I had the feathering issue at 5000 miles and had tires replaced and car aligned. Build date is July 02.

Manual Limits
Camber -1.33 to +0.17 with nominal -0.57 and left-right diff 0.75
Caster 7.58 to 8.92 with nominal 8.17 with left-right diff 0.75
Toe in 0 to 0.08 with nominal 0.04

My reading after alignment
Camber Left= -1.3 Right= -0.8 Difference= 0.5
Caster Left= 8.5 Right= 8.7 Difference= 0.2
Toe in Left= 0.02 Right= 0.02

As can be seen with my excessive negative camber i think I will continue to have wear on the inside, and the cupping or feathering are probably caused by the suspension and not having the shocks matched to the springs of which one sign is the bouncy ride, so if you have both you will have accelerated wear and cupping.

Lets see if mny therory pans out, and have others post their settings.

 

No one?

 

having alignment done 4-30. I am hoping to get NNA to give me new tires since the last dealer I used gouged my rims and then f'd me. NNA says "we feel very badly about this" well lets see how badly.

I will let you know as soon as I get some miles on it. If I don'tget tires it will be a while as the tire were swapped left to right and both edges are now feathered like a bird.

 

my specs after align

here is my cars specs

.....LEFT FRONT....................................................RIG HT FRONT.....

after............before..................................... after...............before
-1*20'........-1*17'................CAMBER.........-0*44'............-0*46'..
8*55'........8*57'.................CASTER............8*38'.. ...........8*31....
0*04'........0*05'....................TOE...............0*05 '.............0*06'...
5*02'........4*56'....................SAI................4*4 3'.............4*42'...
3*42'........3*39'..........included angle............3*59'..............4*42'...



.......................................FRONT............befo re..............after.........
CROSS CAMBER.....................................-0*35*............-0*31'.......
CROSS CASTER......................................0*18'........... ....0*27'........
TOTAL TOE.............................................0*09'....... ........0*11'........



.....LEFT REAR......................................................RI GHT REAR....

after...........before...................................... ...after.............before
-1*36'........-2*30'...............CAMBER..............-1*35'.........-1*52'...
0*05'.........0*03'................TOE.....................0 *04'............0*03'...


.....................................REAR...............AFTE R..............BEFORE.........
TOTAL TOE...........................................0*08'......... ......0*06'............
THRUST ANGLE.....................................0*00'............. ..0*00'............

it took me 20 min to do that, can anyone tell me how it looks????

 

I have got 3600 miles on my new front tires (second set) and the dealer just reported that they are feathered on both inside and outside. They said that I need new tires again and they are not covered under warranty since they are feathered on both inside and out. So, before my alignment, the first set of tires feathered on the inside and now after an alignment they feathered on inside and outside.

I just asked them to put it back on the rack and print my specs. If they actually do it then I will enter them when I get home.

 

Well it looks almost like mine after the alignment, so I guess they are still using the same limits. What I do find interesting is how your left wheel is out in camber toward the max like mine is (your is -1.2 mine is -1.3) while the right is towwards the middle (yours -.44 mine -.8)

Your rear camber was way negative, what is your VIN or build date, is 573 and 7/02.

 

This ain't take 20 mins but U may not be able to read it....

It is my Alignment Printout. Mine was horribly out. I think this says I get new tires. I will even pay a prorated figure, to 7000 miles, when I first reported the issue.

I will let you know what happens.

 

that was after I had it done, I had it align about 1 month ago.

build date 12/02, vin 10,800ish

 

Well Cool!

Because my rear camber and toe were so whacked from the Factory and the front toe was out too, and my tires were justa total mess, I am getting 4 new tires!

Very happy about this outcome. Will see if tires cup again.

 

Like i've said before, your better off having the car misaligned before you have the alignment checked by NIssan. Your tires will feather again no doubt

 

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: 0.00 0.0 to 0.8(degrees)

My total toe is sitting straight forward, still feathering on the inside and STILL NO new Tires and STILL PISSED. Anyone know if we can claim Lemon Law... This is pathetic I don't even drive my car anymore, It's to the point i consider it unsafe to drive.

 

It is a small sample but with mine being an early build and RodH's being a 12/02 build it seems Nissan did change the toe from the factory as RodH's before readings are OK, I don't have mine but the Toe in both wheels was out.

Question for RodH, I assume you still had the tire feathering/cupping issue?

If so it seems like the Camber is the problem, if no then the Toe was the problem and we should be OK.

If it is the camber Nissan should have put in adjustable arms, I understand that the camber will help in handling but lets face it when 90% of driving if not 100% for some will not require improved handling we are wearing out tires for nothing, with adjustable then I could adjust when if I wished when going to the track to take advantage of the camber.

 

those are my after specs, I changed my tires/wheels at the same time I did hte align, only 600 miles since then, I think I may be getting some signs of feathering, I will be watching it close!!!

 

On your table you have before and after columns, is the before the first alignment check you ahd done on the car? or had it been done before this?

Because if it is the first time, then my comment is still valid and I have another question, how many miles on the car at that alignment?

 

Here's my story. My Z was really handling well up to around 2,100 miles. I didn't have any tire feathering or other suspension issues, including any bad understeer. One day, accelerating out of a hard corner, it felt like something in the rear end gave way. After that I got a bad case of rear end hop on heavy acceleration; it was sloppy in corners, and the dreaded front tire feather (inside tread) began to appear.

I took it in for a check this morning and had a good chat with Scott, the alignment expert. He's been working on Nissan suspensions for years and was very familiar with the 350 issues some folks have been reporting. When I told him all the symptoms, he said he had a pretty good idea what the problem was. He's done one other 350 handling fix before mine.

When he first looked at the alignment, the left rear was out (Photo 1 below). When he brought the left rear into alignment, the right rear went out (Photo 2 below). Shifting the right rear into alignment, the left rear went back out. Basically, the wheels in the rear were shifting back and forth. He tightened all the cradle bolts in the rear, and then brought both rear wheels into specs. The right front alignment was also pretty far out to make matters worse. He wasn't happy with the difference between the caster on the front, but since it's not adjustable, he said about the only thing you can do is put the car on a jig and bend it a little. He said they had to do that once on a Maxima because it was so far out.

We took it out for a test drive -- me driving, and it handled beautifully again. I'll keep and eye on the front tire wear, but we may have caught it before the feathering reached a point of no return.

Photo 1: Left rear originally out.


Photo 2: Right rear out when left rear in spec.


Photo 3: My guy Scott doing his thing.


The numbers...

 

RodH and Westpack there is a problem with the camber on the fronts of both of your cars. the difference from side to side that both of you have is going to make the car pull one direction and seems quite wrong.
Did you guys look at your lower control arms on the front to see if a shipping company tied them down in transit by the arms. If they did this could account for the side to side differences you both have.