Home » The 2023 Nissan Pathfinder Rock Creek’s 5/8-Inch Lift Kit Will Make You The Toughest Dad At Arby’s

The 2023 Nissan Pathfinder Rock Creek’s 5/8-Inch Lift Kit Will Make You The Toughest Dad At Arby’s

2023 Nissan Pathfinder Rock Creek

Nissan puts a beard on a soft-roader, the chip shortage rages on, GM recalls some tonneau covers. All this and more on today’s edition of The Morning Dump.

Welcome to The Morning Dump, bite-sized stories corralled into a single article for your morning perusal. If you’re morning coffee’s working a little too well, pull up a throne and have a gander at the best of the rest of yesterday.

Up Rock Creek Without A Skid Plate

2023 Nissan Pathfinder Rock Creek rear three-quarter view
Photo credit: Nissan

 

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People really seem to be craving lumberjacked-up crossovers on all-terrain tires, so Nissan is giving folks what they want with the 2023 Pathfinder Rock Creek.

How do you add off-road pretensions to a standard crossover SUV? Start by making it uglier, of course. The Pathfinder Rock Creek gets a slab of unpainted plastic across the front bumper that’s sure to age poorly in sunny climates despite being a boon for anyone who parks by feel. Above this plastic pouty face sits a black grille with three silver slots across the upper edge and mesh replacing slats. While the mesh is a rather nice addition, I could do without the silver – it’s a bit tacky. Not that you asked me.

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Nothing says rugged like a tubular roof rack, so the Rock Creek wears a futon frame on its roof. Don’t worry about this piece of jungle gym equipment blocking the view through the sunroof because there’s no window to the skies in the Rock Creek. Hey, costs have to be cut somewhere. Rounding out the exterior appearance is a set of orange badges, a 5/8-inch (16 mm) lift, LED fog lamps, and a set of 265/60R18 Toyo Open Country A/T all-terrain tires wrapped around a set of faux-beadlock alloy wheels that would’ve been a hit at SEMA in 2008.

On the inside captains’ chairs take the place of the second-row bench, while natty black pleather-and-cloth upholstery with orange stitching adds an appropriate amount of pop for a mid-range model. You’ll never forget it’s a Rock Creek model either, as the Rock Creek logo is embroidered in huge orange stitching on the seats and center console lid.

While a hilariously minuscule boost in ride height and a chunky set of all-terrain tires will likely be enough for most fire trail camping enthusiasts, the Pathfinder Rock Creek Edition is absolutely not an off-road vehicle. It doesn’t gain additional skid plates or recovery points, nor does it feature limited-slip front or rear differentials. It really just offers the appearance of an SUV without any added capability. The only real performance addition is a premium fuel map in the ECU that bumps output to 295 horsepower and 284 lb-ft of torque when running hi-test. So it’s an odd sell; the regular Pathfinder is actually quite handsome and should be able to go everywhere the Rock Creek can go.

Anyone actually looking at a crossover to do occasional off-road duty will want something much more capable than the Pathfinder Rock Creek. However, if you just want to look like the toughest dad in the Arby’s drive-thru, the Rock Creek should do just fine.

All Dip, No Chips

A white Volkswagen ID.3 electric hatchback rolling off the production line
Photo credit: Volkswagen

 

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It’s 2022 and everyone from car shoppers to finance bros are anxiously awaiting news of the chip shortage tapering off. Bad news, I’m afraid. According to Automotive News, it looks like semiconductor scarcity may continue for longer than expected.

Arno Antlitz, Volkswagen’s CFO, spoke with Boersen-Zeitung about the chip shortage, and his predictions aren’t rosy. On the plus side, Antlitz expects supply issues to ease somewhat toward the end of this year. On the minus side, easing does not imply capacity to meet full demand. Despite chipmaker Infineon expecting core chip production to be back to normal in 2023, Antlitz isn’t expecting all chip suppliers to support full demand until 2024. “The situation should improve in 2023, but the structural problem will not yet have been fully resolved,” said Antlitz in the aforementioned Automotive News story.

While just one prediction could be easily brushed off as speculation, two similar predictions from different industry experts add credibility to a concept. Oliver Zipse, BMW Group’s CEO, is saying roughly the same thing as Antlitz. In a recent interview with German newspaper Neue Zuercher Zeitung, Zipse said, “I expect us to start seeing improvements at the latest next year, but we will still have to deal with a fundamental shortage in 2023.”

That’s not exactly reassuring news. If you’re thinking of buying a new car but want to wait for a deal, you might be waiting for some time yet.

A Little Less Sixteen Candles, A Little More Touchscreen

2022 Toyota Tundra Capstone infotainment system
Photo credit: Toyota

 

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Mind you, waiting to buy a new car isn’t all bad news. Toyota’s new infotainment system is so much better than its old one that Toyota’s fast-tracking implementation across its lineup. No fewer than 20 nameplates across the Toyota and Lexus range, including the recently-debuted Corolla Cross, are expected to get this new infotainment system this year. That’s right, a major electronics revision in a product’s second model year on the market.

Zack Hicks, Toyota Motor North America’s chief digital officer, elaborated on this massive undertaking in a media round-table last week. “Normally that would have taken us five to eight years to get this out, based on the remodel cycle,” said Hicks.

Honestly, it feels about time that Toyota implemented rolling tech upgrades. Mazda, Stellantis, Ford and Volkswagen haven’t been afraid to offer tech refreshes before major model refreshes, much to the delight of consumers who want the newest tech experience as soon as possible.

Perhaps more importantly, every single Toyota and Lexus vehicle is expected to get the new-generation infotainment system within the next three years. Could the Lexus LC 500 become absolutely perfect in every single way come 2025? Here’s to hoping.

Ejecto Tonneau, Cuz

2019 Chevrolet Silverado 2.7L Turbo
Photo credit: GM

 

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Most truck accessory designs should be pretty simple, right? Side steps that people can step on, mud flaps that prevent rocks from launching into the windscreens of following cars, a good tonneau cover that doesn’t fly off while you’re driving. It seems that someone must have missed that last point because certain GM half-ton trucks have been recalled for randomly-detaching flying tonneau covers.

Funnily enough, this isn’t even GM’s first recall for flying tonneau covers. They actually managed to miss a few units of this particular model of tonneau cover the first time around. Both hard and soft varieties of the Truck Hero tri-fold tonneau cover sold through GM Accessories may come loose while underway, fly off in spectacular fashion and leave a trail of destruction wherever they may go.

Only 1,236 2019-2022 Chevrolet Silverado 1500s and GMC Sierra 1500s are reportedly affected, so your chances of experiencing some real Final Destination shit are fairly slim. Still, giving half-ton GM trucks with tri-fold tonneau covers a wide berth isn’t a bad idea for now. Owner notification letters won’t be mailed out until May 16, with fixes expected to be available shortly thereafter.

The Flush

Whelp, time to drop the lid on this edition of The Morning Dump. It’s Monday morning once again and we’d love to hear what wrenching you got up to on the weekend. Whether performing a quick and dirty pad slap or seam-welding a chassis, every minute in the garage counts. As the front pads on my friend’s XC90 were getting thin, we threw on a fresh set of Akebono pads and Zimmermann discs. Low noise, low dust, decent bite for daily driving. Exactly the sort of braking characteristics people want in a family hauler.

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WOV
WOV
2 years ago

The concept of a soft-roader named after the only entirely urban / suburban National Park, one with no part further than 1 mile from quality pavement, is surprisingly subversive.

https://www.nps.gov/rocr/index.htm

TheCoryJihad
TheCoryJihad
2 years ago

I mean…at least this Rock Creek is better than the last generation Pathfinder Rock Creek because roof rack. Right?

Maybe?

Fuck.

Kurterino
Kurterino
2 years ago

The newspaper Neue Zuercher Zeitung is not a German newspaper, but a Swiss one. It’s one of the oldest and largest newspapers here and it is located in the capital of Switzerland, Zurich or Zürich, (how we spell it), hence the name Zürcher Zeitung.

MacAttac
MacAttac
2 years ago

My weekend was spent with views of the bottom of my steering wheel, as I found out the fun way that 2nd gen 4runners like to develop cracked clutch brackets sometimes. Everything is welded /bolted back together now and the clutch pedal feels normal again. At least my transmission is screwed as I initially thought.

chad Face
chad Face
2 years ago

Only wrenching I did this weekend was deal with an overheating 22re on the side of the road. Somehow my battery connection decided to give up at the same time. I kept trying to think of how overheating would cause it not to turn over…

Halftrack_El_Camino
Halftrack_El_Camino
2 years ago

Hopefully-constructive feedback: I kinda feel like the Pathfinder segment read like a bit of a hit piece. Not that a Pathfinder Wilderness Edition is anything I’m remotely interested in experiencing (let alone owning) but it almost felt like you were trying to outdo yourself with the scorn and to be honest I stopped reading about 2/3 of the way through. Your writing is fun and witty, but I (speaking only for myself here) would have had a better time with an article that tried to engage with the Pathfinder RAV4 Adventure more on its own terms and in the context of today’s industry, rather than just relentless snark.

I’d like to know what your actual personal take is on the soft-roader trend where random crossovers get a small lift, a rugged name, and an extra helping of black plastic, and are sold for a couple grand extra. They must cost very little extra to manufacture, and people seem happy to buy them. As a manufacturer, why *wouldn’t* you get in on this?

andyindividual
andyindividual
2 years ago

Arbys still exists?

Wow.

Why?

nmac9
nmac9
2 years ago

When I need an extra 5/8″, I just get out my air pump.

Gene White
Gene White
2 years ago

I thought briefly the headline meant a 5-inch front, 8-inch rear lift and was prepared for a Pathfinder that looked like one of those railroad trucks.

Jimny Del Norte
Jimny Del Norte
2 years ago

The Flush: got to install a set of 4 radius arm mounting guards to protect a rather low part of the chassis. Did it in a buddys house and all went pretty good. Ready to take it offroad and not worry too much for the rocks. Al ready had scraped one support, but it was pretty easy to hammer it back straight and paint it with anti corrosion paint! Looking to install some transfer protection plates in the near future.

Jimny Del Norte
Jimny Del Norte
2 years ago

/edit, On my 2022 Suzuki Jimny! Greetings from Mexico.

Autojunkie
Autojunkie
2 years ago

The Flush

The weather was beautiful on Sunday. I taught my 13 yo son to do a front brake job on my wife’s Fiat 500. He helped with the left and then did the right himself except where he couldn’t loosen some bolts. I also torque-checked everything, but he did a good job. I’m pretty proud of him.

I also managed to find time to clean out the garage, put away tools left out from various projects, and terrorized my neighborhood by driving my club’s TROG car around the block a few times.

Bigdawg1124
Bigdawg1124
2 years ago

Not this weekend but the past month I had to replace the passenger door locking mechanism on my ’16 Mazda 6. That cascaded into replacing the Cabin air filter, Engine air filter and upgrading to LED Bulbs.
That last particular upgrade fixed once of the only problems I had with this car. Pardon the pun but the difference was literally night/day. Best $35 I ever spent. If you’re on the fence on LEDs, I wholeheartedly recommend them.

VelvetElvis
VelvetElvis
2 years ago

I hope to find the poor ground on my 1976 MGB that is preventing the driver’s side turn signal and side marker light from working. Actually, it might be a good thing to clean up all the grounding points.

nemebean
nemebean
2 years ago

I spent an unreasonable amount of time fixing a previous screwup when I polished my cloudy headlights. The first time I tried it everything went pretty well and they were nice and clear. Then I went to clearcoat them so they would stay that way. Apparently it was too cool or humid for the spray clearcoat and it almost immediately clouded up, leaving my headlights basically as bad as they were when I started.

It took hours of sanding to remove all (well, most) of the bad clear and polish them back up. This time I just used a UV-resistant spray wax so there was no chance of a repeat, at the cost of needing to reapply from time to time.

JC_06Z33
JC_06Z33
2 years ago
Reply to  nemebean

I have had great luck with the headlight restoration kit from Meguiar’s. Comes two hand buff discs with different grits for wet sanding off the cloudiness, their Plastic-X compound and a microfiber drill attachment to polish out the scratches, and some sealant. It does a great job, however the sealant has a lot to be desired. I can’t be bothered to re-apply it regularly so I end up re-doing them once a year (only takes about 5 minutes per headlight so no biggie).

Mark Tucker
2 years ago
Reply to  JC_06Z33

I found a completely foolproof method for restoring the cloudy headlights on my old Corolla daily driver.

1. Remove headlights.
2. Open RockAuto box containing new headlights ($37/ea including new bulbs) and install them.
3. Throw away old cloudy headligths.

Can’t say for sure it would be as cost-effective for every car, but it’s worth checking out for most older cars, I would guess.

nemebean
nemebean
2 years ago
Reply to  Mark Tucker

About halfway through the process I seriously considered going with the RockAuto approach. I’m pretty sure the amount of time I spent more than offset the cost of new headlight housings.

That said, this is my “green” car so I try to avoid generating unnecessary waste with it. I also made the dubious decision to repair a damaged fender liner with a 3d printed patch (which so far has worked perfectly). I’ve replaced some things that needed replacing, but I’ve tried to prefer repair over replace whenever possible.

nemebean
nemebean
2 years ago
Reply to  JC_06Z33

I used the 3M kit, but it’s a similar concept. The problem I ran into was that the clearcoat I applied is much harder than the plastic so I just burned through the sanding discs from the kit. I ended up having to get my palm sander with some 320 grit to take it all off, and even then I went through several sheets before I was convinced I had gotten all the way through it.

I used the Turtle Wax ICE spray wax on the other headlight last fall and so far it’s held up well. It claims to be UV resistant and it’s stupid easy to apply so I don’t mind if I have to redo it once a year or whenever I have the spray wax out for something else.

Halftrack_El_Camino
Halftrack_El_Camino
2 years ago
Reply to  nemebean

If you basically don’t give a shit about your car’s paint, you can do what I do to my ’03 Outback and just touch up the headlights from time to time using a rag with bug spray on it, followed by a dry rag to polish and clean. It does work, as long as they’re only a little cloudy. Spray on the rag not the car, and try to keep it off the paint.

nemebean
nemebean
2 years ago

Yeah, Torch did an article about that on Jalopnik a while back. I think he had trouble with a haze on one of his lights afterward so I figured I would do it “right”, which didn’t work out so well for me. 🙂

Citrus
Citrus
2 years ago

Quick question: Why is the new go-to color for off-road best described as baby poo-esque? I guess they’re going for desert camo but all I see is diaper.

Bring back some nice forest greens like Jeep kept doing in the ’90s.

Taco Shackleford
Taco Shackleford
2 years ago
Reply to  Citrus

Agreed, saw 2 new Wranglers in a row this weekend. One was bright yellow, the other lime green. Every other car on the road was a shade- not a color. I want more wild colors on more cars. I’ve had enough of choosing shades of white or black as the only color option.

Kurterino
Kurterino
2 years ago

The problem is that for most cars, if you want any other color than black white or gray, it’s going to cost you extra, sometimes only 500 more, but often more than that. Plus the seller will tell you that it’s going to be easier to sell the car later, and it’s going to be worth more, if it’s one of these 3 base colors. Which might be true, I have seen statistics that seem to confirm that.
So most people end up getting a black or white car, even if it’s not what they wanted.

Taco Shackleford
Taco Shackleford
2 years ago

I was really going for the toughest SUV look at Arby’s. This weekend put 4-Runner SR5 17in rims and Yokohama A/Ts on my Stock GX460 in place of the 18s. Now Nissan has to go and ruin it for me with this.

Nerobergstr
Nerobergstr
2 years ago

Maybe Autopian could make a weekly award for toughest SUV at Arby’s. To be eligible you must submit a photo of your softroader in front of Arby’s.

nlpnt
nlpnt
2 years ago
Reply to  Nerobergstr

Only if Arby’s pays up, Dave and Torch have a business to run here. Cash or free-meal coupons will do (assuming their store saturation rate around Detroit and Chapel Hill hasn’t shrunk as alarmingly as they have in the northeast).

Nerobergstr
Nerobergstr
2 years ago
Reply to  nlpnt

Would also accept entries from Jimmy John’s and Rusty Taco…. Agreed Torch needs to reach out to Inspire Brands and make it happen. This is a business, not a charity.

Ranwhenparked
Ranwhenparked
2 years ago
Reply to  Nerobergstr

What about Rax? There’ s still a few in the midwest

fawgcutter
fawgcutter
2 years ago
Reply to  nlpnt

There’s an Arby’s about a mile east of the Walmart where Dave meets for the Woodward cruises. He can hold the competitions there (they need the business).

Nerobergstr
Nerobergstr
2 years ago

The Flush – My Weekend Wrenching.
Last year, I sold my year 2020 Wrangler because used car prices were so crazy (and profitable). As a result I am reliving the joy and freedom of owning a beater car. I bought a dirt cheap Infiniti G35x and because it was a rarely needed second car, I let my 5 year old make all the decisions on modifications. As you can imagine it now looks like it was designed by a 5 year old. Roof basket – check; Land Rover Front Bumper – check; Jeep wheels/tires that are way too big – check. Too many offroad lights – check. 90% of the fun at 2% of the cost. This beater POS has truly brought joy to my weekend and a smile to my face. My son still misses the Jeep, but he thinks building a car is so much cooler.

TomMetcalf
TomMetcalf
2 years ago

I sat in a 2016 pathfinder a few years back. It was massive but also very soft. The Hardbody based and R51 Pathfinders were decent little 4×4’s.

Jophi
Jophi
2 years ago
Reply to  TomMetcalf

I don’t know if we just got unlucky, but our 2016 SL has been absolute garbage. Pretty much anything that could have broken has done so and it’s put me off ever looking at a Nissan again. It’s a spacious ride for family trips and has made hauling gear out to the climbing crag very convenient, but in terms of performance as an actual vehicle it’s been a lemon in every sense of the word.

Canucksalaryman
Canucksalaryman
2 years ago
Reply to  Jophi

We have a 2015 SL and we are over 200,000 km at this point. Nothing has really gone wrong. It still cruises quietly and the CVT has worked correctly. Little bit of a rattle in the passenger door and a wheel bearing needed replacing, but nothing major.

hairy_baboon
hairy_baboon
2 years ago

I must not remember 16 Candles properly cause I don’t get the reference. Did Toyota start eating carrots?

David Tracy
2 years ago
Reply to  hairy_baboon

Nobody gets the references around here…

Mark Tucker
2 years ago
Reply to  David Tracy

Even I’m struggling with this one. Explain yourself, Thomas…

entwerfen
entwerfen
2 years ago
Reply to  Mark Tucker

I was looking for a Long Duk Dong reference, but there didn’t seem to be a payoff to the movie anywhere.

Mark Tucker
2 years ago
Reply to  Thomas Hundal

OHHHH! Of course. I was frantically flipping through the sizeable John Hughes trivia file in my mind and coming up dry.

Nitehawk770
Nitehawk770
2 years ago
Reply to  Thomas Hundal

The Bob Rock reference was great. Black Album was when they went commercial……

Death Magnetic and …Hardwired To Self-Destruct are a step back in teh right direction.

TheCoryJihad
TheCoryJihad
2 years ago
Reply to  Thomas Hundal

I hate that I knew this.

Autojunkie
Autojunkie
2 years ago
Reply to  hairy_baboon

Yeah. I read that part four times to figure out what I was missing. I still don’t get it.

FrankenCamry
FrankenCamry
2 years ago

I knew the Pathfinder had softened, but I wasn’t aware it couldn’t even be optioned with a limited slip in the rear any more.

From Dakar champion to offroad cosplay in 4ish generations. Ouch.

HT
HT
2 years ago

Anyone else find it sadly pathetic that a certain other site is reposting old Torch articles?

Kakairo
Kakairo
2 years ago
Reply to  HT

Plus articles from contributors that haven’t been there for years, like Doug DeMuro.

Icouldntfindaclevername
Icouldntfindaclevername
2 years ago
Reply to  HT

Especially 7 year old slideshows…sad…very sad

Taco Shackleford
Taco Shackleford
2 years ago
Reply to  HT

I’ve gotten in the habit of checking the comment count there first to see if its old. Seems like they averaging about 3-4 old articles a day! It’s getting unbearable, but things here on the Autopian are wonderful!

JunkInTheFrunk
JunkInTheFrunk
2 years ago

I find myself going over to Jello Picnic a few times a week to watch the state of things decline. On the web analytics side, the site has lost 2M visitors a month between December and the end of February. There isn’t enough history yet to look at April.

RodMillington
RodMillington
2 years ago
Reply to  HT

They have now started making the blurb be “this article was published ages ago when we used to be good” or to that effect now so it’s more obvious.

JC_06Z33
JC_06Z33
2 years ago
Reply to  HT

And a DT one just a while ago.

Have some dignity fergodsakes.

JunkInTheFrunk
JunkInTheFrunk
2 years ago
Reply to  HT

A certain editor of that site once went on a tirade in the comment section that most of the readership was based on search results for car reviews. If that’s the mindset of the current ownership, then other content becomes effectively interchangeable window dressing.

They are using this approach across the G/O family. Contributors that have gone on to bigger and better things live on as their best work gets pumped as suggested reading based on historical engagement. The parent company, Great Hills Partners, seems entirely indifferent to the whole undertaking, and the likeliest outcome is structured bankruptcy and a fire sale.

Space
Space
2 years ago
Reply to  JunkInTheFrunk

Then the a utopian could buy J——k and we could come full circle.

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