Oh, I enjoy it alright. Last night got to 120mph and zooming securely, and it was fun.

You are right, on daily driving the annoyances take a new meaning. Since the drive to work is stop and go, the road noise is that much more annoying (at low speed from the feathering). And you feel the constant shifting more and more (getting hard to get into 2nd and 3rd... :-()

But on the open turnpike, you go through them gears once and find yourself upwards of 100mph zooming along... no complaints. :-)

Nissan will ride the design high they are on for a while, but if they don't respond on the service side, it will come back to bite them. The last thing they want is a bad reputation on the car to drop value to the floor. Specially in todays competitive market (EVERYBODY has sports cars now...)

 

I hope you guys have fun with your cars, but as far as I'm concerned these things are an example of what can actually go wrong when a sedan company attempts the development of an aggresively designed perfomance car. Unlike the morons who like to feel self important and minimize the problems I and others like me have experienced, I have enough technical expertise to actually know what I'm talking about. Next time, I don't think I'll let emotion drive me to purchase a "cheap" sports car. I'll buy the Porsche instead. So enjoy your cars until you actually run enough miles to have the problems start on yours. Then we'll see how loyal you are to the Z.
-quoted from smcgee1970
Not trying to start a flame or anything but my dad lost 3rd gear in his 96 C4 (Porsche) That cost him $3500. My advice to you is to not drive a Porsche (or any expensive car) hard unless you can afford to. And yes he knows how to shift.

 

Haha! Since when is Nissan a sedan company? The Z has been out over 30 years! They also have a little something called a Skyline. Hmmm. Even Porsche has an SUV out now. It is called profit. That is what keeps a company in business. You build what the people want. The first person not to change with the times is the first one to go out of business.

 

Yeah I'm wondering how 30 years of the Z makes them a Sedan company? Nissan pretty much single-handedly established a strong foothold for Japanese performance on these shores in the very early days when they were known as Datsun.

 

Well, after what I just found out yesterday, I might being having some of the same feelings as our former Z owner(smcgee1970). My car is now in the shop for NEW front wheel bearings on both sides.

6 car payments, 10000 miles, 9 times in the repair shop.

 

What happened? Did you just get a grinding sound from the front, in 10,000 miles? This is a new one, do you have the cupping too?

 

I'm not sure if grinding is the correct term, it's more of a screech sound. That, combined with the front tire cupping/feathering makes the car almost unbearable to drive. I was having to turn the stereo way up to overcome the road noise. Apparently this is the second Z in a week that is having this work done at my dealership.

If you ask me, the wheel bearing replacement is another way the dealers and Nissan are trying to skip around the whole tire feathering issue. Time to move this forum to the repairing problems forum I guess.

To make matters worse I'm driving around in a smokey smelling Pontiac Grand Am rental that handles like a bus...

I'll let you know if the new bearings fix the problem, 'cause I sure as hell know I'm not going to get new tires.

 

Oh wait, the thread is in the 'Repairing' Forum...DUH! I must be suffering from Z withdrawal!

 

I understand. We wouldn't ***** so much if we didn't love the car. Fix the flaws, Nissan, and we'll shut up. This situation can't keep going on forever w/o a major blowup from the owners.

 

You can go to any car related web site and see more problems then this about almost any car/truck, example checkout the Ford diesel site and the fun they are having with the new 6.0. When I checked their were 80 some members that have had transmission problems out of 30K+ 350Z owners. It works like this if you have a problem it is a big problem. If someone else has one then you hope it does not happen to you. I feel for the guys that have a problem, I could end up having one also. But the good news to me, it looks like these problems show up quickly while you have a lot of warranty remaining.

 

Fair enough. However, those out there who have had their Z cars since the beginning and haven't had any problems don't understand what it's like have their car in the shop every three weeks. In the past I have kept my posts regarding problems with my car upbeat and informative, not bitchy. My tune has changed recently, but trust me, I would not waste my time writing these posts because my stupid gas cap didn't fit right.

Bottom line is the problems I and others are having with their cars are for the most part serious safety issues(loose suspension bolts, severe alignment problems, broken trannies, etc.). Luckily my dealership has not taken my problems lightly, and I'm thankful for that.

 

Its very difficult for us preorder folks to be patient about the problems we have because we have been obsessing for 22 months! Some of us preordered 01/15/02(I ordered mine 02/12/02, received it 09/06/02) and waited a year before our car was delivered. It wasn't first come, first served, but when our own car was built in a production run. Many received their cars later than others who ordered after them, like me. I got my car almost immediately after the first cars were delivered on 08/26/02.

A lot of us ordered almost blind, not knowing most of the specifications, or ever seeing one in person, I did and so did a lot of others. There are 8500+ members of that bunch and we feel we merit special treatment because we trusted Nissan to sell us a special sports car and they did, but they have been very slow to correct our first year production run. The tire wear issue has caused some of them to tradein or sell their cars out of frustration. The Bose issue is on its 2nd fix and I haven't received my customer satisfaction survey to tell Nissan I need the 2nd fix because the 1st one didn't work.

I won't repeat history, but when you see a post full of rage, you may have an inkling of why it happens. End of rant.

 

Boomer, understand you are upset, can't blame you. I'm new to the 350Z and just trying to understand what to look out for. It's not fun being a pioneer, like I said I've seen it with other vehicles. What I hope to do is understand the problems others like yourself are having and what you have done to get them fixed. That way my dealer can't fool me. Plus there are certain characteristics some cars just have that you have to live with, so I want to learn what they are so I don't mistake a characteristic for a problem and end up fighting wind mills. Example - I owned a Acura NSX and it would require new rear tires every 10-12K miles and fronts every 15K miles, ran Yoko A008's, this was a characteristic of the NSX with the A008's, but it handled like a race car with the A008's. You could run different tires and get an additional 5-8K miles out of them but your handling would suffer. Just trying to learn and I appreciate you guys sharing your problems and what you have gone through trying to get them fixed.

Thanks

 

Right again, I am not attempting to dumb down the suspension, just to make it livable for daily driving where I live. The intersection of I35 and I40 in central OK has 18wheeler damage everywhere on the roads in the Metro area. I believe the Konis will accomplish my wish w/o ruining the handling.

I also had a MR2 Turbo, w/midengine which ate rear tires in 15-18,000 miles. I was appalled and demanded new tires and got 2 sets while the car was accumulating miles. They wouldn't give me a 3rd set, so I had a camber kit put on, adjusting from 2 degrees to .5 on the rear, solved my tire problem but I lost the razor sharp handling the previous setting had allowed. If I had known then what I knew now, I would have put on some harder compound tires to get 25,000 miles out of them and kept the handling razor sharp.

The tire wear on the fronts doesn't equate to keeping the handling like the NSX or my MR2T does, IMO. The problem we face is different. Many of the preorder cars had their alignment knocked out before delivery, and developed the cupping at 4-5000 miles and suffered the noise associated with that. I hated the OE tires and changed them at 1600 miles and caught my alignment problem when I put on new tires at my own expense. So far, so good for me at 5500 miles on the new tires, but others have had the problem through 2 or even 3 front tire replacements. I still recommend anyone who buys a Z get a 4wheel alignment now and try to avoid getting the cupping. I also went to Michelin A/Ss and can't tell they have any wear at all. Other owners changed their tires and wheels immediately after getting the car so they got an alignment early.

I think we have a serious problem with the OE tires, they are too soft, perhaps, to handle the aggressive suspension settings on the Zs. Their wear rating (UTOG) is 140, while better summer tires like the Bridgestone 03s and Michelin Pilot Sports have a rating of 220 or better. The 040s suck as far as ride goes, they ride harshly, I would trade them the first chance I got, I think they are a big part of the problem, IMO. That is only my opinion, but the car rides a 100% better with my Michelins, AND the 040s were a last minute change for OE, the car was developed with Michelins originally. I hope some of this helps.

 

I hope Boomer is right about the tires. After I have the front wheel bearings replaced I'm putting better tires on the car, whether or not Nissan gives them to me for free. It will be interesting to see if the new bearings make any kind of difference before I put the new tires on.

 

What some of you are failing to realize is that the members of this board comprise a very small minority of Z owners. Many owners do not frequent forums/communities such as this one. Who knows what problems they may or may not have experienced.

I have a '03 Enthusiast with 3200 miles on it and I have not had a single problem - no window streaking, no transmission grind, no drifting or tire wear, no seat rattles, etc. My car was produced in May 2003 and I bought it in late August.

I have been wondering if it is a problem related to WHERE the cars are manufactured. It would be interesting to have a poll/study done and see where many of the cars with problems were manufactured.

 

All Zs are built in Japan at one plant. I think its called Oppama, but memory fails. I would like to see if one or more production runs was at fault. I have no idea if that would yield the data you want, but I wouldn't know how to get the info you need. You may have had the running changes we need since your car was built so late in 2003 production.

 

Well, we might be a small percentage, but after a lot of complaining about the Bose, guess what, thats the second TSB on it... hummm, maybe we have a point? And, tires apparently feather on enough of them that they also have a TSB, to flip them... humm... You think NNA would have a TSB out for this if a small percentage of people were having an issue?

To me, every TSB confirms that enough people have an issue, and so far the TSBs work around the problem or provide a temporary solution...

I would expect that once a TSB comes out, a final "answer" from NNA should be expected lets say in 6 months or so. Or don't they want to fix the issues their customers have?

I have friends who never frequent any boards about their cars. They aren't even aware of recalls, or common problems. After hearing of some, in a quick search of related boards, I find the problem, part numbers, TSBs, recalls etc in no time. This behaviour makes that group of owners uninformed.

That does not mean the problem does not exists. We are more "enthusiasts" than others. That means in general we pay more attention to our cars when they make noises and things act strange. We are the perfect feedback system for a car manufacturer that really wants to shine by their service. Think about it, a free BETA group, a free feedback loop. And a lot of marketing power...

 

Where do I find a list of all the TSB's?

 

Yes we are. That is my point, but they have had the data on most of our problems since November of 02. The Bose was evident from the day of delivery, the tire wear started showing up then and a myriad of small but irksome problems appeared. We sent Nissan's U.S. representative a problems list for informational purposes, but it was never read, apparently. Nissan has sent TSBs on almost all of them, but it has taken a year for it to happen. A very frustrating circumstance for many of us.

In my own case, I had the tire wear problem, the Bose and the Grease Streaks on the side windows. The tire wear is still a question mark for me, it could develop again later than my 5500 miles on my new tires. The Bose fix is pending, and the grease streaks are very trivial, I scarcely notice anymore. I had other small problems fixed earlier. Nissan has been responsive only to us as individuals, not as a group except with the Bose and 1000s of us complained directly to Bose, who responded directly to each complaint and admitted it was substandard. No such admission has ever been put in writing by Nissan except for the TSBs.

The unresolved tire problem is the main issue for the 2003 production, both early and late, that has caused the most grief. Not all of us have the problem, but many do and we have demanded a repair from Nissan. So far, no resolution has been forthcoming. Your build date may have incoporated a running change, if so, you have nothing to worry about, the rest of the problems can be fixed w/o a lot of effort on Nissan's part.

P.S. Some lucky owners have not had any problems to fix at all, and they are early production 2003s, odd but true.