I really did not know how low on the spec my caster is. Did not do anything to get it except preorder last January and wait. I went to Tire Rack to get a feel of caster and their explanation was lousy. Any help? I will point out my low caster when I take my car in for its physical this week.

 

If this is a design problem, then how is it that there are people with 'high' mileage and no problem?? Also, I believe that there was a thread on the wheels forum about feathering with aftermarket tires and there were people with 'high' mileage and no problems too??

 

jeffa55: I don't recall seeing any actual reports of anyone with over 7000 or 8000 miles who was not experiencing the problem. Can you point us at someone's post?

-- Mark

 

I initially experienced terrible feathering @ just under 4,000 on oem 17" Bridgestones. I thought I had escaped the dogged feathering problem when I installed Eibachs and 18" wheels @ 14,000 miles. With the new wheels w/Nitto 555's all around and Eibachs installed, I now have slight feathering starting @ 28,000+ miles. IOW, the feathering I now see @ 14,000 miles wear is what I saw @ approx. 2,500 miles w/oem's. Vast improvement w/all wheel alignment and different tire compound. I expect the fronts to go to 25-30,000+ miles easily. Oh, and if the Eibachs are having any negative input on alignment issues, it must be very minimal at best.
At this stage, I would prefer to have no feathering, but with the fronts giving me 30,000+ miles, I have no complaints. Regards, Jim

 

Thanks for the report, Jim. If you can get 25-30,000 miles out of your front tires, I don't see that you have a problem at all now. A change of tire brand and alignment seems to have done wonders. I agree, getting that kind of mileage out of a sports car like the Z is all anyone should expect. Wanting more than that is not realistic. I only expect to get that much out of my Michelin A/Ss and they have a wear rating (UTOG) of 400! that is much higher than your 555 Nittos, I can assure you. That's really great, Jim.

Boomer

 

I think it is more about JIMs eibachs than tires or align.

 

Bottom line is this, there are too many owners experiencing a feathering/alignment problem. Additionally, Nissan knows they have a problem, why else would they be replacing so many tires? This is a first year automobile with tremendous purchasing appeal. Nissan needs to admit there is an issue and correct it for both current and future owners. My car came from the factory out of alignment and there are too many threads on this web site for Nissan to ignor the issue.

 

I'm still about 90% certain that the main problem is alignment. Other things may be smaller contributors to tire wear, but I can pretty much guarantee you that unusual tire wear is almost always an alignment issue. Mine was way out at delivery, and I started to pick up the inside block wear. I got it aligned immediately, and the abnormal wear stopped. The car also handles much better. So yeah, there could be another contributor, particularly as parts wear, but for low mileage feathering like we're seeing it's most likely alignment. I also had a couple loose bolts in the rear which were causal in the sudden onset of feathering.

 

I can't agree w/you, rod. My alignment was so far out on the toe, its a wonder my wear didn't show up even sooner than 1600 miles. It was simply dumb luck on my part that I decided I couldn't stand the OE tires, spotted the wear starting, and got an alignment the day after I put on the A/Ss. The Eibachs have cured his bounce, but I believe getting his alignment into spec was much more important than the spring change.

 

Boomer - you say that you think someone at Nissan is taking a hard look at our problem and we will have some action soon. - Why do you think that? What is soon? Is this a guess on your part?. If I had to guess I would guess that when the warranty runs out on our tires (how long is that 1 year?) we will be on our own. I can't believe Nissan is going to come up with a permanent fix before the warranty runs out. Hope I am wrong!!!

 

TereP:
You are probably right about the problem being alignment. The question that deserves an answer is this. The feathering/alignement issue has been occuring on new "Z's" since they started production. Why hasn't Nissan addressed the issue (other than replacing hundreds maybe thousands of tires). My car was way out of alignment as well, but wearing on the outside. At this point six plus months in production there should be a quality control fix for this!! Why should a car come in with loose bolts in the rear?:

 

Thanks for every ones opinions, but, If it was any easy fix than why Nissan not just released new alignment specs?
There not dummies they designed the car. Its not like we are waiting for Bubba at the corner Exxon to take a Whack at the problem. Lets not forget the Nissan GTP & European Group C. Prototypes. That was 10 years ago. Have they gone backwards in thinking or technology?
The thing I am the most worried about is the resale value of our cars. If the general public knew about all the problems with these cars no one would buy one.
I think to many of you are to in love with your cars to see the big picture. I know not every one has had problem but almost everyone on the board has had a few.

 

I was told by a very well-placed source I've known on this site and others to see what summer brings, that the problems with alignment are being addressed and urging patience. My source has been correct in the past on many other developments, so I am hopeful it is being adressed and we will have a solution to our problems. At this time, I don't have a problem, with an early tire change and dealer alignment, so far.

I am no an expert on warranty expectations, but if the problem appeared during the warranty period, it should be fixed. An example, if you are waiting for parts on a warranty claim and they don't come in during the time of the warranty's coverage, will they refuse to install your warranty parts?, I don't think so. BTW, where does it say in the owners manual, I assume, that Nissan will stop all alignments for free after 1 year or 12,000 miles.? It has always been my experience that a bumper to bumper warranty, which we have on our cars, 3 years or 36,000 miles covers everything but wear items. The tires are certainly a wear item, but their abnormal wear has occured as a result of a non-wear item like suspension ills. If they did, I would be very surprised. Boomer

 

Here are some quotes from people on my post titled 'Anyone with greater than 5K with no feather?'

Most people wrote in with 'just' over 5K and no feathering, but here are the people with higher mileage:

"XBS - im going on to 7k now purchased jan 9, no feathering"

"HFM - 15,600 mi. No feathering. No alignment or toe-in problem"

"Moodie - at 6K miles, so I can't help you there! Did an alignment after the wheels upgrade, and I have not had any problems with pulling or feathering"

"Moroccan-Mole - 10.6k mi. no feathering, but i have an aftermarket suspension"

"Gibbsy1 - 7700 miles, 08/02 build, picked up 9/26, VIN 2358. No feathering. No bounce"

"Mcduck - I am getting real close to 9000 miles and have no sign of feathering at all"

"erock - 6007 mi. and no feathering (or any problems)...... "

Seeing these people with no feathering and thinking about all of the people that have the cars and are not on the forum (or maybe just don't have a problem) just makes me wonder what the problem is...

 

Some enlightened dealers did an alignment before they delivered the cars to their customers, these may be a result of the dealer having some sense about a brand new model. All of our dealers should have known this was a special car for Nissan and treated it like it was supposed to be. Most did not.

 

I developed a feathering problem which became noticiable around 4k. By 5k the front tires were like sand paddles or paddle wheels, I'm not sure which. The car was serviced based upon the TSB and the toe was found to be within specs. Interestingly enough in my case the front tires were (are) feathering on both edges. The wear on the outside was much more subtle but it was there none the less. In any case, if the toe was within specs then it is unlikely that it caused the feathering. The car is back in the shop today for new front tires (authorized by Nissan at my request) and rims (scratched up by the Dealer during first service). I'm told they'll also be putting it back on the alignment rack. I can't say for sure whether this is a design problem or not but I do think that there is about a 99% probability that my vehicle will be back in the shop with the same problem in another 4k miles. My personal opinion is that there is some sort of shock/spring mismatch that causes an oscilation. This may be part of the same problem that causes the vehicle to get air on certain types of concrete road surfaces.

 

This forum helped me by making me aware of the problem before I bought my Z. I asked Mossy Oceanside to check the alignment while I was filling out the paperwork and haven't had any alignment or feathering problems (fingers crossed!) to date. I think Nissan will come through eventually for those with the problem. It sounds like the pulling-right issue is finally being addressed.

 

Just a follow-up to my previous post. If the "feathering" issue occurs on both the inner and outer edges then one would not expect a toe adjustment to have any impact. From the Goodyear web-site:


Excessive toe-in/positive toe results in outside edge wear of the tire
Excessive toe-out/negative toe results in inside edge wear of the tire


For those of you who have the feathering problem I would be interested to know if the wear pattern exists on both edges. Granted in my case the wear on the ouside edge is nothing compared to the inside but if you run your hand around the outside edge of the tire you can feel the raised and lowered tread block edges as well. One would expect the wear pattern to be much greater on the inside edge due to the amount of negative camber.

I am guessing that the wear pattern is being caused by the outside edges of the tire making intermittant contact with the road surface at a very high frequency. Note how the tires "growl" while braking. Is this due to the suspension flexing under load or simply because the tires are making more contact with the road under load. If the latter is the case I wonder if running lower tire pressures would make a difference?

 

My first set of tires were feathered on the inside. The dealer performed a 4 wheel alignment and installed new front tires. Now, the new front tires are feathered on both edges.

 

What pressures are you running now?