Nissan offered to settle and I laughed at their offer. Lawyer is telling them 12k, I'm looking for at least 6-7k.

Again don't wait for Nissan to swoop in and finally fix your car, they know that they are in the wrong for what they have done / not done.

 

So, if you're not the original owner, you can't file a suit? That's odd.

 

To sue under lemon law, I belive you need to be the orginial owner. Breach of warranty lawsuit, I'm not quite sure on.

 

I bought the car (2003 Touring) in Dec. 06 with 17k miles. At around 20k I started to hear the growl and by 22k, it was unbearably loud. The tires showed tell-tale signs the "feathering" issue.

The original owner had the TSB done at 14k miles.

So, I went to the dealer today to have them address the the problem. I also had them put on some new tires (front) that I had purchased a while back.

After talking to my service agent about the issue he said the feathering will never truly be fixed. But, you can decrease the time in which it will reoccur by switching to new tires (he suggested the Michelin PS2).

He's always been straight with me in the past. But, I don't know if he's 100% accurate in that statement. But, he did say that alot of the local Z club members bring their cars to him and he said his diagnostic is the consensus.

Anyway, I'm going to cross my fingers and hope this alignment/fix will last a while.

 

holy **** is this still an issue? I thought it was long since fixed on the new models and corrected on the older ones (<2004.5).

 

Depends on who you talk to. Just like the syncro problem that some people's transmissions where having and they had multiple tranny swaps, some subset of people are still having problems with the tire feathering issue.

 

Hey WIKEL<
whats the update on the lawsuit? I'm about 5 weeks behind you and wonder what to expect?

 

I'm not real far ahead myself. After being told by Nissan that I am SOL, I contacted a lawyer and found out I only had a couple of days to get them the information needed to file a suit under breach of warranty (four year cutoff).

Basically Nissan is requesting information on everything they can. User manuals, maintenance records (dealership), police records, insurance, etc... I've gathered up the data and have submitted it to the lawyer to respond. I'm sure there will be more RFI (request for information) requests and lawyer meetings before any trial would be scheduled. They did offer a settlement, but it was insulting. I found on google that the guy I'm using took on GM recently for a GTO problem and got the guy 12,000 when they went to jury. That was 12,000 to him and he was free to sell the car afterwards. If I can break even on the car (settlement + selling it), I will consider myself very lucky. The wife doesn't want me to get rid of the car and I don't know if I really want to either. I just want it to work like it is supposed to. Maybe I will take the money and change the suspension to something that actually works. Currently he going after a complete reimbursment of the car (taxes, title, interest, etc...).

I don't expect it to be a quick process, but I'm more than willing to goto trial to get my point across. I own 4 vehicles, so this is more about principle than about the $$$.

Sad part is I have a 1997 civic and it has been a dream to own for the 205,000 miles I have put on the vehicle... The Z has been the in the shop 5 times more than the civic ever has. At 125,000 miles the exhaust rusted through (Missouri salt) and at 190,000 miles one of my low beam headlights has gone out. Other than that... nothing. Change the oil every 5m-7k miles... and it still gets 37-40mpg. If honda made a decent sports car I would buy it.

 

well well well... my '06 with 25k miles is undrivible at this point. replaced oem tires @ 18k for falken 452 thinking the oem tires were loud. I cannot believe it. Im taking the car today to the dealer to see WHATS UP! unbelieiveble, I could swear this issue was produced between 03-05 models only! any advices?

 

That's ok... The master ASE guy came by to eval my car for the lawsuit and says the transmission is FUBAR! Only has 23,000 miles on it. Good thing I complained about the transmission problems during the warranty period. I thought it didn't seem right. Of course the dealership always "could not recreate". He basically said "I heard the problem before I even got out of your driveway... any idiot would have been able to tell that there is a significant problem there".

This should get real interesting...

 

I saw many trans lose 3rd gear syncho back in early 2003. By late 2004, at only 11k miles, my Z's trans was rough down to 2nd, and needed a careful attempt at rev matching to smoothly shift to 3rd on the upshift. Down from 5th, forget it.

My G's trans has been good for 38.5k miles, no issues, run Motul in it.

Good luck!

 

For the record, the issue is not over. My 07 started this at 3 months / 8k miles. Got a new alignment and tires. Now at 6 month / 12k I notice it again. I (like 99.9% of Z owners) am very picky when it comes to my baby. The only noise that comes from it should be the radio, intake, or exhaust. The tires should not be the loudest noise coming from the car.

 

Just replaced my tires in Dec 06, had the tires mounted and balanced then. alignment needed correcting at 5K because I curbed my wheels. No other issues, until 19K, when the dealership said I needed an alignment, because I was out of spec, and the that my front tires are feathered. 6/32nds of tread remain so they said to continue riding on those tires, and they fixed my alignment.

 

What is the name of your attorney's law firm and where are they located?

 

so is there a final align spec that Nissan has put out to at least make it better than it was a few years ago, or is it the exact same. I haven't had my car aligned for a while, because when they did do it, it didn't help. Have the specs changed/updated? Thanks

 

Blackhawk. What are the symptoms that you are experiencing ? I have an 07 and think I have the same problem. I have 11K on mine and the loud roar is getting louder and louder. Its only during lower speeds below 30 or so. I cant hear the same noise during acceleration though. WTF. It almost sounds like I need knew brakes, but I checked them. Plenty of pad left. HMMMM

 

Run your hand along the inside of the front tires, from F to R - you'll feel the treadblocks have a high point toward the back, a low point toward the front.

When you brake, you face the high points the wrong way, and in my case many years past, it freaked out the ABS as the tires skipped along the high side of the tread. When you accelerate, you're putting down the leading (low) side of the blocks first, you won't notice anything (until the tire wears down further). "Roar" is a good description of the sound, I remember it well.

There are many pics, many descriptions in this thread. Your tread pattern is probably is different than mine, without the full length cutouts on the blocks (an attempt to make the tire squirm less). All that does is forestall the problem , not cure it.

Here's mine back in 2004 after less than a year - note both the low tread depth and the cupped wear pattern. Keep in mind post-TSB front side to side swap the wear pattern formerly on the inside is now on the outside:



This second pic really shows it - note the depth of tread left to right, and how the outside (formerly inside) blocks are cupped. I had alignments, TSB for compression rod, etc.



Where I really noticed it first was braking under about 40 mph, especially down a steep hill - my ABS freaked out with the small amount of toe-in putting the weight onto the inside edges, they lost traction on and off, it made the ABS kick in when it had no reason to.

Hope you have better luck than I did, and that Nissan has a clue now what 4 years later...I wouldn't hold my breath on that one. I thought the 2003/2004 models were it until I saw the same old posts from new owners in 2006, 2007...bottom line is it rendered the tires useless in 11k miles, and I only got about 5k per side with the swap side to side. That's pretty bad, even for OEM tires which are pretty soft...

 

That's nearly the same interval I found with my 2003 - you get about 5-6k or so and it's back. It seems like more highway miles may up that 1 or 2k miles, but it's classic for this to show up around 5k-7k miles, then come back around 12k or so.

I am also very picky and the noise was very noticeable, especially at slower speeds, but eventually even at hwy speeds.

I never got resolution from Nissan, I traded in the car on my G Coupe, which while some also have this issue, mine does not - I've gotten 30k out of the OEM tires, now they are evenly shot, with just a hint of more wear on the front insides - no TSB's, only aligned when new. I may have bailed on Nissan at that point, but it was to my advantage to give the G a try, and I have three Nissans, so I was inclined to give it a go.

 

This is pretty discouraging.

I sold my '03 in part because of the feathering issue.

I've actually been thinking about picking up an '08 next year.

 

that's funny. This has been going on for five yrs. I just sent my last payment in and will be going mod crazy for a while. But I would have never thought that the feather issue would still be a problem for the newer Zs. I took a look at the 2007 nismo packed Z, and would have to say that if I bought the car and had to feather issue , .... still ! I would blow more than just a gasket. Good luck fellas. I'm just tickled that it's all mine now!