A&Q about 350Z
Q:
Well, I wanted to say that I am new to the forum. I purchased a 350z for my wife in Dec. Great car. We soon noticed a noise from the front tires. My wife thought that it was the brakes, I didn't think so. It could be heard even when you weren't using the brakes. It was mainly between 15-25mph. It was exaggerated when applying the brakes, probably because of the compression of the front suspension. When she took it in for the 6k oil change she told the service person to check it out. When we picked it up they said that nothing was wrong, brakes and tires were fine. I have been driving it for a while and it was driving me nuts. The noise was unacceptable. Yesterday i decided to do some research and found your forum. Right away I noticed the threads about "feathering". Exactly what made sense. I went out and could feel the irregularity of the inside tread on the front tires. You bet I was upset. I called Nissan Consumer Affairs (800-647-7261) thiss morning the minute they opened. I was on hold for 20 minutes before I reached a human being. She looked up our info and said that there were no recalls. I told them that they must know something since there was so much info on the internet. She said that there is a fix authorized by Nissan that she found and that I should take the car back in to a dealer. She also created a file for my complaint. Once off from work i went to the service department and asked the service guy if they were having any problems with the 350z front ends or any associated problems because we were having front end noise. He said that he was not aware of any. I told him that was funny since i read so much about it on the internet. He said that they may have had some tire problems but that they couldn't fix it today, I'd have to come back Monday. He tried to tell me that we had complained about a squeaking sound not a "rumble" from the tires. That was BS, the car never squeaked. I asked him what the fix was and if they were going to replace the tires. He pulled out a 20 page report from Nissan and waved it saying that they would do what Nissan had told them to do, replace the tires and do an alignment. I asked if this was a permanent fix, he said he didn't think so since people kept coming back with the problem but that they could only do what was in the report. They will replace the tires up to 21k miles and prorate the cost after that based on tire mileage from purchase of the tires. To get the coverage you have to buy the tires from them. He said that some people had better luck with Michellen (can't spell) tires but they are not covered under this bullietin for Nissan. This also only applies as long as the warranty. I told him that this was a design problem and that they needed to have a recall or a real fix, not a coverup. He then tried to tell me that he thinks it is because the tires are too soft, that's why he suggested the other tires. I told him that was BS because we have a corvette z06 which has even softer tires and we have never had this problem in almost 40k miles! All I can say is get the word out to everyone with a z to call nissan and get a complaint on file, get new tires from the dealer as often as you can, don't forget to call it a "rumble", and don't let them BS you. They don't want you to know how widespread the problem is. I have a friend with a convertable 350z. I called him and asked him if he noticed the problem. He said that he did but thought it was his brakes too. He is quite upset as well. If enough people complain Nissan will have to do something (I hope) besides replacing tires for 21k miles after purchase. Either that or sell it before the warranty expires.
A:
gawdammit dude, that was a long post just to say "I have feathering"!
:)
And, just so you can stew about it over the weekend, don't get your hopes up about getting new tires. Once your dealer realizes that your Z is not an '03, you are "officially" flipped the ol' bird by Nissan...
[In other words, the TSB that is out for tire noise ONLY covers the 2003 model year. If your dealer gets you free tires, be sure to shake his hand, say THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU, and write them a great feedback survey...since they won't get reimbursed by Nissan and basically did it as a good will gesture.]
'04 350Z Base - Daytona Blue
A:
you're already SOL on the car so I hope you leased it. Nissan will deny responsibility on this and you'll likely get no sympathy from the "non-believers" in this forum. I ultimately bought Michelin Pilot Sports which is a harder tire so I don't have the roaring noise in 4K miles.
Best thing you can do is try to inform as many potential Nissan/Infiniti buyers how they back their cars and customers.
Persoanlly, I'll nver own a Nissan again.
A:
Get an alignment, keep it aligned, get a harder compound tire, see what happens.
I'll be replacing all four soon - perhaps at 14,000 miles. That's what happens with a treadwear rating of 140. I expected as much when I bought the car.
No crying from this owner. Good luck with yours.
A:
Join my fight , i complain / bother / annoy / piss off / embaress / talk sh@t to nissan via phone , internet and letters. those cocks#ckers will not fix your car, they are being sued for this problem and have long abandoned any ethical actions. If you car is an 03 you will get free tires until 24,000miles OR two years.
if it is an 04 or 05 you will get free tires until 12,000 miles or one year. After these mileages nissan will tell you to "S@ck my c#ck" , basically. you will NOT get any further assistance.. please join the class action and tell your friends..
http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/problems/complain/
http://www.sheller.com/Practice.asp?PracticeID=145
btw 72n03Zs it's not because of a wear rated tire of 140 problem...you seem to miss the point. No one would complain about a 140 wear rated tire wearing out in 14,000 miles. You are a dumbas@!!!
we complain because within 3,000 miles or so the tires become bumpy, scalloped, generally f@cked. So why don't you do all of us a favor and shut the f$ck up?
NNA runs this site!!!
Post Edited (Apr 1, 8:03pm)
A:
Get an alignment, keep it aligned, get a harder compound tire, see what happens.
Seems pretty reasonable to me. Perhaps you missed the see what happens part ....
btw, Jane, what's this we and us crap? It seems to be all you and you lately.
Post Edited (Apr 1, 11:29pm)
A:
Has Nissan fixed it yet?
continuous Z owner since '86
A:
It will die when their is a "REASONABLE" solution!!!!
-Zanioed '03 Le Mans Sunset Touring Coupe w/ Nav.
A:
this is toooooooooo long to read
its call feathering again.>>>>>>>>
i need a z32tt convertible 5 speed
A:
I just replaced my front tires with Michelin's last week, and talk about a difference from alot of noise, to pretty much zero. hmmm... the Bose system even sounds better now hahaha
KeV
A:
I can't believe Nissan hasn't fixed this problem yet. It's not because the tires are soft. It's not because of the aggresive suspension setup. It's a design flaw and the suspension needs to be redesigned to fix it. What truely amazes me is that after 3 years Nissan has not taken any steps to fix it. Nissan is not the only manufacturer out there producing flawed suspension designs by the way. The suspension on the Dodge Magnum RT, which replaced my 350 is fubar. It chops the tires and pulls to right. Can you believe that? I had the 350 lemon lawed for the same thing, that and the garbage transmission which Nissan has also not fixed. Fortunately you can rotate corner to corner on the Magnum and it's not a big deal. Just because some new cars eat their front tires does not make it acceptable. There are many high performance cars with aggressive setups and sticky tires that don't. I wish you guys luck.
A:
It's just a matter of time. If there's a website, it will get started. And many will join the chorus.
Post Edited (Apr 6, 1:48pm)
A:
Sorry 72n03Zs but I didn't come hear to argue, particularly with you. Nor have I joined any class action law suit. I did get a buy back of my 350 in arbitration though. I bought the RT for my wife and a GSX-R for myself. Once you've strapped yourself on to a rocket ship and tasted 0-60 in less than two seconds no mere sports car can compete. We'll be keeping the RT thank you very much.
A:
Your wife and family want you around.
Good luck to you.
PS: I edited my first response. Thanks for the wake up call, weber.
Post Edited (Apr 6, 1:50pm)
A:
Can't remember your turn of events getting Nissan to buy back your Z. What did you have to go through for them to do that. And do they pay you purchase price or prorate??
Thanks and hope all goes well with the new purchase !
'06 Silver Alloy 350Z Touring
A:
It was not very difficult in my case. I reached a point where Nissan would not do any more to fix the car. They would not replace the tires and they would not fix the transmission. I sent the certified letter to Nissan demanding that they fix it, they declined, and I entered the state certified arbitration program. I prepared my case well and easily prevailed. I even went back to the arbitor 3 times to improve the terms and got Kelly Retail for my trade which was thousands more than I got when I traded it in. Ultimately I got the full purchase price, taxes, interest, add-ons less an offset for use. To counter Nissan's tire arguement that the wear was normal I used their own TSB's against them and got testimony from a Lexus mechanic (The IS300 was running the same RE040's at the time and has more negative camber and generally more agressive suspension settings and no hint of shoulder cupping on cars with 20+K miles). I also brought about 30 minutes of video in which you could clearly hear the tires roaring and the transmission grinding into 2nd and 3rd gear. I gave a CD to Nissan and one to the arbitor. I suppose it all depends on how well you prepare and what arbitor you get but it costs you nothing except your time, you do not give up your right to file a formal suit, and if Nissan is no longer fixing the car as in my case then you don't need to worry about alienating them. They have a short memory anyway. I still get invitations, advertisements and service reminders from the same Dealer where this all happened.
On the other hand, the 350Z is still a great car for the money and part of me wishes I still had mine. It has a unigue style, crisp handling, a rock solid chasis and a great motor. It would probably not be a stretch to say that any car in that price range, or above for that matter, is going to have some problems. The 350Z's got the crappy blose radio, the shabby synchros and a tendancy to eat its' front tires in short order. It's a bit overweight, particularly in light of all the aluminium and carbon bits on it, a bit underpowered ( see weight problem above) and doesn't react well to repetative hard breaking, at least the non-Brembo version. Imagine if you sank 60k into an M3 and promptly threw a rod due to the bearing problem. Something tells me the grass is not always greener. If Nissan would continue to refine and improve their new Z it just might live up to its' hype of being the best sports car on the planet.
The Magnum we bought is nowhere near perfect. The suspension leaves alot to be desired (it's basically right off of an E500 Mercedes), it's got lots of rattles, the differential has a ton of driveline slack, it cups the front tires (although nowhere near like the Z did) but we like it none the less. The Hemi coupled with the Mercedes autostick is incredible. We were at a stop light the other night and an SL55 AMG pulled up next to us and was looking us over and motioning to us. The light turned green and we smoked his ass, at least until the first corner when I took my foot out of it. I had four people in the car. Not bad for a 4400lb monster. All this and we've been averaging 16-20 mpg. That's better than I ever got in the Z mostly because I always kept my foot in it.
I guess it's a matter of personal choice. If you can deal with the tire wear, have no other significant problems and you like your car then keep it and enjoy it. Otherwise sell it or lemon law it or whatever and move onto something else. At 45k for the base hardtop, the new Corvette is looking very attractive, at least to me, in spite of its' reputation for lameness or lame owners. With 400hp, sub 5 second 0-60, 187mph top speed and outstanding handling it is a bargain. Sorry for once again cluttering your forum. The Magnum forum is boring. There is something to be said for the spirited discourse that goes on here.
A:
mweber:
I hadn't seen a post from you for quite a while and wondered if you still had your Z.
Sounds like you did real well with your refund!
Good luck...
-Zanioed '03 Le Mans Sunset Touring Coupe w/ Nav.
A:
Thanks weber for the as usual, well written post. I think I want you by my side in case I ever end up in your situation ! :}
'06 Silver Alloy 350Z Touring