Guys,
I have mentioned this in the Tire Feathering FAQ, but I thought a thread of where this is currently at would give people some on-going update. Some people may not care, but some of us have bought a product that is clearly defective and Nissan could really give a crap about their customers.

This is public information and you can look it up via my username as the litigant name on Missouri casenet (http://www.courts.mo.gov) by search the Litigant Name Search. I have instructed the lawyer (which I'm not paying legal fees, only court costs) that if Nissan doesn't cough up a significant amount of $$$ we are going to jury trial. All it would take is for me to summon the local dealer service manager and have the person state what she told me before. "I see this on a lot of 350Zs and it's really sad that Nissan won't fix the issue and they won't authorize us to perform any work". A statement like that by local service managers would show willful neglect by Nissan on the issue and who knows what penalty a jury will put on them. The alignment and tire replacement was nothing but a band-aid. Nissan even said that they were continuing to monitor the issue, but had seen not seen it reoccur after the alignment and tire replacement. That is total BS given what the service manager stated to me and what I have read on the board here.

I've got a late model 2003 and just barely made the cutoff to file for breach of warranty. The car only has 23,000 miles on it and right before I sued I needed my third set of tires (initial factory tires, second set put on @ 13,000 miles, third set needed at 22,500 miles).

What really pissed me off was the Nissan specialist telling me the tires being chewed up every 10,000 on the front was by design. They were calling the defect a feature of the vehicle.

They have requested documents on traffic violations, accident and insurance in hopes of something they could use to say I abused the car in some way to cause the issue. They also requested stupid things like owners manuals and even their own repair history on the car.

I am very willing to go to jury trial on this because they should be held responsible for what they have done.

Again I urge EVERYONE that is having this problem contact some type of lawyer and not wait for Nissan to string you along until it's to late to do something about it. This was my first Nissan and will definitely be my last.


05/04/2007 Docket Entry: Pet Filed in Circuit Ct

Docket Entry: Request for Jury Trial Filed
Filing Party: WIKEL, CORY E

05/10/2007 Docket Entry: Case Mgmt Conf Scheduled
Associated Events: 09/04/2007 , 10:00:00 - Case Management Conference

Docket Entry: Summons Issued-Circuit
Text: Document ID: 07-SMCC-4234, for NISSAN NORTH AMERICA INC;

05/18/2007 Docket Entry: Designation of Lead Attorney
Filing Party: CUEZZE, PATRICK M

06/04/2007 Docket Entry: Certificate of Service
Text: Interrogatories and Request for Production of Documents.
Filing Party: NISSAN NORTH AMERICA INC,

06/04/2007 Docket Entry: Answer Filed
Text: Answer to Petition (Demand for Jury Trial)
Filing Party: NISSAN NORTH AMERICA INC,

06/21/2007 Docket Entry: Corporation Served
Text: Document ID - 07-SMCC-4234; Served To - NISSAN NORTH AMERICA INC; Server - ; Served Date - 30-MAY-07; Served Time - 00:00:00; Service Type - Sheriff Department; Reason Description - Served; Service Text - served L shipley, Designee

06/22/2007 Docket Entry: Certificate of Service
Text: LP Interr; Req for Prod of Docmnts; Req for Admns
Filing Party: WIKEL, CORY E

 

I hate to break it to you, but for the vast majority of us, the problem has been solved a long time ago. Once the TSB was performed, my feathering problem went away.

 

+1 My fronts were trashed at 7000 miles. Nissan performed the TSB and replaced my tires. I have been problem free since. **Current mileage ~23k ** But I'm still pulling for ya!! Good luck.

 

you realize how much trouble your going through for 2 tires??? and as stated above, virtually everyone has had the problem fixed. and nissan does care, they were giving free tires out for awhile before they even knew what was causing the problem. Granted it was a HUGE pain in the ***, but what car manufacturer doesn't have problems with a new model release??? "Significant amount of money" why!?!?!? for a $200 tire????

why is everyone so sue happy? Not trying to be pissy, but really??? nothing better to do with time/money then complain again and again and again over two tires? you buy a $35,000 vehicle and ***** over 2 tires. Go get an alignment elsewhere if your so unhappy with your dealer and get on with it.

 

....yeah i'm quoting myself..... i think i am having a heavy flow day or something

 

Billy,

No problem... to each his own. I find a number of things on this issue unacceptable. Everytime I had the car in the shop, I had them check for the feathering issue. Initially I had the pulling to the right problem. That was adjusted, still no abnormal wear. Then I had it in the shop for a different issue and when they checked the tires had problems. Aligned and tires replaced. Again had in the shop at least 2 other times and had them check for the feathering issue to make sure it was not coming back. Around 6,000 miles later it was back again.

I was told it was out of coverage for the problem by the dealership. Called Nissan and was told it was a feature of the car to eat through tires every 10,000 miles and that I was **** out of luck. Informed them that I thought it was a defect that was never fixed and that it was unreasonable for them to expect me to purchase tires every 10k miles to deal with their defect. Also I found it unacceptable that I would have to use "special tires" that tries to hide thier defect. I should be able to put any tires I want on this car within reason, not just one or two special brands to try and hide a problem.

Again I was told I was SOL. Warned them that they are forcing me to take legal action to resolve the issue and I didn't want to do that. I told them I wanted a PERMENANT FIX, not another band-aid.

So they are getting what they have asked for. I gave them plenty of opportunity to fix the problem... so I'm not sue happy.

I got a POS or have had POS people working on it. Either way Nissan should stand behind their product and correct the issue. When they stated it was a "feature" of the car was basically the last straw for me.

There is nothing in the owners manual that states "destroys front tires every 10,000 miles under normal usage". I didn't purchase this car to pay for tires every 10,000 miles. Now if it was the rear tires... then maybe because it is a rear wheel drive... but the front tires? Yeah right.

 

I have to say the tire feathering issue was one of my biggest concerns back in 2004 before I bought my car even though there wasn't was much info out there about it at the time. At the end I knew that I was taking a gamble when I bought the car and was prepared for the worse. I'm sorry you are still experiencing this issue even though it's been resolved for most people with the revised alignment specs. IMO this is an old hat for Nissan and you'll be lucky if you get the resolution that you want out of it. I feel your pain though. I along with others here have been in the same boat. Good luck to you.

 

JDM,
I bought my 03 in June, so it was right as they started producing the 04 model but the color I wanted was no longer being built. I also saw the thread and was worried, that is why I had them check it everytime I was in the shop for something else.

I ended up getting screwed even after being actively aware of potential issue on some of the cars.

You would think that Nissan would step up and cover the problem seeing that it has occurred again, but I think they are just waiting out the clock until people just go away. That is one of the main reason why the resell on the Z sucks. The word has gotten out on the **** poor quality of the product.

It's sad... how they have ruined the Z image.

 

Well the in service dates for most of the 03 and 04s are expiring. In a few more months all of this will be a non issue for Nissan. Yes it's sad but for Nissan they would rather have a few pissed off people than to fork over the $$$ for a national recall.

 

While I wouldn't call it a "feature", it is very common on a high-performance sports car with negative camber and soft tires for tires to only last 10-12K miles.

 

I expected nothing less. I would rather replace tires to get more performance. People who complain about tire wear, noises and a rough ride shouldn't be buying cars meant to drive fast. By your complaints, you're only accomplishment is to wussify sports cars. Sorry, can't support you.

 

So I guess buying 10 sets of tires over 100k miles would be acceptable for any sports car? Sorry, but that is the most ridiculous statement I think I have ever heard. Sure if I burn out all the time, then I won't expect the rear tires to last very long... but these are the front tires.

I guess having to replace the transmission every 15,000 would be acceptable as well. How about the window motor, I think I remember seeing that in the owners manual saying it would only last 20,000 miles. Oh and don't forget about the oil burning on the 06 models. I forgot that any real sports car needs to add a quart of oil every 300 miles. I don't expect the car to be perfect just operate within some decent expections.

Boy this site sure has changed since it started into a large number of dogs that attack people that have any negative statements to make about the car.

It boils down to **** poor engineering, bad design and / or low quality parts. Couple that with a serious lack of ownership of the problems and **** poor customer service from Nissan and the 350z. I think that about sums it up...

 

I hope this works out well for you.

 

Yes, it is very common on a car that you can't rotate tires on for them to only last 10K miles. Especially the fronts due to the camber settings and the extra wear from turning.

Nobody is attacking you for making negative statements. We're all aware of the known issues with SOME Zs. We're trying to give you a little "reality check" as you obviously have some unreal expectations.

 

Would I? Yes. In fact with my new suspension and stickier tires I'd expect less than that. But I get more smiles per mile.


As to your other concerns... I don't have any issues with the car. Far less, in fact, than any other car I've had.

 

Wow dude, talk about old news.

1. get your alignment fixed and
2. every so often, flip the tires on each wheel, then substitute your left wheels for right. This puts the outside tread on the inside and vice versa.

3. A lot of people have Nissan stock, please don't sue them over something like this

 

Never sued anyone in my life and I have a lot better things to do. Maybe the dealership screwed up the alignment adjustment when the other tires were put on... doesn't matter. There are a number of people who have complained recently about having had the TSB done and now the problem has returned again, so it's not just me. I wanted to put a nice set of wheels and tires and dump around 30k into the car on mods, but that only makes the problem more expensive by putting higher quality tires on the car, just to have it destroy them again. Why should this be my expense to fix their issue?

I have seen a number of people asking for what suspension mod finally resolves the issue. No one here really came out and said "if you do X, it will resolve the issue permanently". That is what I want a permanent fix, not another band-aid special tire that will extend the life of the tires by making it feather less to try to hide the issue.

I really don't think this is an alignment issue because the wear is not even... well even. If it was out of alignment and wore a specific area more than other areas on the car then the worn area would be at least somewhat consistently worn. These are uneven wear patterns in the same area which seems to point to a suspension issue, not an alignment issue. Maybe the car bounces to much and shows the symptoms more depending on how much the car "bounces". I think the only people who know what the real fix is would be Nissan, since they have changed the suspension of the newer versions of the car to resolve the problem permanently . So that may mean to permanently resolve the issue we would need the newer suspension setup, which they don't want to perform due to cost. So a special tire w/ alignment was enough to fix some of the issues or extend others long enough to receive the SOL reply once they were out of breach of warranty lawsuit range.

All I know is the TSB / alignment didn't fix the issue for me and others from what I have read about. So again why should it be my cost to rip out the suspension and pay to have something that works put into the car?

So if it's just ME, then please expain THESE posts on the net about the same issue. TSB work done... problem occurs again and again. I know there are LOTS of others like me that either got feed-up and traded the car, lemon law'd it, etc... I want some justice. Is that so bad?

 

zcar.com
Re: 03 350z Tires
Posted by: PerfZ
Date: March 17, 2005 07:31AM


Mine were replaced at around 10,000 miles, no questions asked. Brought it in yesterday at 20,950 with noise even louder this time. Area manager declined me - supposedly his reason is they have already done it once and won't do it again. This in spite of the fact that everyone knows they are just slapping a band-aid on the problem and do not have a true solution. If my window motor goes out again, are they going to refuse to replace it because they have already done it once before? This is total BS. I called NNA and they have opened a file; they are supposed to get back to me today after conferring with the dealer. I sent the dealer a copy of the TSB and a cover letter detailing my position, and I am planning on being a thorn in their side until they come around. Also, I paid up front for the extended warranty and my first move will be to cancel that and get a refund, as obviously anything from Nissan is not worth the paper it is written on and I may not even still own the car at 36,000 miles. And, while I have not pimped them for any of the little things like grease streaks, fuel door, trunk hatch, etc, in the past, I am going to be a very familiar face around the dealership in the future, which is unfortunate, because I really don't blame the dealer at all - it is all NNA


Posted by: bsnyder
Date: March 16, 2005 08:33PM

Hello all, I have had warranty replace and realign front tires at no cost; however, 12k miles later the problem is back and the dealer is saying no to replacing and realining. Is anyone experiencing this? What do you recommend next move should be?

On this topic, there was a small article in the AUGUST AUTOWEEK about an attorney filing for a class action lawsuit in Texas on this very topic and the attorney was seeking damages and cost upto 74k per 03 owners. Does anyone know about this; if so, any updates?

Re: 03 350z Tires
Posted by: bsnyder
Date: March 17, 2005 11:29AM

We are all in the same boat. All we can do is exhaust all resources and then enroll in these class action lawsuits once it is evident we clearly are going to get any help.


my350z.com

06-24-2007, 01:12 AM
wasmith
Newbie
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: St. Louis, MO
Posts: 16
I bought the car (2003 Touring) in Dec. 06 with 17k miles. At around 20k I started to hear the growl and by 22k, it was unbearably loud. The tires showed tell-tale signs the "feathering" issue.

The original owner had the TSB done at 14k miles.

So, I went to the dealer today to have them address the the problem. I also had them put on some new tires (front) that I had purchased a while back.

After talking to my service agent about the issue he said the feathering will never truly be fixed. But, you can decrease the time in which it will reoccur by switching to new tires (he suggested the Michelin PS2).

05-14-2007, 08:25 PM
XGTO
Registered User
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Boca Raton, FL
Posts: 85

My feathering and noise has come back again with the Bridgestones that the dealer replaced under warrenty with the previous owner at 4500 miles. I now have 9800 miles on my 2003 so I'm out of luck. If change brands if tire to saya Falkin Or Toyo etc. and get the alignment done again will the problem come back ?

05-10-2007, 09:03 PM
tommyjeans214
Registered User
Join Date: May 2007
Location: CA
Posts: 162
i couldnt come to browse through all 190 pages lol...

i saw some people were able to fix it w/ one allignment and others tried 4 times without success....

If i drop in whole new aftermarket suspension system, will it help it?


05-01-2007, 05:42 AM #3792
AlvinHuyN
UW Nismo V2!
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Seattle
Posts: 1,317

Hm...so anyone find a fix through lowering the car? to changing shocks? let me know please...

04-27-2007, 04:46 PM
Thaddeus
A While
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Grass Lake, Michigan
Posts: 111

Many of us with this issue went the lemon law route with success. Nissan bought back my '03. I did not get full purchase $ but I did get $ based on first time reporting issue to dealership less depreciation to that date.


04-28-2007, 03:39 PM #3789
Kegsbane
Registered User
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Charlottesville, VA
Posts: 197
iTrader: (0) It seems like the guys who got aftermarket suspension have all abandoned us. However, they did so after saying that switching to aftermarket fixed their problems.

I'm seriously, seriously considering going with aftermarket suspension in the very near future to help remedy this problem. Is there anyone out there with aftermarket suspension who STILL is having issues with this?


04-25-2007, 11:19 PM #3786
SteveZ
350Z to G35 6MT
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: CT
Posts: 712
iTrader: (0) Quote:
Originally Posted by fedupp

Quote:
I've heard every explanation possible and there is a multitude of them. But lets face it, they are just speculations. I acknowledge, some of them are well thought out but if you simply read through even part of this thread it is quite obvious that no one can specifically say what causes the premature and irregular wear of the front tires. And to this day Nissan still stands by the 'misalignment story'. Just phone them..


They have no factory-supplied fix, just alignment and tire-swap TSB stuff, which is part of the reason I traded in my 350Z after 14 mos. I was in my Z with less than 5k miles when this thread started. I've read most of it.

Despite having identical front suspension for the 2004 model year, my G Coupe has not had this problem in 36k miles. Several people with significant aftermarket changes seem to have avoided the problem. Bad alignment aggravates it. Good alignment helps, but does not resolve it.

There is no stock fix for the average Z owner, period. That's the real shame on Nissan. They've just waited until they came up to time for more than a cosmetic refresh, tough luck for all the rest of the original Z owners (and some G's, they were not immune, just I personally haven't had this issue on my '04).

If I did, it would be gone - there is no reason to keep dealing with this problem; most of us who figured that out early got rid of the car. This has nearly been a FIVE year thread - does anyone really think Nissan is working on a solution?

Walk, cut your losses.



04-16-2007, 02:21 AM #3781
dh21187
Registered User
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Sunnyvale, CA
Posts: 56

I spent the better part of 2 years talking to a lot of people on this and never really figured it out, either. Alignment isn't the issue, although it can make things worse. If newer Z's truly are statistically better and not suffering this problem as much, then I would look at what's changed - spring rates, damper construction, etc. as not much else has really changed.

If you want to PM me feel free, not much of a story to tell, but if I can help I would at least tell you what I "know". The attached is how badly shot mine RE040's were at ~5k when I took the car in because it was skipping under moderately hard braking, the ABS would go nuts - skipping off the tops of the cupped tread. Also had the compression rod pass side replaced same time under TSB. All the swap did was feed the beast fresh meat...by 10k both sides looked like that.

It has nothing to do with alignment, the problem is in their engineering. There is a hardware design defect that is causing the problem. NNA has been denying it and you need to sue them under the Lemon Law and get your money back. There is nothing you can do on your end to fix the car without replacing the entire front end with new parts.


11-02-2006, 07:48 PM #3762
frustrated
Registered User
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Canada
Posts: 9

No. I'm on my third set of tires and fourth alignment. All the alignments were the same but the tires keep feathering.

Nissan has been replacing them up to this point therefore I had no choice in the matter. Otherwise I definitely would not have put these tires on this car. 1st there too soft of a compound and 2nd there too expensive if all I can get out of them is 14 000 km. But Nissan keeps telling everyone the alignment is the problem. I think at this point all of us agree this is not the case. Nissan will not deal with me now that my warranty is past.


08-21-2006, 05:18 PM #3748
SteveZ
350Z to G35 6MT
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: CT
Posts: 712

I'm 30k and almost 3 years into my 2004 G Coupe and I have not had this issue. My '03 350Z had swaps, alignments, all that, and the tires were bad at 5k, bad again at 10k, no regrets getting out of that car.


Repeat... over and over again.

 

The biggest problem with the first TSB (03 models) and the driving factor behind the second TSB (included 04 models) was the fact that Nissan discovered that dealer alignment machines were not being calibrated.

The second TSB requires the dealer to submit a recent certification of calibration of their alignment machine along with the claim in order to get reimbursed.

I had an alignment done and front tires swapped. A few thousand miles later, the feathering returned. About that time, the second TSB was released. I had to wait a week for the dealership to get their machine calibrated. I brought the car in and it was way out of alignment. That's the same alignment that a few months earlier were put into spec. In the 20K miles since then, I've have no problems with feathering.

You're going to try to sue Nissan for not fixing something that clearly in the majority of cases has been fixed. If you don't like the Z or Nissan or your dealer, get rid of the car and get something else. Only one person "wins" in a lawsuit - it's not you or the defendent - it's the lawyers. From what I read in your various posts, you are way too emotionally attached to this quest. I realize there's nothing any of us can so or do to open your eyes. You're a lawyer's wet dream - I hope you have deep pockets or a cheap lawyer.

Keep in mind that you're citing dozens of instances of the problem out of 60K cars that might have been affected. You're going to have a hard time proving "It boils down to **** poor engineering, bad design and / or low quality parts" on what a judge will see as an isolated case.

 

I'm only paying court costs. Nissan should have stepped up and taken care of customer problems that were obviously related to the original problem.

So even if the dealer machine needed to be re-calibrated, that is their problem... not mine.

So I get my tires swapped and aligned and then 10,000 miles later I get the problem again, for whatever reason. So is it my fault that I only have 23,000 on a 2003 Z?

If Nissan had implementation problems with their "fix" and in some instances it was not done correctly by the dealership, it's their problem not mine. They should have easily been able to determine when mine was swapped / aligned and if other customers that had the same procedure completed at the dealership were having similiar complaints (re-occuring issue) that the dealer had not re-calibrated their equipment / executing the procedure correctly.

They should have sent out another letter to everyone who had the procedure completed before the they issued the second TSB on the issue to resolve the implementation problems. But of course that costs more $$$ doesn't it... More alignments and more tires = more $$$.

Again not my problem...

I'm glad your not having issues, but Nissan basically hung me out to dry and that in my opinion is not fair. I did nothing wrong other than not driving 1000's of miles on my car earlier to see if the problem was going to reoccur. Every opportunity I had it re-inspected for abnormal wear and nothing was ever wrong until I actually started hearing the growl again.

I can tell you that I will cost them more $$$ now. That is 100% sure. Weather I win or lose at least I had the guts to not accept the answer and stand up for what I think is unfair treatment by the company. Boils down to this is a warranty related issue that they attempted to fix and is obvious that it is not fixed.