My bad McDuck, in my haste to type, I inadvertantly said SO4 when I meant RE40's DOH!

I thought that the new warranty allowed for those who got aftermarket tires? Don't they just reimburse you the cost of the OEM tires (RE40's ) and you can apply that to the more expensive aftermarket tires?

 

I spoke with the lawyer last week to find out the scoop on the lawsuit.He said they are seeking a replacement 350 that is redesigned with the correction so the tires will no longer do this.I find this hard to believe that every 350 owner with the problem will get a replacement .But he also said that once the 3year 36k warranty is gone you will be buying front tires every 12k miles or so for as long as you own the car.I cant afford to drop $500 on front tires every 12k miles.I think Nissan should do something to compensate every owner with this problem.

 

It isn't 3 years 36K....it's only 2 years 24K!

I agree with what you said but $74K PER OWNER?? That would pretty much bankrupt Nissan I would think.

 

Then that sux even more

 

i think they chose the 74000 per owner just as an amount which would get nissans attention. its a punitive damage that gets exaggerated to threaten a co of nissans scale. remember the mcdonalds hot coffee lawsuit in the 10s of millions, or the tobacco settlements in the billions. these numbers are chosen bc to nissan a settlement of 500 for 5000 owners wont even put a dent in their profit margin.

 

"replacement 350Z".... what about "replacement suspension parts" and some kind of good faith gesture for time and aggrevation spent... talk about greeeedy.

And what would happen to the old Zs? They'd get chucked in the dumpster.. lol.

I wonder exactly what % of owners have this problem. I have 5,000 miles and don't notice any feathering. I've been keeping a tab on this every week when I wash my car

 

Well, in my case, the feathering wasn't too bad after 14K miles, but it was the sound that was horrible. My friend's 4X4 with 44" SuperSwamper tires make less noise when driving! I thought that my brakes were going out and the rotors were getting fried or something. That is what the letter I received from Nissan specified. "Uneven tire wear and growl noise". If anyone is interested in reading the whole letter, you can view my letter here.

-Chris

 

I didn't see a problem with my front tires for the first 5000 miles, but it suddenly became really bad at around 8000 miles. Once it starts wearing unevenly, the wear will increase quickly.

 

Yeah, I had no signs of uneven wear until I hit 8k. BTW, I have a 2004 Touring.... NOT ALL of the 04's are fixed!!!! My Z is an early 2004 (bought in September of 03). Nissan is going to "fix" the problem even though my car doesn't technically fall under the service bulletin (thank you service rep). I do have a couple of questions though:

1) Does anyone have proof that the current alignment and tire replacement procedure outlined by the service bulletin does not work?

2) Does anyone know where to get more information on the class action lawsuit?

 

I am having my 2nd set of replacements put on today.Obviously the first set was not right and I personally dont think these will last very long either.The contact imfo for the lawyer handling the lawsuit is 361-887-0500 Greg Gowan is the guy I spoke with.Thae name of the law firm is Watts law firm.

 

So if you call that guy do you get put on a list or something so that if anything ever gets resolved with the lawsuit, you'll be contacted?

 

You do have to join in on the lawsuit to get anything but if you talk to him he will give you the details.As of right now there is no class action .It still has to be granted by a judge.

 

well i just got back from the dealership, getting my front end realigned again. this time i met with a nissan consultant that actually contacted me due to the fact that i had placed a complaint with the bbb. he told me after the work had been done that the problem should be fixed due to two reasons. one that the tread pattern on the tires had been changed in order to stop the feathering. and two that nissan has figued out the best specs setting for the z. which is -1.0 on the left as well as the right. i know the specific number because he gave me a read out. now my question is do any of you guys think that this will actually fix the problem or is he just blowing smoke up my a$$? oh he also told me that replacing the tires on a sport car like the z every 12,000 to 15,000 miles isn't surprising and would be considered normal wear. any comment?
2003 silver touring
6 sp

 

They did change the tread pattern. Is the 350Z the ONLY car using the RE040s? I don't see how they changed the tread to accomodate one vehicle. Well I guess it is a best seller.

I heard of people getting 10k-30k for their tires. HUGE range.. UGH!

I'm at 5k and it looks like my tires are still new so hopefully I'll be closer to the 20-25k range.

 

thats true it is normal to replace them often. but they should not wear unevenly. if they were wearing out evenly at 12k i would have no problem with changing them, since they wear uneven obviously something else in the alignment shortens their life.

i got 18k out of my rears, but only 12 on my fronts, hmmm isnt this a rwd car ( i do frequent burnouts)

 

apparently these other cars are equipped with re040 tires from the factory (someone correct me if I'm wrong):

Toyota MR2
Lexus IS300
Audi TT/S4
Audi A8/S8
BMW 3-series
Lexus SC430

 

Well, I have Toyo T1-S tires and had the alignment fixed once already. With 11,000 miles on my Toyos they are now feathered and roaring horribly. It obviously is not the tire, rather something with the design of the car's suspension. Some people believe that the abnormal wear occurs during braking which is causing the tires to toe out improperly due to a design flaw. Who knows, All I know is that these tires are expensive and I am pissed that the inside of them is trashed when the rest of the tire has another 20,000 left on it easily!!

 

From what I have heard and read, this is a design flaw causing a misalignment with the chasis and suspension. It cannot be permanently fixed, only temporarily repaired with new tires and alignment.

There is no permanent fix for the issue.

It was corrected with late '04 models (early '04 models still have the issue). The only permanent solution is to replace the car with a newer one that isn't defective.

Drastic, but true.

 

So, how can you tell if a car is early or late '04?

 

I dunno. Nissan doesn't seem particularly ashamed of plucking about $30k from the pockets of suckers... I mean customers for a product they know to be defective! Why should those screwed by Nissan be embarassed to return the favor? Maybe this will be the wake-up call to get Nissan to fix the problem.