Perhaps their contract terms haven't been completed with Bridgestone yet? Other tires were substituted when supplies of the 040s ran low, but as soon as more were available, the 040s were still the replacements. Also, the problems started with the alignments being screwed up in the shipping process, not the tires. The tires are just not up to correcting the minute wear caused by the alignment being out of synch, because the tread is so soft, IMO. An out of alignment suspension and soft tires can be a recipe for disaster and thats what we seem to have here.

Nissan is not bearing the cost of all the replacements, its more likely Bridgestone is and the new cars will be in alignment for sure, so the Bridgestones will be continued and there's reason to believe they can recoup many of their losses by averaging them out over several years of Z production. Nissan has a muli-million $ contract with Nissan to supply tires for the Z. Such contracts are not voided easily, many have a penalty clause which would cost Nissan big bucks to cancel and its NOT cheaper to simply change to a new tire, unless Bridgestone agrees. Its not likely they will, until they can break even on their losses on the 040s.

Multi-million $ contracts can be extremely difficult to break, they can be modified after serious negociation between the attorneys for both sides and attorneys move very slowly when we are talking this kind of money. We could see a mid-year change of tires because the 040s are so demonized.

Of course a simple change of tires could be the solution, but contracts between multi-national Japanese corporations are a complex matter, and may have cultural implcations. Are they members of the same keretsu? Carlos Ghosn has downsized Nissan, but why would Nissan worry about customer complaints from such a small number of Z owners on a model which will sell 30,000 cars per year out of over 400,000 worldwide?

The fact is we are small potatoes in Nissan's stable and we will have to wait for a correction of the tire wear problem, unless someone here has better information, I think thats where we stand.

Boomer--

 

Guess you cannot put a price on Integrity; either you have it, or you don't. If you do have it, you may have to swallow your pride on occasion, ante up money or effort, etc.

If you do, you don't have to buy it and you do the right thing for your customers, even if it costs you.

If you don't, no amount of money will get it back.

Isn't that somewhat the lesson Nissan should have learned from the ashes they rose out of in the mid-90's?

The 040's may not help matters, but if a proper alignment won't fix things, no tire will survive the kind of wear I'm seeing more than ~10k before it becomes a safety hazard. Are they just hoping agressive driving will just wear out the other brands an we won't notice?

I think so - NNA seems to be banking on the numbers being uninformed, a bad bet these days IMHO.

 

I stated it was a " cheap " tire not in cost but in wear and handling capability . Your inference was incorrect . I hadn't heard of it when he mentioned it to me , so then his meaning was that its characteristics were considered compatible to the suspension setup by Nissan on the Z and it was configured into the suspension .That's all ! Chill out , life's too short !

 

I think NNA is just a pawn here. Corporate Nissan - i.e. Nissan Japan is making the cars, and is controlling the car content.
One possible reason Nissan is sticking with Bridgestone may be that they have a contract in place for the exclusive supply of these particular tires. To change would not only abrogate this agreement between big manufacturers, but possibly Nissan has already looked at all their suppliers and found there is not a adequate supply of an alternative tire brand for the specific sizes needed for this automobile.
New Z's are still coming with Bridgestone because that is who Nissan has contracted with for supplies of Z tires. To break this agreement and order say, Michelins, would cost Nissan the kinds of dollars (or yen in this case) that is magnitudes more than buying back cars or replacing tires IMO.
The statements above are just my opinion, not fact. Just a hypothesis on my part of the relationships among big manufacturers.

 

Has anybody tried showing all this to BRIDGESTONE?!?!? If NNA is stuck with a contract to them, then Bridgestone should be the one to blame (actually, both of them, I'm not deffending NNA). They should know about us dissatisfied customers and the crapp-@ss tire they make.

 

A number of people were sent to Bridgstone initially by the dealers. They were told it was not the tire. It is the big corporate kiss off from both of these companies.

 

Has anyone heard anything new about the "updated/new" tires we're supposed to get to replace these originals?

It's been almost a month since my dealer told me this.



PS: New trans. is 100% without any grinding what-so-ever after 4 weeks and 1500 miles

 

The post Boomer made rings a bell about why a tire was chosen and with the 040 it was because testers said it had a better turn in and this is corporate where ALL the final decisions are made.

I came from an S2000 and guess what, there are two OEM S02 tires of the same size. One Porsche and one Honda. The story is magazine guys were invited to drive the pre production models which had the Porsche tires and they said the turn in was not good. Thus was born the tire they still use which has narrower channels on the rear .

Thepoint I am trying to make is that they went for dry weather performance period.

For what ever reason I think the Japanese have been sold by Bridgestone that the 040 is a good tire. Why else would the Honda NSX and Lexus use them

Tires and radios have never been the strong suit from Japan. Guess what the two main complaints are on the 350Z

 

Just the front two. I still have RE040's on the rear. I'll upgrade to the S03's when these get closer to wearing out. (shouldn't take that long if I keep hitting the drag strip on factory rubber.)


It's not really a problem to mix the front and rears. they are still factory OEM size, and they are radials. It is a different tread pattern, but both tires are listed as "performance" tires.

 

Going to pick up my car this afternoon after alignment - interesting piece of info from the service manager - RECALL.
Could not give me any details or when, but indicated parts were involved, did not have then yet (again zero details), stated Nissan was aware of the problem, had a "fix" in the works, and would also be "taking care of me" for the wear on the tires. They already knew the TSB deal, obviously were aware of the problem.

How's that for rumour and conjecture? Just kidding - seriously, the dealership where I took the car is rock-solid for service and the mgr. just couldn't tell me what Nissan is doing, other than they are doing something - very soon. As much as I want details, that's the first time I've heard "RECALL" in association with the problem from anyone even remotely connected to Nissan.

Reason for optimism...but it sounds like for a range of cars at least, alignment alone won't correct the problem - not if Nissan has something else in mind that involves parts.

 

Buy on news. Sell on the rumour. Steve, maybe no electricity is impacting the dealers brain? J/K

Hope it is true!

 

Well you can add my name to the list (;<).

I just had to take my 350Z in to get the front end aligned and tires swapped. I have been following this thread for months hoping that it would not hit me but it eventually did. I took possesion of my car on 12/30/02 but I do not know the build date. I have just over 6200 miles on it and the tires are feathering on the in side and starting to growl when stopping.

When I took it in at lunch time today the SM did not in blink and eye. He just asked if I could wait or not, and said that they ( Weston Nissan, Weston FL. ) have had to do this on EVERY 350Z they have sold even though the JIN numbers are not within the TSB stated range.

 

Something is brewing. I have been the poster boy for the tire feathering issue. My vin # is 3375. My tires started unusual wear at 3000 miles. Took the car to the dealer for original TSB tire rotation/swap and alignment. Tires started feathering on the other side 1500 miles later. Took car back to dealer. Dealer told me this was normal. Have a good day. Opened case with NNA. After much back and forth with NNA and dealer, front tires were replaced at 7000 miles. 10,000 miles, tires feathering again. Took car to dealer who says nothing is wrong that the tires were just underinflated.
Started investigating the VA Lemon Law. Figure I got a good case but I need to give the dealer a couple of more opportunities to fix the problem. 11,000 miles, took the car back to the dealer. This time totally different story. The service department said there was definitely a problem with the tires and Nissan was aware of it. He could not apologize enough for the trouble I had been through. He didn't know what to do at this point and had notified Nissan. He has now ask me if they could keep the car for a few days while Nissan decides what to do. This is a complete turnaround from the behavior I was getting from Nissan before. I hope this is a good sign.

 

Well, I noticed the only people complaining about the feathering now are people who have less than 13000 miles! Guess what, I have surpassed that and have found out that the warranty work for alignments and such stop at 12500! I guess now I don't even have a case to argue! They seem to just let it fly the closer you get to that milage! I have a file with NNA and have a sucky dealer who is only worried about the dollars. When I get done with the suspention now, it won't have a nissan part on it! Not even a washer!


calvin
ss, 6mt, touring

 

Yeah, that's basically what I'm seeing - more a change in attitude and admitting they are aware of the problem and claim to be taking action to address it (beyond the TSB). My SM flatly stated the swap and alignment would not address the problem, and more work (involving these myterious "parts") would be needed, I have to bring the car back again, sorry for the inconvenience, etc.

 

I just my car back for getting the alignment and tire swap done and I am not a happy camper to say the least.

I requested before and after Vehicle Reports but only got the After reports but even then it is not good. It does show a Initial values column but it was printed after the work was done.

Both the Caster and Camber are out of Nissan Specs and non-adjustable. I have the Nissan Spec sheet if anyone is interested.

Front Degrees Spec
Caster - Left = 9.21 7.58 to 8.92
Right = 8.58

Camber - Left = -0.87 -1.33 to 0.17
Right = -1.13

Toe-in - Left = 0.04 0.0 to 0.08
Right = 0.04

Rear -1.33 to 0.17
Camber - Left = -1.46
Right = -1.50

0.008 to 0.071
Toe-in - Left = 0.04
- Right = 0.02


These numbers are after the alignment and the Front Caster and Rear Camber are totally hosed. The SM says there is nothing they can do about it. My old Z had serious Camber problem and wore the tires out on the inside and somehow I am going to get this one corrected.

I guess it might time to open a case with NNA to get it on record that I am having problems that are not being totally resolved.

Does any one know of the Inifinity G35 owners are having the same problems?

 

Forget everything I posted before.

Just got a call from the dealer saying come pick up your car.


I ask him what they had found out from Nissan regarding a fix and he said he didn't know what I was talking about. In total contadiction from what they had told me yesterday he said they couldn't find any thing wrong the tires. I explained the conversation I had with a different Service Manager the previous day and he disavowed any knowledge of any conversation. (the other guy was conveniently off today).

I surmize that Nissan told them to tell me to go away.

Anyway, I refused to pick up the car until the problem was resolved. This time he said he would have to talk to the guy I had talked to yesterday before going any further.

I have suddenly got the energy to fight these people. In my case they will either address the problem and come up with a suitable solution or I will file the VA Lemon Law demanding full compensation. They've got one week.

 

I am dealing with a super dealership (Team Nissan, Marietta) and a super Service Manager. The SM told me that there is a problem and the alignment and tire swapping is a temporary fix at best. He said Nissan is aware of the problem. He has never said recall, but there are too many of us with the problem. I had feathering on the outside at 1300 and the car was aligned.
Now at 7000 miles the alignment is holding with no feathering on the inside or outside. I plan on stopping into the dealership tomorrow to drop off parts of this thread which the SM said he wanted to see. I will ask him if he has heard of anything and report back.

 

Uh oh. The switcheroo on you may have been a legal filing of some sort or the car media has begun to ask lots of questions. If true, we may have lost an opportunity to get a "fix" w/o a bigger snafu than we have now. When I hear an aboutface like you described, many times legal has said, "say nothing, admit nothing, we'll handle it now. S**t, I hope I'm wrong, but it sounds/smells bad.

 

I've been following this incredible thread for long time. I have serious growling that started at 3k, aligned at 5k (no improvement), and currently have 12k. At 11k, took Z back...dealer will install parts and tires when they arrive.
I received an interesting postcard several days after my last visit to the dealer:

"We are selling more used cars than ever before. This has left us with a dire need to place several quality used cars back into our inventory for immediate resale. (yea right) Your 2003 350Z has been identified as meeting our stringent BUY BACK criteria. Therefore, as a VALUED CUSTOMER, we would like to offer you this incredible opportunity! Come into our showroom within the next TWO WEEKS with this postcard and we will buy back your vehicle for $1000 over NADA Loan Value AND upgrade you to something new and with lower maintenance that fits your budget!"
Postcard includes the normal fine print about deductions in value due to reconditionaling cost, mileage etc.

Is anyone else receiving this offer? I'm not optimistic that a solution will be provide by Nissan, but baffled why they would put the Z's reputation at risk.