Awesome news!! I just took my car in today for the feathering and the advisor mentioned nothing about such a fix. I don't think he was too knowledgable about the Z's, but then maybe he didn't want to admit anything. Like he owns Nissan or something. Anyway, good to hear a positive step towards this mess.

 

The representative also told me that they are having problems with several dealerships not addressing the issue properly. You ARE entitled to one set of front tires under 12k miles. Over 12k, each car will be addressed on a case by case basis. Call NNA if your dealer gives you any problems. This guy was incredibly helpful. Much better than my first experience with NNA.

 

Any way we can have his name or extension, as this NNA rep seems to be very helpful.

 

Freddie was his name. I have his extension at home.

 

Great post lascala26. Thanks for sharing. Please don't be offended if I engage in some free form conversational analysis. I'm not doubting you. Just the CSR you talked to.

snip..
Not likely. Nissan decided it was an issue when they published the first tire noise TSB almost a year earlier. How could the TSB's have been considered a temporary fix if Nissan had not decided it was even an issue until almost a year later? If it wasn't an issue then why did they need a fix? I seriously doubt that any TSB's are released without the knowledge and consent of the "Nissan executives", whoever they are.

What about the infamous Japanese engineer tour? They've known about it for almost two years and they are just now assembling a team?

[QUOTE][B]Nissan is working with Bridgestone to solve this. The primary source of feathering is the compound of the RE40s. It is too soft. This is why tire feathering became such a big issue during this past summer.[QUOTE][B]

Yes they are soft. I wonder how long it took the team to figure this one out? That still doesn't account for the heel and toe wear pattern. It became a big issue last summer because that's when the first cars sold started to roll back into the Dealerships with feathered tires. It's not like it is no longer a big issue because it's winter.

Sounds like this guy has been hanging around these forums too long. I'm suprised he didn't add "It must be done on a Hunter Machine at Firestone" (Just kidding Big Al. I know that's not what you meant.). Only the majestic Hunter machine is capable of meeting the exacting demands of the sophisticated, agressive, close tolerance 350Z suspension. Riiiight.

They are wasting more money on alignments and tires than they would if they just issued the fix and moved on. And that doesn't even begin to address the money that they are loosing as a result of the bad publicity and lost sales.

 

Good stuff....one other point that was made...

It appears only 14% of Zs are infected with the tire feathering virus (lol). The NNA manager stated that have around 5,000 confirmed cases of tire feathering or tire feathering related issues. This would mean there were about 36k Zs sold in 2003. Is this right? 14% doesn't seem like a very high #, unless you are one of the 14%, which I am. I am sure there are several people out there that don't even realize that have feathering.

 

maybe nissan's waiting as long as they can to implement the fix. (like overZealous said) they're just waiting for that point on the graph where losses from TSBs and publicity intersect profits from handling things in the current manner. or something like that. i mean they want to optimize money, they don't just want all customers to be as happy as possible(that's important, but just one factor).

 

What is the deal with this "Hunter" alignment machine? Do any Nissan dealerships have one?

 

Hunter is the "state of the art" in alignment and balancing machines. Very good chance the dealership has one unless it's in BFE.

 

It's a suspension geometry or the frames are not all in a tight spec. so the alignment specs for one car will not be proper for another. Result many cars with prematurely worn tires.

 

Got the car back at around 5:00 pm today. I checked and they did the tire swap correctly, however, they also swapped the rims from side to side too. I double checked to make sure they swapped the tires correctly. First impression is good, as the tire roar is not as prevalent, but still there somewhat.

Service advisor said over the phone they performed the TSB as outlined, and it took all day because he had his alignment "specialist" do all four wheels, and had to wait for his tire/rim "specialist" to do the swap. (I advised him when I dropped off the car that I did not want any scratches on my rims or else! and asked if he had the right equipment for 18" wheels and he assured me they did) He didn't fix the seat click, because they were unable to reproduce it. I told him there was TSB for it, and he said, "Oh, there is? well, that's good." I told him about the TSB when I dropped it off in the morning...good grief. Another trip next week for that.

Think I should contact NNA and open a file for the feathering?? I'm afraid it'll come back and I'll need documentation, right?

OH well, all is good for now. Oh, by the way, the service advisor said since the TSB was performed, "the feathering will not return." Hope he keeps his word.

 

Bad Azz,

Contact Freddie at NNA. He is good people. He's has a 2003 track. He will help you better than the peeps driving the Altimas.

 

I called NNA 3 times no response. I left my Service Manager 2 mesages and no return calls ! I had an intial alignment done at 1400 miles , then at 5000 miles the roaring came and had the TSB done along with another alignment. Still the feathering is present and so is the tire roar . Does anyone have any good ideas now? How would one take it to the courts and having NNA buy back the car as a lemon?

 

lascala26,

Thanks for the info.. I'll call on monday.

 

Hi to all
Left a post elsewhere, but my two or three cents-
1) the tires are 140 wear rated (the Potenza's) This means 10,000 miles if you take it easy.
2) my fronts were OK to about 8500, then rapidly became noisy.
2a) alignment measured OK at the dealer and a service place, and the car tracked straight for very long distances with hands-off at 65mph.
3) the dealer swapped side to side, and the "fix" was OK for about 1k miles. THEN- big chunks of the tread blocks started coming out and the tread and sidewalls looked like they were attacked with a knife - no kidding.
4) dealer is getting new tires for the front, no questions asked.
Stay tuned.

 

johnsz,

What dealership did this for you? Good to hear they are not giving you a hard time about the replacement of the tires. Just curious what dealer, as I see you are in phoenix. Just to clarify, that is Phoenix, AZ?

 

i had same tire issue, went to dealer last year Oct, they told me the tire was on back order, two week ago, they finally called, and replaced tires, they also check the alignment, it was ok, but the tire they give to me were the same RE040's ( they told me that tire sucks, only last for 20k miles)

 

lascals26 said:

<B>He went on to say that Nissan has assembled a tire feathering specialist team to research and develop a fix for the issue. Nissan is working with Bridgestone to solve this. The primary source of feathering is the compound of the RE40s. It is too soft. This is why tire feathering became such a big issue during this past summer. The alignment specs for the tire contribute to its wear. He stated that the alignment specs out now are right, but should be completed by a Hunter machine.</B>

I wonder how this will play out for non-US/N.A. spec Z owners. If I understand correctly, tire compounds are generally 'harder' in the US than in many other countries (my experience limited to residing in Europe for about 6 years). If that's true, then what happens to folks whose choices might be limited to 'softer' tire compounds?

Of course, my assumptions could be full of crap.

Scott

 

I went to www.nissanusa.com to look for these TSB's but I can't find them using the search feature. Could someone please tell me where to go to take a look at them please. Or post a link...Thank you

Aby

 

Go to Edmunds.com under car care. They have every TSB for the Z. They are also scattered throughout this site. Do a search. They'll come up.