I posted my alignment results and new align a few pages back (I did it right when I got the Toyos).

They are just slightly starting to feather, if you run your hand around the tire one way, you feel it take little steps off, if you run it the other way, it runs into a sharp edge and stops. This is VERY common sign, I have had 2 cars in teh past feather very badly (do to underdampened shocks) and this is the 1st sign you usually see (hopefully I am wrong and am being hyperparanoid, and the wear evens out, but I have a feeling that it won't)

 

how many miles you have since the last align?? you might be leaning in teh right direction, lets hope so!

 

Thanks for the update ezchief! I need to give the SM over there a call tomorrow. I still need to get in for the Window grease streak TSB.

 

RodH, I have 630 miles right now on the new alignment. Again the problem will surface in about 400 miles or so. As we all know. God I hope this is moving into a solution because it feels so good right now.

 

ez,we are all hoping it works out. Looking forward to your next report. Boomer

 

fingers crossed!!

 

I have got 3600 miles on my new front tires (second set) and the dealer just reported that they are feathered on both inside and outside. They said that I need new tires again and they are not covered under warranty since they are feathered on both inside and out. So, before my alignment, the first set of tires feathered on the inside and now after an alignment they feathered on inside and outside. I guess that I should call NNA and update my case. Thoughts?

 

Yes, I would think that updating NNA would be the best thing. And, you may be able to get them to pick up the cost of the tires since the problem is well known and you have experienced it.

On another note, I would like to meet up with you to actually see the feathering as I don't think that the problem is affecting mine. I live in Apex. Please PM me and maybe we can hookup.

 

Stungeon -

That is very dissapointimng news. I too have new tires on my car after the alignment has been done. I now have 300 miles on the new tires and I do not look forward to going back to the dealer yet again.

Ian

 

I have a set of new bridgestones comming! Thank GOD!!! But, they are on back order. i have about 6600 miles on my first set and have gone through all of the steps before replacement. If the problem comes back, will Nissan replace a second set? has anyone had any luck with getting two sets of tires from nissan?
My second question is, should i wait for the solution to come so that the problem doesn't re-occur, before i have them install the new tires? Or do i not have that much time before my current tires wear out and they still haven't come up with a "true" fix to the problem? Should I wait, or should I not????????

 

did you guys see the thread just below this one?? here is hte info

"grebmohr
350z Newbie

Registered: Nov 2002
Location: Greensboro, GA
Posts: 107 Points: 4622

Tire feathering- new revelation.
My dealer service guy has been doing a mod on cares that come in with the cupping/feathering issue. Apparently the car is nose diving too much under braking and hard turns. He supposes this is caused by an incorrect rear ride adjustment.

There are two ways to address this problem...stock and aftermarket.

Aftermarket involves a change to progressive springs/shocks.

Stock involves adding shims to the rear differential some where on the mounting thus reducing the rear ride height by several mm.

As soon as I have a chance to crawl under the car I will locate the shims and photograph them.

This fix is not NNA approved and I am not sure if it will have the desired outcome with regard to tire feathering.

I do know this one thing, with my stock suspension setup and my, 4 times on the rack, alignment with new shims, the extra understeer issue seems to be gone. This car now handles turns effortlessly with absolutely predictable performance. I plan on talking to the alignment guy and getting the whole story for anyone interested.

For now I am happy!"""

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

interesting ha???

 

This would make sense given the previous discussion around ezchief & Hunter's findings. The theory is/was that under load or movement the toe out increases which led to their testing with a greater toe-in then what has been set at the factory. If we were to drop the rear, I think this would decrease the "toe change" and help.

You mention that you were on the rack 4 times. Do you have alignment specs for pre & post shims. It'd be interesting to know how much a 1 or 2mm change in rear ride height changes the front toe.

Thoughts from anyone?

 

my guess, is that it is much more than 1-2mm, and between 5-15mm, 1 or 2 won't do much of anything.

 

Called Bridgestone and the RE 040's are on national backorder for 60days, so are the s03's. Anyone here different?

 

Eibach springs drop the front .8" and the rear 1.2". .4" More drop than the front. Is this why everyone feels their problems are cured w/Eibach? What about the NISMO suspension, I thought it dropped the car .5" at each corner, are the springs progressive on the kit and is there no front drop?

It would make sense if you consider there is a "rake" on our cars, from higher in back and lower in front. If true, the rake should put more pressure on the front suspension and if you have real soft tread tires, oversprung/underdamped, maybe you could create an opportunity for difficulties in alignment and poor tire wear. I'm only speculating here, but the car already has a 53/47% weight distribution, any extra front bias could overload the components that move the most in the suspension, ie., tires, shocks and springs. How much pressure it would exert on the control arms, etc. would be hard to determine.

I wondered why the Eibachs dropped the car more in the back than the front, food for another of my WAGS. Anyone else have any other crackpot ideas?

Boomer--you asked.

 

Eibachs are usually always manufactured that way(lower rear ride height). It helps against the dreaded understeer problem that cars have when they come from the Manufacturer.

 

I think I have feathering on the insides; I can hear the roar at low speeds. And since I just installed Eibachs, perhaps I should swap my tires and see if the roar or feathering comes back?

The only problem is that after installing Eibachs, my front cambers are -1.3 and -1.5. So i'm not sure if swapping tires will prove anything.

Vance

 

Vance, you have the Eibach springs on your car? How long or how many miles has it been since it's been installed? See if you can notice any uneven wear in the front tires by turning the wheels all the way to the left, and look at the inside grooves..

You may want to rotate the front tires if you already show signs of feathering.

 

I've read that in countless posts, but it never really dawned on me.

I've been thinking about this distribution and what effect it would have on our problems. No crackpot ideas yet.

Maybe its time for a poll.
Poll for aftermarket suspension and feathering.
- Eibach... no feathering stock, no feathering now
- Eibach... feathering stock, no feathering now
- Nismo... no feathering stock, no feathering now
- Nismo... feathering stock, no feathering now

Should I post this?

 

Apexi350z,

It has only been 2 weeks and maybe 200 miles since I installed Eibachs. I will try turning the wheels to get a better look at their condition.

The roaring started at around 2500 miles and the car now has 3100 miles. Now, I'm really curious to know if the roar will come back if I swap the tires. I'll try to see if I can get it done today.


Vance