I have almost 16,000 miles on my "Z" At about 15,000 miles the front tires started to make the low speed growling noise when slowing down.. I had the chance to remove my front tires today while installing a Nismo CAI and was very surprised to find no feathering.. The tread is smooth and uniform all across the tire.... No ridges anywhere.. So.. What's causing the noise?? Is it the tire's wearing?? I know the treadwear rating on these Bridgestones is very low.. I do notice it appears to almost totally go away after the tires are well heated.. It's much louder when the tires are cold.. Any idea's??

Steve (k2we) Dobbs Ferry, NY 15,782 miles since Sept 17,2002

 

I've got the same exact problem.... I checked for feathering and everything looks ok..... I thought it was just me at first but my GF also noticied a 'rumbling' at slow speeds.... Beats me, i'm gettin' my 15K service done tomorrow and will ask the tech to look into this. I'll update you on what I find out...

 

I have the same exact problem. Maybe it's us NY'ers or NJ'ers

 

same thing at 15k here to, 97 prelude did the same thing. Both had OE Bridgestones. Atlanta, GA

 

Well.. I see I'm not alone.. Anyone have an idea why this is happening and what it means?? Are the tires going... going... gone? Is this something that starts at 15,000 miles??

Steve (k2we) Dobbs Ferry, NY 15,782 miles since Sept 17,2002

 

our tires should last around 15,000-20,000 miles to begin with so it might just be that. One thing is for sure though, our tire lifespan was sped up due to the alignment and feathering problems with the tire. This is something that you should complain to NNA about and tell them that you don't feel like changing your tires every 12,000 miles. These tires cost a lot of MONEY!!!!

 

Could it be the brakes? You mentioned a noise when slowing down.. I know on my Chevy when the brakes are low (very low apparently) I get a really loud noise from the front end when slowing down (especially on the highway).

 

S03's have a treadwear of 220. they last 20k miles on average. RE040s have a treadwear of 140. 15-16k miles sounds about right. time to get new rears at least.

 

My wife had Bridgestone Duelers (sp?) on her Subaru Forester. They got very loud at around 20K. I did a search on a Subaru forum and found a lot of complaints about tire noise starting around that mileage. I replaced them with a Yokohama tire. Could be a tendency of the tire itself. On a related note, I once had a set of Pirelli P7000 all season tires on a sport sedan I used to own. Those tires roared from day 1. It was awful.

 

Its not the brakes....It's the tires. I too have the rumbling especially when braking. My SO3's have about 14k on them. The reason I know its not the brakes is because I just got a new G with Brembos and I'm getting the same road noise I had in my 18k Z.

 

I notice it when the car is at low speed AND making a sharp turn.
For example; pulling into a parking spot.

As erock put it, "rumbling" is the word to describe it.

 

same thing here. Started at like 10k miles for me. Let of the gas and cost at like 30mph, it's really loud.

 

Same thing here It has gotten progressively worse. I had the TSB done at $9K miles. Now at 15K miles, the feathering doesnt look too bad, but my car roars so freaking loud that I can hardly talk on the cell phone when I am between 20 - 30 mph! What gives??

 

UPDATE:

Well jus got back from the dealership, got my window motor replaced and had my alignment done, turns out that it is the tires causing the rumbling... He told me that my tires were getting worn on the inside and outside track of the tires and that was what was causing the noise. he said replacing them would get rid of the noise, as far as the alignment goes, everything was pretty much a-ok, wasn't too bad and they adjusted everything.......

I guess if I have to get new tires soon I might as well start looking for some 19's too....

 

I suggest you guys ditch the OEM tires at around 15k, and get some other tire that has a higher tread wear rating. With a tread wear rating of only 140 don't expect too much mileage from the RE040 tires. This is a common complaint of this tire at tirerack.com

I plan on replacing mine with Michelin Pilot Sport A/S as soon as my tires are worn out. They should last about 35,000 miles, which is phenomenal for a high-performance tire.

 

Same here with the 17"s very loud at all speeds, really noticable when slowing down because of low rmp on the motor. I have the cupping on both the inner and outer edges of the front tires. With a wear rating of 140, 20,000 miles will be the max especially with the suspension/alignment issues.

Noticed that the Vette has Goodyear's with a 300 wear rating, why such a low WR on the 350Z 17s?

 

Im getting new tires over the holidays. I will update 5 Jan.

 

I had the exact same problem with my stock tires just under 20k miles. The road noise, which was really tire noise was getting louder and louder and louder. I got new rims (Volk GT-7's 18") and I put on Nitto 555 Extreme Performance tires all around. What a difference. The first thing I noticed was how much quiter my car was rolling down the street, not to mention the much added grip since I got 245 front/275 rear setup. Now I have 28k miles on my car and the tires still look brand new and almost zero road noise. Not that I am promoted Nitto's even though they are great tires, but I just think that our stock Bridgestones basically suck.

 

there is a TSB for this issue.....I had it performed and the noise is gone.for the moment........but these OEM tires are poor quality and the consumer reports give them a poor rating.

My alignment was out a bit as well.