Our 03 Touring is a low s/n 75XX and my wife is the main driver only going 3 miles round trip a day. I had the TSB performed in April with about 7K miles, the Z is schedule to go in again for a 2nd alignment and (2) new tires at 8.5K miles. This whole issue really is unacceptable. I have owned many performance cars (Italian, German, American, English and Japan-Toyota) I have never had so much bu**sh**with a car as I have encountered with this one. The Z is beautiful with good power and I thought I was buying my wife a sport car that would be bulletproof. If Nissan does not come up with a recall to correct this alignment / tire issue, I fear the value will go in the tank for the 03 / 04 models. That said, I agree with the intro to this thread, we need to unite to ensure Nissan takes corrective action. If Nissan thinks that I am going to get my car aligned every 5K miles as a preventative measure than I will go through the process for buy back, Lemon Law. I have never heard of anyone owning a car and going through this crap.

 

At 7000 miles on my 2004 I had it in for feathering, which was so bad I could barely hear the stereo. Went through the aligment and all as they finally replaced my tires after 3 trips there. Now at 14000 miles I noticed they are starting to feather again so I took it in yesterday to the dealer for them to take another look. There response after I waited 2 hours....The tire feathering is expected when you are unable to rotate your tires because of the different sizes front to back and them being rotational. It wasn't bad enough yet for them to take any action and if it gets worse just come back. I agree that this is crazy and Nissan needs to step up and fix this issue.

 

Join the class-action lawsuit in another thread on this site.

 

is there any way to call nna and see if a car has had any warrenty work done on the suspension, i will be buying a used 03 track edition z wit 11k miles on it, and am wondering if it has the feathering issue or not, i highly doubt the seller would come out and tell me....

 

Hi guys I really like the Z and ive been reading threads on the feathering so I asked this guy whos a mechanic at nissan who goes into eat at my work about the feathering he was like yeah alot of cars have been going in and supposebly nissan is changing like the whole suspension to get it fixed on the new Z's and I dont know if thats true but if it is looks like I'm going to look into a Z..

 

I may be able to put together a class action. E-mail me if are intersted at no cost. landcruiser@dslextreme.com

 

I still haven't received my tires for the feathering issue.

 

You can check the VIN # and call NNA or the dealership to see if that car is part of the TSB fix. I have 03 Track Z as well, and there was feathering.

 

Man, joined the site to see if I really wanted a Z...
I do not think I want one anymore after reading this 7 page thread --

 

My car was rumbling pretty loudly when slowing below 35mph (2004 Touring, 12k miles). Called up the dealer and they took it in, had it back next day all fixed and 2 new fronts. Now there's no TSB for the 2004's, only the 03's, and I dunno if the service guy missed this or what...but he just called me today (a week after repairs) and said that since there's no TSB he'd appreciate if I could come in and sign a 'Good Will' form because they warrantied the work anyway. hehe, would they have made me pay if they caught it from the beginning or did I luck out with the dealer? What's this form they want me to sign anyway? I'm not signing my life away here am I?

 

I think every vehicle will have some sort of issue. This isn't one that's as major as some others I've seen. I'm looking at buying one of two bikes. One's had fairly serious problems with no recall, and the other a more minor one with recalls. Yet both bikes are top performers. So you'll have problems with everything to a degree.

 

Don't forget, on this thread you are only hearing from the guys who have problems. These are the guys who are frustrated and p!ssed.

Although I've had what I consider minor problems, I've loved my car from day one.

If you are considering say a Honda s2k, it has its problems also. I have two friends that own them. I can tell you they eat tires (rears bald 12k miles) and you will have warranty work done on them also (one of them had transmission problems from the get go).

As BIGGY says, every vehicle has its problems. Drive the cars you are considering and make your decision on the attributes of the car. Not on fear of maintenance issues.

 

My 98 TT Supra hand no problems zero, zip, nada! Wish I had it back.

 

Well its also a toyota. But what about the turbos? How long do they last? And how many miles did it have when you got rid of it.

 

Read my lips "zero problems"...just kidding.

I ran ths turbos jacked up to 17psi for 56K miles. Sold it because teh miles were gettin up there....BIG mistake. The car is really tough to replace..so now I have a Z.

I do love my Z, but I cannot say it is problem free.

 

I have the feathering on my 04 Touring Roadster with 17" wheels (build date 08/03). I'm upgrading to NISMO S-Tune suspension, 18" Work wheels and new tires. My dealer has acknowledged the feathering/alignment issue and is covering the alignment; I had already planned to upgrade tires. However, the dealer does NOT do the alignment work at the dealer service dept. He farms it out to Gateway Tire Center because Nissan's equipment is not capable of calibrating to the specs necessary for the Z(at least HIS equipment is not...don't know if that's consistent across all dealer service depts.), where Gateway's equipment is. He does ZERO 350Z alignments in the Nissan service center....they all go out. He tells me that once they are done, they do not return. We'll see. But in spite of this particular issue, I never expected my tires to last more than 25k miles on this car (I didn't expect this to be a cause, though) and the car has so much more going for it, I really am not bothered by this issue. I realize it is upsetting to some and it appears some have a more chronic problem than I do and for them it should be remediated to your satisfaction. But I'd buy another Z in a heartbeat. So, for those of you that are being scared away by this particular issue, reconsider. The car is a blast and is sold in low enough numbers that it is unique (at least in my area). You won't see yourself at every street light, and my car is gawked everywhere it goes. Had a mercedes convertible cruise my car this afternoon in the parking lot...common occurrence! So, that's my 2c; it is a problem, but not a problem I cannot live with...the car has so many attributes going for it, this minor flaw in my opinion is way overshadowed.

 

My problems seem to be gone. My dealer put Pilots on and got a new alignment machine. Almost 10K and the new shoes look perfect?

 

When are you upgrading to the Nismo suspension? I'm thinking of doing this in the spring. I also have the feathering problem (mild).

 

Well I don't understand why Nissan is only fixing the 2003's. Just got back from the dealership where I have all my work done. My tires have less than 15k on them and the inside of the wheel is almost worn to the belt while the outside of the tire has less than 3/8 missing! Dealership told me that they won't even pay for the alignment yet they seem to be aware that this problem occurs on Z's a lot.

I took the car to get an independent opinion. The guy has worked in the tire industry over 20 years and said that as much as we pay for these Z's, they should not have these alignment issues so often. The tires should have made it to 25 to 30k miles but mine look like they will need to be replaced in the next 1-2k miles. And these are the tires that Nissan put on the Z when it was built. Do you know how much it will cost to get 4 of the same tires installed??? $1300!!!

So all you 2004's out there with this problem, what do you plan to do? I don't know about you, but I drive a lot and this issue looks like it could cost me big time over the years.

 

It is going on this week. Immediately afterwards, my new wheels and tires go on concurrent witht he set up.