have been back and forth with my dealer and nissan one about my tirefeather. I have gotten realignment and new tires once, but now problem is back and I'm getting the run around. Nissan one told me that they have hooked up with bridgestone and had a special potenza tire made specifically for 350z that basically has a higher tread wear to increase longevity of tire life. Not a perminent fix like I want, just a cover up of the main problem. Just wanted to put this info out b/c I'm sure they won't advertise this and some people may think their problem is fixed.

 

No more tire feathering threads. I will ask you the same question I ask everyone. How many times did you rotate and balance the tires or get an alignment since they put the new tires on?

 

How many times should one have to rotate and balance the tires or get an alignment after new tires are put on to avoid abnormal wear problems?

I've owned and/or driven two hand's worth of fingers or more of various makes and models of cars and I can tell you how many times I've had to do this for those cars (brand-new, under 8,000 miles). Total = One. Guess the make and model.

I will say that aftermarket wheels, tires, and suspension components takes me out of the picture, however Nissan replaced my original stockers (pre-change), so I've been there and done that. Also, the problem affects the tire, and thus a redesigned tire could very well take care of the issue. My Toyos seem loud any way (from the day they were put on), so I'm not sure I'd notice it now.

 

The feathering issue is a live and well. I think the on going responses from service people are indicative of Nissans position.

 

I'm not sure I'd go that far. I think his question is legitimate, however I also feel mine is as well.

NOTE: Post above was edited (making this one a bit confusing).

 

Are you sure the service guy wasn't just pulling your leg?
He probably just gave you another set of the same tire, and bought himself some time from another tire feathering issue.

 

How do you rotate YOUR tires?

 

I don't, but I am okay with that and expect poor tire wear, and won't go to Nissan asking for new tires which whether people want to admit it or not are a wear item that it is the customers responsiblity to maintain. We all know that you can unmount and remount the tires to perform a side to side rotation and inside / outside rotation that will greatly improve tire life. People just aren't willing to do that. Now a front to back tire rotation isn't even an option which would also greatly improve tire wear but again this is all known upfront when the car is purchased since it has directional tires with larger tires in the rear.

 

Tut, I absolutely agree with you in the fact that tires are a wear item. I do not believe that anyone here will debate you on that. However, this issue is a result of some fault in the Z's suspension as delivered from Nissan. Because of that, this feathering issue is Nissan's responsibility to correct, not the customers.

 

I'm not trying to be an A-hole, but give me a break man. You dont happen to work for nissan do you?

really, there is no excuse for a vehicle not to get at least 25k out of a set of tires unless you are ******* them constantly.

 

You did a great job being an A-hole without trying to be one. I know you don't happen to work for a tire company. I am tired of getting ragged on for being the only one that takes the other non popular side of this argument. Unlike you, I know cars, and I have worked at a tire shop before and have seen what normal people can do to normal tires in very short distances. I could ruin a tire on a Chevy Cavalier in under 10,000 miles without ******* them easily. There are WAY too many variables that go into how long a tire will last including vehicle alignment, proper balance, rotations, and proper tire pressure. How can they guarantee you will do all those things during 25k miles? How can they guarantee you won't do a big burnout and super heat the tires basically ruining the tire life? If this is an inherent flaw in the Nissan 350Z design how do some people get 30,000 miles out of their stock tires with no feathering and others don't? What do you want Nissan to do? What would make you happy? Don't just say fix the problem, cause that is not a viable answer.

 

What is the fault? How can it be fixed? Why is it a fault on some and not on others? How come no one has documented a definite problem point? Can you honestly tell me that if there was a fix, Nissan wouldn't have put it out already instead of dropping $500+ for new tires? Just think about the 350Z for a second. Every single chip is stacked against the 350Z having good tire wear and we all knew it when we bought it. I have accepted that, others have not.

 

King Tut (in his own world maybe) you should not have to rotate your tires every couple thousand miles inorder to get over 12,000 miles of usage or more. I believe that if you are easy on your tires, and car there should be no reason why you couldn't get over 40,000 miles on a set of tires. Tires are going at 12,000 miles and its not because people didn't get their tires rotated. Its a problem with the car's suspention, I assume you work for Nissan? Acouple weeks ago I went to the Nissan dealership to check stuff out and to bull**** with some people their about the cars. I asked the salesman about the tire feathering, he had a blank look on his face and said no I never heard of it. Then I went there last week and somehow I brought it up again, this time he said (same guy) yeah I heard of that but only in the front right tire. Its like an alcoholic, step one is to admit your problem inorder for you to fix it, not pass the buck and ask if you get your tires rotated and alignment every couple thousand miles.

 

How many times do I have to say I don't work for Nissan. I work at Eglin Air Force Base, I can have members on this site verify that for you if neccessary. Again you stated it is a problem with the suspension yet you didn't answer why only certain cars and what the problem piece is or what the solution is. What would YOU like Nissan to do to fix the problem? Is the tire selection at all to blame?

 

So if you talk to your car and are polite with it and go easy on it you get better tire life right? All those scary words like alignments and rotate & balance don't really do anything or affect tire wear right?

 

I honestly don't know what the fix is. If I did, I would be touted as the next coming on this site However, if the fix would mean recalling quite a few vehicles (I'm not sure how many Z's were produced), my "guess" would be that replacing a few front tires here and there would make much more financial sense than announcing a recall. This is especially true since Nissan is trying its best to become a major player again.
I have no "proof" that it's a design flaw, but with the number of vehicles exhibiting the same issue, it is much more likely to be a design flaw as opposed to driver abuse.

 

So what are the numbers on the vehicles exhibiting this same issue? Only Nissan knows that, and I bet it is alot lower than people on this site think. I don't think there is anything Nissan can fix which is why they haven't issued a recall or a TSB calling for replacing suspension pieces. I don't want cars to have this problem, but I can give plenty of reasons other than a suspension design flaw that are causing it.

 

When I said "... with the number...", I was not speaking to a specific number of vehicles as I do not know. However, with the frequency of these "feathering" posts and the number of responses, there are quite a few people "on this site" that have the issue (I was one of them).

Oh well, what are we to do either way? Let's go have a brew.

 

Yeah thats just the thing I bet this site gets alot of members who come on simply due to the "feathering" issue so I don't know that the forum is any kind of a true example of how many people have feathering. I try not to argue over this issue as I know it upsets many 350Z owners, but I get tired of the posts with misinformation. I could definitely sit down and have a brew with you.

 

To the original poster : the info is partially true. The later RE040 had a change in thread design, but no to make them harder or last longer. The change is to the edge of the thread, and what (most of us think) it will do is HIDE THE NOISE so you won't hear the feathering for a longer time. Good luck.

King Tut, I fail to understand why you try to explain this as a customer issue when NISSAN themselves admit to the problem and have produced TSBs, and even extended the warranty on our tires. Also, dealers claim the issue is "fixed" on 05s, and that would mean something was "broken", if it had to be fixed, no??

By their actions Nissan has ADMITTED that the tires wear unevenly, that they have to be replaced, and that is too early for normal wear and thus extended warranties and does TSB work for free.

Nobody here is complaining of burned tires at the track, or some of the other abuse you mention. We complain about an abnormal wear seen in totally stock cars aligned and mainteined by Nissan.

You are defending Nissan when they already confesed. I don't get it.

What most of us here would like to see is a PERMANENT fix to the issue, so we can go on driving our 350Zs into the sunset.

FYI, after 27K miles, I am in my 3rd set of front tires, 2nd set of rear tires, rotated (off rims) twice, aligned 4 times now, all out of MY OWN POCKET. Never have tracked the car, never drag race. Drive to work and back in the city. 27K miles in 27 moths, about 1Kmiles/month, with seems very average to me.

I think that, since we pay Nissan $30K to $35K a pop, THEY OWE US to figure this out. WE DON'T OWE THEM the solution. They made money selling us a product with a defect. They have admited there is a defect.

I hope this all makes sense to some rational people out there.