a friend in our NZ Z club has sudddenly developed huge traction problems on her 04 coupe. Real bad on corners as if a shock problem or similar, has anyone here had tis ?

 

maybe she has bad rear tires?


tommy

 

nope she has new tyres, that was the first thing she tried, the back end is all over the place when cornering hard

 

what rating are the tires? maybe too hard?

 

Are the tires brand new new? Tires can be a bit slippery until you get a few miles on em.

 

It's doubtful but maybe the rear is seriously out of alignment, it could make the car feel unstable.

 

Hi Macca

I am experiencing the same problem when cornering. Replaced my Bridgestones Potenzas with Yokohamas (Advan) at the rear. Car has no stability when cornering and VDC takes over and grabs front wheels with a huge shudder! Took it in twice to check wheel toe in/out at the back. My Z still has the Bridgestones on the front - but surely this cannot play such a big roll.

Any body outhere got any ideas???Car is UNDRIVEABLE compared to before!

 

+1

Steady state unstability while cornering points to dynamic/static rear toe in. If it's also unstable going straight, she might have rear toe out.

 

You'd be surprised.

Plus, if you change one thing and the car goes crazy immediately after, there are good chances it's because of what you just changed...

 

This is one of the most Tire Sensitive Cars I have ever seen, Slight changes make huge differences.

 

Are the new tires the same size as the old tires?
Does the condition occur with VDC off?
What is the milage rating of the new tires?

Chris

 

I changed the original bridgestones fro NItto 555's on 19" wheels. The slip indicator light would came on all the time. I would have to turn off the TCS system. After 1K miles it will still slip, but not as much as before. Just my 2c.

 

Hi guys

Thanks for feedback. Had Yokohama Advan Sport put on at the back - same size Bridgestone's 245/45 x 18. Took them back to the dealer this afternoon after 350km's. Exchanged them for Yokohama AVS dB's. Handling better - but still not great. Although the tyres atre brand new. It is only unstable when cornering downhill. When turning right into a corner VDC grabs left front wheel and brakes it. At vice versa when turning left. Had toe-in set too the max toe-out before being out of spec. Handling improved but not that much. Will see how these tyres go. Bridgestone too expensive in SA and a mediocre tyre!! Costs 700 US$ for ONE tyre is South Africa. Yokohamas retails at 475 US$ each...

So count your blessings in the states!!!!

 

Hi,

I'm macca44 fellow club member from NZ, who's having the major traction control issues and lets just say it's spent a quite a lot of time at the dealer over the last few weeks as they try to resolve issue. Problem has been there for months but put it down to the horrid Potenza's RE040's and their lack of traction in comparison to an aggressive directional.

Yes, brand new German F1 GSD'3 - Z rated tyre(put on 900kms in last 2 wks so properly run in), extactly same size as RE040's 225/50/17 - 235/50/17 & you can actually feel the front gripping, but even driving at 10kms in heavy traffic, or driving at 70kms up it totally taily, slithery & wobbly. Has wheel alignments, balances every 6 - 10k usually and it's been 2 different wheel alignment places in last 6 months, and 3 wheel alignments in 2 weeks as place I go to now.

Had everything tightened up, check shocks, they're okay. We're now wondering if it is a soft bush or it maybe the TCS is playing up & no the TCS light doesn't come on when it breaks traction (well it would be on permanently at the moment I kid you not) irrespective of if the TCS is switched on or off. NPV is being hooked up finally to full diagnostic tomorrow.

Any help anyone can offer would be very gratefully appreciated!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's plain dangerous to drive as extremely little control of the back of the car.

 

Sometimes I wonder if there is actually a rear strut bar in the plastic cover in the rear. You might want to check if its bolted down or even missing a strut bar (I can imagine some Z's comming without one because a factory worker forgot to install one. ) I would doubt this is the problem, as it would cause the Z more likely to understeer.

As for roll bars and the front strut bar, I would just check if they are on your Z.

 

Man these are weird problems !

The srtut bar is most probably put down by robots as it's part of the white body

 

One idea. just changed my mags and tires at my tire place. They told me the reason the cars tires burn out so fast,is cause nissan screwed up the alignment on this car,the reason is better handling. So if you just a wheel alignment and they fixed that problem.then you lose some handling. So its your choices either new tires every 2 months,or a wheel alignment and less handling...