350Z Major Suspension Problem!!!!

I have had my 350Z for a year now. It looks great and overall I love the car. I am however disappointed in Nissan's support of the 350Z owners who put their faith in the Nissan brand, in the belief that because the 350Z is Nissan's flagship car, they would take care of any problems that would arise in its debut year.

Myself and MANY hundreds of other 350Z owners are suffering from some type of design flaw in the suspension. The tires are cupping and scalloping in a “heal-toe” wear pattern, which according to Firestone dealers “is an unsafe” situation and should be corrected. (tire cupping is a wear pattern where the trailing edge of a tread block wears more than the leading edge of the same tread block or vice versa)

Nissan is aware of the problem by evidence of their TSB (Technical Service Bulletin NTB03006).

The problem symptoms shows as “tire roar” (simular to driving your car with snow tires on it) The TSB tells the dealer to swap the left tire to the right side and the right tire to the left side and then align the car to NEW specs than the original factory settings. This does NOT fix the problem! It only hides the problem for a little while. Then the “tire roar” came back even worse. In my case, Nissan then gave the dealer authorization to put new front tires on my car and align the car again to newer specs.

3000 miles later on the NEW tires, the cupping (heal-toe wear pattern) came back! I then took my car in again and Nissan told the dealer to re-align the car yet again to the latest specs. 2000 miles later the cupping is getting worse. The “tire roar” is becoming unbearable and the heal-toe wear pattern is now showing on BOTH the inside & outside tread blocks.

Nissan has NOT returned my multiple calls (it is approaching a month now) and will not authorize the dealer’s request to put yet another set of tires on my car!

To learn more about this issue:
[url]http://www.my350z.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=15758[/url]

Nissan's list of TSB (Technical Service Bulletins)
[url]http://www.nissan-techinfo.com/nissan/TSB/Nissan/350Z_Z33.asp?mscssid=[/url]

I saw an old post here abotu tire cupping and tire roar. This is exactly the same problem I ma having with my RX8. The alingment was checked and only a minor adjustment was made. The tire pressures have always been fine. The noise was first noticed after the tires were rotated by the Mazda dealer. I also had to get a new tire because of a puncture in one of the original tires.

When I went back to the dealer about the noise I was told about the cupping. The car runs beautifully but the noise spoils the driving experience.

[QUOTE=ray]I saw an old post here abotu tire cupping and tire roar. This is exactly the same problem I ma having with my RX8. The alingment was checked and only a minor adjustment was made. The tire pressures have always been fine. The noise was first noticed after the tires were rotated by the Mazda dealer. I also had to get a new tire because of a puncture in one of the original tires.

When I went back to the dealer about the noise I was told about the cupping. The car runs beautifully but the noise spoils the driving experience.[/QUOTE]


Ray -

On our 350Z, the problem seems to be the "castor" setting. I believe that the car was not set up to be a daily driver as Nissan had promoted. I hope Mazda/Ford has been better to you than Nissan has been to us.

I had an 1983 RX7 and I loved that car.

You have posted this on multiple forums on the internet. Do you really have an interest in contributing to the forums, or did you just want to spread the word about how Nissan is treating 350Z owners?

EDIT: Ian, you have an impressive resume. You'd actually be a welcome member here. I just don't know if starting your posts with an ulterior motive is going to create the reputation you probably want.