I had my TSB alignment done at the dealership where the engineers will be looking at it. I also have the before and after printout of the alignment specs. Since then I have had an alignment done at a different dealership in the area.

 

Good I was hoping you all had different sources but the latest specs. By the way what are the latest alignment specs. Are they posted here? I will be having this done soon and I want to verify what the dealers using. Mention to the engineers we aren't happy that they build a car without camber adjustment. The only way to get it is aftermarket suspension pieces. Unbelievable. Tell them their stock shocks suck too!

 

I have a canadian car purchased in May of 2003. I definately have the front inner cupping problem. I now have 10k kiometers which is about 6.2k miles.

I started hearing a a wheel bearing type grind noise at low speeds about a month ago with about 5.5k miles on the odo that started becoming louder every week.

In order to not sour my experience with this car, I decided to stay away from the dealer untill a definit solution is avaialble. If you guys in the states think you have it bad, you don't even know how bad it is here in Canada. Not only do we have to deal with the same problems and system as you, we also have to fight stupid comments like "that TSB or problem doesn't exist sir, that is a US TSB", "yes but the US cars are different then here..." These were exact comments said by a Canadian Nissan rep to a 350z owner...

Because I am envolved in road-solo racing I know some decent "precision" oriented shops that are better at diagnosing these kinds of problems than any dealer.

So, I slapped on some snow tires today, I do my tire swaps at a tire\race-tire specialist.

1. They immediately noticed the inner cupping, even before the tires came off the car, I hadn't even said anything to them, they said its a moderate level of cupping for a car with this much mileage, suggested I swap sidewals next year, just as recommended by the TSB we see here.

2. With the new winter tires on, the car is quiet as a mouse. I had forgotten how quiet and peacefull the ride used to be, the noise must have gradually got louder...

3. I am going for an alignment tommorow, I always take my cars to a local race car alignment shop, they take the time to do it properly and match both sides... I would rather pay and get the alignment done properly.

I am going to try some addional toe-in then what's reccomended.

I beleive that should do the trick, if it doesn't then IMHO the problem is with rubber bushings or flex/wobble in the suspension that allows too much play/movement during straight line driving. This could be solved by stiffer, metal or poly bushings...

I guess I'll only know next year.

Some notes on the subject:
I have only 5/32nds of tread left on the inside of both my fronts while I have 9/32nds in the center and 7.5/32nds on the outside, clearly UNEVEN TIRE WEAR. But, accelerated inside tire wear for a car with front -1.5 negative camber is normal, the cupping however is not normal tire wear...

I believe the combination of the following will slow down the cupping process even though it might not eliminate it.
1. Increase tire pressures in the front, run about 38 psi cold. This puts more load on the center of the tire and decreases the load on the sides.
2. Increase tow-in. As was explained by a few members, during acceleration, and expecialy during hard acceleration, the front tires on a RWD tend to get pushed outwards, when you have a 0 toe situation, you will then get toe-out, this causes the front tires to partly get dragged on the inner sidewall.

Now I am not saying this is the solution to the problem, I believe this will help reduce the cupping. The reason(s) the cupping exists in the first place could be soft bushings that allow too much change in the suspension geometry undert acceleration, possibly causing even more tow-out. Since the 350z understeers so much in stock form, could be that Nissan implemented an unnecessary amount of negative front camber in order to reduce the understeer last minute. However, they have created this Monster tire cupping problem. They may have realised this too late and brought the car to market this way.

They are kind of stuck with the problem if this is the case. The solution to fixing this problem isn't simple, since if they reduce negative camber, the car will understeer too much once again. IMHO, this cars chassis is not designed with sports car in mind, it is shared with sedans and will be prone to push or understeer, Nissan probably tried to correct this with aggresive front camber but it had some side-effects. If this was the case, the solution would not be feasible due to cost $$. Lets not forget that the reason this car is so well priced is because its a parts-bin car that shares a lot of items including chassis and engine with family sedans and possibly, no matter what we do including swapping for stiffer bushings won't solve the problem completely, it might only reduce or delay it. If this was the case, only reducing front negative camber by buying adjustable components and more toe-in mightl but of course, that will come at the price of more understeer.

So what can we do until a solution, if possible, gets since we cannot adjust camber to help reduce this problem, we can only adjust whats possible which is toe.... Only time can tell what the real problem is. My bet is it's a combination of too much front camber and soft rubber bushings with too much play.

I wonder if anyone makes poly or metal bushings for our car yet?

Note: These are my opinions, I don't state these as fact neither do I claim to know everything.

Thank you for reading.

Sev

 

Another tire problem here. It started at about 5500 miles.

Dealer is looking at it tomorrow. It sounds like the problem isn't getting fixed in general...I'll give 'em their three tries and then its time to pursue the Lemon Law buyback. The service manager is already trying the angle that "you can't expect much more mileage than that out of those tires". ********! Three tries Nissan, that's all you get!

 

Aggie 300ZX,
I hope you and Easy Chief take away Nissan's bathroom privleges while they look at both cars until they find a fix. Don't care how many of us reply to each other on this web page, NNA has a problem and they need to address it. If they do not and word leaks out the value of these Z's will sink lower than whale turd

 

Sevs:
Nisaan should not have rushed the car to market. They know they have a problem and need to fix it!

 

Sad day today.Because of all the footdragging and excuses on Nissans part, I became totally frustrated with the B/S and excuses ,and sold the car back to the dealer I purchased it from last Sept.for 24K.I've lost all faith in Nissan, and honestly I fear they will not fix the problem and values will drop like a rock.I feel like my best friend has betrayed me. I sincerely wish the best for all of you and will keep in constant touch with this forum.I really hated to see it go(Silverstone/Performance).By far the best car I've ever owned, minus the feathering issue.Will forever have a special feeling for that beautiful machine. Wish you all the best and keep the heat on Nissan to fix the problem. Happy motoring.

Zeeman03

 

Sorry, zeeman03.

Case in point, Nissan. This will continue until your company can solve the tire issue. I know there are other issues, but this is the deal breaker and your ticket to negative profits as our cars start spiralling downwards in value. I don't think anyone can make the point clearer than the preceding post.

 

Another one bites the dust. Sorry to hear that, Zeeman03. I hope you are happy with what ever you decide to get next. See you around.

 

Zeeman, you must of had another reason then a tire wear issue??? The value will not drop. This issue won't get big play in the magazines. It is normal for sports cars to only get 10K-15K miles out of a set of tires. With better tires and alignment many members are not having big cupping and feathering problems. I could not get over 10K miles out of the rear tires on my NSX and this is normal for all NSX's. I know we have a problem but it is not that big of a deal. Nissan will come up with a fix. This is their flagship vehicle they are not going to walk away from a problem. JMHO

 

PB, you are probably correct on most counts, but I won't wait for Nissan and will fix what I can from the aftermarket. However, I understand zeemans stress reaction to reading about all of the negative reports on the tire wear. This is just ONE MORE example of what I've seen here and on other Z sites. More than a few buyers stretched their budget to buy a car that promised so much, but has some flaws not addressed by Nissan until now, maybe. Getting out from under the stress of owning the car is rare now, but it may accelerate if Nissan doesn't do something in the NEAR future. I have seen about a dozen of posts just like his to date, I came close to being one.

 

Well no luck with NNACS. Since no help from dealer or NNA on the issue of wear, I asked for the most current alignment spec so my PROFESSIONAL tuner could set the suspension. They would not give it to me citing competitive advantage.
I laughed and said don't you mean negligence or fraud? Then they laughed.



Being able to go no further with NNACS, I wrote a letter to William Bosley, VP consumer affairs/service NNA.

I'm about done with the whole issue.

I test drove and really like the BoxsterS. if my Unsurance would not go up 600 bux I would make the trade.

Ya know, I had an Awesome Mini Cooper that I traded in on this car. I had the Mini for 5 months, until I was ignored by Mini with regard to s#*T falling off of and out of the car. So I am not opposed to doing it again if I get ignored by Nissan.

 

My 300ZXTT got 40,000 miles on a set of soft 16's I drove it hard.
My bosses Z3 gets 40 rear 60 front.
my 84 300zx Got 60k
all of my early Z' got 50-60K on a set of tires.

My driving style never changed. the only change in the equation is the car. and seeing as how Nissan has changed the suspension mid-2004 I think that we are justified and correct in our complaint here. I don't expect 60k on a set. I should think that 20k is not too much to ask for if you drive smooth and easy as I do.

Second issue about better tires and alignment is bunk. I have had both twice, no change cupping and x-feathering comes back.
The only way to stop the issue is with camber adjustment, front/rear, and a good set of matched spring/shocks-- Period --and guess what.... Thats exactly what Nissan has done in their 2004.5 models.

So before anyone else comes onto the scene bitching that we are whining about the "normal" wear of tires- imagin for a moment that some of us have been around, driven a great number of high performance autos, worked on them for a living and generally know better than that.

Pree-sha-tate it!

 

Well said. I can't believe Nissan saved that much money by leaving camber adjustment out. Poor design. As far as the crappy OEM shocks goes you all can read my signature to see what I am thinking there. Grebmohr I figure the 2004.5's will have a better shock/spring match. I hadn't heard they will have camber adjustment. The 2004 S2000 is looking good again.

 

The cars you mentioned are not in the same handling class. Look at NSX's, Corvette's (the new ones), Porsche 911's, I'm talking about cars that handle like race cars. I agree that there is a problem and that our tires should be good for hopefully 15K miles without the roar that members have mentioned. But you should never expect to get 30K miles and the kind of handling that these new Z's provide. I also have owned a 82 280ZX and a 90 and 94 300ZX and they were nice cars but were not even in the same handling class that the other cars I have mentioned. I hope Nissan comes up with a fix that does not trade handling for tire wear or we might as well be driving old 300ZX's. Were on the same side in this discussion, we just have different expectations.

 

Don't mistake a GT for a race car, don't even mistake it for a sports car. The 350Z is a GT.

That said, one shouldn't expect more than 15k-20k miles for the rears and 20k-25k miles for a car of this weight with 140 treadwear tires, even when driven ultra conservatively.

 

I bailed on my Z for pretty much the same sentiment.

 

I agree. I had to wait an additional day for my car because the dealer had to send it to a custom wheel shop in town with the latest hunter machine. guess what's happening to my tires again after being alligned on one of the better machines out there?

 

traded my POS Z.. ...NISSAN SUCKS...Good luck to all who have issues and I hope you and Nissan can resolve the problems..

Peace and stay safe

 

I just read the first several pages of this thread and decided to post some info about my experience. Sorry if it is not useful because of later posts but I just dont want ot read 2000 posts:

I had very bed feathering on my front tires. My dealer, Hademan in Hamilton NJ, told me that the only fix available was a free tire rotation. This would eliminate the noise in about a thousand miles. Well it has now been almost 2000 miles and the noise is worse now than ever. I am going back soon for an oil change and will see whatr options they have at this point. I read several people saying they got new tires. Well, does this really solve the problem? Or is it just a quick fix that will end up in the same situation later on?

Now for the interesting info:
Road and Track is currently looking into the tire feathering problem experienced by 350Z owners. Thanks to several customer complaint letters directed to the mag about our problems, they are looking into the problem. Hope they can force Nissan to give an answer once and for all.