Congrats on the promotion. With a company car, you could also have a ZR just for the joy of it.

I also had (different) problems with the top and negotiated successfully with NNA and the dealer, to split the repair cost.

The ZR is not a practical car so you can't argue with $ logic. But the raw emotion it triggers is worth every penny. Life is short.

 

I will get a sports car again. Just not right away. I look foward to some heavy investing in the next few years to build some wealth.

 

So after a rant on facebook, yeah thats right facebook, I got a call from Nissan North America. They have sent my inspection file to their engineering department to see if there is anything they can do. Hopefully at the least they will help me out with the cost. Even if its not everything it is definitely a step in the right direction in keeping me loyal to Nissan.

 

Nissan gave me a new top.....the pic that I sent in was a piece of plastic that was about to go through the top fabric by the seam near the rear window.....not even torn yet!!!! They gave me a new top.....this was back in '05. I started a thread here & at the time I was complaining that the top problem was as bad as the tire feathering problem that plagued the '03-'05's.
Nissan certainly knew about the top problems!

There is a flaw in the design or material period! Good Luck!
Here is my pic that I posted once before on this forum.

 

My top has started to tear on the right and let side of the rear window. The cuts are the same location and same length on each side. I was thinking some kids cut a slit in the top. The tears just showed up all of a sudden. I keep my top washed and sealed.

Reading these posts seems like an occurence on a regular basis.

 

Where is a place to get a resonable price soft top? I called an upholstery location and they wanted $1159 for the top and $720 for the install. Is this the common price?

 

yes for the new top and no for the installation part.

aftermarket should be $700ish to $900 and oem are $900(with discount)~ $1400 that i know, and labor should around $500.

 

Just tell Nissan that your next 5 year rental will be from someone else . They will cave in.

 

The tears in the top at the first bow are caused by worn out elastic bands.

 

I have been researching this problem with the top for a while now. So much so that I can't bring myself to read all the posts in this one... ( I will eventually I just wanted to type this first)

"Has anybody else had this issue? "

YES YES YES!

Many people have had this exact problem. From my searching of forums I would say that this is a far too common issue for it to be simple "normal wear".

The tears usually happen near the rear window on one side or both sides.
This is a design flaw. The mechanism causes these long straight tears.

Nissan does not seem to acknowledge this. Unless it is a brand new car and they cant shrug it off as "normal wear".

In simple convertible tops, the top just folds back.

The Z top is not simple. It folds forward at the back, then the cover goes up, then the top flips back at the front, then the whole assembly folds into the body and the cover closes over the top.

This dance causes stress. Also if you feel directly behind the tears you feel the metal arms of the top mechanism. These arms cause the tears. First its small and every time you use the top it gets worse. The fabric pulls from the dance and then suddenly you are no longer a happy roadster driver.

I called a top repair guy and told him i needed my top fixed. He asked "what kind of car do you have?". I say "a Z Roadster". He said "let me guess, you have a long rip by the rear window?"
"Yeah, how did you know"
"I've worked on lots and lots of Z's and the rips are always in the same place"
He went on to say "Do you have one on the passenger side over your right shoulder?"
"A small one, yes"
"Yup, happens all the time"

Called another guy and basically the same conversation happened.

Further more, because of the complexity of the mechanism you cant really reach the tears from the inside, so you cant patch them as you would in other simple tops.

This isn't just a 350z problem. I've been reading a 12 page thread on a 370z forum about the exact same issue.

Call Nissan and complain. If anyone would like to contact me about my experience or have me join in on some e-mails to Nissan i'll be right here... reading threads about this issue

 

My Z also has the rear window rip on passenger side! Tough to even cover it up from the inside.

 

Eric......you are absolutely correct! DEFECT!

 

 

What does TL stand for? Totally Lame? Just kidding, we all get old.

 

Just my hypothesis but I believe the tears as well as premature failure of the motors is cause by the misalignment of the 2nd bow during the folding process. The elastic bands position the 2nd bow in the middle of the fold midway through the process(when the top is pointing straight up). When it is misalign the top will not fold properly and will sometimes cause the rear hatch not latch completly. It also causes the motor to fight through that process stretching the top and probably causing un-necessary rubbing of the fabic. If your top does not fold smoothly and you notice a catching point right before the top goes into the compartment, then your elastic bands need to be replaced.

 

Maybe you can hire a lawyer and he will help with this, but Nissan has better lawyers for sure, they have such argues very often

 

6 years late to the party dude

 

My friend leased a car from a dealer three years ago and I still understood that it was a very bad idea, but I hoped that everything would be fine. After some time he had an accident and the repair cost about 5000 bucks. Diller categorically refused to show loyalty and my friend had to pay for the entire repair. So you're still lucky. Three years have passed and he fully paid the cost of the car. Now I also want to buy a car, but I’m thinking of taking a loan from a bank to pay the full amount! I found one reliable bank (judging by the reviews) at https://credit-10.com/se/p2p-lan/ and am thinking of starting to work with them, but first I would like to know what you think about it ...

 

Holy hell