Just got an 03 370z and the car looks and drives great, 80k miles. BUT the damn road noise from the tires suck. The tires are in very good shape, not feathering or wear I can see, but the sound get worse the faster i drive. It sounds like it is coming from the front of the car, fender wells, so I believe it has something to do with the front tires. You can hear the tires rotating as you slow down from inside the car. i am going to take it to get front brakes and front end allignment on Monday, but what do guys think? Thanks for the help, new to the Z world and don't know much about them. Been a vette guy for 20 plus years until i got this Z.

 

03 370? That's impressive! Haha, welcome to the proper side of cars All jokes aside though, vettes are sick cars. Welcome to the forums though and I hope someone can answer your question for you

 

my factory Bridgestones (05) have the same noise problem.
sounds like a 4X4. maybe the tires age harden or something?

 

Yep... been chasing rotating noise myself.

So far... 4 wheel bearings, 2 tires (Continental ExtremeContact DWS) and some alignment parts. It's 10X better than I started. I think the last 2 tires will finish it.

Also new trans and diff fluids.... that helped too.

 

I honestly just turn up the radio. But if it bothers you, the only REAL thing you can do is change it to a michelin. I think the michelin pilot sport all seasons are quieter than the summer pilot sports. Of course the touring ones would be even quieter but that compromises the sportiness. To my knowledge there is no waterproof space to add any deadening between the fenderliner and the fender. I guess you could wrap up the deadening like cocaine and adhere it in there.

 

its basically tire feathering.. im going through it right now again after installing my tires in May and about 2 months ago they started getting noisy.. right now its pretty loud but im just waiting for the tire to wear a bit in inner half so i can rotate them eventually.. its a common problem for 03-05 Z i believe from what i have searched

 

Thanks, and sorry...350Z, just tired...My noise is pretty bad. I can handle some noise, its a sports car! But this noise is pretty loud. Even my 77 vette I had years ago was not this loud. Now the newer vettes, very quite for a sports car. I will check the bearings and tires. Thanks all.

 

Willing to bet that its your radius arm bushings. I say that because i have a very similar sound except i can only really hear it when im slowing down. I took mine to nissan and they said that the only thing they can see is that those bushings are torn. I have an 03 with 60K miles so before you take it to get it aligned you might drop by nissan, Just explain that you just bought the car and wanna get it looked at and im sure that they will take a look at it for you for free, they did for me at least.

 

Nothing beats going and putting it on a hoist and having a look, or having someone to look for you.


It was way back when those of us that have had our Zeds since then, but Nissan put out new alignment specs when the problem became apparent, and I'm talking years ago. Anyone still operating with the original alignment specs, is way behind the times!

It is also quite possible you're just unlucky enough to have a noisy compound of tyre, some are. For instance the stock RE040 are a noisy tyre, and in my opinion, the RE050A that they've put on the 370's isn't much of improvement in terms of noise and traction.

 

Take a straight edge ruler, and rock it along the inner side of the tread on the front tires. You'll be able to feel the flat spots from the feathering. That's where the noise is coming from.

Once the tires start to feather, turning them around by switching them from left to right won't help.

The first thing you need to do is get the alignment set to the specs in the TSB.

Then you need to correct the feathering that's already occurred. Commercial truing machines (if you can find one nowadays) won't do the job, since they're made to cut the tire flat all the way across. You only need to do the inner edge, and you only need to remove enough rubber to get the tire round instead of bumpy.

The picture shows one way to do it. The router has carbide bit normally used for cutting flat-bottomed grooves. I know it looks flukey, but it works, and the tire noise goes away.

The other option is to replace the tires.

 

I'd think that the previous owner/owners of your 03 Z would have had the
legendary front tire feathering problem fixed?As mentioned in other posts,
gotta believe your problem is twofold.First,the inner edges of your front tire
are worn.Secondly,if your car is running the OEM 040 Bridgestones,they are
noisy tires.Tire noise is always a concern to me.The noise that tires make will
vary greatly by brand.Its a good idea when selecting tires to check out reviews
like those provided by Tire Rack and others.Also,this forum offers a wealth
of info to owners.Saying that,I highly recommend Hankook V-12's.You just
cannot beat this tire for the price.The change from the OEM Bridgestones
to the V-12's is incredible.They are extremely quiet.For everyday driving
I'd choose the Hankooks hands down.

 

what i meant by switching them around was flipping the tire on the same rim it was on but just placing the rim on the other side.. this will place the feathered side on the outer half and the better on the inner half.. it has to be done this way if you have directional tires so they still rotate in the same direction.. its really just a temporary fix untill that half feathers too..

ive been to two different shops and they said they cant do anything because its perfectly aligned already but there has to be something..

 

While I have not put that many miles on my new Continental ExtremeContact DWS tires, they are certainly quieter and better riding than the OEM Bridgestones. My '04 was recalled due to the famous alignment issue and I was given two new "improved" Bridgestones for the front. I doubt that these lasted a 1,000 miles before the noise returned. The DWSs seem more durable in this respect and the ride has really improved. If performance has suffered from the loss of the OEM Bridgestones, I certainly don't miss their horrible road noise and harsh ride. I doubt that I'd ever buy Bridgestones given the many better (and cheaper) tires out there.

BTW, that router idea is certainly a unique solution to the cupping problem. From the photo, it's not clear how one steadies the router while leveling out the tire tread.

 

Ultra high performance summer tires are noisy. I’ve had Bridgestone RE040 and Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3 on my 2003 350z, and they were very loud.

Noticing that my studless snow tires (Dunlop Graspic DS-2) were quiet, I tried a set of all-season tires (Continental ExtremeContact DWS tires). The Continentals also run quietly, but there is a noticeable difference in handling.

The Corvette’s interior is much less noisy than the 350z. The ‘vette is equipped with factory sound deadening panels that are lightweight and precisely fitted.

The Z has very little sound deadening. You can see that by pulling back the carpeting. There are some threads on the site describing sound deadening projects.

--Spike

 

The router has a U-shaped metal rod fitted into the holes in the base that usually hold the guide. You can see the long end of the rod sticking up on the near side in the picture.

The rod is clamped in two wooden blocks (the closest one is visible) so it can pivot, and a simple wedge under the motor sets the angle of the router so the bottom of the bit doesn't dig into the tread.

You'll only be cutting about 1/64" (or less) off the tread to get the high spots smoothed out, unless your tires are really feathered badly.

I've put about 3K miles on the car since I did had the alignment done and did the tires. There's no feathering so far.

 

Its good to see someone using some ingenuity to solve a problem.
There still are some old school tire shops around that straighten wheels and
do tire truing.There is one in Columbus(GA)that has truing equipment
which is a lathe type cutter and electric motor to slowly turn the wheel.
It was common for older tires when new to not be completely round.

 

Most Z's have this problem, the factory tires age and get really loud - mine did. I just went with a different brand when it was time to replace and it solved the problem...but before I replaced them mine sounded so bad, before I bought it, the service techician that rode with me in the car thought I had a bad wheel bearing - it turned out the bearings were fine - just hardened old factory tires (mine had 80k on it when I bought it as well)

 

Thanks, i took it to the firestone dealership, good friend runs the place, and they checked it out. Said the brakes were fine, even had new rotors all the around on it. They said the allignment was off and corrected that and said my tires had plenty of tread left, but were not good tires and were not wearing evenly. They said a new set of tires would make a big difference. Of course they are a tire selling dealership, but the manager, a good friend, would not BS me. He said his price for a full set of firehawks was about $700.00, bring the car in and he would put a set on, out the door for $750.00. Sounds like a good deal. Anyone have any knowledge on the firehawks?

 

^^ @iridelow, I will just mention again that the 350z has almost no sound deadening (the 350z has more interior noise than any vehicle I have owned) while the Corvette is equipped with factory-installed sound deadening panels that really works. And, any of the Mazda’s run with less interior noise than the 350z.

--Spike

 

When I'm done with my TT build the first thing I'm doing is putting in some quality sound-deadening material... I haven't looked yet but I've been told by a couple of people that Nissan really skimped out with it, especially in the area under where the factory sub and glove box are. I have an '04 Z and just got a '13 SHO... needless to say I'm not going back to the Z without some improvements first haha.