Call NNA and tell them you have the tire feathering problem and yor dealer says you have to pay for it. That is B.S. and your dealer is either trying to collect twice on the alignment or is terminally stupid. GET CUSTOMER SERVICES ON THE SITUATION RIGHT NOW! Ask for Steve Lam and keep calling until you get him, he is always on the phone so you have to be very tenacious.

 

ez, please stay around and give us updates (no driving off into the sunsets), let us know how it is doing in another while. I am not sure I wanna rush out and have my align re-done to these spec, yet, But I may soon.

btw, are you new specs with in NORMAL nissan specs or are they out of the range???

when I got mine aligned, I think one of the rears was slightly out of spec, so I can always go back and tell them they are nOT to nissans specs and redo it (to YOUR specs, if they are within NNA recommended specs)

 

PerAuto 1
Agree that the Nissan folks are not dummies and there is no doubt they are looking at the problem. "Boomer" replied that they are looking at it and that we need to have patience; that's fine.
Long term I don't believe we have a problem. This is a first year vehicle and "stuff" like this happens.
I have had a great experince with my dealership's service so far. They agree there is a "potential" problem and aligned my vehicle. So far the tires seem to we riding better and the handling has improved. We have no choice but to give Nissan a chance. They don't want this Z to be a failure. They can't afford it. There is no doubt something is wrong alignment wise!!!
I plan to stay close to this web page. its a great source of information and comraderie.

 

Lew f
You are corect we need to call NNA one more time to have the problem looked at again. The dealer told us that NNA said they would only pay for one set of tires and alignment.
There responce was the wear was normal. The dealers hands are tied. I am going to try NNA one more time. If we do not get any results then We have decided to send NNA a letter under the VA lemon Law to pressure them into fixing our car. They have 15 days to make the repairs. If they do not have a fix we will ask for a buy back.Then I will wait for the 04 Z car.
I also want the Z to suceed but not on my dime. My wife and I love the car,but I am not going to keep Bridgestone in business buying tires every 2 months. Sorry to complain so much but we just want the car fixed .

 

 

Now at about 5000 miles and the cupping and noise getting worse. What should I do?

 

Call NNA and report it.

 

First off, I am not going anywhere till the big guy decides so we can get this thing fixed.

Picked up the car this morning. Dealer gave me a rental (POS Ford Escort from Enterprise) and it makes me appreciate my car all the more. Talk about a rattle trap and bouncy ride.

Spoke with the SM and got some not so good news regarding the fix. The reason no one is speaking out at NNA is because even if they have a fix, it must go through the lawyers first. If they change a screw during the build process, it must go through legal and that can take up to 6 months. He said Nissan might have a fix right now and no one will know until it goes through legal review. If they do not have a fix and my test is deemed reasonable, it may still take 6 months because it will need to go through legal.

One good thing is that the SM and DSM have made the other dealers aware of how out of spec these cars are coming off the boat and need to be aligned properly.

Now this problem has been known for quite a while by Nissan so my fingers are crossed that they nipped it back early and now we are just waiting for legal review. The SM and DSM have spread this "fix" to other dealers in North Texas and NNA. Time will tell and I will continue to monitor my tire wear as usual.

Sorry for the bummer news on a Friday. My fingers are crossed that what Boomer has heard may be true about a fix that is coming and this legal BS is the only hold up.

 

Legal review? Thats a strange requirement for a warranty repair in my experience. Maybe its why my source said to wait a while and the fix will be available very soon? Nissan has been aware of this problem since October/November and may have had a fix a couple of months later but couldn't implement for 6 months?, which would be in June or July approximately. So maybe relief is just around the corner, let us hope.

On another note, is this why we continue to have the same problems show up in every new car whose owner visists this website, they can't make a running change until the legal requirement is satisfied as a result of unsafe complaints filed with the NHSTA?

 

Boomer,

I think we are talking two different things. The warranty repair (tires and swapping) is their stop gap. In my opinion that is between me and the dealer with the dealer getting compensated from NNA. The fix, and we would all like to know what it is or if they have one, is the legal review situation and between me and NNA. If they admit a problem or defect with the fix, I am sure a team of lawyers are reviewing it before hand. Or worse yet, to issue one at all and play legal roulette with our cars and lives.

I a way I can't blame NNA with how letigous the USA is. But, come on this is not brain surgery.

I hope you are right Boomer and that we are in the final "legal" stretch.

 

I'm sure Nissan is very interested in legal, however, I think the kind of legal they are most interested in is tender. They've already made a tacit admission of a defect by releasing the TSB and this is indeed a stop gap measure designed to placate the owners and, above all, reduce or eliminate the need to replace those front tires. Although I'm sure that legal had a good look at the TSB before it was released, what it specifically does not do is address the legal implications of having all of these these cars out there with faulty tires. It seems like Nissan's strategy is to replace only those tires where the owner and, to a lesser extent, the Dealers make it point to ask for it. Having done so though, Nissan can hardly come back on the second go round and state that the wear is normal and refuse a second set of tires. They haven't a leg to stand on. I suppose that I am saying, with no disrespect intended as we are all in the same boat so to speak, that for Nissan to bottle up the fix for six months because of legal concerns is a little hard to swallow. Nor am I bitter about the whole thing. As a present and former owner of four Z's going back to my very first 1970 240, I believe that they have created a very fine vehicle in the 350 that is true to the design philosophy of the original. And I am willing to exercise patience in this as long as it's on Nissans dime. But if and when I reach the point where Nissan refuses to replace the tires or implement a true fix that is where the honeynoon ends. I've already drafted a letter to NNA informing them of the suspension problems, the "bounce" as well as the feathering, and requesting them to fix it. Here in FLA we have a three strikes rule. If it goes back to the Dealer 3 times for the same problem and upon written notification from the owner, they have 10 days to bring the vehicle into compliance with the warranty or Nissan will have bought themselves a slightly used 350Z.

MWeber
From the It's Just MY Opinion Department

 

They have already refused to replace one owner's 2nd set of tires by the dealer telling them that the wear is "normal". I agree with you that it violates their placating owners with new tires, but we all knew the day would come when Nissan would stop replacing tires. If you are not willing to accept that pronouncement, then its probably buyback time and I don't blame you one bit. Nissan's inattention hasn't bought them any friends in my view. If they had investigated the Z sites' legitimate complaints and found the cars came off the ships way out of alignment, they wouldn't have this problem.

The new corporate paradigm of "lean and mean" has left them with not enough human resources to oversee all their models and correct their deficits promptly and finally. Their inability to provide a lasting repair on our cars is proof enough for me. I'm fortunate to have a good dealership that cares about their customers. If that changes, all bets are off and I will cease being a Nissan owner.

 

I also believe Nissan should provide a fix by the month of June. For some reason, my dealer keeps pushing back the time for me to bring the car in in June. Just my thought.


Black Track.

 

With my track record, it would be amazing to guess right for once. Keep your fingers and toes crossed.

 

I don't own a 350Z, yet. I want one, badly, and have been reading many forums intently and keeping my eye on the problems, etc. I found this tidbit on The Car Connection you may find interesting:
_________
Nissan Playing Catchup

Nissan has a number of opportunities for new products that it simply does not have the technical resources to pull together, company officials complained during the Canton dedication. That’s especially apparent in the “green” car segment so far dominated by rival Japanese makers Toyota and Honda. So far, Nissan has failed to field a gasoline/electric hybrid, along the lines of the Toyota Prius or Honda Insight, though it expects to put one on sale in Japan within the coming year, according to CEO Carlos Ghosn. To get there, the company had to form a joint venture with its erstwhile archrival, Toyota Motor Co. Toyota will supply the hybrid drive for the new Nissan vehicle, company insiders told TheCarConnection.com. What Ghosn described as engineering “bottlenecks” can be seen across the company, forcing choices such as whether to develop an all-wheel-drive system for the new Quest minivan or some other, higher-volume vehicle. After sharply cutting its workforce during its brush with bankruptcy, Nissan is now in a hiring mode, and recently added 1000 new engineers. But Ghosn said that actually compounds the situation – at least for the short-term – since veteran Nissan engineers are needed to assist in training. The company expects the bottlenecks to ease in another year or so.--Paul A. Eisenstein
_________
I'm an engineer that designs equipment used in the construction industry. Granted we are not Nissan, but we put out about 50 units a day in my plant (one every 12 minutes), and if there's a problem, it gets ugly in a hurry. I'm sure the engineers at Nissan are under imense pressure to get this fixed, and combine that with trying to train 1000 new engineers, I'm sure there are some serious "bottlenecks" as it says in the article. And yes, the point that has been made about the legal departement needing to approve anything is very valid. Companies (and engineers) have to be very careful about how they handle changes to designs, fixes, etc. because of the possible legal problems that may result. Nissan almost went under once and have had an amazing turnaround. They don't want to do it again by being stupid or sloppy (of course you could argue they've already been sloppy). I realize it's frustrating for the owners (I had a Neon bought back as a lemon here in WA), but I also understand Nissan's point of view, and the careful balancing act of keeping product moving out the door, and trying to correct problems. Hopefully for all of the frustrated owners on this thread, there is a fix awaiting approval that you will all see shortly. Until then, drive your Z and enjoy it. It's an amazing car.

CMOS

 

Appreciate your comments CMOS. Thanks for the insight.
I bought my 72 240Z while living in Burien/Renton. The Northwest is a beautiful part of the country!

 

I recieved, today, in the mail, a request to be interviewed by phone from Nissan. Actually the company doing all the work it seems is a firm called Vehicle Science Corporation. Filled out my reply card and sent it in. If I'm selected you can bet all the issues that I've read about here will be mentioned. $20 to boot!

 

I have tire feathering and had to wait a month for dealer to get program to align the 350z, that was after i went for an appointment and after waiting about 15 minutes they told me it couldnt be done because of no program for Z. They said alignment was off so they realigned and sent me home. I read the tsb online here and saw about front tire rotation so I call dealer back and service dept says tires are rotational sensitive an cant be rotated. At that point I advised them of the tsb, told them to read and call me back. That afternoon they call me back and said they see what I was talking about so I had to take back for tire rotation. My rims werent damaged but they had black smears all the way around from maybe a rubber coated tool and a valve stem cap was missing. The time before i had grease streak fixed and the mech had tools all over my front seat. Ive had it with these idiots, ready to sale car and tell nissan they need to sale out to Kia.

 

If Nissan North America is concern about something, it is with the legal tender. Even if you count all the different people posting on this issue here and other places I'm sure it doesn't approach the number of 350Z already produced. Say maybe a tenth of all 350Z produced are actively seeking resolution of this more general suspension problem that manifests itself via tire wear (feathering) and drive quality (bounce). Just think some of us have quite a high mileage but I am sure most are lower mileage and in June/July the 12 month /12 k miles adjustment period will be over and every month more 350Z will be over this milestone.

I do believe that this part of the warranty is what NNA is waiting for. If I read the warranty booklet included with my car, an not the one on Nissan's website, this 12 month/12k miles is the end of the "adjustment" part of the warranty. Wheel alignment is considered an adjustment.

I came across this distinction with a Solora, basic warranty is 36 months/ 36k miles bumper to bumper, however this does not included "adjustments". "Adjustments" are cover only for 12 months/ 12k miles. Neither the dealer or district Toyota service manager would waive this "gotcha" even thou I was just past the 12k miles, around 100 plus miles. This lesson cost me the price of an alignment.

This is different if a part fails under warranty and the replacement of the part requires an alignment. Say the tie rod end or damper fails and as part of the replacement procedure defined by NNA an alignment is required then that alignment will be covered.

I may be wrong, hope I am, but double check warranty for distinction of an"adjustment" phase.

 

I have been trying to read this post from the beginning because I think this is the same problem that I have. I brought my car in to the dealership twice already for this. The symptom is, the car is pulling to the right when I'm stopping. The first time they said that they fixed the allignment, nope. I was still having the same problem. I brought it in the second time with the same problem. The tech said that "due to the large size of the tire, when I'm stoping it automatically gets in the crevises of the road therefore causing this pull to the right." My knowledge is limited to this therefore I couldn't really argue my case inteligently even though I knew there is a problem. So, I'm monitoring it closely and try to find similar cases on this forum, which I did. So is it a safe bet to say that this is my problem? I'm going to visually check my tires this afternoon and hopefully I can see what you all have been describing.