My wife's nissan

General Discussion
41

OP is at a place where I was 3 years ago, has car, knows how to drive but knows zilch about under the hood.

I suggest before you do ANYTHING, except related to safety, like tires and brakes, watch some videos that relate to your vehicle. Just put year and make, model in Youtube and ton should pop up.
Understand what is what, the function thereof, what makes it break and work etc before doing anything.

I don’t see you telling us what year make and model you have

I have 2006 sentra and I had same issue. Shocks were leaking so I replaced them and didn’t make an iota of difference in the ride quality. Replace tires, again not much of a difference. So I have realized that not much can be done without spending money (and I don’t want to spend for 14 year old car), run great for errands and thats enough for me. We have another one for longer drives.

42

I drove a Nissan Sentra on a 600 mile round trip some years back. My institution provided this Sentra for me. It was a rental car–probably a 2006-2008. I didn’t find the ride uncomfortable. I am 6’2" tall and found the seats comfortable. My research partner is 5’ 4" tall and she did some of the driving. She thought the ride and seating position and overall handling compared favorably with her Honda Civic.
For me, the comfort of the seats and driving position makes more difference than the firmness of the suspension. One of our vehicles is a 2003 Toyota 4Runner. The suspension is very firm, but the seats have such good support that I can drive 400 miles and not feel tired.
Riding quality of a vehicle is very subjective. I once owned a 1950 Chevrolet one ton pickup truck. I think a wheelbarrow had a more comfortable ride. However, after mowing a field with a Farmall F-12 tractor with a sickle bar, the old Chevrolet truck seemed quite luxurious and seemed to have a comfortable smooth ride.
Sometimes a small car takes the bumps in the road better than a large car. It’s rather like comparing a cork taking the waves in the ocean with a yacht. The cork rides over the waves while the yacht bangs into the waves.

43

I was thinking more. A car is more like a brand-name computer where the power supply and motherboard are made just for that computer, sometimes just for that system. Many Dell parts will not fit an HP. They have very little similarity and parts don’t interchange.

Some cars have much more of a customization following and aftermarket add-ons are everywhere. These are often sports/muscle cars and trucks. Think of a Sentra more like a slimline desktop PC. Some things can be done to it but this isn’t the ideal platform for massive customization. You might try to add a gaming graphics card to a slim desktop PC only to find the power supply won’t support it and cannot easily be upgraded and the card simply cannot fit in the available space.

Certain cars are just like computers. They may not be bad for what they were meant for but don’t match the requirements of the end-user/driver. I think your best bet is to get a different car down the road. In the meantime keep the car maintained and when the tires need replacement, you might look for different ones then. It seems counterproductive to start replacing wear items like tires on a car like this before they are worn out. I doubt there is any real used value on these tires and any value would be eaten up by the mounting costs. Use routine replacements as a time to upgrade.

Use that next car purchase as an opportunity to get what you really want.

44

That looks somewhat like “Mr. Bean’s” car. Except his was yellow.

46

The OP is not looking for performance upgrades. OP wants a limousine ride quality.

1 Like
47

Nowhere here is the mileage of the car to be found, nor any idea if the original tires were ever replaced. More tellingly it does not appear to even have had the suspension inspected. I encourage you to learn, but while doing so go and try and learn a bit at the foot of an expert whom you will pay to look at and inspect your suspension components.
You are not going to improve the ride from new on a 2014 Nissan, but if you replace the worn components you can keep it riding like pretty close to new. Try and spend as much as you like but the Sentra is never going to morph into a Mercedes.

48

I agree. We don’t know anything about the overall condition of the car. Are the shocks/struts shot or still in decent shape? Are the tires bad? I say keep the thing in good shape and that will help it last longer, be more economical to operate, and ride better.

This thing will never ride like a Cadillac or Mercedes. Trying to make it do so will result in costly modifications and that money could have been spent on a different car with this one being sold to recoup costs.

49

It doesn’t have pad lock latches either :grin:

50

Actually, the Paos are not that bad.

51

I’ve ridden in a Sentra and it didn’t leave me “beaten up”. If the struts are shot, she could feel every bump in the road, though. Check those first. Seems kind of early for strut failure but if she’s been putting a lot of miles on the car, they could be worn out.

52

Ralph did not tell if the mileage is 40K or 60K, but he said that car drives in NYC.
I bet in NYC it is possible to get struts shot even that fast.
A set of good struts would take care of the issue for much more reasonable amount than replacing car.

2 Likes
53

Rims
Rims.jpg2340×1960 2.85 MB

Thank you all again. Just for reference I mentioned earlier in the thread make and model and year and all that.
Nissan, Sentra 2014 with 46k miles on it.
We use the car regularly. It’s essentially my wife’s office. She is a visiting nurse
We live in NYC and she visits the Bronx and Brooklyn and the roads are a hot mess.

We got the car second hand with about 30 k miles on it.

We bought some new tires for the car. We maintain the card’s fluids. But the ride is not great. We understand the car is economy we don’t want miracles. We “thought” there was a way to upgrade some parts for a better ride. We don’t want it to be like we are floating on air.
JUst less stress on her body.

I’ve read all your replies and I want to thank you all. I keep getting educated. Quick question she liked these rims. It’s for her car. What are they called and where can we buy them.

About finding a mechanic. Yes, there are mechanics in NYC. They are a dime a dozen. Finding the right one is a job in it itself and costly.
Word of mouth helps but I know, no one that owns a car that has a good mechanic and the ones that have a mechanic didn’t even realize they where getting ripped off until they wanted to recommend them.

Well find one, but it will take time.

54

What tire size in on your car right now? The photo is of a 17" rim with a 50 series tire, not good for a smooth ride.

2 Likes
55

Rim’s matter for smoothness of ride? Sorry I’m a layman. My wife just liked how it looked.

56

The size of the rim does. If you car has 16" rims, you will get a rougher ride with 17" rims because the tires will have to be lower-profile.

1 Like
57

Ralph,

Look at this part of the tire:

image

I marked “R” for the rim diameter and “P” for tire profile.

Your year of Sentras came with rims of 16 inches and 17 inches.
The one coming on 16 inch rims would have HIGHER profile, so you would have more rubber between the metal rim and the road.

In both cases (16 or 17), the final tire outer diameter will be almost the same, so 17-inch rims will have lower profile tires and 16 inch rims will have higher profile tires.

If you want smoother ride, 16 inch rims will help, but you have to make your top priority straight: it’s eitehr looks or smoothness.

From the “coolness” standpoint, a lot of people desire bigger rims and lower profile tires, so if you have 17s, you might try selling or trading, as they are more valuable, but it will take some time to unload them for the good money.

I was able to sell “cool looking” rims for almost the same price I paid to buy them, but it took me more than a month advertising on eBay and Craigslist, and I had other wheels on my car already at that point.

If you go that “downgrade” route, be prepared you will not get all the money recouped and it will take you time.

Also, make a simple “bounce test” for your struts, like this one (around 1:50):

If your struts show any bounce, your ride will be quite bad

58

To flesh that out a bit more, when you shorten the height of a tire sidewall, you make it stiffer. Small wheels with tall tires can have less stiffness in the sidewalls. The stiffer something is, the more shocks get transmitted through it. Or in other words, a nice, flexible sidewall acts like a secondary suspension by dampening the intensity of jolts.

Whenever you change the size of a wheel, you need to change the size of the tire. If the wheel gets bigger by 1 inch, the tire needs to get smaller by 1 inch. That’s because your speedometer is calibrated based on the overall diameter of the wheel/tire combo, and if you change that diameter, your speedometer won’t be accurate.

Even if you don’t care about that, if you get bigger wheels and keep the same height tire you might rub the tires on the inside of the fender because you’ve reduced the space between them.

So when you’re looking for ride comfort over handling, you want the smallest wheel that will fit over the brake hardware so that you can have the tallest sidewall on your tire.

That said, replacing wheels and tires is an expensive prospect, and I doubt any ride comfort gains you’d see would be worth it financially.

59

P is for P-metric. Not all tires will be labeled with a P but the profile will always be exactly in that spot. It means the height of the tire from the rim to the tread will be 50% (or 60 or 45 or…) of the first number - 205, or 102.5 in millimeters. A 60 series tire will be 123 millimeters. More distance for more cushion.

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=24

60

I really don’t think you want to put money into the Sentra. It’s never going to be a good fit for your wife.
There is one member in my band commuting group that had a 2000 Buick LeSabre and a Toyota Prius C. She and her husband were downsizing to one car and elected to keep the Prius. The Prius obviously isn’t as smooth as the LeSabre, but two horns, a tuba, and three passengers can make the 15 mile trip and back for rehearsals in the Prius. I don’t find it uncomfortable. Another woman who used to play in the band bought the Buick for her son. She had a Honda Civic and debated whether to give her Civic to her son and keep the Buick. I remember the trip over to rehearsal when the Civic owner drove the Buick for the first time. She couldn’t believe how comfortable the Buick was, but in the end, kept the Civic.
My recommendation is that if you find the ride of the Sentra intolerable, trade it for a different car. A Buick Regal or LaCross, a Chevrolet Malibu, Toyota Camry, or a Ford Fusion may be more suitable for your wife and the operating cost may not be much higher.

61

Yes rim size does matter on ride comfort . And why would you spend money on rims for a Sentra in New York City . Have you even priced rims ?

1 Like