Hey guys, I have '98 se 5spd with 96k miles and I have started to mention that on a bumpy road it feels like the rear of my car is all over the road lately. So any opinions what is it and ways to deal with it/fix it. Thanks

 

Yeah. To start you can slow down.

It's probably nothing except your tires and shocks not being able to recover from an earlier bump and they jump around.

You can lower the pressure in your tires. Get softer spring/struts. And slow down

 

Sounds like the wonders of the beam suspension. Bad struts might make it worse though.

 

Checked the struts a while ago so don't think about them but can you tell any more info about beam suspention?Thanks

 

What kind of info?

4th gens have a big beam that connects the left and right rear suspension that doesn't behave very well when turning on uneven surfaces. It makes both sides react even when only one side actually hit the bump...thus the wierd feeling of the rear stepping out when you hit a bump while cornering.

 

Thanks!!My english is just not that good and I simply didn't understand what you meant by beam

 

It is particularly noticeable on washboard gravel roads with an SE.

The best write-up I've seen about the suspension and the differences from the 3rd Gen was in the May or June 1994 Car and Driver magazine. The article (not what it said about the suspension) is what motivated me to order my 1995 Maxima SE in late June 1994.

 

How can I check the wonders of the beam?( if its all right or no?)

 

That was sarcasm. The beam is the one thing I (and I expect many others) hate about the 4th gen.

 

Was cruising around the 4th gen's faq and found this article http://www.se-r.net/about/g20/scc/oct98/tb.html NIce. Explains pretty much everything!! Thanks for the help

 

you need new rear shocks, plain and simple.

 

New rear shocks and some long-travel mounts from me would do wonders for your ride/handling

 

what good are long travel mounts? what do they help?

 

They help shock travel.

Basically they give back 1" of extra travel when lowering (well they'd give an extra 1" stock too, but that would only be necessary if you decide to take it offroad ).