Boomer:
I did not want to take the chance and filed for the Lemon Law in Ga today. I agree with you that Nissan (my dealer is wonderful) is not handling this well. I was willing to risk it, but spoke to my Nissan rep in NNA on Monday and was totally bummed by the answers I received to some very basic customer service specific questions. That was the straw for (that and the fact they replaced my tires on friday, and was told that the replacment corrected the problem)

I am not sure how many Z owners are out there and do not even look at their tires.
I was in Fort Lauderdale on Monday and saw a Z in the aprking lot. I went over and looked at the tires. I was amazed how feathered they were on the outside, they looked terrible.
I love this car. I understand that first year models have problems, but this is going on over a year at this point with no end in sight! I needed to protect myself!

 

Lew, you have to do what makes you comfortable. I've been dealing with this for over a year and it is a dilemma that I've run hot and cold on numerous times. It is depressing to hear about all the cupping problems other drivers continue to have and worry about when my number comes up AGAIN!

Your conversation with what passes for Customer Service at NNA was not surprising to me. I read a quote from Carlos Ghosn a couple of months ago, here or in one of my car mags, I take 8 or 9, plus Autoweek. He said, "In downsizing Nissan employees, many management personnel took advantage of incentives to retire and along with attrition, Nissan is now trying very hard to train new management for the company, but they were about a year away from having the full complement of management employees(paraphrased) adequate to manage the company".

I was chagrined to read to read this admission, it strains my loyalty to Nissan for the near future, if not the long run. One of the previous posters on this thread had sage advice, we need to learn how to fix our cars ourselves if we want to keep them. I am still waiting for my front tires to start cupping and hoping they won't, but I will change to adjustable struts with less initial compression and more rebound control when they are available. If my front tires begin to cup beyond a reasonable number of miles for a sports car, I will buy a set of adjustable upper control arms to change camber. Caster may not be a problem with these changes.?

This will be a touring setup, not a track, and I'm OK with that, let others have the track setup, which is essentially the stock one, IMO. This is what I thought I was buying, a Touring/Frost Leather/5AT. I won't pretend I'm happy with Nissan, I'm not, a lot of us are screwed from their bungle. I don't believe they hit the correct consumer base with this setup, not at 30,000 cars per year. I think they hit the S2000 segment, and not the daily drivers who comprise the bulk of 350Z buyers.

The World-wide change to the Euro suspension in the 2004s are who they should have been marketing to from the beginning and the proof is the Europeans based their need for changes from this and other 350Z sites in the U.S.! What irony, and we have to pay to get what many of us wanted to begin with; my $35K car becomes a $37K+ Tourer. Ah, well, live and learn.

 

Seems like a failure to communicate. Bridgestone makes Potenzas, not Goodyear.

 

VIN #010941, Built in 11/02. Started to feather inside of front tires at 6K miles, and it got only worse afterall. Now at 8054 miles, dropped my car at the dealer in Bloomington, IN. I told the service rep about the TSB, which is simply a temporary band-aid, and told him that tires would have to be replaced eventually, but he seemed to be hesitating to step ahead and do so. This is the only dealer in my town and I didn't even buy my car in this dealer(bought my car in Collins Nissan in Indianapolis), so I tried to be nice at the first time and let them do the TSB even though I knew it won't cure the problem. I'll call NNA and file a complaint about tire feathering issue, and I'll just drive around about 1000 miles after TSB is done and by the time the noise come back(or only slight signs of coming back, which will obviously), I will call back NNA and demand a new tires and a permeanent fix for this problem (I know they aren't getting out the solution even though it's been almost about an year since the problem occured, but just trying to give them a little more hassle ) If the problem persists after the replcement of tires, I will file the Lemon Law suit like many of others in this forum did.

 

I was bringing it in to Goodyear because they are a tire company close to my residence. The reason I'm bringing it to them is for them to simply ASSESS the condition of the tires.

 

I see.

 

Boomer:
Appreciate the response. Believe it or not, I have received three personal calls from folks on this thread that have gone the Lemon Law route.
I read your reply and I am amazed what a loyal folllowing Nissan has out there. Here you are "rebuilding" your front end suspension to make up for a poorly designed auto. I really would like to believe that Nissan will fix this situation and that the feathering/cupping is a first year problem. It will be interesting to see if the '04's have the same condition.
There is not a doubt in my mind that the trades will start publishing the issues we have had and that may force Nissan to admit problems exist and publicly commit to a fix.
Talk to you soon!
Lew

 

mine is an 04 ZR, just got new Michelin sports from dealer under warranty @3500.

 

Reluctantly, I've decided not to file another NHTSA report for the accident.

1. It was 47 degrees the when it happened.

2. It was raining, it was early in the morning, I was grogy. I was exceeding the speed limit (this seems to happen an awful lot).

3. My dealer had previously 'warned' me that the tires had low tread. I'm sure this would be their 'out'.

4. I can not afford to loose my insurance. In my state, the insurance industry is all powerful. In the few scrimmages I've had with them, I've always lost.

 

Can someone who got the dealer to replace their tires with Michelins please document what happened step by step that resulted in you getting your tires replaced with Michelins. I want a set of Michelins. I now have only 800 miles on my Z and I want to handle this so I win and the dealer does not snow me when my tires start feathering/cupping (which it sounds like they all do). Thanks, just looking for a users guy for the Michelin tire outcome.

 

From what you are saying, I agree with your decision. Your dealer warned you is a case killer. I don't believe you would have a chance. Insurance is a major factor and fixing your car out of your pocket probaby will save you money in the long run. I've been on high-risk insurance, it was a long time ago and it was an enormous chunk of my spendable income until I could get back to "normal" insurance.

 

Dropped the Z off this morning for (4) new Bridgestone's covered under warranty. I first reported the problem at 5k and they're replacing the tires at 10k. NNA authorized the replacement.

Also, I showed the service mgr the "clicking" sound from the right rear when I go in reverse with my Touring AT. He feels it's the trany..... So just add one more problem to my laundry list:

1)Greese on both windows - fixed - window rattle fixed after 1st fix...
2)Alignment problems - sorta fixed
3)Right control arm - fixed now have "popping" sound when turning the wheel...
4)tires are feathered - being replaced today
5)Tranny clunk/click - being looked at today
6)Bose - amp being order - have to return again.


This would make the 7th time I've been in for service for a variety of problems......

To me it's starting to feel like a "High" maintence girlfriend.....

 

I'd like to get a set of Michelin's also. I don't want the dealership scraping my rims to swap tires, then scraping them again in a few thousand miles to put new tires on. Neither of which will fix the problem. I still think it is a combination of suspension and tires, but Michelin's and S03's seem to fix the problem.

 

I need the TSB 03-006. Can someone e-mail it to me or give me a link? My dealer is contesting that I caused the toe-out and wants to charge me for an alignment. They are not even aware of the Bose recalls. Real a**holes.

 

Here you go:
http://www.nissan-techinfo.com/nissa...5.asp?mscssid=

Good luck!

 

kbsig,

The clicking noise is most likely what I had. It is the rear axle not torqued down enough from factory. If they have questions, have them call Bankston Nissan Dallas. They fixed mine a few months ago.

 

I too had the clicking noise coming from the right rear axle and the dealer did re-torque the rear axle. It seems to be not as bad but every once in a while I still hear the "creaking sounds" just not as consistant as it was before.

Ian

 

I had the same problem ( clicking ) but believe it ot it was a loose brake caliper. It seems the calipers are not even torqued to the proper setting and I was lucky mine did not fall off.

 

That's what the problem was - so they re-torqued the back end and now I just have that every-once-in-awhile creaking sound. They went to replace my RE04's and come to find out either the dealer ordered the wrong size or NNA sent them the wrong size. Either way, my over all trip was wasted because I have to return to the dealership AGAIN to have the new tires put on...


I almost had a melt-down right there in the service dept when they informed me the wrong tires were sent.... This is stupid.

 

Lets get the media involved.. send your story to (CNN)Public.Information@turner.com.