I am thinking of buying a Z but am worried about the tire feathering issue. 1. Do 19 inch rims help the issue? 2. Do 2004's have this problem or is it resolved?

Feedback is appreciated. Thanks.

 

I HAVE A 04 Z COUPE AND NO PROBLEM AT ALL....

 

04.5 and no problems here either. I did have some window streaking until about a month ago and it just went away. I guess some of the parts within the window frame loosened up? Who knows...keeping my fingers crossed.

 

basically the answer to the questions is 1)no and 2)yes. now to briefly explain that. if you are careful to check the build date, the Z's that are 04.5 and later seem to have it fixed, no feathering. but an 04 model that technically still has an 03 build date will feather, and no matter what size of tire. the problem seems to be rooted in the alignment, the suspension/camber, as well as the crappy choice of the OEM potenzas 040. However if you just switch out the tire to another brand or another size you might delay the feathering a little but it will come, as long as you dont address the alignment. there are plenty of stories unfortunately in the repairing section of early Z owners losing money on the fact that they spent 1000's on new shoes and rubber and within a few months they feathered. good news is that the latest alignment specs seem to work, at least for me. My Z is a 03 with an 02 build date, one of the first off the proverbial boat. had the feathering fix and now 14k miles later nothing. hope this helps.

 

My build date is Feb 2004, so its a 2004.5 rite?

 

i think so. i think anything built in 04 was not out on the dealers lots till later or rather earlier this year, cause as you know 04 models start showing up on dealers lots already in september and october. so those are built in 03. you should be okay.

 

Got mine First week of March '03, it is at the dealer for the recall as we speak...HOPEFULLY it'll be fixed right the first time...other than that it's a phenominal car.

 

october of 02, and no feathering. it was luck of the draw in 2003.

either way, they now have a tsb for it which I understand solves the problem. and it gets you a free set of shoes.

 

I heard from my sales person that there never was a problem with the suspension or front end on the Z. He told me that the problem was due to the fact that some cars' allignment was way out of spec when they arrived from Japan. This was caused by faulty tie downs of the car on the ship when transported to the U.S.

I don't know if he was just B.S. ing me but I haven't heard of any other explanation. Has anyone else heard this explanation? All I have seen written by Nissan is that there was a problem and that it is now corrected.

 

yeah that was actually one of the first "cop-outs" NNA used to try and explain why the Z alignment was out. Some others that I have heard was that the Z suffered from the fact that it was essentially made in the factory with the same suspension settings as its cousin the g35. Also another "cop-out" was to try and blame bridgestone for a crappy tire.

its amazing how out of date and out of touch some nissan employees actually are. but again the bottom line seems to be that its decently corrected.

 

where is the tire featering service bulletin?....
thanks for any help.

 

you can check out all of the technical service bulletins at nissanhelp.com its pretty easy to navigate but to summarize when you got there just click on the Z's picture then click on the tab of bulletins and then pick your model year. i think the 03 has about 5 pages worth, the 04 has 2 or 3 pages. dont freak about it cause they range anywhere to the seriousness of the feathering all the way to the not so serious like how the gas door often has to be re-released cause it wont open the first time. as far as the feathering is concerned make sure you are reading the one that referrs to the exteneded warranty where they will offer new tires up to 24 months. hope this helps. also you can get info in the repairing section of this forum. just that the website nissanhelp.com is much more concise. feel free to ask any more questions. good luck

 

Had my car realigned and new shoes down by Nissan for nada last week. I didn't realize how noisy my tires had become during the first 9K miles I had driven. Hopefully this fix is a real fix and not just a weak attempt by Nissan.

 

Here is my thread on the TSB and more:

https://my350z.com/forum/showthread....ight=tire+Bonz

 

I heard the exact answer from my salesman!