Since I became a new 04 350Z owner a little over a week ago I have been reading through these threads boning up on my new car. To start, when I bought my car last week (16K miles) I made mention of the road or tire noise on my test drive and they immediately said that it would get new tires all around. It did cure the noise. I now see, by reading these threads, that feathering is an issue. I also notice that some of these threads on the issue are a little heated. From my quick read of some of the threads it looks like an alignment at the least is something I should have done right away. It also looks like the alignment expense could be on Nissan. Is this right? It looks like there has been some real problems with this issue. Can anyone give me the "cliff notes" on it? Will Nissan pick up the tab?
Also, are there any other recalls or TSBs for my 04 that I should make sure have been addressed? I think is saw something on a recall dealing with the injectors in the 04 model. If I am reading correctly my car was made in 1/04. That is what I see on the drivers door jam.
I want to get any alignment issues taken care of right away. I drive a lot and I don't want to eat up my new tires. Oh ya,, I do know that I should have an alignment done, I am a gearhead, I just want to make sure I get it done correctly! And weather or not Nissan takes care of the issue?
Thanks. I don't mean to

 

My 07 is starting to feather the fronts at 8500 miles. I dont believe that it is possible to fix a 350Z. Period. You will have tire issues for the life of the car. I knew this going in as I watched the forums since 03 and read all about it. Dont let people fool u with "GET A GOOD ALIGNMENT" Even with everything spot on youre still going to have feathering. The folks saying they've cured it have changed to hard tires or havent put enough miles on the car to know whats really happening. Like I said I knew about it and I'm now just starting to get it and its not an issue with me. I will buy a harder comp tire when these wear out and just live with it. I love this car even with the tire probs...Good Luck.

 

You could get some flaming on this post. Every question you asked is located within these fourms. To ask others to do your research doesn't sound like much of a gearhead to me.

Did you pay a premiun for the low mileage, what was blue book for that car and what did you pay

Being a 04.5 owner, I can tell you that 04 has the tire feathering problem and the 04.5 was year released to fix that problem.

And Oh, if the weather is bad at the dealership that day, they will not pay.

get a grip

 

Free tires and free alignment ended long ago.

 

Wow,, you are right about the flaming! I can do research. I don't consider asking a question not doing my research. I have researched enough to know that there are a lot of posts on this site regarding my questions and I see lots of comments on the subjects. If I have personal knowledge I will gladly share it. Don't worry, just ignore any posts by me that you feel I should have researched on my own and,,,, I'll do the same.

 

Hey PPWZ, don't worry about the people on here flaming you. That's what forums are for. I've done my research as well before buying and I completely avoided 03 and early 04 Z's and bought a late 04.5.

I was happy to see that my car didn't suffer an alignment issue UNTIL I got an alignment and now the roaring and the feathering is happening to me. Bridgestone Pole Position tires too... $$$...

 

Thanks for the input Ladyzed. I went and had my car aligned. I first did my homework on the issue. I was able to determine the correct alignment specifications including the tolerances. I then contacted my local dealer and talked to the shop manager about the problem. Strangely enough he had never heard of the issue.... He just told me they do alignments every day.... And he had never heard anything about the Zs ever having an issue with tire wear other than the different size tires and the rotation issues. I told him thank you for you time and proceed to call the next nearest dealer. I contacted the dealer in Jefferson City, MO. He knew exactly what I was talking about and sounded very confident. I took my car to him. He printed out the specs on my car before and after the alignment. They did a great job and my car's alignment was out by a substantial margin. I think they did a good getting it within the specs, the new revised specs job. I will be keeping a close eye on my tire wear.