thanks a million for the links.

 

I hope you got your money back. I isolated your statement on experimenting to get the alignment right. This checks with my ASE suspension tech's analysis. I don't have a problem because I changed tires and got an alignment at 1600 miles and I had the opposite of most of the side wear, mine was on the outside(excessive toein, not toeout). My alignment was set at 0.0, the minimum and after 6600 miles, my tech says my tires are fine, maybe just a little outside wear on the left front.

Guess what, I think he can set my front toe at Nissan's recommended Optimal setting of 0.01(acceptable range being 0.0/0.1/0.2) and be home free. I will have my tires checked every 3 months/3000 miles and re-align them as necessary.

I think this is what every Z owner with the side wear needs to do, get an alignment setting that works and check it every 3-4 months or miles and Nissan should pay for it, including new tires until they, or someone, gets each car right. This checks directly with Jelledge's hearing findings, from the Nissan Rep's own statements. What do you think?

 

Well I got my results back from Arbitration and I won. I will be selling the car back to Nissan for a good price. Arbitrator found in my favor and scolded Nissan in several areas. He stated that Nissan acknowledges that there are problems and do not have any final resolution to fix the tire wear problems at this time.

The arbitrator also stated how he thought Nissan's current TSB for tire roar was not a fix and Nissan needs to address this problem more clearly as it was obvious that people across the country are having issues and it was unlikely that a majority of Nissan dealerships can't do alignments.

To Boomer:
I agree with your assesment that each car is in needed of careful alignment and tire wear analysis. There seems to be multiple causes and effects going on here which is why it might be so hard to nail down.

My Nissan rep at arbitration suggested that they perform the repair method that you suggested. I asked how this would get done, i.e. who would do the alignment since the local dealer could not do it right and how many sets of tires Nissan was willing to provide until the problem was solved. Basically he could not answer and had no plan. He was talking out his **** and this would be "what I would do" if this guy was in charge.

So it really left me no choice but to orce Nissan to buy back the car. Nissan won't take responsibility to fix the problem and I am not willing to shell gobs of money to fix it.

The Z is great car and I like it alot. I really hope Nissan decides to take care of the customers and fix these issues. But between the tranny problems and tires -- yikes they got some work to do.
It seems like many of the newer cars Nissan has come out with have severe problems and or design flaws that are simply clear oversights and lack of proper testing. This is purely a managment problem.

So Renault saved Nissan -- but did they really? I have owned many Nissans in the past with great success. But I will not buy another one until their company philosphy and product quality improves. (same can be said for VW, Audi, Mercedes......)

 

congratulations on your outcome...now, are you going to put together a tire feathering arbitration package

 

glad the hearing was in your favor. Just another established case law in which to refer for other people who may have to go through this. Sorry you couldn't keep your Z. Hopefully they'll come up with a fix.

 

Renault hasn't saved Nissan yet, and they are most interested in profit. Nissan's lack of management expertise is really emphasized by the Engineer who said recently, "We hadn't heard about the tire problem until last Fall(2003)". If they hadn't heard about it, why have they issued TSBs, NTB-00603, NTB03-006a and NTB06b? Tire Roar is related to tire wear, obviously, and I am insulted by his statement. Do they all think we are stupid?

The answer seems to be yes, since they are stalling us Again with rumors. I'll believe it when I see it. I still have less than 8200 total miles, but I have had a specialist tell me I'm OK so far. Time will tell. Your arbitration post inspired me, so I feel vindicated in what I have been saying all along, for all the good it has done me and everyone else with the problem, incuding you, of course. I'm just sorry you and others have lost their Zs because NNA has serious communication problems between the Customer Service and Engineering Division. As a CS Rep told me when I told him Engineering needed to be informed of the tire problems, he said, "I can send this to the Engineers, but I can't make them read it". The quote is verbatim, exact words, clear as a photograph in my mind. Management, jelledge. You id'ed the problem simply and succinctly, there is no need to say anymore. Thanks for posting me back. Good luck to you.

 

Upon winning in arbitration and forcing Nissan to buy back the car, how is the sales tax that you paid handled? Do they pay you the sales tax on the buyback amount?

 

jimcell,

With the California Lemon Law you get everything you paid for except any dealer installed non-factory options. Your award includes tax, registration, down payment, finance and prinicipal charges. The only thing that is deducted is Reasonable Use. Reasonable Use is defined as the miles on the car at the date the vehicle was first serviced for the problem(s) for which the buy-back was awarded.

I just turned my lemon in yesterday and will never purchase another Nissan.

I arrived at the dealership only to find that NNA did not complete the paperwork for the buy-back (this was the date they told me to return the car) and the sales manager, with a pleased look on his face, stated that I would have to return it another day. I was beyond livid as the entire experience with this car, from day one, has been a nightmare. I voiced my opinion loudly of what I thought of Nissan's vehicle quality and lousy customer service to the point where everyone in the building could hear me. I then got on the phone with the individual responsible for my buyback at NNA and read her the riot act. I said that I had attempted to deliver the car on the day that I was told by NNA. I then went on to say that the BBB states that the car is to be returned to a location that is mutually agreeable to both parties and since I had already attempted this the only agreeable place would now be my driveway. I also went on to let her know that the BBB would be hearing about this and since the buy-back would not happen within the imposed 30 day limit set by the BBB that NNA would be facing siginificant fines. As I was about to leave a trail of burned rubber and a cloud of tire smoke behind me the Sales Manager, who no longer had that pleased look on his face, came running out and said that they would take the car today. It is so nice to actually have an organization like the BBB behind you to put companies like Nissan in their place. If it was not for the BBB I would still be driving this unsafe lemon.

THANKFULLY THIS IS FINALLY OVER! Well almost, the did not have my check ready so I have to pick it up next week (This would not be Nissan if the check was ready.)

 

You gave them the car without getting a check?????

 

Yes, I know that sounds strange but I got a receipt and the dealership verified to NNA that they had taken possession of the vehicle. I wanted to make sure that NNA had nothing on me about not meeting the deadline imposed by the BBB. It's all on them and I hope the BBB imposes the fines on NNA.