I went and test drove a 2004 Z today. 6mt, base model with 44,000 miles on it. The car seemed pretty nice, everything was running fine but the road noise was unbearable.

He has aftermarket wheels on the car, 17" foose wheels decently wide (maybe 9"?) and probably 225/40 and 245/40 but I didn't look at the exact number. They had Goodyear Eagle F1 tires. Is that what made the noise?

It was pretty much making me not want to drive the car around 20-30 Mph but up around 40-50 they quieted down since the tread didn't have as much contact with the ground I'm assuming. But it was still killing me.

This is the first Z I've driven and my daily driver is a G so I thought it would be similar but is this just normal road noise or are the tires making it loud? Is there any other things it might be rather than tires/wheels? transmission issues or anything?

The foose wheels are coming off immediately after we get the car but I don't want to put my Motegi wheels on and find out the car still has the exact same noise and the tires had nothing to do with it.

Anyways, any opinions would be great!

 

My guess is that the front tires are feathered. The alignment is wrong (toe-in not set) so the inner edges of the tires have developed a nice sawtooth pattern. As you slow, the noise gets louder.

You can confirm by running your hand along the outer tread block on the inside edge of the tire. It will feel rough one way and smooth the other direction.

The fix is simple, the car needs alignment and the tires need to be swapped or replaced. Swapped means swap them left-right on the front of the car, makes the old inside edge become the outside edge and vice-versa.

 

Are the tires getting bald?

 

They are relatively new tires, maybe seen two summers. Easily 70-80% life left.

It didn't look like they were feathered, but I didn't check the inside of the tire on the front I really wish I had. It's about a 35 minute drive and I've already been down twice.

I plan to get the car and drop it and put new wheels so I'm not worried about those wheels I just want to know if it can be anything other than the wheels something mechanical that might be wrong with the car. It will also get the alignment down once the springs settle.

 

The Z is relatively noisy anyway - there's no sound dampening in the wheel wells.

Did you test drive on several different surfaces? I know that mine are particularly noisy or grooved concrete but quite as a mouse on asphalt. The tread pattern of some tires may increase the general noisyness. I'm not intimately familiar with Goodyear F1's but I know there are many models. The ones I've seen have a pecular tread pattern so that might be part of the problem.

 

Yea hit some asphalt and different concretes. But mainly just city roads which is all the car will ever see. The amount of noise didn't change much from surface to surface.

This was the tread pattern.

http://reviews.stangnet.com/data/19/...gsd3_ci1_l.jpg

 

Just read a review on these tires from tirerack Lol

" These are the best handling tires I have ever had on my car you can push them as hard as you want and they STICK. That said, they are the noisiest tires I have EVER purchased. I can't stand it anymore, and I am replacing them with another brand. Too bad, the rubber compound is made for the person who drives aggressively and loves to tear around the highway on and off-ramps. Now I know why they were so cheap on sale, I paid $49.00 per tire on tirerack.com. Great price, lousy tire."

Enough said, they were $50!!!! haha

 

Yeah, I've haven't been a fan of Goodyear tires - a couple bad experiences convinced me to search and find out that there are much better tires out there.

 

a. You have no rear seat so essentially the rear wheel wells are behind your head.
b. Tires are noisy
c. Tires are feathered
d. Bad wheel bearings

 

I suggest you drive another Z because if it has a feathering problem you might have to live with it. . Alignment is not a fix really, just a way for Nissan to get out of fixing cars correctly IMO. Performance comes at a cost. How much do you want good handling? If you are not willing to deal with a lot of road noise you might consider getting a less performing car.

 

Yea I'm going to test drive a stock Z tomorrow at the dealership to see how loud it is stock.

And trust me if you heard this you would kill yourself, it's not slight road noise it pure crap tires making like 90db humming sound. It's more than tolerable for a sports car. The last time I was in a Z. (iforged wheels on Nittons) he was smooth and quiet.

The wheel bearing could be another thing, but that's fixable as well. I think I am going to buy it, I just wanted to make sure it wasn't something that is going to hurt me down the road.

Thanks for the input guys! I'll have some photos up asap.

 

I assume you mean a stock but used Z. It wouldn't be a fair comparison between a new 2009 370Z and a used 2004 350Z.

 

Yea of course haha I just hope they have a hardtop there. My local dealer usually only has roadsters and 370Zs. He has an 04 Nismo that he was selling though. Maybe he'll let me take that for a spin.

 

Get an exhaust and you won't even hear it!

 

Tire noise is horrendous in the Z Coupe. I'm shopping for tires now, and one of the biggest factors for me is a high performance tire that is quiet. I'm also going to invest in some sound dampening at some point.

Type of pavement makes a huge difference. Old concrete is murder. New asphalt is blessed relief.

 

04????

Man you must really be sensitive to the noise!

 

The F1s pretty much suck...go ask around the CorvetteForum...they will happily tell you how they love to get rid of them. I am thankful that we've only got 1600 miles on our '09 Vert right now...because I'm not looking forward to replacing mine. Its just a matter of time...

Good luck on your purchase!

 

um nismo's werent made until 07

 

Any sports car is going to have some road noise. If you are coming from a non-sports car, you may have to get adjusted.

 

Oh well, it's daytona blue and with all the nismo gear. I took a guess at 04 because I never see him with HIDS on. So I figured it was an earlier car. Unless he's just got all nismo stickers all over it? Not fully familiar with my Z info yet.

But really I wish I had made a video of how loud it is. I've been in a lot of sports car that haven't been close to thing. This is totally unbearable and if that's the way they sound all the time, I am amazed you guys could drive them. It was literally as loud in the car with the windows up than it is in my G with the windows down cruising.

Going to test drive another one today so we'll see.