i have an 05 350z touring manual transmission. when i put the car in 3rd gear or higher and floor it at 2k rpms it revs up to 3k, then drops down to like 2.5k and then revs back up faster. it does it in a smooth motion. is this normal?

 

clutch slip. need replacement

 

car has 26k miles on it...

 

There are thousands of Z's that have needed their clutches replaced much sooner than 26k miles. Some as early as 10k or less. All depends on how the car was driven, how it was broken in, type of roads the car was driven on (city/highway), etc. A friend of mine purchased an 05 Z new to learn stick on, and needed his clutch replaced within 6 months of owning. You are experiencing a clutch slip just as stated above, and the only fix is a replacement. Check out the vendor section on here for a good deal on an upgraded one that should last a bit longer than an OEM piece (as long as you are experienced at driving a manual trans).

 

+1

Original owner sucks at driving a manual.

 

26k is mileage, it does not reflect actual wear/abuse on components. It may be used as a guideline or general basis. There are cars with 50k that look and drive if only had 10k on them, while there are cars with 10k that drive as if they've had 150k on them.
Not to hard to burn out a clutch. i recommend replacing it as well.

 

And every time you floor it and make it slip, you are wearing off what little you have left.....

 

I didn't notice this problem until today when I put new tires on the car.

 

Still - it really sounds like your clutch is slipping. Only way I can think of that can relate back to your tires - 1) your old tires were terrible and they slipped before the clutch (not likely) or 2) whoever put the tires on somehow pinched or restricted the slave cylinder line - not allowing slave to return fluid fast enough and slowing slave cylinder (again, not likely). Sorry but I think you're still looking at a clutch replacement.

 

bought an 04 base model. Im the second owner. I asked the owner to drive the car for me when I was first taking a look at it. Have to say i've never thought I meet the most horrible manual transmission driver. All the gear switches had horrible pulls and bobbing. over revving. at one point it stalled and blamed his "3 months not driving stick".

 

^^ is bs, haha.

I agree with the clutch slip crowd btw. You can haz buy my stocker! I don't suck at driving stick >.<