Hi. A week ago today I bought an '03 Touring coupe w/15K miles on it. I traded in my Maxima for it, and have been enjoying the hell out of the car.

That is...up until last night when I found out about the tire feathering epidemic. After agreeing to buy the Z, I made a point to ask the dealer to fix the alignment on the car because it pulls to the rights. He had a tech look at the car, and the tech said that the problem wasn't the alignment, but the scalloped tires. They are going to replace the tires for free tomorrow morning.

I called my dealer today to tell him that I had done some research and found out just how major a problem this is with all Zs. He talked with one of the service managers who told him that the problem was with the composition of the original Potenzas. The Potenzas have since been reworked and now they supposedly don't have the problem anymore. I didn't buy this having read all I have on these forums about the problem, but I'm going to talk to someone in the service dept tomorrow regardless.

I've read that some Z owners were able to fix the feathering by switching out the rims. I wanted to hear more opinions on this. If it did work for you, what size did you go with?

 

New Nismo rims, new Toyo tires and the same
feathering. Your service manager is full of BS.

 

Yeah, most people seem to say one you swap out the stock rubber, the problem goes away. It really seems like a problem with the RE040's and not the alignments, though some people have stated alignments have fixed it. :shrug:

 

The reason the tires are "feathered" in the first place is because the alignment is off.

There is a TSB for them to fix the toe in on the front suspension. Get this fixed...don't just swap the tires or it will come right back.

For most people, this fixes the problem....for others it doesn't.

Nissan replaced my tires free of charge and fixed the camber....but I had to go to three different dealerships until I found the one that would do it like they were supposed to. Don't expect great things from the average nissan dealership....you have to search to find the good ones.

I haven't had a problem since..
(but it's only been 5k miles or so)

 

They did redesign the original Potenzas, my brother on his 350z got a nail in the sidewall on his right rear tire so they ordered him a new one, when they put it on first thing I noticed was the tread was the same, but the tread block widths were different. not just a little different but very noticable compared to the original tire. They ended up replacing the other rear tire so the tires would be the same...

I think it might be possible that the feathering problem was a combination of alignment issues and tire design... but who knows.

 

the problem is with the car itself and it seems to be rooted in a combination of things: mainly a mix between the toe-in, camber, suspension settings, and the piece o crap potenza 040's (which by claim of bridgestone should only get around 25k miles to them anyway). well the only fix for the feathering would be to address everything and the way the stock Z is you cannot do that. You cannot adjust castor, camber, or suspension, just the toe-in. so thats why the TSB is for the alignement. Plus the new bridgestones which are still crap have a different tread block design that wont show the feathering, so at least visually the problem has been band-aided there.

the only true fix that I have heard is to change out suspensions where you can adjust all caster and camber along with changing toe-in and switching out rubber.

unless you do this the only thing you are doing with the TSB, new rubber, or aftermarket rims is masking and delaying the problem. the feathering will still come back, but you can manage that by regular alignments and flopping the fronts from side to side by having them taken off the rims. its work, but to me its worth it cause i love this car.

 

watch your dealership doesn't just give you new tires without doing the alignment....

 

What about the NISMO suspension kit? Will installing that fix the problem? I would be willing to invest $1500 or so to fix this problem. I love the car and don't want to have this to worry about.

 

No! See post above - the most important thing you can do to counter feathering is to monitor tire condition and get regular alignments to make sure suspension settings are within spec!

 

Honestly,

From what have seen, people i know who lowered their Zs with the proper alignment (the least) the feathering was not an issue for 15k miles.

 

Time out! Granted the Potenza's are not my favorites, but I've got a print out from a current laser alignment that points to the toe-in condition on our Zs . . . I had it aligned and have had no problems for 9k miles. I frequently have my car on a lift and I inspect the tread to see if its feathering. No indication at all.

Get a laser alignment, not some crappy one at the dealer using manual instruments, and you'll be fine.

G

 

what an idiot/liar (nissan mechanic). the scalloping is CAUSED by the wrong alignment!!!
find the tsb, and take a copy with you to the dealer, but i would be sure to stay away from the mechanic who told you that, maybe even that dealer.
per the tsb, my tires were replaced at 20k mi for like, $40 total (its prorated). Just had my 30k service, and haven't noticed tire roar since 20k tsb realignment was done.
ps: the new re40s have more rubber on the in-side of the tire, which isn't a fix but should help you get more miles outa them. if your aligmnt is off, no other wheels or tires will minimize tire roar and feathering. in fact, per the tsb, if you have aftermarket wheels, it voids nissan's obligation to do the tsb fix.