If I get a chance I'll try to get some. The sound is mostly noticeable when driving under 35-40 mph.

 

I tried to get a picture with my phone today...

 

I do not see the typical high-low blocks on the inside. Nor do I see camber wear on the inside.

 

Maybe my mind is playing tricks on me, I thought I saw a shading difference on the right side of the tire as pictured. To me it looks like every 1.5- 2.5 blocks it has a difference in shading, and you can see it picking up more debris.

It has been a long day, and after my hr commute I am a little worn out; so, I'm ready to accept I am seeing things . Although, I know I am hearing things as well.

 

On the other hand put your hand inside the tire, and feel these spots. Are these ridges that go from low to high like a saw tooth pattern?

 

Yes, I can run my finger along the inside blocks and feel a more significant drop from the locations with more debris as circled.

 

From the photo and your description I think we are seeing typical 350Z feathering.

I recommend that you swap the front tires (about $40). It will not fix the tire just give you fresh tread on the inside.

 

Thanks for the input, I will likely have them swapped when I get ready to order some new rears. Apparently the rear tires have worn down faster for some reason *shifty eyes*.

All things being considered, I am still more than pleased I decided to buy a Z!

 

My 04' is showing this feathering issue and is starting to pull to the right AGAIN. It seems like getting a typical alignment and wheel balance is not solving the problem. Anyone have any recommendations on getting this fixed other than the obvious and/or tips to tell the tech when they align my car again? It seems that reading through this thread of many pages that following the service manual is wrong and should be adjusted accordingly? If so what are those specs?

 

F4,
Without going theough all 202 pages of previous responses, I can tell you what worked for me...

I also have an 04. I replaced my OEM's in March 2009. After having read about all of the feathering problems and having experienced significant feathering myself, I had the shop remove all the toe (normally +0.5) from the car. I bought Kumho tires and they ahve shown zero feathering to date. I have put roughtly 6500 miles on the tires thus far.

Another benefit for removing the tow was a reduction in road noise. Now, this may be a result of a different tire on the car, but it was definately noticible. I hope this helps and good luck!

 

"Zero front toe for a sports car? Do a little suspension 101 studying particularly the relationship between toe and handling. "

I understand the relationship to toe and handling. The rear is still set to factory positive chamber. However, I have elected to zero out the front toe to eliminate the tire feathering aspect of the car. I do not own the car to tear up the tires during performance racing and am only offering a solution to a long (and evidently unsolvable) problem without having to sink a boat load of money into new suspension. Again, just my $0.02. Take it or leave it.

 

So from what you have posted I should tell my tech to adjust all 4 sides to +0.5 to compensate for the feathering and road noise. Also I am running Continentals DWS tires for the winter if that affects anything.

 

the way to repair it is simple, get a new car lol after not being able to deal with it anymore and not wanting to waste money on camber arms and other **** i gave up finally and got a new car. gl to you all

 

From what I can tell, this issue is a mild nuisance in my case. The vibrations do not appear to be pronounced enough to be causing damage to wheel bearings/bushings/suspension components, and if that is the case I can live with it. I have now put a little over 25k miles on the current tires with no alignments or rotations, and the noise seems bearable.

The joy I get from driving the car far out weighs any nuisances, unless I start to notice premature wearing on aforementioned components.

 

So I have an 06 Z and I have some very severe tire feathering too. The howl of the tires is so bad that you almost have to yell to talk to a passenger.

I gather that feathering is still an issue on 06 Z's and not just 03-04's, and that it is caused by a combination of the suspension design and too much camber, is that right? I know that I'm going to need new tires (obviously), but I would love to prevent this from happening to my new tires. Yes yes, I know, this has probably been covered/asked before in this thread, but I really don't have the patience to read a billion posts. So can anyone advise me on what would be the best route to take to prevent this from happening before (or doing so prematurely at least). Can anything be done other than getting new tires and aligned to factory specs? Camber arms perhaps?

Just fyi, I'm planning on getting (stock size 225/245/18) Continental ExtremeContact DW's all around.


(front drivers side)


(front drivers side)


(front passenger side)

I can post more pics if necessary.

 

I don't know the answer to your question, but I really wonder if putting it back to factory specs will actually help. I think the factory specs are part of the problem. Some say it's simply the price you pay for having a great handling car. Others say that the tires should last longer. But, I am not an expert and am still trying to figure out what - if anything - to do about it myself.

I'll be anxious to see what davidv says.

Good luck.

 

The inside tread is so badly worn that I do not see telltale feathering. Looks like camber wear to me.

 

Thanks for the replies!

I forgot to mention that I actually did have the alignment checked at the nissan dealership back in August, and they said that it was out of alignment and they put it back into spec for me (free of charge, since I didn't ask them to do that, just to check it). However I didn't get a printout of the before and after numbers. I admit that I haven't had it aligned in a long time and no doubt that had a lot to do with the insides wearing. I never really even thought to check honestly because I didn't think that 06's were prone to the camber wear/feathering. But I guess now I know better.

If you look real closely at the pictures, you'll see that the grooves on the side where the wear is are wearing in a "scalloped" pattern a little - 2 grooves are big and then one is small, 2 big, 1 small, etc etc. So I guess that's feathering.

Thanks again for the input, any more input is always welcome.

 

OK then I trust that the tires are feathered.

a. Take the car to a trusted alignment shop. Ask if they can set front camber to negative 1.0 degrees. No more.

b. Get new tires. Estimate tread life. Swap tires at half that. In other words if you are looking forward to 20,000 miles than swap at 10,000 miles. Here are photos of feathered tires AFTER a swap: https://my350z.com/forum/7104431-post3948.html

Neither recommendation is a permanent fix but will extend tire life.

 

yikes! Guess that's just the price you pay of driving a sports car, tires can get expensive if they have to be swapped out so often!! I think that's what I'm going to do, get the new tires put on and then immediately get an alignment - 1.0 camber sounds pretty good to me, I'll do that. Are there any other "recommended" settings on alignment other than the -1.0 camber?