I don't have the S-Tune. Just going on info from others. I have ordered the Koni Yellow Sport shocks from BJ@350Evo.com. I have had a problem with the bounce ever since I got the car. These should take care of most of it. Here is a link:

https://my350z.com/forum/showthread....threadid=66167

 

That is what my attorney is using for my case. I too now have feathering on the outside. This is after only 6K on the new tires.
Lew

 

Lew what kind of tires are you now running?

 

WOW is all I can say after attempting to read ALL the pages. I guess every great sports car has it's achilles heel, I think we all know the Z's.
I own a 04 SS and put new wheels/tires on her before I hit 300 miles. So far all is well (1230 miles) but I am petrified of what may happen if my Toyo T1's start to feather! I know the dealership will not buy a new set of those to replace if I get the "problem." I guess I will have to watch the wear closely...
I saw in the post that certain VIN #'s were going to get a recall notice, anyone know what series # it was. I am hopeful that I am luck and bought a Z without this massive problem!
Goodluck to all out there.

Rick

 

PB:
I am running the Bridgestone OE's. The dealership replaced the fronts with OE tires. I am trying to get them to replace the fronts this time with Michelin Pilot Sports and I will replace and pay for the rears which are just about gone at 20K.
Lew

 

Rick:
We keep hearing about recalls and notifications from Nissan. Personally, I don't believe any of it. The service manager at my dealership assures me that Nissan will make good. He and the dealership have been great, corporate Nissan on the other hand, from my perspective is not in any way walking the talk. I am bitterly disappointed. He has heard nothing aboput a recall or a fix.
Lew

 

holycrapman! This thread is still going???!!! Well, I have to agree that Nissan Corporate will never do anything to help us. There are too few people with the feathering problem for them to warrant any real action to help us. I would go the legal route. I'm trying to decide what to do with th 42k I got.

 

The final repair attempt has been completed and in less than two (2) days no less. It is amazing how quickly Nissan can take care of the issues. I suppose the work is made significantly easier if you don't actually fix anything. With regard to the tire cupping and quoting from the invoice...

"INSPECTED TIRES, FOUND NORMAL HEEL/TOE WEAR ON SOFTER AGGRESSIVE TREAD TIRES. TIRES NOT FOUND TO BE FEATHERED NORMAL WEAR FOR SOFT COMPOUND TIRES. CHECKED ALIGNMENT AND MADE SLIGHT ADJUSTMENT TO TOE TO GET TO NISSAN SPECIFICATIONS."

You can draw your own conclusions. Bear in mind that this service constitutes a final repair attempt under the Florida Lemon Law and was done under the direct supervision of a Nissan factory technician. These people are pathetic. If this is their case, that what once required no less than 3 TSB's is now "normal" I wish them luck in Arbitration/Litigation. They apparently will need it. What happened to that upcoming fix that would be "beyond all expectations"? Or was it beyond all belief? By the way, the total toe recommendation remains at 2mm based on my alignment print out.

 

Got the 6b TSB done last weekend, and had the alignment checked. Fronts were toe'd in 0.08 total, and all other alignment figures in the front looked well within specs, so I asked them to leave it as is.

However, the rear alignment was way off in every way possible. The peculiar thing is that the alignment tech told me that they didn't have alignment specs for the 2004 Z's. So, he said that he'd adjust them as soon as they receive them from Nissan. WTF? They told me they can't use 2003 specs for the 2004 cars, so I have to return...what a waste of my time! The '03 are the same as '04's.

 

I'm with you my FLA brother..... "Don't let your heart be troubled..." Now that the "final" repair is behind you, the problem WILL resurface and you'll be good as gold. I got exactly 5,000 miles out of the 2nd set of tires (11/03) when the cupping reappeared on the outside tread area (my guess is due to the 2mm adjustment). So I called the BBB and reopened my case, the forms were signed and FEDEX's today. I have spoken w/ an attorney but I want to see the settlement offer 1st. I am requesting a buyback of the car, no other option was given to Nissan. You should do the same as soon as the problem show's back up - at a minimum.


Now I have to wait, wait, wait. Once the BBB comes to a decision, I'll decide whether or not to accept the settlement offer. My main problem with the whole system is the "usage" formula. At this point I have to give Nissan around 5K off the top of the settlement. Now, yes I feel I should be on the "hook" for some usage but the tricky part is how much?

I feel Nissan lied to me when I took delievery of the car on 1/25/03 w/o first informing me of the TSB that was released on 1/23/03. I brought it to the BBB's attention of this fact as well as the 2 other revisons to TSB.006. This show's a pattern that Nissan was unable to pin down the EXACT problem of the car during a 12 month period (1/03, 6/03 and 12/03). So through all this BS I'm racking up milage. Hell, I'd even settle at .10 a mile or even .15 a mile - including ALL milage.

So I'll keep you posted since we're in the same state and having to follow the same state law. I'm in no hurry because I do not want to make haste and allow NNA the ability to slip out of this case.

Back with further updates as I hear back from BBB/NNA.

 

Hello Everyone.

To refresh, I have a 2004 Performance with 9000 miles. I told the dealer about the roaring noise at my 6000 mile oil change and they offered new tires without any questions, etc. They did not mention any knowledge of a problem until I mentioned it. Then they knew all about it.

They told me that they were authorized to replace with new tires up to 12,000 miles, then after that, no more. I told them that I would call NNA and they would authorize it, but, my main point to him (service writer) was that I will not go away until this was fixed.

To better arm myself, I went to a local mechanic with a Hunter and asked to have the alignment checked, not set, just checked so I could get a baseline to work with.

With around 7000 miles on my new car, all four wheels were out of alignment. I'm not talking a little, but, more like 200% out of alignment.
_________________________________________________
Front Toe: setting range: 0.00 to 0.08 deg

Left Front Toe: actual setting: -0.05 deg
Right Front Toe: actual setting: -0.14 deg
other parameters (caster/camber were within spec)
_________________________________________________
Rear Toe: setting range: -2.1 to -1.1 deg

Left Rear Toe: actual setting: -2.3 deg
Right Rear Toe: actual setting: -2.1 deg
_________________________________________________

I dropped off the car this morning (the new tires just got in) after I first dismounted the wheels, so I could clean them thoroughly (the brake dust is replusive, I can't believe no one is complaining about the excessive brake dust on the front wheels) and then label them with a Sharpie (left and right) and scribed into the tire pressure sensor the same information, so the underpaid errand boy doing the tire mounting and balancing doesn't mix things up or worse...scratch the crap out of my pristine wheels. I also took pictures of the wheels.

I pulled the service writer aside and told him of what I had done. I told him that I wasn't going to play games with him and that I got the alignment checked (and it was way off), I cleaned, labeled and photographed the wheels (to ensure gentle care) and he was put on notice that I knew all about this issue and wasn't going to give him (the dealership) any leeway on botching this up.

After I pickup the car this evening, I will report on how that went. I don't think this will fix the problem, based on all those previous posts by people much farther along with this issue, but I want to give Nissan a chance to make good before pursuing legal action.

 

Has anyone gotten NNA to buy back their car because of this problem? Lemon Law applies to this problem, and anyone can argue enough to get the dealer/NNA to replace or buy back the car.
I'm in the process now and will let you all know the outcome.

The Law is very liberal when it comes to this type of problem.

 

I apologize for not reading all 128 pages before posting this, but is the new TSB spec regarding toe call for a max of 0.04" / 1mm for TOTAL toe per axle, and not per wheel?

I believe the original factory spec was a TOTAL toe of 0.08" / 2mm per axle.

 

Ok, here is the update:

I got a ride to the dealer last evening. The car was sitting outside and it looked magnificent. The porter I had tipped REALLY appreciated it and made the car look like the day I picked it up.

Ok, looks good. So I walk up to the car to check that the wheels had not been swapped side to side or scarred, that the tire pressure sensors weren't swapped, either, and I noticed the directional arrow on the LF wheel was pointing in the WRONG DIRECTION!

I almost flipped. I walked into the service area and the service writer from that morning had already gone home. I interogated the service writer that was there. I told him that I had gone above and beyond in my attempts at minimizing any mistakes by marking anything that could be swapped, but, how could I ensure that the tire would be mounted correctly?!

My fear is that unneccesary dismounting of the tires open up the tire pressure sensors and the rim to possible damage and I didn't want anymore damage to my new car.

I had specifically asked for the printout from the alignment machine. Nowhere to be found, instead, they typed the setting onto the repair order. Not good enough.

Then, when I started asking questions (in an obvious fluster), it was mentioned that the car had been sent out to NTB to have the alignment and tire swap performed.

WHAT? The service writer SPECIFICALLY told me that they have a Hunter machine across the lot at the Infiniti dealer and I asked specifically if they had the equipment AND knowledge to dismount/mount tires on these rims (w/these sensors) and I was told "yes". Now this?

Oh, my God. This is my first attempt at getting this cupping issue corrected and it was royally f**ked up by the dealer.

I made it clear that I HAD to leave to attend a meeting and I would not drive the car with the tire mounted backwards and I HAD TO LEAVE NOW.

They gave me a Sentra to use for the evening.

Next morning, I made a bee-line for the dealer to confront the service writer and when I got there he came up to me with hand extented and was appologizing profusely.

The original service writer said that the car had not been taken to NTB for the alignment, but just for the tires, since they DID NOT in fact have an appropriate machine or knowledge.

As far as the alignment printout, he had to get it from the machine's memory and he would send it to me. I am waiting on that one.

I plan on going back to my local mechanic and get the alignment checked again, to compare with the baseline I had done about 2 1/2 weeks ago.

To add insult to injury, It was raining this morning and my beautifully cleaned and waxed car got immediately dirty.

I will post my results.

 

In my haste to post this latest information, I neglected to mention that the dealer offered to comp my next oil change because of the inconvenience.

 

I'd ask for more - that's just plain stupid on their part. Just think if something "bad" happened on the way home due to tire facing the wrong way.


Free oil change.... Is that the 3K service ($21.95) or the 15k service ($200+)?

 

Well, I have taken the oil change schedule into my own hands. I changed at 3000 then at 6000 and I will be doing the next one (at 9000) in a few days. They have a $21.95 special on JUST oil changes.
I am a firm believer of fresh oil for the engine. It is very cheap insurance. WTF with 7500 mile oil changes recommended by these manufacturers?

At this point, I just want my car fixed. I want to give Nissan a fair chance at fixing this.

 

Well, I brought my car in to a different dealership due to the pulling to the right and tire feathering on the back tires. Man, the difference between the two dealership is like night and day. He read my past work order by the other dealership and just shook his head. I was surprised when he said that he was going to try and replace my back tires, TODAY, like right there and then after looking at them without a test drive. The technician definately knew his stuff. He used a Hunter machine to check the allignment and found out that the back were completely off. Of course I only had a four tire allignment a month ago. He seem to think that the pulling is just the crown on the road but I will have to double check on that tomorrow. I have to bring her back in tomorrow because the tires won't be delivered until then.

 

Ok, here is a little good news that I thought I should share with all of you.

I have driven a couple of days, now, on the new rubber and alignment (still don't have the Hunter printout).

There is a 2 or 3 mile section of I-294 which would cause my 350Z to bounce noticably (from day one). If I were on the phone, my voice would sound warbly. I chalked it up to the stiff suspension, sports car, etc.

There are all those posts about the bouncing being a defect, which (in some peoples' opinion) is a contributor to the feathering problem, caused by some issue with the shocks (wrong specs for this application, etc.)

Well, I have driven that same section of I-294 a few times since the new rubber and alignment and the bouncing has almost dissapeared. There is still bounce (very little), but it used to be very bad.

I can only assume (and please correct me) that the alignment DID cure the bounce issue. Maybe the shocks aren't the bounce problem.

I don't know. Just trying to make sense of this crap.

 

BlueDragon Z:

A good report there...

About the drift on crown... NNA paid for two front tires... and when the alignment was done.. It was done "Old School" by hand. This is were the steering wheel is tied down in the center position.... The hand written information was +1/4 right -1/4 Left..

Sounds like the car was adjusted for Right Hand drive, and driving on the right of the road.. Humm?

My car drives straight now, and has lost some of the "darting" feel it used to have. Tow is set to TSB B specs...

Low number of miles since TSB, but no tire wear yet.. ( 1500 Mile )

Watching closely for any issues..

Cheers Amy -

Soon to have Koni Struts and Shocks... They should arrive Atlanta Friday the 26th. Then to the west coast.