I don't know how to say this tactfully, but the ride on my 01 GXE sucks. Harsh, lots of road noise, tire noise. Have to turn up the volume on the radio to get good sound, and so on. After a long highway trip, its a fatiguing drive.

I'm about ready to jump ship. Test drove a Camry today. Smooth & quiet. But oh, the $$$ to switch. If I'm going to put out that kinda $$$, are there any supension or strut chagnes you guys can recomemend to an old guy like me who just wants a nice ride? I'm not into sport, performance or looks. Just a comfortable place to put my as#*!!! when I sit in the car and drive around town.

Thanks.

 

Its going to take new shocks, new tires first off to make it quite. Michelin are always noted to be the most quiet tires around.

Dixit

 

Try dropping your tire pressure down to 32psi on all 4-wheels.

I used to run 40+psi and every ripple, crack, or pebble in the road sounded like an boulder.

 

I can add is to have the floor pan, doors, roof and most of the trunk Dynamatted by either yourself (a big job) or an upholstery shop (big bucks) and also lots of undercoating on the inner wheel wells...

U may be looking at 300-500 bucks, but certainly less expensive than a Camry would be at this point.

Besides....a Camry?? Maybe a G35 or an Acura but a Camry? Nahh..I'll take the road noise any day...

 

Contact PearlMax. He uses an alternative to Dynamat that isn't expensive if you get it through him. It retails for $350 for a 24 sq/ft sheet, but he'll give you a hell of a deal on the stuff. I just bought Tokico Blues struts/shocks and H&R springs. I expected the ride to be stiffer and sportier, but the ride is extremely pleasant and you don't get the floating feeling when going over dips. I've noticed alot less noise with this setup on my 2k2. No doubt about it, the Camry is a very nice car and looks nice as well. The only problem is it's very underpowered for my taste.

 

What type of tires do you have on there now? In addition to brand, you might want to look into more of a Touring tire.

 

buy another car.

cuz your maxima will never be quiet or smooth.

Especially if you have "sport tuned" suspension.

 

into the Yokohama AVS dBs...specially designed to reduce road noise and a fellow I know installed these on a 540 with excellent feedback

 

SE = "sport tuned" I don't think GXE/GLE are considered "sport tuned". But I could be misinformed...
I would try new struts/shocks and/or different tires, as suggested above.

 

 

noo not the camry! ewww

 

I have the Yokohama AVS dB's on my Max. I was pleasently surprised by the ride quaity of the tire ( 245/40-18 )and the tire was also very quiet. After having the tires for about 10'000 miles, the tires got noisey. The ride quality is still good but the tire noise is the reason I am going to switch to anotr brand of tire.

 

A CAMRY?!! Please, please, tell me you are joking.

 

Well, between new tires and a wife that wasn't too keen on replacing the Max, my problems seemed to work themselves out.

I replaced the Dunlop Sport A2 with only 14K miles. A real shame. But the new ContiTouring tires have given back that old Maxima ride & feel I enjoy. The Dunlops did not perform well on my car at all. Great traction, but wow! What fast tread wear and noisy ride. Down to only 6/32 tread with just 14,000 miles on them. It turns out the car also had an alignment problem that the Nissan dealer did not correctly resolve a month ago. I ended up getting into a dispute over one mechanic's word against another. I elected to go with a local tire dealer who seemed to know more of what he was talking about than the Nissan dealer.

So now I enjoy the ride, again. And know what side my bread is buttered on at home!

 

You must be kidding me? The A2's are one of the quietest tires I've ever had and they handle great in all conditions. The ContiTouring Contact tires get the worst reviews, why did you purchase them? They are soft and mushy and don't wear well either. The A2's are far more superior then the Continentals.
That's why your tires wore out so far. Don't blame the rubber, it was your car's alignment that did it.

I hope you have better luck with the Conti's. I have a set on my BMW and can't wait to get rid of them. Already blew one side wall on a large hole, there so freakin soft, it's like riding on mush. And wet weather traction sucks when they start to wear.

 

by a Caddy!
well, you can owe the ride to the beam rear suspension. i don't know..i thought my stock suspension rode pretty good. but then i guess it's been so long, i've long forgotten about how my car used to ride with stock suspension.