Bought a 2003 Coupe and after 4 sets of tires pursued the Lemon Law and Nissan bought car back.....Missed the car...but hated the problem. Missed the car so much purchased a Roadster in 2004 tire feather was still there. Changed the alignment per tsb Nissan furnished new tires. Sold this car to finish a "muscle car" project with the intent to purchase another Roadster upon completion of the project. Did research and was reassured that the tire feather issue was mute and no longer a problem with the 2007 models. We purchased a 2007 Roadster and guess what.... the tire feather issue is still there. Contacted the dealership was told that we were out of luck. That Nissan was taking the stand that there was no tires for the Z's. We were told by the Service Manager that if they replaced them they would be admitting there was a problem. He understood my frustration and if it was him he would be mad as H......but...his hands were tied. He also was not permitted to give us their regional rep. All complaints had to go thru customer service @ Nissan.....which is stone walling at it's finest. I did take the time to contact the customer service department and was told that the tire manufacturer would make the tires good. Guess what....we contacted the manufacturer and he thought it was a joke. Does it always take a law suite to make Nissan stand behind their product?....guess so!

 

How long have you owned/driven the Z? Did you ever get a front end alignment? If you let the front end get out of alignment - then yes, you will have tire feathering.

 

I have never heard of tire feathering in any cars after 05. In addition, many people have been able to fix their problem with an alignment. Have you sought to fix the problem that way? A $100 alignment might be a better way to deal with it then going through the hassle with the dealership.

 

+1, newbs think feathering is a defect that isnt fixable. its just some excess negative camber and maybe a bit of toe that needs to be adjusted through a simple alignment. spend your $125 and get lifetime alignment at pepboys, which is good to have anways, and call it a day. stop stressing over it and enjoy the car.

 

05 Enthusiast with coil overs and no tire problems....then again i did a alignment after the coil overs install. I have never until now heard of anybody with any Z after 04 having the tire feathering issue.

Do you have lowering springs or coilovers on your Z car??

 

My understanding is the “feathering” problem on the Z is fixed, and that fix was accomplished long ago. I have a 2003 and went through this twice. First time was an alignment correction, and the next time was faulty calibration on the dealers/shops’s alignment equipment (a problem Nissan worked on with its dealerships and solved).

I currently have no problem with feathering on my 2003, and that’s with doing only a correct alignment (no parts were changed). I think that someone reporting a wear problem these days has faulty alignment.

Certainly the Z’s sophisticated suspension requires a precise alignment, and that is accomplished with properly calibrated alignment equipment.

--Spike

 

The whole "tire feathering" issue is not one of "broke" vs "fixed". Any car, no matter what model year, can develop feathering or any of a dozen other problems due to an improper alignment.

The reason that the 03 and 04 Zs were treated special via the TSB and extended warranty was because they were delivered from the factory with bad front end alignments. That caused some of them to suffer the problem. The fix was to set the Toe-in correctly. Nothing more than that.

The reason that everybody says that 05 and beyond don't suffer from feathering is because they are delivered with the problem alignment specs. Does that mean that they will never experience feathering? NO. If your front end gets out of alignment, you WILL have feathered front tires.

I can tell you from personal experience that the front end can and does get out of alignment - easily. I'm careful not to hit potholes, speed bumps or anything else with my Z, but 18 months after getting my Z aligned I had it checked and the toe setting went from the factor spec of -0.05° (toe-in) to +0.24 / +0.46° (toe out). That is horribly out of alignment and according to the tech, it's common on 350Z.

 

Agreed. What’s interesting is that once Nissan determined the correct alignment (that corrected the “front tire-feathering“) and sent the specifications to its dealers, reports of this problem continued.

As it turns out, some of Nissan’s dealers had poorly calibrated alignment equipment (or at least alignment equipment that wasn‘t able to set the precise alignment the Z requires). When Nissan discovered this, the company required its dealers to recalibrate their alignment machines, and that pretty much corrected the “feathering“ problem on any year Z.

I agree that alignment on the Z requires vigilant oversight. We tend to drive this type of car “harder,” and are therefore prone to disrupting its alignment. Performance-summer are expensive, and checking alignment is wise to protect this investment. I’m in a wintry area (where I swap snow tires with performance tires twice yearly), so I am checking alignment frequently. Doing this I notice how quickly alignment can become way off.

--Spike

 

I hate it when people make a post or a thread...and never return to it.

 

Damn, impatient aren't we? He made the post less than 24 hours ago. Not everybody visits the site 10 times a day, or hangs online after their post to see all the replies flood in.

 

File another lemon law suit and get your money back. Do not buy a 350Z. Its not the car for you.

 

^^ I always enjoy reading your messages, and I appreciate your participation and the useful information you provide on the Forum.

But, I think you may have offended the OP.

A suggestion (but certainly do what you want since my idea may not be your “style“)… maybe throw in a “smilie” or two to show the message isn’t totally sarcastic when you are the most critical.

…Like this , or this , or whatever.

--Spike

 

I've had an 05 Z and now an 07 no feathering. Put 12k miles on the 05 and now 8k miles on the 07 with out aligning either, maybe it's you? My $.02

 

I gave it some thought, and decided to leave the post as is. If I Lemmoned a car, any car, I would certainly not but the same car again.

 

I understand. You are certainly correct. I was only pointing out that you consistently provide valuable information, but you are sometimes a little sarcastic (and hard on the newbs… and I consider myself as a newb).

“Newbs” may not understand your style, and misinterpret your good intentions.

--Spike

 

Nope, Davidv always means what he says.

 

thanks for the input...but we are not new to car industry!....yes we had a alignment done to a zero tow out! (camber and caster are not adjustable on these cars)....but that's not the point....the dealership told us that all alignment was in specs. However, when we took the vehicle to a independent shop, we were shown two areas where the specs were completely out. We then went back to the dealership hoping that if we showed them it was out of specs expecting them to agree to replace or compensate us for new tires. At that point, the service manager told us that the technician did not clear the machine prior to putting our car on the rack. (we agree that most of the problem is with improperly calibrated machines)
Don't get us wrong, we love this car...but...they should as I do in my personal business should be up front honest and stand by their work. Our new strategy...oil change and front end alignment.

 

I hope Zero toe is not your current setting - it's not enough. It should be about 0.07º toe-in.

 

Tire feathering.. Cmon..