a Classic 350Z Bounce problem - that could be potentialy deadly. The 350Z has a design flaw. The information that has been collected, is well documented.
Please read other post - in the Suspension Forums. The bounce / Porpose issue runs deep.

- Still looking for the Nissan NNA fix - They understand the problem but for legal reasons - they are backed up against the wall..

Cheers Amy -

 

They really call it the "Porpoise issue"? Maybe they will add a dorsal fin to the deck lid as a fix.



Being serious. How come I never heard of this before? Sounds like a real problem. Is it Roadster only? She is pretty bloated. I could see why.

 

Researched the bounce or “porpoising” subject in the forums last night. While I don’t understand the effect completely, a number of coupe owners have experienced the symptom. This was rumored to be corrected in the ’04 model with changes to the springs and struts. It could be that the ’04 Roadster didn’t get the fix because of an early introduction or because the differences in weight characteristics? Most owners report a problem with a pogo-like suspension effect over some stretches of rode.

I also found a review of the 350z coupe in the latest issue of Consumer Reports that made references to the car “bouncing off line” in turns. Don’t have the exact text as it was a hard copy and the article isn’t online yet--I’ll hunt it down tonight.

Apparently, the problem is fixed with changes to struts or springs-- In particular, the upgrade to the firmer Nissmo S-Tune suspension seems to cure the problem. Some have reported the problem is less severe after a few thousand miles.

Just to be clear, I’ve only noticed a severe problem once and am not concerned about the “ride comfort”. I am concerned about ride performance and the potential of a sudden bounce leading to a loss of vehicle control. I am going to see how things go for a few thousand miles and take it from there.

Here is one of the main threads, you can find several more with a search:

https://my350z.com/forum/showthread....threadid=21059