Add one more to the list. I thought I was going to get away without the front tire problem. But, at about 6800 miles now, my front tires are roaring like off-road tires between 20 and 25 mph. They have the same inside wear problem everyone else is complaining about. My Z was built in April 2003. I'm going to try and take it to the dealer next weekend. We'll see if they have anything new to say.

 

Just get your frontend alined to spec, have them order you front tires, and your good to go.

 

Facts:

1. Some of our cars are responding to alignment:

A. Originally posted by droideka The wear problem on the inside of the tire is cupping and is caused by too much toe-out. Period. Once I had my toe-out corrected way back when, I've NEVER experienced cupping ever again. Yes, I'm the one who started the "feathering" thread and mistakenly called cupping "feathering". I was mis-informed.

Feathering occurs with too much toe-in and will shread a tire in two-thousand miles depending on the severity of toe-in. Feathering helped me destroy 5 sets of tires this year due to my dealer's FAULTY alignment machine.

B. Droid is not alone! My problem was also resolved through alignment at 13K miles. I put on another 6K miles on my replacement RE040s with NO recurrence of feathering. Since then, I swapped all four tires and wheels and put on another 7K miles with no recurrence of feathering.

2. Facts: Some of our cars are not responding to alignment:

A. This theory has been out there since the very begining of the problem, however, there are a couple of stumbling blocks. First of all ask yourself how the suspension would be damaged? It would be damaged by bending the components would it not? And if the components were deformed then this damage would become readily apparent once the vehicle was put on an alignment rack would it not? So we are back to the Nissan proposition that their own dealer network in the US is incapable of operating alignment equipment. Mine has eaten 3 sets of tires in 12,000 miles, by the way. The alignment has been checked at several different dealers and the numbers are nearly identical and all within factory specs. So where is the damage? I do agree with your conclusion though. They are going to end up buying back alot of cars if they don't. I looked this up on the FL AG's website, by the way. Only two 350's repurchased so far in FL to date, however, we have a 2 year window here.


Theory:

It is possible that many of our cars had their alignment damaged in transit, some more than others. Proper alignment specs can be achieved even if there is major damage to suspension components. Bent or damaged suspension components can be very hard to detect by visual inspection.

Talk to someone who owns a car that has been repaired after a collision involving the front end. Abnormal tire wear will occur even after proper alignment specifications are met.

I believe that Nissan is well aware that many of our Z’s have suspension damage that occurred in transit. Now they have the problem of trying to determine which cars need to have suspension components replaced and which cars will only need alignment adjustments. In both of these cases tires have been ruined and will require replacement. This will be a very expensive and tortuous exercise for them. They can only hope that owners will accept the rapid tire wear and attendant noise.


Fact:

Even Consumer Reports has mentioned this tire noise problem and is still giving the Z a “Best Buy Recommendation”.

 

Yeah right...thousands of cars are shipped over on boats and only the Z has mysterious suspension damage? You're fooling yourself if you think the Zs are being damaged in transit...Even the 2004s are showing it now...Still the shipping problem? Or is it an inherant problem to the car? Why the new version of the suspension being fitted to the 2004s? Is it so hard to believe that some component (ie. shock rates, castor setting etc), has been the issue all along and not some wild bent in transit theory??
Folks have been driving for thousands of miles and can't feel any alignment problems and then the feathering occurs...Does that really sound logical to the damaged suspension theory? My friends you'd be fighting the wheel with both hands if you had real damage to your suspension...none of this "man it was fine for 8000 miles then Boom!!!"

Your answer is coming in the form of the redesigned 2004.5 suspension...(Unless of course that's really just a load of crap and nothing about the suspension has actually changed?!) I'm hoping for the former.

 

It is a load of crap, cause they never changed anything with the suspension. 03'/04'1/2

Get the alinement done right, and your CUPPING will be gone..
Quit trying to turn this into a faulty suspension problem, cause its not. My prelude has the same cupping problem but in the rear and 10 times worse, WHY? Cause the alinement is way out of wack. Had some idiot at alinement place do a 4 wheel alinement and they used factory wheel specs, and didnt think about that I had larger aftermarket rims. So now my ***** messed up.

 

Well my wife also drives my Z, and I asked her if she noticed that the steering wheel is alittle cocked to the right.. She said she didnt notice it. So I had to show her that the steering wheel was indeed cocked to the right(offcenter) Then she says "Oh, your right I didnt even notice"

My point being is, MOST people dont even know they have a alinement problem. And then 8000 miles hits and BOOM you have cupping....

 

I just had my alignment done about 500 miles ago and the tires swapped. I am already noticing the feathering on the inside, with only 500 miles. So what you are saying is that most Nissan Service departments can't align the car? Many of us have had the car aligned and see the problems come back.

 

Lets see, you first noticed you had cupping at 6500 miles(see SIG). You get the alignment done tires swapped, and notice it 500 miles after that.
Sounds like to me they Fuked up the alignment more then it already was.
And I am saying that MOST Nissan Service departments cant align the frontend, cause most dealerships have Junk alignment racks to began with.Do you think Nissan buys Dealerships State of the art alignment racks.. NO they dont buy them crap. So its up to the dealership to buy $100,000 plus laser alignment racks. Do you think most dealerships have these? No, they still have late 1970 style racks.. Hell my high school autoTech had better racks then most dealerships do...

 

I agree.

All Z’s would be having identical symptoms if this is a suspension design problem. I don’t think all Z owners have this complaint. It makes no sense to me that Nissan would knowingly continue to manufacture ship and sell cars with a flawed front suspension design. There is no doubt many of us have alignment problems resulting in abnormal cupping wear patterns on the front tires. These cars either left the assembly line out of alignment or had their alignment altered before we took delivery or we (owners) caused the problem after delivery. I know that my alignment problem occurred before I took delivery.

 

I would say, they left the assembly line that way.

 

Cotton Woodz
We have gone through two sets of fronts and now on our third set of front tires. The alignment was not done at the dealer because they have a crappy machine. The work was sub contracted out to a local tire store with a NEW Hunter machine.
Our car was with in spec when it was aligned both times and still destroyed two sets of front tires.
The theory that the alignment was in correct is BS. There is a range that is with in spec for these cars. NNA has released several NEW specs to try and cure this problem.
Most owners are reporting that there cars are with in NNA spec but still destroying front tires.
I am happy you are not having any problems if you think you can fix my car I will be happy to fly you to Japan to talk to the head engineers. They sure cant solve my problems.
We all appreciate your advice but it has not worked for many of us.

 

Maybe someone post this before, but just out of curiosity, does this tire feathering problem only happen on the 18" wheels/tires or both the 17" and 18"? Personally I've 18" Track Ed. wheels/tires (9,200 miles) and mine has feathering problem on the inner 2 front tires!

PS. I'm contacting my Nissan dealer this week.

 

BOTH.

 

I've got it on the 17"'s

 

Finally got to talk with Jaime from Nissan, we had been playing phone tag over the holiday.

I'm taking my car in next week (Dec 9th) for the Nissan engineers from Japan to look at it. I believe ezchief and I will both have our cars looked at that day.

Scott

 

I will be their Scott. HOpe to meet you when I drop it off in the AM.

Jim

 

Sounds good, I will probably try and get there to drop it off at 7:30am because I will need to get a rental car after that.

 

Sounds good to me. I am getting and Enterpise wreck, too. God let it be a Kia. Love that POS.

 

Curious to see what the engineers say........Have all of you used the same dealer to align your cars?

 

I used an independent my last alignment. That would be my 3rd I think.