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To help you understand the "Musclecar man," it is how everyone else says, it's a preference. Although to help with the understanding, it's actually very simple. If you have ever felt a rush of power, or surge of enthusiasm, which you are unable to control, then you know how they feel. For instance, sit in a 1970 Boss 429, 1971 440 Cuda, or 1967 Shelby GT 500 (i know, old unique cars, but this is where you no doubtingly will feel what the "Msuclecar man" feels). These cars idle and it's like music, where as when they hear a V6 (it's more like a buzz or a hum in comparison). Then when they Rev the motor of a true V8, it rocks that whole car and you can feel it vibrate in your feet, that is what we look for. Then finally, when you lay into, and there is so much torque that the frame bends a 4200lb car and the car can burn off a set of tires in about 1 minute that's it. It doesn't have to do 0 to 60 in 3.5 sec, but it will compete with a majority of the cars and he knows what he has, but in the end... it's the feel and rush you get from the V8... There's nothing like it in the world, it's something about raw power that makes life a little more tolerable. Oh and no I don't own a muscle car, my dad does (1968 428 Cobra Jet); I actually own a 2004 350Z R (Black, APS TT, APS exhaust, APS Plenum, and pushing about 435 HP). Yes, I beat him in all aspects on the road, but there is so many days I just go to his house and switch, to take the Stang and just feel and hear the engine.
Just my $0.02
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '08 Charger R/T Daytona; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '08 Maser QP; '11 Mini Cooper S
It is, however, the argument I've heard for our Zs being set this way. Like I said, I have a hard time buying that reason when they sacrifice cornering by putting on crappy tires.
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '08 Charger R/T Daytona; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '08 Maser QP; '11 Mini Cooper S
Bottom line is the car was engineered incorrectly which causes premature tire wear. If the car did not have tire wear issues Nissan would of NEVER bought his car back.......it's just not good business.
1) WAY too many people complaining about the tires. I asked the dealer about the tire problem and he said, "Nissan fixed this with the 2005 models". Well not according to a lot of what I have read on here (and other boards). In addition, I took one out for a spin this week, and noticed a smell like burning rubber. Keep in mind I didn't "peel out" or push the car over 65, thus I concluded the tires are as bad as advertised.
2) I am not fortunate enough to keep this as a "summer car" and garage it in the winter. I read many reviews of people highly suggesting to garage this car in the winter and to not even bother. My counter to that was to invest in some snow tires, but to invest at least 1k on snow tires, without knowing how much benefit they would actually provide, on a leased car to boot, just didn't seem like good business sense to me. Not that Columbus Ohio is in the snow belt, but it does not sound like this car likes adverse weather, and it's a sports car so really I should expect this. Like someone said earlier, if you want a nice comfy plush ride then get a Buick (I would prefer a Chrysler 300 myself).
Anyway, congrats to those who either live in warm climate year round, or who can afford to garage this car in the winter. For those still looking and trying to get some pricing deals, this was the "final" offer I walked away from.
2005-Z Touring MSRP $38,800
12,000 miles, 42 Mos, $4500 out of pocket (includes taxes since Ohio now
collects taxes up front on a lease), $436 a month....
Personally I think I could have gotten them to come down $500 to $4000 out of pocket, but no point in wasting their time since my mind was made up.
you made the right decision. i applaud you. unless they completely fix this issue, do not buy this vehicle yet. there are other sports cars out there also. they will not fix this issue unless a dramatic drop off in sales occurs. you did the right thing.
Lastly, I got a few emails from people asking how did a 2005 car that I walked away from have 12,000 miles on it aready. I apologize for the confusion, the car had 9 miles on it, not 12,000.. the lease offer allowed 12k miles per year.
The dedicated Z boards on the internet have much more positive feedback about the car than this board here.
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '08 Charger R/T Daytona; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '08 Maser QP; '11 Mini Cooper S
Edmunds does a great service involving a lot of people initially in the on line car forums, but most people seem to move away to model specific forums with a lot less restrictions on the free and open communication of resources and problem solving than Edmunds format allows.
Of course, not too many of the competing forums are trying to make a profit either, so you can certainly understand Edmunds Town Hall operational rules are out there to protect the business model.
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '08 Charger R/T Daytona; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '08 Maser QP; '11 Mini Cooper S
Did I wait too long to take action? I want to challenge Nissan and make them pay for what I think is the obvious suspension problem that lots of other 350Z owners are having. I am worried about driving the car with that much tire wear.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
The part of your post that caught my attention, though, was the $930 quote for two tires & an alignment. Where I come from, an alignment is under $100.
Help me understand why two tires are worth $830.
007
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '08 Charger R/T Daytona; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '08 Maser QP; '11 Mini Cooper S
What I do know, "Z" rated tires aren't going to give the same mileage as Mom's Michelins on her Camry.
Tire warranties are separate from the bumper-to-bumper warranties given by Nissan.
I can see this being a hassle trying to use the tire manufacturer's warranty and them saying it's a Nissan issue. I can see Nissan stating that it's a tire manufacturer issue.
All that said, I've driven many cars with Z rated tires. None of them lasted longer than 25K miles. Most gave up the ghost well before that.
We all understand that performance tires give up mileage in exchange for hi traction. But does it sound reasonable for a tire to have this feathering problem/noise at 6000 mi?
007
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '08 Charger R/T Daytona; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '08 Maser QP; '11 Mini Cooper S
I've had Z rated tires wear out with as little as 12,000 miles on them, however. This was a while ago, but they actually only carried a 10,000 mile warranty at the time, so I was SOL. This was a while ago, though. I don't know if the tire warranties have gotten any better since then.
Does your car handle or ride any differntly....enough to make you suspect that there's something wrong with the suspension?
I have heard of the issues with premature tire wear with the 350Z, but I thought they had been sorted out by Nissan.
I personally wouldn't complain if I could get at least 15,000 miles out of the front tires, the rear ones seem to last longer. But only replacing front tires once per year at $400 isn't a big deal, but when you have to replace them at 6 - 8K that gets annoying and expensive.
There are intermittant reports of people putting on upgraded suspension and new rims and tires that report the problem going away, but for everyone who does all that and claims to have cured the problem, there is another who did the same thing and still had the problem.
Those that do the "Nissan fix" almost always have the problem come right back.
Again some feathering is fine, my tires started feathering almost immediately, I hear that is normal in sports cars, but when it gets to bad that the tires whine and roar at different speeds, that's serious feathering and very annoying.
Sorry for the long post, but I have kept my eye on the boards for the last 6 months and every now and then new people come along who don't quite understand the situation and think the problem has been solved, but this post represents about everything I have concluded from all the posts I have read. Hope this helps.
Sounds like there is fundamental flaw in the suspension geometry, or spring rates, etc. and it's probably not going to get fixed for good until Nissan revises the design.
But, it does sound like a geometry issue as others have mentioned. It seems like it's a problem with the front suspension geometry, too. That's something that's not easily fixed until the 350Z is up for a redesign.
By comparison, my departed RX8 had almost 20K miles on it when it was totalled. I was thinking at the time that the tires would have to be replaced in another 5K (probably less) miles. I rotated them religiously every 3K miles, though. Never saw any feathering, though.
As stated earlier, 6K-8K miles out of tires means something's "out of whack".
I'm sure the tire manufacturer (what tires does the Z come with?) is putting pressure on Nissan since they're probably getting quite a few warranty claims, too. What does the tire manufacturer say when you try to make a warranty claim for the feathering issue?
Yes, I've also read plenty from those who have had the problem return, but there is no way I can back up the statement "However, those that do, nothing seems to solve it regardless of tire manufacturer. New alignment numbers and rotated tires just delay the problem from reoccuring for a few thousand miles."
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '08 Charger R/T Daytona; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '08 Maser QP; '11 Mini Cooper S
These are the Potenzas, right? For some reason, I'm drawing a blank on what specifically came with my car. I'm pretty sure they are Potenzas. RE040?? Anyone?
Well, if it IS the tires I'm referring to, TireRack states there is no treadlife warranty and the uniform wearing warranty is only for the first 1/32". What a joke.
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '08 Charger R/T Daytona; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '08 Maser QP; '11 Mini Cooper S
And, actually, even the All-season tires offered by Avon have no wear warranty.
Guess that's the nature of the beast when it comes to sportscar tires.
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '08 Charger R/T Daytona; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '08 Maser QP; '11 Mini Cooper S
For the reason they stated I don't know if any other manufacturer has done such a thing. Usually they just pull the car and that's the end of it. I hope they aren't planning on retiring the design for good.
I am thinking of buying a used 350Z. Have sadly heard about the tire feathering problem. My question is it specific to certain models of the Z or does it affect all types...track, touring, enthusiast etc...?
Thanks
More likely, they are trying to get you to buy something off their lot as an '05 instead of waiting for an '06. The old ploy of "get one now, becasue tomorrow it'll be gone never to return" is something that is used all the time. Only this time they "tweaked" it a little.
Although, I wouldn't do business with these types of folks, I'd hold thier feet to the fire to prove their claim just to see how they "wiggle" out of it.
Definitely sounds like salesman BS.
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '08 Charger R/T Daytona; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '08 Maser QP; '11 Mini Cooper S
Big questions you need to ask yourself are what model year you want to buy and will this be your only car? There seem to be a greater number of '03s affected than '04s and even fewer '05s. Of course, there are theories that this is due to a greater number of '03 owners who have high enough miles to discover the problem. But, YMMV.
This is probably a poor choice as a person's only mode of transportation. Poor poor weather traction and, if you develop the tire feathering problem, frequent replacement of front tires would become troublesome.
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '08 Charger R/T Daytona; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '08 Maser QP; '11 Mini Cooper S
Does anyone know if an automatic transmission and vehicle dynamic control can be ordered as an option on 350zs other than the anniversary trim level?
VDC is standard on the Performance, Touring, Track, and Anniversary models. Out of those, however, an automatic can only be had in the Touring and Anniversary models.
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '08 Charger R/T Daytona; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '08 Maser QP; '11 Mini Cooper S