In an effort to try and undertand the tire scalloping and uneven wear problems please vote on this poll. Hopefully through a few polls we might be able to isolate where the problems occur the most.

 

I just did one, but like yours better. I'll delete mine.

 

I have 5800 miles. I just came from the dealer and indead my tires are scalloped. The noise is VERY loud under 20mph. The checked the alignment and said that it needs to be aligned. They said that the waranty will cover the alignment but may not cover the tires. LOL! They may think that they are not going to cover the cost. Me thinks something else. It is very bad timing though. I am going to go on a 700 mile trip in less than two weeks and they don't have the tires in stock. That could be an issue. Does anyone know the safety issues?

 

LOL! Too bad I can't spell.

 

I have just shy of 4000 miles and just took a close look at my tires.. They appear normal on all 4 wheels.. The fronts look fine.. I have a Touring model with 6 speed manual. It has the 18" wheels.. I've had the car for almost 3 months now. Now that the Bose amp has been replaced, I have no complaints at all..

Steve (k2we) Dobbs Ferry, NY

 

Well, certainly your tires will not get as much traction as they normally should, so it would definitely be a safety issue. How much of an issue depends on how badly the tires are scalloped and how fast you drive...

 

Mine look fine. Even wear on the fronts. Touring 18s, 5500+ miles.

 

I am glad that everyone is not having this problem. Hopefully new tires and an alignment will solve the problem. Nissan is covering it all under warranty for me. They did make me go to the local Firestone dealer to get a second opinion. LOL! The Firestone dealer got a kick out of that but wrote me a letter stating his opinion.

 

what is Tire Scalloping?? How does it suppose to look like??

 

It's actually called feathering. I'm the dork that started the whole "scalloping" thing because I didn't know what to call it. Scalloping is actually a different type of tire wear. See pic below for feathering. Pay attention to the contact patches on the inside of the tire. You'll see peaks and valleys were the patch is wearing unevenly. This wear makes your car sound like a 4x4 truck with Mickey Thompsons.

 

I have 1700 miles on my Touring with 17's, looked at and ran my hand over the inside edge today and noticed nothing yet. Still holding off on voting until I get more miles just incase.

 

4100 miles on my car... noticed my car getting very loud at low speeds and the car feels very unstable in turns. I check out the tires and yes, they are scalloped. Nissan is frustrating the heck out of me with all these problems i'm encountering. They BETTER fix this under warranty... (Alignment, two new front tires). Small laundry list of problems that I'm having with my car :

1. Uneven tire wear (tire scalloping)
2. Fuel won't fill to the top... pump cuts off after 7-8 gallons.
3. Random 3rd gear grind
4. Cloth fabric on passenger side already starting to come apart

Do you think I can qualify for the lemon law with this many problems in a three-month-old car?

 

I got the fuel pump cutoff too. Everytime I fill the tank, get over about 5 gal, the pump stops, clicks, stops.. It took me 10 mins to get a extra gal of fuel in my tank. Still only got the tank 3/4 full.

But about the tire issue, My alinment is off. pulls to the right, when you center the steering wheel. I have a Touring 6sp, with 18's 1,700 miles ..Never hit a pot hole, or driving down a rough road.

 

Seems like most of the Alignment/Tire issues are with 18" wheels...I have 7000 miles on my Enth. model and I drove down 101 the other day with a friend, and it drove stright as a line with hands off the wheel for over a minute, so def. no alignment issues here. Also NO uneven tire wear. I will have a complete 7000 mile break down with pics soon as I get my 7000 mile service.

 

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i have 4500+ miles and i too have the tire fearthing problem. Here is my pic.

 

I would love to hear everyones thoughts on a solution to this problem. It sounds like it is a camber issue and that the camber cannot be adjusted. It was suggested above that Nissan provide a way to adjust the camber. Wouldn't that be a MAJOR fix? How likely is that?

They are going to replace my tires and perform an "alignment" under warranty. If this is indeed a camber issue and not an alignment issue then the same thing is going to happen to the new tires. I doubt that they are going to keep giving me new tires every 4000 miles. I can assure you that I am not going to be buying tires every 4000 miles either. So what gives??

 

Any tire experts out there? Conventional wisdom says: Incorrect camber causes premature wear on the inside or outside of the tire depending on - or + setting. Toe in/out causes feathering. If your tires are wearing evenly but only on the inside, then blame camber. If they are feathering, look at your toe.

 

17" and I thought I had escaped the problem when I was checking the tires @ 4k. At 6k I began to p/u the noise on decellerating down to a stop. They were visibly feathered on the inside. I am now @ 9k and the noise is becoming too much. Dealer sent me a letter this week inviting me to a breakfast next week to discuss how they can better meet our needs. Right on time! BTW, the car centers very well w/no pulling to either side. Regards, Jim