Boomer

OK, thanks for the update, Rob.

RobJames

I know Bob Isam from the Oklahoma Z Car Club I was in a few years back with my 93 tt. I think he has been owning and working on Zs as his hobby and job his whole life. Now, he's the lead Nissan mechanic at Jackie Cooper in Tulsa I'll try to see if I can talk to him about this issue in depth, and if I can understand anything technical that he says, I'll try to relay his opinions about cause and possible solutions to the thread.

JimH

Boomer, Not that it will help the front tire issue we have all fought with, but the rear camber is adjustable and perhaps that is what Rob heard them talk about. Regards, Jim

Vincey2kr1

Well its been a rough day of going back and forth between NIssan dealership, Nissan headquarters and Bridgestone and Yet i have anything to get accomplished. I went to 3 Bridgestone reps and all put in writing that "I do not have a defected tire, caused by mechanical wear/alighnment."The will not replace my tires because the feathering problem will just reappear. The NIssan dealership refused to put my car on the alignment machine because it was not pulling left or right, so there service tech believes its not an alignment problem, its a "tire problem". I called NIssan customer satisfaction #(1800nisssan1)(some ignorant Judy lady) and I have gotten no were, they refuse to replace my tires because Nissan does not warranty tires, it is done through the tire manufacturer and that my car is within NIssan specifications. I had one of the bridgestone dealers put the car on the alignment machine and gave the #'s to Nissan, according to them they are within specs. I'm tired of this dealership and I guess I'll move to the next one, sounds like Rob your having better luck with the Tulsa dealership I'm about a 2hour drive from there.. sooo I'll be giving them a try. Is there anything I can do from here?? Obviously its the car, NIssan will not stand behind there product wich is down right shameful.

RobJames

That is awful that you can't even get them to put it on the machine to test the alignment. The TSB says that if you have the roaring symptoms, they are supposed to at least swap the tires on the front rims and rotate, and align and balance. Did you give them the TSB number? Wow, what a crock. If I get satisfaction today, I'll tell Jackie Cooper I'm sending them another customer. Of course, I think we are all going to have to get new tires again eventually, along with some kind of camber adjustment in the future.

Boomer

I've been in conversation with Gordon, from Koni, and he says their replacement shocks make a world of difference even w/o changing the springs, that the bounce and harshness is almost completely gone. This has been my experience over the years, to replace shocks, when the OEs wore out or before, and having a positive transformation in the ride.

Be advised, I am speaking about a big change as a daily driver, not for for track or strip, and daily driver is all I am interested in. I don't have to change my ride height if I just change shocks, and most premium shocks should do the job, IMO.

Fortunately for me, I don't have to use the Z at all, or minimally, until premium shocks are available since I am retired and we have 2 cars. I shouldn't have to do this for OE shocks or tires, but w/o a fix from Nissan, I have no choice. I will continue to demand that Nissan stand behind their warranty, but I strongly doubt they will do so, unless they replace either refurbished shocks or springs for the OE units.

BTW, I have seen camber kits advertised by 2 companies for our cars. One is Avalon Racing, but I have forgotten the other, sorry to say. If the aftermarket can find a fix, why not Nissan?

droideka

My friends,

If you have truly reached your limits, please visit this thread and voice your opinion.

k27

see "cupping". In my opinion this is the same cause as the poor ride, the shocks are not correctly matched to the springs .

http://www.autoshop-online.com/cchtml/tire.wr.prob.html

Vincey2kr1

Here's my vehicle alignment report,

"MY 350Z vin#877" "NIssan Specs"
Front Caster: Left 8.7(degrees) 7.42 to 8.92(degrees) +- .75
Right 8.5
Camber: Left -1.0 -1.33 to 1.7(degrees) +-.75
Right -1.2
Toe: Left 0.0
Right 0.0
Total Toe: -0.05 0.0 to 0.8(degrees)

Alright so everything seems to be correct according to NIssan Specifications except my Total Toe at -0.05 degrees, it need to be pointing inwards more at 0.0 to 0.8 degrees. I talked to a repuatable alignment shop and he says I do have a case, the total toe is out of specification but barely. The dumb service manager at Davis Moore NIssan(Wichita) explained to me that it was in spec, I told him it wasn't, not according to him. I faxed the spec sheet to NIssan NOrth America(STeven) explaining that my total front toe was out of spec, and that they owe me some new tires. I haven't received a return phone call but will be getting to him tommorrow. I gave him this website address, so hopefully he knows that this is a common problem on the Z by actually coming here and reading up. NIssan needs to fix this, wondering if anyone has gotten any further with it being a liability.. I'm not sure how safe feathering front tires are? If it becomes a safety issue Its quite possible that Nissan will respond faster with a solution.

P.S. I stayed in the Double Tree in Richardson(Dallas, Texas) this weekend and happen to see another silverstone 350z with Colorado tags, checked his tires and he's getting the same feathering. Didn't get a chance to talk to the owner.

WashUJon

As far as the safety issue, file a complaint with the NHTSA. They will look into it if enough people complain. I started a thread in this forum regarding filing a complaint with them.

Please file a complaint with the NHTSA through this thread and link, if you haven't already. It absolutely can't help to voice your concern that this might be a safety issue. It may very well help this situation!

https://my350z.com/forum/showthread....threadid=23608

Grey Matter

Does anyone have a copy of the TSB that they can post? It would be easier to show my dealer a copy of the TSB rather then just the information.

jelledge

Okay I called my Nissan dealer and got the spring part numbers and dates they were used on production vehicles. My next venture is get Nissan to tell me what the differences are....

Front Springs
June 2002 - December 2002 = 54010-CD002
Decemeber 2002 - Present = 54010-CD003

Rear Springs
June 2002 - May 2003 = 55020-CD010
As of May 2003 = 55020-AM810

So Nissan changed something in the front spring in December
and the rear spring is changing in May. What the hell.

I will hound Nissan for this information about what the difference are.

RobJames

Good work. I got mine back on Friday with the tire swap and alignment. I couldn't talk to the mechanic and they didn't give me the alignment numbers, so I didn't learn squat, except that the service writer told me that this isn't going to fix the problem and that Nissan is just buying time until they can figure out how to fix the problem. He is supposedly trying to get authority from NNA to order my new tires. I am concerned that they didn't even get the tires swapped. I know they took the tires off the rims because the rims are scratched up from both the lugs and the seal breaker. You can imagine how happy I am about that, but they are pretty minor and it is hard to decide what is really worth bitching over now. However, the worse feathered part of the tires is still on the inside of each tire. Furthermore, I am concerned that they took off the balancing weights from both wheels, but they didn't put any replacements in there. I know they both could be perfectly balanced, but that seems a little unlikely or at least worrisome. Whatever they did, it didn't stop the roar at all. If anything, it is worse now than it was before I took it in. I didn't get the service and info I expected from my dealer.

RobJames

I just talked to the service advisor. NNA has approved my new tires, but told him they needed to be put on before 12,000 miles. I now have a little over 8000 miles. Any idea why they would make this requirement. The advisor told me that Nissan will probably get a fix in a month or two, but that the car is going to have road noise once there is cupping no matter what they do so far as swap, alignment, etc. Of course this will stop once I get the new tires. I asked him what happens when my new tires start cupping before NNA gets a fix, and he said "Rob, this isn't a very good answer, but I'll just have to cross that road when I get to it, nothing else I can do from here." If I knew of an absolute fix for this (change springs, camber kit, etc.) I would consider fixing it to avoid maybe running out the warranty with 3 sets of new tires and no fix for the cause of the problem. Keep digging Jelledge.

Hey, what happened to all of the early guys having this problem that were responding on this thread early on? Did they all get new tires and are now just waiting for the problem to start again, or did they get it fixed?

jelledge

Quoted from my earlier message:
"Okay I called my Nissan dealer and got the spring part numbers and dates they were used on production vehicles. My next venture is get Nissan to tell me what the differences are....

Front Springs
June 2002 - December 2002 = 54010-CD002
Decemeber 2002 - Present = 54010-CD003

Rear Springs
June 2002 - May 2003 = 55020-CD010
As of May 2003 = 55020-AM810

So Nissan changed something in the front spring in December
and the rear spring is changing in May. What the hell.

I will hound Nissan for this information about what the difference are."


OK so just found out that Nissan changed the part number for the front springs again:

Correct current part # for front springs : 54010-CD001

old part # 1 54010-CD002
old part # 2 54010-CD003

Right now I have request in to Nissan, and 2 dealers for information on the springs.

jason

JimH

Rob, Interesting story they gave you on the mileage parameters for tire replacement. They exchanged mine a week or so back at 15,400 miles and no mention of any mileage cap. They wanted the old tires as it is a warranty adjustment and they "want to examine them back in Japan." Regards, Jim

aggie300zx

I received a call from my dealer yesterday saying they were getting final approval from Nissan to replace my front two tires as well. I like many others are hoping the spring issue gets replaced soon or these new tires will be toast in due time.

chrismcm

What dealer is doing your service and how many miles do you have on your tires? Nissan is not willing to replace my tires even though they are feathered and are making plenty of noise.

aggie300zx

I'm using Bankston of Dallas. I have been in for service at least 8 times since I got this car and only after I brought Nissan into the mix have things started to change. Now my service rep is calling me for stuff. Amazing! Well I think it comes down to how much the dealer pushes Nissan and how much you push Nissan on having them replaced. Persistency sadly enough is the name of the game with car issues.

Vincey2kr1

I still have yet to recieve a call from NIssan after I sent them a fax of my misaligned Z(total toe was out by -.05) on Friday. I have tried to get in touch with them the last 2 days and I'm getting the run around from STeven at Nissan NA. I filed a complaint to the NHSA (think thats right). SEems like STeven is in charge of the 350Z project and I get the vibe that he knows that if my front tires are replaced they will end up feathering again. No one at NIssan NOrth america will deal with my issue(none of the other techs), this is certainly a quality issue with the car and I'm sure the hell not pleased the way NIssan has dealt with it. I'm sad to say I'm getting rid of my car.