2007 350Z Front Tires Feathered!!!!

[cory2081]

Ok guys, I've had my Z for almost a year now and I've clocked about 7,500 miles. I took the car to the beach for a weekend getaway and noticed that my tires were really noisy. I know the car has some road noise, it never really bothered me before, but, this was just alot louder than normal. When I got back home I called the Nissan dealer and told them about it. I'm taking it in Saturday morning to have it checked out. I checked the tires myself and the inside tread blocks on both front tires are feathered pretty bad. I'm thinking alignment problem from the factory. I'm wondering if any of you guys have had this issue and what Nissan did about it. These tires aren't exactly cheap and the front ones are pretty screwed now. As soft as these tires are, I guess they aren't going to last much longer anyway. Anyone have good experience with a different tire?? I'm already thinking ahead here about what I want to replace these with. So far, the Falken Ziex ZE-912 look good. I've had good luck with Falkens in the past, I'm sure they are less noisy than the Potenzas and will last longer, I'm sure they may not handle quite as well, but, that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make.

[RED_DET]

The best solution I have is to reverse mount your directional tires up front so you can knock down the feathering. Should be able to get a few thousand more miles out of them that way.

[zoomie]

I have Micelin Pilot Sports on mine. Seems to be somewhat quieter than the Potenzas.

[NSRsheets]

Sounds like an alignment issue to me. It's common on the 03's, but haven't heard of it on the 07's. I replaced mine with some Yokohama AVS ES100's for now until I can get some new rims.

[cory2081]

Well, we will see what happens tomorrow. I'll post what the dealer comes up with in case anyone else has this issue.

[matt_2036]

Coilovers are the only perm solution imo. You can get a set of adjustable d-spec's for around $800, and thy are really good imo.

[SX APPEAL]

Lowering a car in my experience has more negative affects on alightment than positive. Feathering on the inside of the tires, depending on what cory meant by "feathering" would indicate that they are either toe'd out slightly, or have too much negative camber, toe is a very easy adjustment to make and wouldnt be very expensive to have done, and if its a negative camber problem, then lowering your car is only gonna make it worse, unless of course you get coilovers with adjustable camber plates to correct for this.

[Dittoz7]

Pic?

[PerfectApex]

I have Micelin Pilot Sports on mine. Seems to be somewhat quieter than the Potenzas.

The BEST performance tires you can buy (next to the PS 2s) but pricey. Get these or another quality perf. tire and the needed alignment and your good to go.

[nterrigno]

The BEST performance tires you can buy (next to the PS 2s) but pricey. Get these or another quality perf. tire and the needed alignment and your good to go.

So the Michelon tires are the best to replace? I was wanting to replace my potenzas also because they are just gettin close to bold lol. Specially when its cold outside, I pull away and tend to almost spin through 1st gear when its extremely cold outside haha. But I do want to replace the tire. I would like what the absoulute best replacement tires I can go with for the factory 17's on an 05?

Is there a thread about this?

[PerfectApex]

Yes, for reviews from people like yourself go to The Tire Rack and look at the reviews on the Michelin PS 2s or any other tire for that matter. They are also the best place to buy from. Best price and delivery to your door. The pilot sports were the creme of the crop until last year or so when the PS 2s were introduced. These are for EXTREME performance and mileage too. There are other brands that are almost as good and cheaper. The Nittos and BF Goodrich KDW 2s are VERY good and a lot cheaper. Please avoid Goodyears at all costs though.

[cory2081]

Ok guys, took the car to the dealer yesterday. The service writer looked at the tires and agreed that there was an alignment problem. They got the car on the rack and found that the toe was out of spec. They adjusted it at no cost to me, alignment is covered under warranty to 12,000 miles. The road noise is minimal now, the car has never been this quiet. He said the tires should start to wear evenly and to keep an eye on it, if I have any more problems to bring it back. I am quite pleased although I'm sure this has shortened the already short life of these tires. Michelins are always good but pricey. After this fix, the road noise is very tolerable, so, it's not a quieter tire I'm after now but one that lasts longer and grips better in cold and rain.

[gtnmwet]

I don't know if this applies to the newer cars, but we had to take ours back multiple times for the alignment and the dealer (irvine, ca) actually replaced our front potenza's twice at no cost!

[alsz]

I had the same issue with my 04. The Potenzas are only good for between 15,000 - 20,000 miles anyway. I wouldn't expect the feathering to correct itself because of an alignment, damage is already done. I tried to reverse mount mine to the opposite side and it seemed to make it worse over time. The best day I had with my Z was the day I took the stock Potenzas off my Z! Sounds like you have bought yourself some more time with them. I have read many good tire recommendations in this forum.