Is it me, or does the fix from Nissan change the cars handling? Specifically, when I do a sharp quick turn (think fast lane change) it feels like the car hesitates for a second before starting to turn.

I seem to remember that the car used to have "right-now" steering, almost darty.

 

mine seems vague now too since I got the "latest" alignment - almost seems like more understeer as I enter turns - - I can visually see less toe-in on the rears now - - - I was wearing tires out, front and rear in 12,000 miles - I'm on my third set of tires with 25,000 on the car - - too bad we have to settle for a change in handling characteristics to extend tire life ??? I'm going to discuss it with the service manager at my next visit, but he doesn't seem to be to knowledgeable or he doesn't want anybody to know what he knows ??

 

I tend to agree, since I got my "fix" the car feels a little less sporty for some reason. My dealer said in addition to the alignment, they changed something with the steering rack, or something like that. The other odd thing is that now I do not seem to get the dreaded thump on my 5AT when the car downshifts from 2nd to 1st in M mode!

 

The rear should not have changed at all. The only new specs are for a little more toe in the front. Now they critically state that the Z is to have no front toe out whatsoever. If you had some toe out in front and now have toe-in, you could feel a difference. Especially at around town speeds of 20-60. Autocrossers like toe out for handling purposes, trackers do not.

 

Yep, if your car was previously toed out or even set at 0 toe, it would have seemed to turn in better when compared to the toe in it should have now based on Nissan's current specs. The toe setting does have a noticeable effect on handling. Toe out helps give crisp turn in at low to moderate speeds, but at the expense of making the car feel 'darty'. Toe in helps high speed stability, but as you have noticed it will make the turn in less crisp, especially at lower speeds.

Unfortunately, the change in toe will likely just move the feathering pattern from the inside of the tires to the outside. This was the case on my car, and many others. The toe change really isn't a fix for the problem, and in fact the feathering came back just as fast with toe in as it did with toe out on my car.