The dealer said they aligned the car when they replaced the front tires. I just came from getting the alignment checked by my local mechanic with the Hunter and guess what? When comparing the results from today's check against the check they did on 3/9, the front and rear toe are just as bad as they were before. Surprised?

I can't check the computer generated alignment results sheet from the dealer alignment because the service writer is "still working on getting it from the alignment guy." All they did was type on the work order/invoice that they "brought alignment into spec..." then they regurgitated the specs.

I called the service writer and told him that the alignment was way out of whack and the new tires were just going to wear again so he said to have them (the local mechanic) give the car an alignment and they (Nissan dealer) would reimburse me for the expense.

I will be doing that on Monday morning.

What's going on here? If I am to believe the dealer when he tells me he did the alignment, then why is the front and rear toe so far off? Did they go out of alignment in 200 miles?

Here are the stats:

Front Toe Range: 0.00 to 0.08

Previous FL Toe: -0.05 Current FL Toe: -0.12
Previous FR Toe: -0.14 Current FR Toe: -0.09

Rear Toe Range: 0.04 to 0.11

Previous LR Toe: -0.21 Current LR Toe: -0.09
Previous RR Toe: -0.16 Current RR Toe: -0.17

How can the dealer state that they set the alignment?

Well, I'm not sure now just what caused the reduction in bounce. It must be a combination of different alignment and new tires.

 

Very very sad, looks like the dealer charged Nissan for the work that they did not do. I would stay far away from that dealer unless they will let you stand and watch them work on your Z.

 

What dealership is this so I can avoid going to them?

Thanks!

 

.

 

The dealership is Orland Park Nissan on 159th. I have been very patient with them and they are trying (to give them the benefit of the doubt) but this is bordering on the comical.

This ordeal (for me) has almost wiped out entirely the advantage that Japanese dealers (NISSAN) have over American dealers, IMHO. In general they have a much superior product but their dealerships need to be reviewed.

VR3, which dealership(s) have you used and how do you rank them?

 

Nissan made me an offer yesterday to avoid a hearing. Nissan stated that they feel the car is w/in spec and they would like to offer me a extended service warranty (Nissan Gold) to settle.......




I thought about it for a second and told the BBB rep and I quote "Hell No". So I have a hearing set up for the week of April 12th.


What a insult by Nissan..

 

kbsig106: Sounds like they're a bit scared...Just give the car back, invest the money for a year and see if the 2005s or 2006s are fixed...for your hearts sake...this can't be good for you eh? ;-)

 

kbig106: I got the same offer back in May '03 and felt the same way. I got the same offer, multiple problems, and none of them fixed. You can guess my response. ...very, very similar to yours. I recall the feeling and believe I actually used the words "you insult my intelligence ...I want the car fixed ...Not an extension to the warranty ...a warranty that apparently doesn't work like it should either." What the is a GOLD warranty? There is an insinuaution here that it may be better than the alluminum, ferrous or other type of metallic warrantee. Its only longer in order to keep you guessing and to extend the agony. If they would have said, "You have a problem, (yes admission), we understand your grief, and we're going to solve it period, no matter what it takes." (That's the purpose behind a warranty in the first place) and I would be alot happier. I think its time for the Feds (60 minutes, 20/20, Dateline, or some superpower) to step in and recognize the problem officially, and give us a real warrantee, if Nissan doesn't get it real soon. If Nissan spent a portion of the energy solving the problem as they have spent trying to avoid the issues, this thread would have died a long time ago!

If Nissan would give me an extended warrantee, install noise sensors to detect the washboard affect before it reached the interior, and provide me an agreement to replace the tires (oh yes, just the fronts) when the little red tire light came on, for as long as I owned the car, I would consider accepting their gold offer.

 

The hell with my heart - I need some help with my rabbid wife (LOL). Numerous pages back I told the story of how I ordered this car 2 months before my wedding - so that my future wife couldn't say "NO". Well, I get a nice dose of "I told you so" almost every night.....


The hearing that will occur the week of the 12th will be to determin if Nissan has to buy it back and how much is due. I have all my data ready to go as well as two bomb shells that I'm going to save for last.

[QUOTE]What the is a GOLD warranty? There is an insinuaution here that it may be better than the alluminum, ferrous or other type of metallic warrantee. [QUOTE]

No sure what the Gold package is. I didn't give the BBB rep enough time to finish - I just flat told her NO.

 

kbsig106:

Who are you talking to at BBB? It would be interesting to know how many cases they are handling for Nissan at this time. The BBB, as I understand the process, is supposed to be a non-bias, objective representative of of the consumer as well as the mfr. Only problem here is that they are paid by Nissan (source of funding (salaries?)). The law requires Nissan to hire an agency such as BBB to handle their arbitration cases. At what point do they (BBB) say they can no longer handle these cases objectively. That is, when it becomes obvious that there is indeed a defect that is applicable to a very large percentage of this particular model. Do they base their decision on one particular set of evidence or testimonies, or predudice their decision and make awards based on cumulative testimonies, case facts and previous awards? Seems to me that, at some point, the process itself would become a blank check for BBB to award a favorable decision to every individual who presents a valid claim.

What is Nissan doing? ... I'm still waiting on my letter from Nissan (a form letter will do) to advise that there is a problem, briefly describe it in factual technical, verifiable terms, and advise me that a solution has been (will be) proposed. I may not be able to understand the technical lingo part of the letter, but if the solution is plausible, I'll go along. This is certainly not rocket science and being co-owners with this problem I believe the consumer deserves a real answer; that is, from the top!

Good luck with your case. Maybe yours will prompt an official response. Nissan knows who we are. Can't they send us an official notice of some kind?

Please keep us posted on your progress.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by kbsig106
The hell with my heart - I need some help with my rabbid wife (LOL). Numerous pages back I told the story of how I ordered this car 2 months before my wedding - so that my future wife couldn't say "NO". Well, I get a nice dose of "I told you so" almost every night.....


The hearing that will occur the week of the 12th will be to determin if Nissan has to buy it back and how much is due. I have all my data ready to go as well as two bomb shells that I'm going to save for last.

[QUOTE]What the is a GOLD warranty? There is an insinuaution here that it may be better than the alluminum, ferrous or other type of metallic warrantee.

Quote:

No sure what the Gold package is. I didn't give the BBB rep enough time to finish - I just flat told her NO.

Good luck with the case kbsig. I've had the final repair attempt and have filed with the BBB. Just waiting for a hearing date and preparing my case. PM me if you would like to colaborate. You are welcome to any materials that I have gathered. Check out the case summaries on the Florida AG's website. Very good reading. There is a case in there where the owner thought that the "purchase price" as it relates to the reasonable offset for use should not include the trade in value and he prevailed in that case. Since the offset in FL is figured from the hearing date, this could make a big difference in your offset if you had a trade. Also, if you had a trade, and it was "stolen" by the dealer so to speak, ask for the Kelly retail value at the time of the sale. In my case that's a 5k difference.

Florida New Motor Vehicle Arbitration Board

 

N2az:
I went through the BBB Autoline process back in December. Nissan and the BBB agreed to allow Nissan the "final" repair under the State of Florida LL. I next had to follow up with a certified notice to Nissan that I am electing to move forward with the final repair. 10 days later, Nissan called me to set up the appointment which occured on 1/5/04. They kept my car for four days and the Nisssan District Tech did the work. He signed off as being fixed and at the time all was good. The feathering has returned on the new set of tires that were put on by NNA back in November. Almost exactly at 5,000 miles..... Go figure. So now the next step is the buyback process since we've past the point of no return.

OverZealous:
No trade in thank god. However I have $7k in hard cash as a deposit as well as 15 payments (@445.00 each) and dealer fee's etc. So it's going to be a nice chunk of change even with the milage formula. My argument is the 1st TSB came out on 1/23/03 and I took ownership of the Z on 1/25/03 (delivered on 1/24/03). I'm going to argue that they (Dealership & Nissan) did not inform me of the problem before I took ownership and should I have known this, I would have waved $500 of my deposit bye-bye and walked away. So I'm going to hammer that point to try and get the ENTIRE milage waved. (Fair Disclosure Act).


I'll keep you posted in PM - in case Big Brother is watching.

 

I see a guy who does some contract work for my company and he has a 350 Z. He sees me so we start talking and so I go to look at his tires and no feathering. I tell him he's one of the lucky ones. He says that the front tires are on the rear axles and the rears are on the front axle. I sat WTF? He states that the dealer did this to stop the SLIP light from coming on. I check his rear tires and sure enough 225's and feathered to all He!!. HE says is that what is making the noise?

In case you are wondering who his dealer is.......Courtesy Nissan Dallas! Can you believe that.

 

And, that bastardized fix corrected the SLIP problem? Now that's weird...

 

Oh, and you should ask the guy if the understeer is eliminated. He probably has a better handling car now!

 

Yeah he commented on the handling I told him to go file a claim with NNA and go back and get new tires. Then I gave him the secret feathering handshake and high sign

 

My hearing date has been set for April 16th. Hopefully I can settle this once and fo all.

 

Friend at the gym has a 04 with 6000 miles and I checked his yesterday and no feathering. His tires look like they are new. Go figure? I get my new fronts put on next Tuesday, at close to 5000 miles. I think part of my problem was that the dealer delivered the car with 28 lbs of air pressure. I was out in December and the tire alarm went off because the tire pressure was to low. I had around 3500 miles on the Z at that time. I air them up to 33 psi cold. When the tires get warmed up they go up to around 38 psi on a hot day. What do you guys think is the right cold psi to help not hurt the feathering problem?

 

maybe this is too easy of an answer but the recommended cold psi is on the underside of the center console, on a sticker. now if people have experimented and found better psi's to address the feathering issue i can not offer any help there. i have the touring and have checked this and the cold psi for the tires is recommended to be 35psi. double check me though

 

Thanks, I kinda feel like a dumbass even bring that psi question up. Should of gotten off my *** and looked myself.