damoniusmonk

I commute 100 to several hundred miles a day. My cheap Altima holds up very well indeed.

I'm really worried about tires taking a dump in a short time on the Z, as it will be my only means of transport when I buy it.

Do any of you use your Z this much?

What do you do to minimize feathering?

Do you get it aligned all the time and check your tire pressure daily?

Please let me know what the experience might be like so I know if I should buy this car or not.

Thank you

Hazade

iTrader: (8)

feathering does not affect all Zs. it is only certain '03 and early '04 models where it is predominant. I have an '03 and have no feathering however. as long as you get some decent tires with decent tread life they should hold up without much of a problem compared to other cars.

Q45tech

Heel Toe Feathering has been around since directional tread tires were invented. Obviously increased with softer compounds and non stress relieved larger tread blocks. Negative Camber coupled with extreme Caster on rigid suspensions [less rubber slop].

Reverse worn down by demounting and flipping on the rims and front rear rotation every 3,000-5,000 miles was the usual proceedure before staggered sizes.

Frequent alignment checks and precise toe settings can defer the problem [noise] longer.

Notice the new Michelin Pilot PS2 is non directional to address the compliant.

But still most [if not all] ultra high performance tires get noisey after 8,000 miles due to the tread wearing down and changing the depth of the slot tuned noise cancelling.

Facts of life when you try to get the last few percent from a tire.

damoniusmonk

So my Cooper tires on my Alty last a long time because:

*I have a softer-than-sportscar suspension set-up

*My tires are harder than Z tires (wear slower)

*I have "non-directional" tread? How do I know this? I still think I can only swap from front to rear...

*My suspension caster and camber is more forgiving due to overal looseness of the suspension and chassis (even though I have sports-suspension on my Alty)

__________________________________

So do you guys swap tire sides every 8000 miles and get alignment? How much does this cost?

Is this just as common on Porsches?

Ztrackman

I do a 100 mile round trip to my office 5-6 days each week. I just rolled over 27,000 miles on the original tires. I have some feathering and the tires now make more noise than I would like. However, I have experience with many other high performance tires on other cars that is about the same. This issue is WAY overblown on yhis board!

Buy the car- don't worry!

damoniusmonk

Thank you very much for that

Best advice ever! (Just buy the car!!)

So is there any special care/precautions you take in maintaining your tires?

(I currently just drive and drive, sometimes I check the air)

Thank you for your help, I am smiling right now

04 Lemans

I have 11,000 + on my 2004 track and 0 feathering.

It is lowered a tad and riding on Tein Basic coilovers.

I drive at least 100 miles per day and have been careful to rotate/rebalance at 5,000/10,000.

I also own a '92 Stealth RT/TT with directional BFG KDWs on it. I was not so careful on the last set and they howl and growl like a banshee.

I wore out two sets of KDWs on that car so far, got about 20,000 or so out of them, maybe a bit more if I was careful and took care of them, but they always got noisy over the last 5,000 or so miles.

No surprise if you look at the tread design of all of these high perfmance tires and how wide/low the tire is. As you wear them, down the tread block gets stiffer (probably true of all tires), especially with regards to any side to side deformation.

I think one reason this is so is because there is less rubber to act as a teenie, tiny shock absorber between you and the road. I think that the shorter block is also more resistant to side to side movement, which will also transmit more shock and noise to the suspension. Lastly, as you get closer to the root of the block, there is much more support from the case or base surface of the tire body, making it harder to move.

When new, the end of the tread block is hanging out quite a ways from the body, and some part of the noise and vibration of the road is used in moving the more compliant tread block around, absorbing shock, if you will. Later on, with less tread block that is harder to move around, a larger portion of the noise/vibration makes it into the suspension through the tire body.

Stiffer transmits more road noise to the car.

Anyway, that's my theory and I am sticking to it.

Ray

zlex

I heard that a rear camber kit will solve this problem?

damoniusmonk

Thanks buddies for the responses.

I think "premature" tire wear is just part of the sports car game. I'm willing to deal with it as long as I get the best advice in order to do so.

I'll rotate and align every 5,000 miles and I'll keep air in the tires (sensors will help) ******How much should this cost?******


zlex-- it's a front camber kit, and from what I've heard, the z can be aligned perfectly with it's own suspension, so I don't know if the camber kit will help unless you lower it.

Thanks everyone!

D'oh

I commute about 70-80 miles a day in my Z over twisty mountain roads and some interstate.

I have 44,000 miles, and just the other day bought my third set of tires.

OEM:
16,000 miles front
20,000 miles rear
Several AutoX and 4 Track Days

1st Replacement:
Yok AVS ES100, 28,000 miles front
Hankook K104, 24,000 miles rear
No AutoX (bought race tires)
3 Track Days

2nd Replacement:
Falken ST115 front and rear.
About 150 miles so far, and they are nice.

The Yoks definitely had very good wear characteristics. I've switched from the stock front tire size of 225/45 to 245/40 and I noticed that the Yoks wore primiarily on the edges (both inner and outer) while the Hankooks (still @ the stock rear size of 245/45) wore down the center. I was running very close to the 35 psi recommended.

For the Falkens (same size combo as Yoks/Hankook), I'm trying 36 PSI front and 34 PSI rear to see how things go. I'll try to pay closer attention to the wear pattern so I can compensate before it is too late.

I basically decided to get the cheapest "performance" tire I could find in the hopes of increasing the life. As long as I can last a year on tires I'll be happy. I probably could have kept running on the Hankooks, but I ran over a nail on one and the rainy season is starting over here and therefore I just went and got new tires to be safe.

-D'oh!

fisherprice

I had a 40 mile commute a day plus added wear on the weekends. I racked up 35,000 miles on my original tires before I bought my new wheels and tires.

03 with zero feathering.

Michael-Dallas

Tires on my 95 300zx, 96 300zx, and 94 300zx TT lasted around 12k. Tires on my 94 SE-R last around 40k

Tires on my 350z last only 6k (the factory RE-040 did last 9k before they chunked!). Then again, I'm at the track every other weekend. The track is around 90 miles away and I've driven home on bald tires and tires w/ the tread chunked.

What many people don't realize is that high performance rubber will not last as long as touring rubber. And any car can get tire feathering if the alignment is off.

You should be doing this for any car: INSPECT YOUR TIRES AND TIRE PRESSURE EVERY WEEK!

Michael.

damoniusmonk

Duly noted.

Thanks friend