azrael

Can anyone with access to Nissan parts manuals tell me if the 2005 Z had any new revisions to the suspension? Alignment is NOT the "solution" to feathering. There is no question that the suspension has a flaw. My suspicion is the excessive caster, and possibly a severe change in toe under load. There were rumors that the 2005 would possibly get an updated control arm to truly fix the tire wear issues, but I don't know if that actually happened or not.

Does anyone have any information on this?

LoneStar

There are lots of "questions" whether the front end has a "flaw" or not. Because not all owners have the problem, and because some owners can fix it with an alignment or a tire change, the root cause is obviously somehow variable.

The "best" explanation I've read is that the problem is due to the way the vehicles are transported. Suposedly West coast cars are less effected than East coast cars - what could be the difference? Answer: the method of transport after they are off-loaded from the ship. Over-the-road shippers were tightening down too hard on the tie downs, and a long road trip causes more bending of the aluminum suspension pieces. Supposedly Nissan became aware of this and has instructed all shippers to be less medieval on the tie downs. Is this the reason? Who knows, but if it is true, the design/execution of the front suspension is not at fault.

To answer the question, my '05 may or may not have different suspenson parts, but even if it does, they would not by themselves prove the problem was solved....

MadMax76

LoneStar, could you point to the source of this info?

Thanks.

Nominee

Same thing, I have an 05. NO changes.

Moridan

From what I was told about my 05, they changed the spring rates. I just replaced it all with TEIN FLEX so its all moot, but I was told by Jeff that the parts were definitely diff from previous suspensions.

azrael

Jeff said all the parts are different? Or just the springs?

mike952

My only 2 cents on this subject is the following.

It appears early 05's had the new tread pattern on the tire as did the second half of 04 models, however when I purchased my 05 it had the original tread tire.

My guess is there is no need for the new tread anymore (e.g. problem fixed) so they are returning to the original tread tire.

As a precaution, I asked to swap the wheels on another 05 Z (lower VIN than mine) to get the new tread tire as part of my purchase which they gladly did and the sales manager was completely dumbfounded wondering why something like a swap would make a difference in a sale.

I was afraid of getting an 05 with the new tread thinking it may have the issue like the 04.

I did get a change to speak to the general sales manager (good friend) and a series of issues have been addressed and supposedly the tire should have been fixed even for the late 2004.5 models.

The transmission on the 2003 grinding and eventually failing was also fixed (e.g. lack of lubrication on start up -- hence the reason why it would stick to first gear slightly when switching from 1st to 2nd).

mike952

As a followup, the 2005 Roadsters all had the new revised tire pattern at the local dealer. This could either mean they are older vins (e.g. roadsters sell slower and thus stay on the lot longer) or Nissan may be reserving the revised thread tire for the Roadster or upper level models. I don't have the VIN for those roadsters...

azrael

Everyone has his own opinion about the root cause of the problem. My personal opinion is that it's a suspension design issue.

The only way we'll really know is if the parts books show different parts for the 2005. Does anyone have any info about that?

Aggro_Al

I got an MY03, the tire feathering became noticeable after about 10k miles and then just became unbearable after 15k miles. I had my front tires replaced and my front and rear alignment adjusted under the latest TSB/Warranty Notice. I've put close to 8k miles on them since and have not had the tire feathering come back. I'm still not sure why some cars were more prone to feathering than others.

Tire feathering is different from normal wear. I've seen people attribute normal wear to tire feathering. Most sports cars will wear faster on the edges due to aggressive toe alignment and soft rubber compound tires. Feathering is when the tires wear in an uneven pattern. A tire with feathering will look and feel like a washboard. You can feel it by rubbing your hand in both directions along the tread. A feathered tire will feel smooth in one direction and noticeably rough in the other direction. The stock tires on the Z are just plain noisy. The roar on a feathered tire while braking is caused by the tendency of the cars weight to shift forward during braking. The feathered edge of the tire now makes broader contact with the road causing a roaring sound

GaryM05

That's a good question. My suggestion would be to call or go into the Parts department at a local dealer (I would suggest Tynan's or Boulder Nissan here in the Denver area.) They'll be able to easily look this up by model year in their system. They might not be able to tell details like spring rate, damping rate, or overall geometry changes, but they'll at least be able to tell if any given part number is different from one year to the next (although even that wouldn't necessarily be a smoking gun.)

Good luck, and let us know if you're able to find out anything.

mike952

Another interesting tid bit...which I find really awkward if true. My 03 used to touch my parking lot concrete stopper (is there a name for this???). It used to scrape from time to time right on the bottom lib of the front bumper (air deflector). Anyhow, the 05 doens't touch (barely)...now this may be due to the tight suspension from being "new". Not sure...though.