Wow...this thread is really darn long and scary as a new 03 z owner.
I didnt have this problem at all...I didnt notice of road noise and tires feathering issue. My tires already runs more than 5K miles.

The only problem I have on my 03 is the window. Am I one of those lucky people or just not familiar with the car yet.

I check my tires multiple times for uneven wear, but I cannot find any sign at all.

Does it happen in all 03s? I didnt see any 03 owners who dont have these problems, posted here.

 

just you wait. not only with the tire feathering.. but also in my 03 with really less mileage.. ive changed both my window motors twice!

 

Mine was an '03. You can see pics of what to look for here:
Fall 2003 Z

Just scroll down past the top photos, tire pics are at the bottom of the page.

Keep in mind the tires were just swapped at the time the pics were taken, so the former inside Driver's tire is on the Passenger side outside, etc. All the "side-to-side" swap did was give the inside wear fresh rubber. Each time I had anything done, Nissan also checked alignment at what I consider to be a good dealership, they seem to know their stuff.

The fresh rubber just started wearing out about 5k miles later, the alignments, swaps, etc, did nothing to address the problem.

Good luck!

 

It seems like Nissan doesnt provide the solution yet for this problem. You said you swap the tires L-R, isn't going to damage the tires due to one directional tires?
I also notice here alot of people swapping the tires L-R. I dont think that is a good idea. Correct me if I m wrong.

 

No solution that I've heard of. They started using a slightly different OEM tire with only partly cut tread blocks sometime after ~2004, which reduced "squirm" of the tread on the inside of the tire. That slowed the wear down some, but not much.

Tires - the swap maintains the right direction. Nissan put out a TSB in 2003 telling dealer to align the car and swap the front tires (not wheels) L to R, which means they still rotate the same directon since the tires are remounted, not just a wheel swap. No damage or issue other than the possibility they mangle the tire unmounting and remounting, in my case would have meant the Nissan dealer buying me 2 new tires.

At that time, the thinking was this was primarily an alignment issue and by moving the cupped/feathered tread to the outside it would not roar or make a lot of noise, and with the proper toe-in set the fresh rubber would wear "normally". At least for my car, that thinking turned out to be seriously flawed. The tires wore the same way after another 3-5k miles, and at around 11k for this and other reasons I sold the car - traded it in after having it for about 14 months.

While I liked my Z a lot, and I still maintain they are fantastic cars even with the problems, great to drive, especially for the price, I am very happy with the decision to sell it. I just figured by now this would have been completely resolved, it's amazing its not. Even some newer ('06) 350Z owners report the same problem, that is just mind-boggling.

Unlike some people who swear at Nissan over this, I'm not holding a grudge. I bought a Sept 2002 build of a new car, drove the hell out it, mistakes happen. I have 3 Nissans now ('95 Altima, '91 Sentra SE-R, plus the G Coupe). Every car company pisses off someone badly, makes mistakes, some of the dealers suck, others don't. Frankly, companies like Ferrari **** me off a lot more, where they've created a shortage to the point if you don't buy a used one first, don't even think about a new one, and even then, expect a year or two wait. Wth? For that treatment you put up how much money???

Thankfully, the GT-R looks to make that a moot point

 

After only 12,500 miles I dropped off my 2007 350z. I explained to them that my front tires are humming and vibrating. I came with a large print out of others on this sight that are owners with similar problems and said hey look, more then half of us have this issue . Im not going to blow 350 dollars a pop every time they wear out prematurely after only 12k miles. After an inspection they said you have excellent thread left on the rear. The tires in the front are feathered. They replaced the tires and if it happens again they will replace them again. They made note of it under warrantee and had me sign stating that they are aware also of the problem and that it’s on file if I have to take a next step. If it is to continue to happen I should file lemon law to have the dealer give me a new car. The dealer understood and said well take it one step at a time, first lets see how these set of front tires hold up. I although have to go back as they saw they each rim had tiny chips from them installing the tires so they will replace the rims as well. You just have to speak up

 

I have an early build 03 touring that I purchased in Sept. 2002. I had the problem, went through with the alignment, tire swap, and finally new tires. I have 66,000 miles on the car; 24,000 on the new tires. No noise! Almost all of my miles are on the highway at 70+. I had 42,000 miles on the original tires. I replaced all 4 (2 fronts from Nissan) at the same time with the new design Bridgestones. It sounds like I have been pretty lucky with the results.

 

I also posted this in the wheels and tires area....looking for help!

This may be an old subject, but...

I just got around to replacing the Bridgestones on my 2003 touring with new Michelin Pilot's. Now the tire roar of old is louder than ever! Do I have undo the alignment "correction" that Nissan did a couple of years ago during their warranty extension? It sounds like it is primarily coming from the front passenger tire.

Any help would be appreciated!

p.s. the tire dealer has a replacement tire on order just in case it is a "bad" tire.

 

Old topic but relevant, a lot of people don't crank through the OEM tires until 3-4 years. If new - not feathering. Have alignment checked by dealer or very good shop who knows 350Z's.

Feathering takes time and makes a distinctive wear pattern so if you just had this done, it isn't feathering (cupping) wear. For most people that does not show up for 3000-5000 miles. Unless you define "just had done" differently or drive a heck of a lot, you don't have the miles yet.

Did you get Pilot A/S or Pilot Sports? The A/S are a harder tire and while they wear longer tend to create more road noise than the PS2's. Sounds like either the tire has a problem in its construction, or damaged while mounting, bad balance, something along those lines - too early for feathering wear.

Get the alignment done - anytime you do all new rubber and especially when switching treads to another tire, I'd get the alignment done again. Nissan dealers with the better equipment can do this, don't entrust to just any old shop. You need someone familiar with the extremely narrow range of alignment adjustment, top level equipment, Hunter I believe was one brand that you'll find discussed elsewhere in this thread. We're talking a total range of adjustment of a few mm. Nissan still claims toe-out is the culprit and with a good alignment you won't have issues...right.

Also you may want to check since you also have a 2003, I had the TSB for Compression Rod replacement done on mine. I believe that was on the passenger front only. If you have not had this done, check your VIN against the TSB - I was getting nasty NVH from one side only, the part was replaced for me. It was noticeable especially under braking and at slower speeds, a sort of shudder or vibration.

BTW the TSB for alignment: Technical Service Bulletin (NTB03-006). Others you may want to check - 03046, 04043, 03088.

I don't have the exact contents with me, if you can't find them give me a shout, I have the files at home.

HTH

Compression rod is #11 in this pic, about dead center of the diagram, add a dash between 350z and tech and you can see this link (other sites get **** treatment) -

http://www.350ztech.com/w/images/thu...ension_001.jpg

 

So I'm gonna take my 03 in for the TSB about tire feathering. Do i have to pay the service charges even though it's a TSB? Also i have 58k on the clock, how do i go about getting my tires replaced under warranty (if even possible)? Thanks, any help is appreciated!

sorry if i missed the info, 193 pages is alot!

 

Call 1-800-Lemon Law and start the process of suing Nissan for a COMPLETE refund. It takes a while but is worth not having the hassles any more.

 

My lawsuit is moving forward. Giving my deposition in March. I intend to pursue this case to the end and NOT settle (i.e. going to jury trial). I want this on public record for others to use.

I got the transcripts from my customer service call before filling the lawsuit. It shows them stating the issue was "by design" with my response that "nothing in the owners manual states it eats through front tires every 12,000 miles". Then it shows me wanting a permenant fix and not another bandaid to cover up the problem with special tires to fix their design flaw.

After having the car in multiple times for shifting problems (transmission issues) which could never be recreated, I find out that my transmission is totally screwed. All with 23,000 miles on the car and the original rear tires still in place. Hmmm I get 23,000+ miles out of the rear tires and barely 12,000 out of the front on a rear wheel drive car.

It's sad that my car will have sat in the garage for the last 1 1/2 years for this to finally be resolved.

Last time I posted here I got bashed by people saying "hey stupid there is no problem". While it's sad to see, at least I'm not the only one.

 

does the feathering recall only apply to the front tires? because my rears are doing the same thing

 

Never heard of the rear tires having this specific issue. I guess having the issue is one thing, having the issue over and over every 6-10k miles is another.

 

Bump for this question... I just swapped out my tires and wow I really didn't know they had that much of an affect... They were absolutely horrid... I'm looking into the TSB for an allignment too and I just got new tires can I still get 2 front tires from them? it's an 03 with 29,650 miles on it... thanks again...

 

You're SOL at this point regarding the TSB and tire replacement. There was a time limit that expired back in 2005 or 2006.

 

Fawk!!!!! so they won't even hold to at least an allignment.. I mean the problem won't go away?!?! I don't feel like eating through $300.00 every 5k miles!

 

I got an alignment after I got new tires and haven't had any issue with feathering in the front

 

Was it through Nissan? and was it recent?

 

I just bought an '04 Touring Coupe, & it seems this specific Zed doesn't suffer
from the feathering thing; it had 13,201k on it when I bought it, &, IF the previous owner didn't lie to me, it's got the OEM Potenzas on it (they ARE Po-
tenzas, I just can't tell if they're OEMs). By the way, I paid $22,000 for the
beast. It does have the driver's side power window glitch--it's sort of a part-
time problem...on & off.