A&Q about 350Z
Q:
I am hearing that the Z's OEM springs are at the heart of the problem and that replacing them with Eibach's cures the problem. Any body else heard this? Truth or fiction?
A:
not true at all, new springs wont solve it
A:
Hehe, solves that.
A:
Meaning no cure yet exisits? Spring, shock, coilovers, atermarket items? Any-body out ther with no feathering?
A:
Well, the dealership service technicians tell me they can't fix it. NNA says it is fixed with the TSB.
My car still has the problem. Some cars do not. I am sure there is a difference in the hardware and people have figured it out. I am sure Nissan knows knows, too.
A:
I wish they would tell us. At this point I would be happy sharing the cost 50/50 with Nissan. This has got to cause less than optimum handling/safety issues. Anyone that has eliminated the condition, please share. All of these alignment TSB's has produced little, if any improvement. What I can't figure out is all these people going 20's, and chewing those expensive tires.
A:
stillen has the kit to fix that ****
A:
No feathering.
A:
03_50ZT_TC do you mean the adjustable upper A arm? I've heard that doesn't correct it either. Any firssthand experience?
Lodus - All OEM still? how many miles? 03, 04?
Any info truly apreciated.
A:
I was talking to one of the guys at stillen,i think shawn and i told him i was getting 19"s and he said if i had any feathering problems they had a camber adjustment kit so i wouldnt eat my tires front and rear camber adjustment as well as the new upper wishbone upper suspension, if it solves bigger wheel issues id imagine it can solve the factory problem as well,
Post Edited (May 3, 9:14pm)
A:
Well: I have now 30,600 miles on my original tires. While the tread on the outbound side of the fronts still has plenty left, the inners are now nearly treadless. I dunno if that means I've had only mild feathering, or that I don't push the car that hard. Thoughts?? I'm thinking of putting my rears on my front, and upgrading to 265s in the rear....
A:
At about 26k now. late '03 Touring. The car is my daily driver. The first month I had it, I put about 3k miles on. After that, just to work and back every day. I havn't really had any problem with it so far other than the clearcoat on the front bumper is too thin. No problems \w the tires at all, and I check them every week or so b\c people complaining on this forum has gotten me nervous. No pulling to the right or roaring sounds. Never had a realignment done, everything internal is exactly as it came from the dealership. (although I just ordered some new springs and a popcharger, w00)
A:
Had the featering problem. Was easily detectable after 3K miles.
After an alignment, side-to-side swap, and a big a$$ battle with NNA, I finally got new tires and a fresh alignment with just under 11K miles on the car.
I've put over a 1000 miles on the new tires/alignment. I'm giving the front tires the "feel test" once or twice a week. Thus far there is absolutely no sign of abnormal wear.
Though I'm still suspitious of the "fix", I hopeful the tires last more than 3K I experienced early on.
A:
well that was mostly theory on my part, i dont think anything is fact with this situation. but its been pretty focused to a problem with the suspension geometry and the alignment specs. so if thats the case just throwing new springs on the car won't logically help this. I guess if you get a new alignment after you throw the springs on this could help it but its not the springs that are helping the feathering. It's also probably a combo of the camber and toe settings along with the crappy potenzas.
A:
ManboobZ: Nope! Track Model w/ pressure monitors. Maintains min. 35 (cold) - A very particular dude. Second set of tires and very meticulous about his car. Low milage however ...I guess time will tell. This is just one example. Incidentally, I see Bridgestone is advertising their potenza heavily on TV lately, offerring $50 rebate. Jury's still out for me.
A:
if you saw the thread about a week or 2 ago someone made a good observation that the potenzas he got his replaced with were different than the originals. instead of the outer tread blocks completely seperated from each other there is now a little seperation but each little tread block is connected to the other . do a search if you want to check it out. it was a pretty interesting observation and looks like it may hinder the feathering fom developing a little more.
A:
If you take your Z to any decent dealership then can align the vehicle properly. I work at a dealership as a service advisor and have replaced and aligned the tires on 5 different vehicles. None of them have had a reoccurance of the problem. The TSB works as long as your tech is half way decent. The alignment specs on the vehicle have very little margin for error. My tires are starting to feather as well and I have no doubts that as soon as I have the tsb done that the problem will be resolved. im just holding out on these tires as long as I can so that its that much longer until I have to spend my own money on new ones.
A:
Hunter:
I agree with you to hold on as long as possible so Nissan's dollar will last longer.
However, I am on my third set of front tires at 12,500 miles. I have had all four wheels aligned twice and would be pleasantly surprise if this NEW front alignment solves the Z suspension problem!
-Zanioed '03 Le Mans Sunset Touring Coupe w/ Nav.
A:
Anywhere from 3,000 miles on up.
The feathering I have experienced twice now, was the tire noise before the visual tire wear.
-Zanioed '03 Le Mans Sunset Touring Coupe w/ Nav.
Post Edited (May 5, 10:06pm)
A:
every mag that has done long term tests has reported feathering. i'm starting to think people who say they don't have feathering don't really know what they're looking for.
A:
it may be true that all Z's have the feathering problem but i think there are varying degrees for sure. This may be the reason many people dont know or dont expereince it til they have more miles on the car. If you genuinely have full blown feathering theres no way you wouldnt be able to tell from the sound alone.
A:
It may be true that I don't know what tire feathering may look like, but from the posts that I have read here the "tire noise" is certainly noticeable. I don't have the "tire noise/growl", but then again I only have 5800 miles.
Just curious, that is all.
Post Edited (May 6, 11:04am)