Ok well i just bought a 03 Z that had 8k miles on it and i LOVE it. However, i joined this forum and learned of the feathering issue. I thought they were jut loud cars ha ha .. So after having the car for a week i looked and noticed these tires are featherd slightly. I dont know if these are the original tires in the first place. I went to Bankston Nissan here in Lewisville tx where i bought the car and the service manager tried to blow smoke up my ***. Told me the tires and alignment were out of warranty. I went back to my salesman and he got them to replace them for me. They go though a local tire shop for there used cars so we called and set up an appointment to get the tires on monday. The guy at the tire shop said the Bridgestone's are still having that problem so it would be better to go with a different tire all together. So were putting Yokohamas on. They also agreed to do an alignment for me as well. Should i have the tire shop do it by specs YOU guys recomend or just let nissan do it at the service center.

This pisses me off because i know i will have this issue again down the road and i will have to purchase new tires again, sooner than one would normally plan.

What is my best course of action on this...

Thanks
Darrell

 

i might stick with the stock bridgestones. just in case you get the feathering again that way you would still have stock equipment. with the Yokos, they might say its not the recommended tire so no replacement. make sense???

 

Here is where im at...

I decided to stay with the stock bridgestones, i am taking pictures of the old tires when they take them off and then going directly to nissan to have it aligned. This way they cant say anything about it being out of warranty or that they didnt to the alignment.

Secondly , im going to write a Letter to dealership i bought it at , they are owned by Autonation so im also sending them a copy.

What is the address for Nissan to send them a copy as well?

The Sales Dept has been wonderful even after the sale. BUT the service department has been horrible, NOT returning my phone calls, and treating me like i dont know what im talkin about. I dont appreciate it and i want to let them know the good and the bad..

 

If you are getting things done by Mother Nissan then stay stock. Let the dealership do your alignment, but that does not mean just take their word for it. You need to make sure that you get the alignment sheet that has pre and post values on it. Make sure they give you a toe in of as close to .05 on each front wheel. This will increase the life of your tires but your handling will decrease a little. most describe it as a less responsive steering wheel.

Now if you are getting out of warranty, then you want to get different rubber. anything is better than the crappy potenzas. I went aftermarket rims, and cause of that have falkens. I got 20k + miles on them and they are wearing fine.

of course you have to take on some responsibility. go find a reputable alignment shop around you and see if you can buy some kind of package. then get alignments every 4-6months as well as rotate the front tires by swapping the rubber, say at least twice a year.

good luck and welcome to the family!!!!

 

Well i will do that pre and post sheet for sure ,, great idea.. Im sorry but i feel that with such a problem that Nissan should do the alignments for free for at LEAST the 3yr 36000 ,, i mean hell its a design flaw.

 

You are not alone in your opinion of it being a design flaw. I on the other hand think differently. I used to think it was a flaw on Nissans part, but now that I have seen how these Falkens have held up, i have come to the decision that the fault lies equally on the Bridgestones also.

As far as the car, if it werent so hard on the tires, it would not have the superb handling that it has come to be known for, and for so cheap. The wear on the tires as you know comes from not only the toe of the car but also from the extreme camber. All of this adds up to a car that for its price range outshines all other competitors in regards to handling.

Use mother nissan for whatever she will give you, and then when it comes time to do things on your own dollar do yourself a favor and go get better rubber for your Z.

 

After you have dealer alignment, I suggest you have a good independent alignment. One of my theories (I have several on this subject) is that the front end is sensitive about toe setting, more so than the service manual tolerance reflects.
Owners take their car back to the same dealer with a sloppy machine, and get the same bad alignment. My independent shop confirmed that my dealershit's machine was WAY off. I no longer have feathering.