Just got back from Mexico so I have been going through Z withdrawals. It is no fair to be stuck in some shi%$y taxi and being drove around by some maniac. Those cabbies are crazy in Mexico.

Drove the car for the first time in a week and boy it was nice. I need to double check but I am nearly 5000 miles on my new aligment and she is showing no signs of wear. I do have a slight pull to the right but not to bad. When I get caught up I will arrange to meet my SM for a chat and inspection.

 

1700 miles after Eibachs and I'm now seeing the first signs of feathering on the inside front tires. Perhaps Ezchief's toe-in of .07 per side is the answer?


For people with NON OEM TIRES, do you have the feathering problem?


Vance

 

I'm not sure if he is watching this thread so I will speak for him. There is a guy here in town that is seeing feathering on his Toyos after 4000 miles or so.

 

My wife and I were there - my car was parked about 50 feet down from the one with the dealer sign on it - there were a couple of 280z's in the way. Most of the people I knew didn't show up Friday night, but were there at the track (big disappointment) on Saturday.

 

NNA just responded to our Lemon Law buy back letter.
The Customer service rep wanted to set up a final repair attempt for the second set of feathered tires. He said he was sending in local rep to look at the tires. I told him that I wanted this inspection to happen as quickly as possible because I am worried about the condition of the tires.
The Z is my wifes car and I am concerned with her safety,since this was the second set of tires and they started making noise and wearing abnormal only after 2000 miles . The total miles on the car are 10500. The second set of tires have about 6000 miles on them.
The customer affairs person suddenly got nasty and said there were no problems with our tires according to the dealer. We had nothing to worry about and this was not a safety issue. He said it was NORMAL for the Z to need front tires every 5-7,000 miles. I then said why did you put on a set under warrenty at 5000mi if it was concidered to be normal wear?

It looks like we have a fight on our hands

 

Just got off the phone with Motor Trend's Jeff Bartlett Online Editorial Director. It seems that there are fellow 350Z owners who have already contacted him about the issue with our tires cupping. He is begining to look into the issue and plans to publish a letter that will communicate our issue in Motor Trend Magazine as well as publish it online. Please call him if you are having this issue with your tires.

Jeff Bartlett or Chris Walton 323/782-2188. The more peolple he hears from the more power we will have.

 

It will be interesting to see if a magazine will say negative things about the Z...I just keep reading about the good things in every single article...like a year straight of oohing and awwing

 

Tell him to check with the NHTSA (?). I and others posted our concerns on line and he can pull those up rather easily. It would be easier if I had his e-mail. Do you know it Kawata?

Thanks,

 

Had major tire feathering with the Bridgestones. Got the Nismo g-Attack suspension, and Toyo tires. No sign of feathering after a few thousand miles.

 

alex30327,

What was the front toe-in from your latest alignment?

thanks,

Vance

 

I just ran into this issue with my Z at 7000k; they swapped side to side tires, have to get an alignment. Sorry if you've already posted this, but do you have details on your alignment?

Mine pulls to the right slightly, too.

SteveZ

 

About a month ago, I started noticing the Unusual road noise, and I just find out about couple days ago, that my 2 front tires are feathering as well! I knew this issue exist before I bought my Z, I even had a alignment doen around 2000 miles. so far, my Z only has 8000 miles, and it was built on 02/23/03. I'm also noticing my brakes are squeaking a low speed!!! I did check the pads, it doesn;t look like it's worn out or anything? If I knew I'm going to have all this problem, I would of wait until 04 or 05 to get the Z, maybe I'll have less problem by then! I've already call up the NNA, and file a claim! and I'm going to take the car in next week to find out what can they do with the feathering and the brake noise!!

 

I've also had a tire place to swap my tires about 3 weeks ago, and at first it seem like the noise went away a little, then it all came back and even worst!!! so, obvious that is not the solution!!

 

Steve,

Look back at page 14 or 15 of this thread. You will see my Hunter sheet and specs their.

ez

 

Aren't our tires directional? Swapping tires would make them point the wrong way right?

 

When they say swapping they mean taking the actual tire off the rim, and sliding it over onto the other rim (keeping the tread going in the same direction)

A-------B ... Really you just remove A and B tires from the rim, and slide A to b and b to a, bad diagram sorry

 

Sorry about my ignorance, I see what you mean.

 

Well, swapping sides sure doesn't solve the problem, they did that to me and it got worse than before. I got new tires on Tuesday, but I'm hoping Nissan comes up with a solution before I hit the next 6k miles and get the problem again...

 

For all of you new to this extremely long thread. Nissan still doe NOT have a solution to this problem. The TSB is just a way in which Nissan can hold ALL of us 350Z owners at bay, while they determine what to do in each case.

Some owners have trouble even getting Nissan to authorize new tires. Most get the first set of tires easily, but then try and get a Second set of front tires after they wear out even faster than the first set and Nissan is VERY SLOW and RELUCTANT to return phone calls and the dealer is told NOTHING!
Thus, you are told to just wait. You are given NO other course of action!

I have taken my car in 5 times to deal with this cupping issue! I have called NNA mulitiple times with NO return calls!

My first set of tires started to cupp at about 6000 miles. I had the TSB applied where they swap the tires from right to left and different alignment spec applied, which does NOTHING.

Then I was given front tires about 2000 miles later and the alignment done again. Then 3000 miles later the tires started showing signs of cupping, but instead of on the inside tread blocks, it is now mostly on the outside tread blocks. I took my car in again and Nissan had them apply yet another alignment spec. It still has NOT fixed the problem!!!

The tires are getting worse and cupping is starting to show on the inside tread blocks. The dealer has asked Nissan to authorize new tires, but Nissan has not responded. It has been a month since the dealer requested new tires for my car and Nissan has done NOTHING!!!

 

i think we are being nissans guinea pigs.. they are trying to fix the problem it seems but using our cars as the test specimens