Bman409

I'm experiencing a weird sway in the rear of the Z. It's like when I make turns, the car feels as if it's sliding in the rear almost like it's steering itself in a sense. I'll drive in a straight line and move the steering wheel left and right really quick like and it's like a fish wagging it's tail but real sloppy. Also, when I'm running the car hard at high speeds the car feels somewhat unstable. Up front, it feels very solid! But the rear it almost feels like I'm about to lose control but it'll suddenly catch on, just sloppy feeling. It's been like this for quite some time and it's to the point that it's getting annoying and I can't enjoy my car. I was reading this thread here for reference but I don't think my issue is my control arms since they're like 6 months old.

I took it to the shop today and had my buddy take a look at it and he did tell me that my rear right toe was off. So he adjusted it and here's my current alignment settings:


Now me and him were looking at the bushing to see if there's any place or anything and nothing. The only thing that we pointed out is the rear diff bushing needs to be replaced.

Car info:
2008 Nissan 350z Base
Tires: Continental Extreme Contact DWS 06 (245/35/19 - 275/35/19) I just replaced the rear last month, fronts are good. 35-36 psi all around.
Springs: Whiteline 1" drop front and rear
Shocks: Monroe Struts up front and KYB in the rear
SPC Camber/Toe Arm Kit

So would my problem be the blown diff mount or the mismatch struts? Or am I missing something?

Emski

Front camber not matching left and right enough for my liking but that's not your problem. You hit it right on the nail though, the rear diff bushing is the culprit. I had the same exact experience.

travlee

iTrader: (8)

Take the dead hooker out of the trunk

dkmura

iTrader: (64)

Gotta ask if you've checked the rear wheel bearings for any lateral movement.

Bman409

So since the bushing is bad, the rear diff is basically moving around and causing the rear end to have that swaying feeling? I always thought that it would just cause wheel hop and vibrations, cause I do have those symptoms.

Would I be better off just replacing all 3 or just the 1 in the rear on the differential?

It's funny you mention that cause one came up to me one night, when I stopped for gas, begging me for a ride. Talking about "I'll pay you for a ride" I said "If that's the case, why didn't you call a taxi?" Then she proceeded to try and open my door, it was locked, and at that very time I turned into a whole different person! I had to cuss her out.

Naw it's not the wheel bearings cause I just changed those last year. I forgot to mention though that I did replace my front control arm bushings and compression rod bushings.

terrasmak

iTrader: (8)

Diff bushing really won't do anything with handling.

Get the front camber sorted , probably have a bad LCA bushing.

Add a hair more rear camber. I'd probably set it at -2 unless your over 400 hp or drag racing

Bman409

I just replaced my front lower control arm and tension rod bushings with Z1 bushings not too long ago, like in November/December of last year. I also got SPC camber/toe arm kit like 5-6 months ago. We didn't see any busted bushings other than the rear diff.

Nope, it's pretty much stock other than dual cold air intakes. I also have front (5mm) and rear (15mm) wheel spacers as well. Before and after offset --> 22 - 30 to 17 - 15.

So is it cause of my front camber is off compared to my rear?

Bman409

Are the rear subframe bushing liquid filled like the rear diff?

dkmura

iTrader: (64)

No- they're solid rubber with a metal casing.

Bman409

Even though this thread is 2 months old I thought I'd at least put in an update to my issue:

I checked up under my car again and I went ahead and took my rear sway bar bushings off and took a good look at them and noticed that they are polyurethane, but it didn't look like it was even fully closed around the sway bar, like there was a slight gap in-between on both sides. So I'm looking at the bushings to see if there was a part number or anything and it's literally just blank. I didn't understand that cause the ES (Energy Suspension) bushings that I've bought had part numbers on the side of them, so that was weird to me. I replaced the rear bushings with the ES ones and took it for a test drive... and the slop was still there but this time it felt a little more solid.

So I go back home, lift the car up again, got up under the car, and laid there looking and thinking what could be the problem. So I go to my end-links, cause I did replaced my front ones like 2-3 weeks ago because I noticed a popping/clunking noise up front when making turns, and I wiggle the rear passenger side end-link, it felt solid but loose in a sense, so like a medium feeling. I go to the rear drive side end-link and wiggle that, BAM! It's loose as hell! I'm sitting there wiggling my end-link and there's like no resistance at all, but it's still in tact. You can probably say it's on it's last leg. What I don't get is why one side is stiffer than the other? Anyways, I changed both end-links and took the car out for a test drive again. I'm on the highway doing 70-80mph, switching lanes from left to right really quick and the rear end feels a lot better now! It doesn't feel like I'm about to drift. But there's still a little slop, so I was thinking it may come from the front because I didn't change the bushings out on them yet because whomever had the car before me rounded off the nut, the one that's had the stud on it, so I couldn't get it off. It didn't make sense either to do one side and not the other either so.. but hey! The rear is better. I now have more confidence in high-speed turns.

I was told that the Z has some body slop from factory and the Z1 subframe collars would eliminate that, not sure how true this is?

But anyways yeah.. it was the rear driver side end-link.

On a side note, I finally installed my Bell Raceworks diff brace on the Z as well since I was up under the rear doing work. It feels better even with the diff bushing blown, but at least I'll know I won't shear off the nut. But that job will have be another time.