I hear from a reliable source the fix is coming. Nissan engineers are working on the it. NNA should announce something soon. They will do what it takes to fix the feathering problem. The S-Tune won't be required to fix the problem. I am waiting to see where this goes. I was told to hold to my money ie not buy the S-Tune to try to fix the feathering issue. Tire replacement is a temp fix only. I'll probably fix the "bounce" with Konis this spring.

 

I think this is true as well, we will find out....

 

How reliable is this source? Does your source know if the 2004 Z now being built have the fix? Inquiring minds want to know!

 

I remember hearing about "reliable sources" a year ago. No offense.

 

He is very reliable. Nothing was mentioned about the 2004's specifically. I'll probably just get my alignment checked/adjusted cause I am starting to get the tire feathering and wait for the permanent fix.

 

Nissan has 6 days to pull the fix out of their a$$ or they're the pround new owners of my Lemon Lawed Brickyard Z. Nine service visits in 11 months is TOTALLY unacceptable. If I wanted a high maint. car - I would have gone Euro.

 

My wife and i have a 2003 350Z, Brickyard, Touring Automatic, which currently has 9600 miles on it. Our dealer hear in Albuquerque was very forthright with us and gave us new tires and redid the alignment all at no charge. I am still skeptical if this will fix the problem. Does anyone know was this a mistake at the factory in setting the original alignment or a design defect?

 

Yourmamma,

Your articles were interesting and quite informative. I've no doubt in my mind that the high Caster and Negative Camber all lead to increased inner tread wear on the front tires. It is as you say not surprising...

However, having bald inner tread and feathered/cupped inner tread is a very different story. My old 84 Z wears the inner treads down before the outer treads because of the camber and castor settings...My corvette wears the outer treads on the rear tires because of the positive camber...(Wear is normal and bald tread is quiet if you get my meaning)...

The 350Zs sawtoothing is wrong...Some kind of bounce/vibration/harmonic/load-unloading/??? Just my own guess.

 

Mark, thanks for the heads up on the possible upcoming fix on the feathering problem. Sounds encouraging. If it eventually turns out that the feathering issue is not related to the shocks/springs, I'm on same bandwagon as far as the Konis.

 

If the problem lies in the suspension ... how long is the warranty on the suspension? 12 months / 12,000 miles is just on the wheels and tires right? So after that warranty is over you are on your own for replacing tires, but there still is some hope of having a recall performed on the suspension if there ever is one? And then hopefully the tires will not wear excessively.

 

I hear what you're saying. What struck me was when the site I mentioned in the posting illustrated the relationship between toe and ackerman. Toe out with a high ackerman angle gives great turn in, but puts tremendous loads on the inner edge of the tires which are already highly loaded.

The issue is that the load is at an angle to the tire, not along its rolling axis. Go back and look at those diagrams. The one labled toe-out and "true" or "more" ackerman I think this is why we get the heel-toe pattern. At least that's my two cents.

I think the shock/spring bounce leads to the heel-toe skipping every couple of blocks on the tire. Bump steer (the effect on steering when the suspension compresses) changes camber. If the suspension oscillates due to these lousy springs we'll have a camber pattern that goes from negative to neutral to positive to neutral to negative. This pattern will repeat as long as we're in motion.

As has been said from the beginning by many different people, this is a complex problem. Complex problems are rarely solved by adjusting one variable i.e. toe-in.

For the record, I can't believe there is any Z owner NOT having this issue. If they aren't having the problem Nissan must have made a running change purposely or accidental.

 

All:

More fuel for the fire...

Toyo Austrailia has this info...

http://www.toyo.com.au/tech_info9p1.html

Cheers Amy -

And how a truck Alignment specialist looks at problems
See second Heading

http://www.writerstew.com/ws15.htm

Unfortune is the Mass Quantity of Bull on Kum Ho web site.

When you think you have tire noise.

Kum Ho

http://www.kumhotire.com/int/Tires/Performance04.jsp

Ha !

 

the TIRE situation is interesting. I looked at my Bridgetones and there are NO markings like has been mentioned?? did they change the compound??


I do find it interesting that when the techs from Japan came to look at the tires, they saw that I had Toyos on it and pretty much didn't even look at my car after that. also of note, a Bridgestone rep was with the nissan guys, I wonder if they got a very soft batch, and re-fourmulated it and now are looking at cars that get the wear with NEW UPDATED tires??? not that that is the soul problem but maybe it contributes to it??

I wish we knew a fix and that NNA acts fast. To be honest my wear on my TOYOS isn't nearly as bad as my Bridgstones with 2-3X as many miles on them.

 

lets all hope this is true

 

Well, I just got back from the Nissan Service Center at Westbury (Long Island) NY. I told them about the tire cupping problem and they switch those front tires left and right (dismount, remount, and balance). All these cost me $65.20 because they said my Z is over the adjustment warranty period (12 month/12,000 miles) so Nissan will NOT cover the tire switching cost. The car was registered on 10-2002 so it's past the 12 month period even though it ONLY has 9,400 miles. I didn't know when was my Z originally registered because I bought this Z USED this past summer, otherwise I would have gone to Nissan before the adjustment warranty expires.

And switching those 2 front tires is ALL that they do! They said my wheel alignment is good so no need to realign them! Did they perform all that they are suppose to do from that TSB issued by Nissan?

I don't feel right that Nissan charges me $65 for their bad engineering!!! Well, right now the noise is reduced by about....60%. But I'm sure they'll be back to 100% in no time!!! I think I will call up NNA and file the complaint regarding their tire issue (as many of you already did).

And guess what, I told them to check my clutch because I get a clicking noise from it and what they found out was that a bearing went bad in the transmission!!! So They've ordered me a new transmission and will replace it in a week or 2. But the service guy tell me this transmission issue is cover by warranty so I'm NOT worry.

Hummm.........what can I do now folks??? Drive the car like this for the rest of its life time? I think I'll get new tires this coming spring if I decided to keep the car and I'll install a new coilover suspension at the same time, HOPE this new suspension will correct the Nissan's BAD ENGINEERING problem!!! (I'm an engineer myself and I don't know what those Nissan engineers are smoking)

 

i too have clicking coming from the clutch whenever i depress it, but my tranny shifts just fine. man another problem???
anyone else have been hearing clicking from the clutch?

 

Mine is when the clutch is NOT depress (opposite of your case) and in neutral gear! The gears shift fine.....but just that clicking noise at neutral!

 

I plan to drive my car the same way I have always planned to, fast, over-the-road travel with curves and straights taken at 7/10s or better if the conditions are right. Driving sports cars is supposed to be fun and driving like granny or grandad is against the grain. I wouldn't own a sports car that couldn't be driven fast and hard on public roads, one such would be useless to me. That includes the Z or any other car the manufacturer dubs a sports car. Why bother otherwise?

Report your dealer to NNA and try to get your $ back. If they say no, never have your car aligned by your dealer again, take it to an alignment shop with a Hunter machine and ASE Certified techs.

 

Thanks for the suggestion, and I totally agree with you on how a sports car should be driven, especially here in NYC

 

Andy, now i am a tad bit relieved, maybe i too should get it checked. By the way, just like what BOOmer said, lodge a complaint and get your money back!!!