anyone successful repair?

 

Well, I was hoping it would not happen to me but... I'm at 10k miles on my 03 Touring and I'm starting to get a loud growl when slowing down from about 40mph to 10mph. I've run my hand along the front tires and there is "feathering" on both front tires. I did not notice it on the rears... What should I do now? Should I wait for the engineers to come up with a new TSB or should I go ahead and start the process of taking the car into my local dealer? Does anyone think I can get new tires from Nissan?

 

if this just started for you then you probably have a good amount of tread left. you should get the tsb done at least to have the problem minimized and potentially even lessen the noise. if you have the feathering on both sides it more than likely wont go away with the tsb of swapping the tires. in that case you could get the dealer to throw on new wheels, at least on the front but that will more than likely be the suck-*ss 040's. It was my understanding back in december when they(NNA) first alluded to this fix that it was going to involve new tires as well. my guess unfortunately is that this is all the "recall" might involve. 4 new tires that are harder in compound than the OEM 040's,and the latest alignment specs possibly at an independant shop. I have put on over 2k since my TSB and new fronts that were a harder compound, the all weather, and so far things look real good. I know its early though.

 

The TSB for the tire swap was completed. The noise is gone for now, but the outer edge of my tire does have irregular wear. It is going back in this week for the control arm at which point I will inquire about new tires if the problem reoccurs.

 

Thanks for the information! I guess I should call NNA too and politely submit my problem for documentation purposes. That way I will at least have a fall back position if the dealership gives me the run around.

 

i had Sheriden Nisan do my alignment at 5k noe at 5.5 k the outside edge is wearing as well. I hate having to go back & forth for a make a wish repair. seems there must be some symetrical front end problems to me.

 

After reading this forum I went to Capitol Nissan in San Jose,CA and complaned about tire noise and wear. I told them that some people on the MY350Z forum had gotten new tires. I had 11,700 miles on the car. They called National Sevice and whadda ya know, They authorized 2 new front tires after about 30 seconds. Unfortunately they replaced them with the OEM RE040s. I guess the problem is bad enough that they are taking it seriously. Oh ya I killed my rears in 14k and replaced them with the Bridgestone S-03 Pole Positions. They have a lot better grip then the RE040s.

 

I have an 04 with build date 11/03. Car currently has 3300 miles. If my car is going to feather the tires, how long before I should see it ?

 

I know these RE040 tires are unidirectional. But, what I don't know are the consequences of rotating the tires from side to side, and using them in the reverse rotation.

I'd like to get the feathering to wear out more evenly, but won't rotate the front tires without making sure I don't do something stupid. Will using the tire in reverse direction cause a unstable condition? Am I highly susceptible to hydroplaning? Is the tire going to fall apart on me? Or, am I just going to see some diminished performance?

Since no one has spoken about this, and the service techs don't do this, I have assumed that it's a big NO NO. I'm just looking for a good explanation...not one that comes from the marketing dept of a tire manufacturer.

 

After reading this forum I went to Capitol Nissan in San Jose,CA and complaned about tire noise and wear. I told them that some people on the MY350Z forum had gotten new tires. I had 11,700 miles on the car. They called National Sevice and whadda ya know, They authorized 2 new front tires after about 30 seconds. Unfortunately they replaced them with the OEM RE040s. I guess the problem is bad enough that they are taking it seriously. Oh ya I killed my rears in 14k and replaced them with the Bridgestone S-03 Pole Positions. They have a lot better grip then the RE040s.

 

The TSB says to dismount the tires off the rims and mount them so the inside is out. Then they switch left and right sides. That keeps the rotation direction the same. After that they do a new alignment.

 

Just guessing really but I thought the directionality was related to displacing water via the tread design. If this is ture, running the tire in reverse could adversely affect your wet traction to the point where you had none. Something to consider before you turn those suckers around.

 

at around 5,500 miles my car started to growl. took it in for service and the service department ordered new tires without any problems. best of all, new tires turned out to be the s03 pole positions . they also performed an alignment when installing the new tires.
so far the feathering hasn't come back, but the car only has around 1000 miles on the new front tires.

Rajiv

 

And braking performance as well. I was asking myself the same question as dnguyent, and I scratched around on the web, but don't ask me for the site.

I didn't see anything about tires blowing out or drastic stuff, but reduced wet performance and longer braking distances is what I remember. It was enough to put me off. Think of the insurance/liability consequences.

 

waldf,

I believe you have a very good point. I'd sure hate to have a slick lawyer deny any insurance claims due to a technicality like this. Logically, it's just not prudent to rotate tires in a manner that would degrade performance. Furthermore, nobody is doing this, so it's usually a good indicator that I shouldn't either.

However, If I were to be a devils' advocate on this issue, I'd argue that the performance of our Z's with tires utilized in the wrong direction may still outperform 75% of vehicles on the road today, especially because there are so many 4500+ lb SUV's. I'd also argue that every aftermarket component we put on our cars could subject us to liability consequences since very few of us are "automotive engineers". Also, have you seen how many drivers out there have underinflated tires? I have this weird habit of checking all my family's and friend's tire pressures before they leave my house on a long trip. Often, I discover that they have underinflated tires (by 5-10 psi). Check out other vehicles' tire profiles when you're at a stop light, and you'll see a few cars with probably only 20 psi. That observation alone indicates that many vehicles have degraded performance.

Man, I'd love to dig up some performance reports...maybe one of these automotive magazines can do a test, just like they did a test on the effect of octane levels on different cars. That was interesting.

As for where we are on the tire feathering issue, I check these feathering threads every day hoping someone has news of a sure fix. Alignment and upgrading suspension components seem to give success to some people, while failing for others. I will be taking in my '04 for an alignment check in 1000 miles because my tires are feathering. But, at 9000 miles now, it's only noticeable when braking from 25mph to a dead stop. It's barely noticeable at higher speeds. I might be one of those that will have severe tire problems at the 15,000 mile mark.

 

you know whats funny? my tech tried to tell me the other day that the feathering issue is a result of the way we the Z owners drive our cars, and he basically told me off for "complaining" about the feathering issue. i cant believe someone who is certified to work on my Z is ignorant enough to believe that the feathering isnt a flaw in the design of the car, but rather a result of the way I drive. He started pulling out all this sh*t about how thats what happens when you buy a sports car, Vipers have the same problem. I told him my last car was an M3, my dad has had plenty of sports cars and this has never happened before. Anyways I left there feeling insulted and like i wanted to punch him in the face.

 

Is this at A2 Nissan???

 

Something "interestingly" related to this - I had gone over to Firestone last fall because I wanted an opinion other than the Nissan Dealer's on the tire wear. When the tech walked over to the car, his immediate reaction was that the front tires were on the wrong way. He was looking at the tread pattern.. Looking at the rotation indicator arrow, the tires are on correct. This guy did seem to know tires. He felt the rear drivers tire and said there was about 5 lbs too much. he was right on...

 

I drive my Z like I drive all my other cars. The Z is the only one with this problem. I would have wanted to punch the tech in the face too, but I'm over 18 (by far), and I have some assets I don't want to lose. It sometimes sucks being a grown up because you can't just go around punching people in the face anymore.

 

I can envision it now...."Nissan recalls all 03 and 04 Z's due to incorrect printing of the 'direction of rotation' on the OEM tires. As such, the tires have been utilized in the incorrect direction. This recall addresses the tire feathering problem afflicting 80,000 vehicles, and improves braking and road holding capabilities AND reduces understeer significantly. Surprinsingly, it also solves transmission issues."

I think this is just about where in my dream that I usually wake up.

mtscalon, I think I saw your post a while back, and checked the tire tread pattern shortly after reading it. IIRC, the angled grooves direct the water into the center of the tire, but there is another set of grooves located along the outer tread block that directs water to the edges of the tire.

The footprint looks kind of like this:

//||\\|| ||//||\\
//||\\|| ||//||\\
//||\\|| ||//||\\
//||\\|| ||//||\\
//||\\|| ||//||\\
//||\\|| ||//||\\


This sample of contact patch (above) hits the pavement at the top (of the diagram) first, then as the pavement contact moves down along the diagram, you can see that it pushes some water into the center 2 grooves, but it also pushes some water out to the edges of the tire. The tread pattern is not as clearly defined for water transport as the Michelin Pilot Sport, Kumho Ecsta MX, Goodyear F1 GS-D3, or Toyo T1S where it's evident that water is forced to the exterior of the tire no matter where the puddle falls within the footprint. It does appear to me that our RE040 would be equally effective in either rotational directions for wet weather performance. I wouldn't say the same for the other tires listed above because they are clearly defined.

This topic should probably be posted in a new thread, but I don't know how to move it.