hndumafia

iTrader: (10)

basically as the title states, will rotating my front tires, which seem to be feathered badly based on the noise they make, help to eliminate or at least reduce the noise from them? it seems a shame to replace them since they have a decent amount of tread life remaining.

if it makes any difference, they are kdw2, which are known for being noisy. but based on the uneven wear from the inside to outside of the tire, i am convinced the noise is at least partially due to the tire being feathered.

chromesilver6

iTrader: (3)

You can flip them around on the wheel. I recently did mine and it helped but they still will have a little noise. Will allow you to get the most life outta your tires though for sure.

DavesZ#3

iTrader: (26)

That was Nissan's first solution to the feathering problem - flip the tires so the feathered inside edges became the outside edge. It definitely quieted down the roar, especially when slowing to a stop.

If you are having feathering problems, make sure you get your front alignment checked - I'd bet you're suffering from toe-in problems.

davidv

iTrader: (2)

Nope. I tried it. Switched the front tires and they were just as loud as before.

fithamoto

iTrader: (24)

You need to have an alignment & the Camber/toe adjusted.

You shouldn't hear much of any road noise when breaking.

Row2K

iTrader: (10)

I have KDW2s and I run 06 350z springs on my G. I actually did get some tire feathering and a considerable amount of noise. After flipping the front tires i didn't really notice any difference in the noise, still as loud as before. So honestly you would be wasting your time. I will prob either switch to a different damper upfront or different spring eventually. That should alter the resonance of the front suspension as it seems that everyone who switches to a diffrent shock/spring combo tends to get rid of their tire feathering. Anyway just to be clear, FLIPPING THE FRONT TIRES IS A WASTE. Also the KDW2's are F%#2# LOUD AS HELL, thats also a part of your problem...I'm not buying them again.

Row2K

iTrader: (10)

NO, there have been numerous reports of tire feathering on this forum from owners who have confirmed their toe to be perfectly aligned...plus you can't even adjust camber, unless you buy front camber arms...like the Cusco ones I have on my car.

hndumafia

iTrader: (10)

Well, I decided to just order new tires. I am going to try out the Vredestein Sussanta tires.

I will also take the car for an alignment, though I don't know how much it can actually be aligned without front or rear camber and toe arms. I am not so worried about the camber, but would like the toe to be corrected to prevent the feathering from occurring again.

*by the way, I am running Hotchkis springs with Tokico d-spec shocks, so I have a mild/small drop.

Spec_Tacular

Did you just flip the wheels from side to side or the actual tire on the wheel?

Row2K

iTrader: (10)

Surprisingly enough those are exactly the tires I plan on buying to replace my KDW2s. Best bit is that although they are asymmetrical they are designed to be non-directional, so you can run them in the opposite direction (unlike the uni-directional KDW2s) AND THAT I KNOW FOR A FACT eliminates feathering noise for another 10K miles or however long it took the first time for the noise to show up.

Oh and you really might want to consider getting some camber arms for the front, even a mild drop can knock the camber wayyy out of spec and that will only make your tire wear and noise worse.

Btw if you could, when you get the Vredestein tires, could you post a thread comparing them to the KDW2s.

Mario

davidv

iTrader: (2)

Took the tires off the wheels. Switched them so that the inside was now the outside.

Spike100

Wow… I haven’t read much about the "tire-feathering problem" for some time now.

I was an early buyer (2003 Performance model) and experienced the tire-feathering problem within a few thousand miles. The initial dealership “fix” at that time (timeframe… 2003 to 2004) was flipping the front tires (keeping the front wheels in the original position, and remounting the tires from left-front to right-front and right-front to left-front… i.e., swapping the front tires).

In my case, and as DaveZ#3 mentions:
…After “flipping the front tires, I experienced some relief from the tire “roar.” But as davidv says:
…that “fix” may not work in every case (it depends upon the degree of “feathering.”),and is only temporary at best unless you get the car aligned properly (something that DavesZ#3 points out in the second part of his message):
Actually, the real fix for this problem was proper alignment, and that only happened when Nissan demanded that their dealerships recalibrate onsite alignment equipment. As it turns out, the dealerships had alignment equipment that was not accurate enough to provide the demanding specifications for a Z. Once this was corrected, the tire-feathering problem went away.

If your front tires still have a decent amount of tread (and the “feathering” isn’t too severe), I would certainly try swapping the fronts. When you do this you will be removing the tires from the wheels and doing the swap, so it is imperative that you also have the alignment set to specification.

I realize that my response is long, but there are multiple issues here.

--Spike

super_undftd

Does switching to different spring and shock work?

DavesZ#3

iTrader: (26)

Nope. Feathering was/is an alignment problem.

hndumafia

iTrader: (10)

fwiw, a large part of my tire noise problem wasn't actually tire noise. It was the result of a bad wheel bearing. If you have any crazy roaring from the front tires, I suggest checking the bearing for wear, and replacing if there is any.

cheshirecat79

iTrader: (9)

Simply swapping the wheels on the front will not suffice. In order to get the toe-in wear on the outside of the tire, you need to dismount the tires and swap them onto the opposite wheels.

Tire feathering will cause quite a bit of roar from 15-25mph especially during deceleration. Even if you get your toe aligned the tires will tend to roar after the fact as you brake and more load is put on the fronts.

Get you toe done, swap the tires so that the wear is on the outside and you should be good to go- at least that's been my experience.