yes my car is indeed a 2004 according to the vin #, i just mentioned it was built in june because i wasnt sure exactly of the building date.... anywayz it was buil around that time of the year, june, july, august.... It is not a 2004 .5. The picture isnt of my car either, i just had it saqven on my computer as an example of tire feathering... yes my car is daytona blue and i love it, still waiting for my new tires to stop listening to that hurl... hopefully after the tires get changed and aligned, the problem wont persist, if it does nussan consumer affair better do something about it...

 

why did you have the car re-aligned if you weren't experiencing feathering? did the mechanic see signs of feathering? just curious why they would perform the alignment otherwise.

 

The RE040s don't last that long, the fact that you got 15k out of them before hearing any tire noise is nice. Most 350Z owners complaining about tire feathering could only wish they got that far, some experience it as early as 3000 miles.

A 2002 Lexus IS300 owner had her tires go bald in 7000 miles. Another owner in a 2004 RX-8 is complaining about tire wear being horrible at 11000 miles.Go to tire rack and look at the reviews of these tires:

http://www.tirerack.com/survey/Surve...=Potenza+RE040

While these tires may be bad, we cannot rule out that the 350Z may have some inherent design flaw (supposedly fixed for the 2004s). I would like to believe that the tires are at fault, and I hope that is the case.

 

This has to be the other way around if it that letter does mean the plant of production anyways. Here are a bunch of vins from some '04s that are currently on lots in Miami, FL:

JN1AZ34DX4M100827
JN1AZ34E14M150153
JN1AZ34D14M100800
JN1AZ34D24M100093

JN1AZ34D44T165999
JN1AZ34D14T165474
JN1AZ34D34T164276
JN1AZ34D74T164619

Notice all the low Vins have the M and the higher vins have the T. So i would think the T's would be the Tochigi (new plant) and M is Oppama (old plant).

If I'm going to buy I am absolutely positively going to buy an '04.5 and just hope that the feathering problem is a result of something at the old plant and was corrected by either the move in fab plants or something else. Anyway I've got at least 1 to 2 months before I buy and am watching closely to see if any '04.5s develop feathering.

 

You got it backwards, the "T" belong to the Oppama plant and the "M" are those manufactured in the (new for 350Z) Tochigi plant.

I know because my VIN is a "T" and my Z was manufactured in October 2003. They did not start production of the "Tochigi Zs" until January 2004.

 

For an explanation of the VIN # check out:
http://www.courtesyparts.com/specs/vin.html

The reason that the new Z's from Tochigi has lower number is because they started with 00001 for the first car produced there. They did not pickup with the last number produced from Oppama. Confusing? Yes.

 

Thanks for the link to the VIN explanation. I guess what was throwing me off is another thread that had the following info on '04.5s:

2004.5 Nissan 350Z Coupe/Roadster (Coupe VINs from D*4T160001, E*4T060001)

No mention of the M or T so I asumed that I needed a 60,000+ ending serial number on the car to be an 04.5. I guess I will definately be looking for the M ones.

One more question... why is does the top vin have a 50,000k serial number while the others don't?

JN1AZ34E14M150153
JN1AZ34DX4M100827
JN1AZ34D14M100800
JN1AZ34D24M100093

 

Oh and thanks very much for all the info. I was definately confused .

 

I am confued too. Mine has a production date of March of 2004, but with a T in the VIN.

 

.... BTW, to make things more interestig, my Z has the knee pads, two ***** for the driver seat, the arm rest pad, extra lighter socket in the front, not bad sounding Bose, etc. Which I thought Nissan put in for the 2004.5?

 

The extra lighter socket (on the passenger's side) is not specific to the 2004.5. My 2004 (non 2004.5) has it but I don't have knee pads nor the extra padding on the center "arm rest" door.

 

they made that color Z from that pic in 04?

 

I just bought my new Z recently and my VIN is over 65000 with a T, not an M. Production date is 03/04 which is the same as OHW's. What plant the car was made in should be irrelevant (hopefully).

I love my new Z and I knew about the feathering issue before buying it. I took a chance hoping the issue would be fixed in the 04.5's. No big deal if it isn't. I'll get a free tire replacement and sell it for a new car.

 

Just if you are interested, i finally got my new front tires today with free alignment, if the same problem persist they'll continue free changing and aligning the front tires... i'm not that worried since it happened @ 15000 miles not @ less than 6000 like others, who might have to go alot to the dealer.

BTW, they told me they have been replacing tires and aligning them to a lot of customers and for now it fixed the problem completly (2003 and 2004). Just one person got back with the same problem.