2008 350Z Front Tire Feathering

[mcapuano1101]

My '08 350Z just rolled over 10K. The front tires are starting to growl just like my '03. I thought Nissan fixed this problem? Why is the dealer telling me I need eccentric bolts installed? I know nothing about suspension - except that the Z's still seems to suck 5 years later, but if this bolt thing is an add on fix - why should I pay for it out of pocket? Granted the bridgestones that come with the car are HORRIBLE tires & I can't wait to be rid of them, but I certainly don't want to have to replace tires every 10K once the car eat's them for lunch. Any advice?

Michael

[Z04]

maybe you should have bought a different car

[scrillasherv]

As far as feathering, the only years Nissan would be forced to do something about is the 03 and 04. With an 08... :/ your best bet is to get aftermarket wheels and different tires, as well as alignments.

[JasonZ-YA]

well, the fronts dont use eccentric bolts.........only adjustment point is from the steering rack (tie rods) so are you sure they are talking about your fronts??

Rears of the Z uses eccentric bolts for both camber and toe.. at stock height you can adjust and be within spec, if you ever lower the car, you will need aftermarket "eccentric bolts"

sounds to me you need to take your car to another (honest) dealer..


-J

[JasonZ-YA]

Originally Posted by scrillasherv

As far as feathering, the only years Nissan would be forced to do something about is the 03 and 04. With an 08... :/ your best bet is to get aftermarket wheels and different tires, as well as alignments.

wut???

no, all you need (since the car is new) is force the dammn dealer to align your car........man handle them, not them you...

-J

[JasonZ-YA]

where in DAllas are you?

[anth72]

wow that sucks. My 04 had the feathering problem with the Bridgestones but once I replaced the tires with another make (Sumitomos), the problem was cured. 3 track days and 6,000 miles later and they still look great.

[mcapuano1101]

Thanks - I'm gonna go with aftermarket wheels & tires & stop screwing with Trophy Nissan. I don't trust them at all.

[Adrians07Z]

join the club


I got the same problem with my 07 .. so I'm going to wait till I see metal .. there roaring like off road tires now at 14,500 miles

only solution is to keep an alignment .. my front toe was out, got a lifetime alignment with firestone and the front is good till I get new tires

[davidv]

How about some photos of these tires?

[migz_0320]

i have the same problem with my fronts. i got nissan do an alignment and they said that everything was within specs, i didnt quite understand the spec sheet they showed me but still, im still having the growling noise.. its just hard to find "good service" from dealerships these days... i even asked them what the difference was between an HR and a DE engine when i first got my 08 and they didnt even know about the HR's or DE, all they knew was a nismo and non-nismo.. pretty sad..

[Adrians07Z]

if the front tires are worn .. an alignment wont stop the noise .. just slow the wear


my front is aligned now after feathered tires .. roars loud as hell still

[C6H6A6Z]

Seriously I cannot believe there is not one guy on here that knows anything about their cars. The problem is obvious and something that you wont be able to change. The reason they are growling is of the camber. The techs at your dealer set everything to spec. The car is built for highspeeds, not trolling around town at 30-45 mph. the camber is set to high speed. They made it a little too aggressive in 03-04 they toned it down ever so slightly to resist tire wear and growl. Also in 03-04 the tires they came with from factory were faulty. If any of you is intersted in the actuall Spec sheets for the suspension recalls from the manufacture let me know and ill post them. Oh and if you want the noise to dampen buy race tires. They have slicks with one groove for street legality. Also there are ways to adjust your camber, but in consequence youll be very dissatisfied with the understeer you will encounter. Buy an exhaust to combat the noise, or turn your radio up, the car is a handling machine not a luxury one.

[migz_0320]

good point...

[INTIMAZY]

Originally Posted by C6H6A6Z

The reason they are growling is of the camber. The techs at your dealer set everything to spec. Oh and if you want the noise to dampen buy race tires. They have slicks with one groove for street legality. Also there are ways to adjust your camber, but in consequence youll be very dissatisfied with the understeer you will encounter. Buy an exhaust to combat the noise, or turn your radio up, the car is a handling machine not a luxury one.

Excellent observation. If the wear really is such a problem, go with a set of aftermarket A arms and tone down the neg camber up front. I don't remember too many people complaining about rear tire wear.

Going with race tires would not solve anything. Not only do they wear out quickly regardless of your camber specs due to their soft compounds, but they are no quieter than stock tires except for squeal when pushing the car to its limits. Something like a RA1, V710 or R888 has tire life in the several thousand miles range regardless of how easy you take it on them. (Hoosiers are left out intentionally since they last hundreds if lucky)

[Dealsgap]

I finally replaced my 08 OEM's @ 5k with Michelin PS2's. The fronts were down to 7/32. Could have went a little longer but could not wait to get the Michelins.

What surprised me the most was my tires for some reason were wearing on the outside (not the inside) half. When I had my alignment done with the new tires it came back saying the backs were out of spec but the front were in spec??

I've had the new tires now for about 3k miles and what a difference...

[Nickster81]

I forced the dealer to replace and re align my front tires because of the feathering problem. Most dealerships can replace tires up to 12k miles under the goodwill policy.

[JasonZ-YA]

Originally Posted by C6H6A6Z

Seriously I cannot believe there is not one guy on here that knows anything about their cars. The problem is obvious and something that you wont be able to change. The reason they are growling is of the camber. The techs at your dealer set everything to spec. The car is built for high speeds, not trolling around town at 30-45 mph. the camber is set to high speed. They made it a little too aggressive in 03-04 they toned it down ever so slightly to resist tire wear and growl. Also in 03-04 the tires they came with from factory were faulty. If any of you is interested in the actual Spec sheets for the suspension recalls from the manufacture let me know and ill post them. Oh and if you want the noise to dampen buy race tires. They have slicks with one groove for street legality. Also there are ways to adjust your camber, but in consequence youll be very dissatisfied with the understeer you will encounter. Buy an exhaust to combat the noise, or turn your radio up, the car is a handling machine not a luxury one.

I agree with you, but a good alignment(toning it down) will eliminate the growl at pretty much any speed...........I had this issue on my 04, but i didn't care much as my tires didn't lasted me since i would tear them up at the next event......

your forgetting that those that typically complain about things like this - are the "i own a nice luxury Z" and daily drive the car..........they have no idea what understeer is........they just want the noise gone..........i have many friends with Z's and think "its too pretty a car to be racing it"...

different recipes for different end users.....is all..
-J

[mcapuano1101]

Ouch! I admit I don't know much about how my car works, but I'm learning. I love the Z despite it's quirks. I had an '03 & went through the tire recalls, etc. - never really knowing what the Hell they were doing besides giving me new tires on 2 seperate occasions - finally ditched the Bridgestones altogether & never had a growling problem again. I was just dismayed when I began to hear the same noise in my '08 & then was told by the dealer they wanted to install eccentric bolts in my front end, which despite my lack of knowledge on the subject....just sounded like a BAD idea. I found a great alignment place in Dallas today - had the car aligned & it is a little improved. However, the guy was very honest with me. There is NO camber adjustment on the front of these cars & with time & wear (especially on the crap roads in Dallas, TX) the Z's camber is going to deviate from factory specs. The place is called Gary's alignment (the guy races cars - been in business for since 1976) & he has a machine (his own design)that will restore the factory camber specs for $150.00 per wheel - not something you will find at the dealership. May give this a shot later if the roar continues to bug me. Until then - I'm installing some Alpines.

M

[JasonZ-YA]

wut??? a special machine?? 150 a wheel, for what??? da hell??

Okay are you lowered? if your at stock height? did he at least get it back to spec? if at spec.....live with it...

if not, only thing you can do is buy front upper control arms - any 300 dollar basic set will do for a general use daily driver car - you can then adjust camber to higher in the front spec range and most likely eliminate the growl completely.....also, our oem tires suck too, so get rid of them when ya can and that will help...

-J