I have seriously considering buying a 350Z lately and I need some help from you guys. I used to own a s2K and I am jonesing for another sports car. I have considered the new stang, g35 Coupe, 00-02 BS, and some others, but have narrowed it down to the 350Z. The only thing holding me back from the purchase is the tire feathering/front end elingment/camber/strut issue that is on every website imaginable. My question - are all cars effected by this issue? I have not read one thread that has someone going 25-30K miles on one set of tires. I plan on driving the sh*t out of this car and I don't want to have to go to the dealer every other month for a bs alignment.
I really don't want to rule out the 350Z as a car option due to this issue, but I will be damned to get myself into the situations that I read about. Thanks for the help

 

I would say find a 03 that is a late 03 model.. i have no problems with mine beside the rear end inner tire feather but that is my fault because i lightened up the rear end and some other stuff but i fixed it and no problems at all. if you do face any problems then you can always upgrade the suspension and go after market like tein or something. either way u will be happy. just dont buy the bottom of the line and get a touring z with less than 10k.

 

Not sure that it affects every car from what I hear.

As far as 25-30K on the same tires, not sure you will get that either way;
especially if you plan to drive hard.

 

There is no performance car you can buy that wouldn't completely EAT a set of tires way before 25,000 miles if "you drive the sh*t out of it".

 

I understand that if you drive the car hard, you will increase the wear on the tire. Thanks for clearing that up. My point is that I have not heard of anybody (driving hard or easy) that has been able any decent mileage out of their tires. If there are people out there that have, I would like to hear from them. Also, I have not heard of anybody on a stock set up that doesn't have an alignment issue.

 

stay away from any o3 -4 Z!!!!!! You will be eating tires... i'm not sure about 05's..Belive me, i woul dnot give you advise unless i went to hell and back with my 03 350z....as much as i love dteh car , not worth the aggrevation and for teh most part horrible nissan service!

 

I have an 05 Z with 5k on it. I know tire feathering problems wouldnt have shown up by now but i can tell you my alignment is straight on with no problems of any kind so far. The car is cherry, seems much more solid than any car i have owned except for maybe my old bullet proof integra GS. Also you must remember that most people with the tire feathering issue solved the problem with different tires. So at worse your out a pair or a set of tires prematurely. Which isnt that big of a deal since the potenzas arent exactly great tires anyways imo.

 

I made it 21,000 miles on my first set of tires. Not what I thought I should have, but apparently did well. The tires are the biggest problem that I have with my roadster. But, it's not enough to make me want to trade it.

 

I bought my car May of 04 (just over a year ago) and I have just hit 20,000 miles with no tire feathering problems.

 

Remember, the tire durometer rating on the Z is low, between 140 and 180 I believe. That's true for all performance tires. The normal passenger car tire, that folks expect to get 40K or more out of, has a rating of 300. So you get a performance tire but cannot expect the same life out of a lesser rated tire.

 

i have no tire problems yet whatsoever... but a newer z if you're worried... but i think you'll be ok either way... if you're still worried try to get a z with a warranty left. good luck.

 

It is good to hear that some people have not experienced this problem. It is hard to determine how many people are effected by this problem by searching internet sites. Sorry to hear about some people's bad fortune and glad to hear that others have been trouble free.Thanks.

 

I just changed the tires on my 2003 Z. The OEM tires had 24,000 miles on them with around another 3,000 to go. But I decided not to push the envelope & put Toyo t1 Rs on last week.

To be on the safe side I'd get an 05, or late 04, and quit worrying about it.

 

I have the 03 model with 10k miles on the stockers. I recently got new tires, but that's only because I bought new wheels. My stock tires had no sign of feathering. They still have so much even tread on them, I may end up selling my stock wheels and tires.

-Bootay

 

My 2004.5 is devoid of any feathering issues. It's not a problem.

But, I'm not sure if you still have your S2000? If I had an S2000, I would make the next sports car a coupe. Thus, an M3, a G35 or a Mustang GT. In fact, I am seriously thinking about the Mustang Shelby GT500 but that's a couple years away.

 

there was a thread not too long ago asking folks who DON'T have tire feathering to post. You might want to search for it. PLENTY of people don't have the problem.

 

Performance cars eat tires.

Our '87 Dodge Daytona ate tires.
My '02 Nissan Spec V ate tires (actually ate less when I went to an autox setup!)

I fully expect that I'll be replacing tires once a year or so on the Z -- and not because of feathering.

 

12,000 miles on a 12/02 Track... with two AutoX and one track day. Tires aren't as grippy but no feathering. I'd either get an 03 and upgrade the suspension, or go with a late 04 or 05.

 

The only problem with those threads is that you really need to weed through them as 99% of the posts are submitted by people with too few miles to count. No one with feathering had issues at 700 miles, or 3K miles, etc., it generally seems to show up between 8.5K and 12K so when looking at responses, keep that in mind. There are many more '03's with that many miles than '05's so IMHO I think it may still be too early to tell. Hopefully the issue has been solved (even though good luck trying to figure out exactly what the issue was).

Note that plenty (as you said) of '03 owners haven't had issues, it's not all cars.