lazy-ish sprited early am drive down a country road is my 370Z.

This thread confuses me.

So, if you scrape the deposits off the rotors, and proceed to smoke the stuff, the BRZ turns into a Vette? :stirthepot: :inoutroflpuke:





Tapatalk2 ...

From what I can tell, much. The 370z is floppy and fat compared to my vette. The brz won't be a rocket, even with the STI version, but it should feel more telepathic. The 370z is dog slow to me, and it doesn't matter. Speed in a straight line has meant less and less over time to me. Telepathic driving input and feel and reliability have become more meaningful.

In short, the 370z never felt good. The interior was just nice for the market segment, but its performance in the corners has always.left me feeling meh. The brakes are the last straw in a long list of..."is this a rwd altima?" Thoughts I have been feeling for the last year. The smushy steering.g responses (I feel like I'm on a bike, the way it rolls when you give any Sharp inputs) and. The horribly noisy power steering when pushed in corners or quick transitions are just sad.

I guess it might be honest to say that I never liked this compromise car. The brakes are just what have finally made me throw up in my mouth enough to act. I'll wait and see if the brz STI is all I hope it is, but regardless, I'm dumping my 370 before 3/36 is done. It's just not a keeper.

It's obvious you don't love this car and that's just fine. You should just get rid of it if you have the means to do so. I've been catching your posts here and there since you got the car and I've thought this from the beginning. If you're a car guy (which I'm guessing you are) then find something you really love, be it old or new, and enjoy it. Good luck man.

That sums it up. I was going to keep this car long term, as while I dont love it, I also don't hate it.
I kindof act toward it how I feel at the moment. It's "meh". However, its not going to quietly get me from a to b without drama. No, it forces me to deal with problems all the damn time. It's like a girlfriend that rarely puts out and always.bitches but who has already moved in with you. I'll keep her until about 30-34k miles and then dump her without a second thought. If the brz STI is out, ill look hard at it. If the new mustang gt is out, and several hundred pounds lighter and more refined, ill look at that, but the Nissan is not a viable long term solution to my wants.

You should have just held on to the Corvette. The Z is fat and floppy in comparison. You're not open to modding so that feeling will never change. Live and learn I guess.

You're 100% correct. I could have totally lived with the numb feel and horrible weight-shift of the 370Z if it had done what I wanted it to, though...provide nice, reliable transportation.

But it can't even do that. It does NOTHING well. Except look good parked, but I don't really care what others think about what I drive, as is obvious by my trades (WS.6 to a G20 to a Z06 to a 370Z, in that order).

Strongly thinking about the BRZ STI when the '15 model drops (rumors of turbo for the '15 model when the contract stating that they won't add FI expires, if not, still, NA tweaks matter a LOT on a 2700# car). If they really do tart it up some, that car will be a market-segment dominator.

Now that I am looking to build a house in 2-3 years, though, and am going to be taking a $40K/year pay-cut, I am very car-note conscious, lol! I'd prefer to stay in the $35K financed range or lower, if possible. If the '15 GT comes out and is total sex though, I'd stretch that, but I think the BRZ, if they do an STI model, will give me what I'm looking for.

Well I hope one day you find what you are looking for. :)

That's easy.
http://www.dieselstation.com/wallpap...escreen-35.jpg

I just don't have the **** to afford it :(

If you buy a Subaru, go in knowing that it will rattle. A lot. It's built well, but for some reason they cannot get a quiet interior to save their lives.

A friend of my drove a used FR-S today. 14K miles on it. He said no rattles. Could the BRZ be different? Anyway, my 370Z developed rattles early on, too. By 5K miles it sounded chintzy going over any bumps.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUhLXvxlQR4

^That guy says EXACTLY what I've been trying to say about the 370Z. I can't get the steering wheel close enough to me without me crowding the pedals was a HUGE! complaint I've long had about the car. YOU NEED A TELESCOPING WHEEL if you're actually going to drive, vs. lounging around like a thug in the car.

Aside from that, yes, at the limits, the 370Z really does fall apart. It's a fun car for someone who will point it in a safe direction and pull the trigger. I'm sure I could change that if I modified it, but I didn't buy a new car to rip its guts out and replace them. Stock, it wallows unsurely when you put it hard into corners, and it bounces relentlessly when you take it over bumps. The video I linked above does a GREAT! job of mirroring my experiences to date with it, and illustrates them very well visually.

The 370Z is a numbers car. It did well on the slalom. Well on the skidpad. Well at the drag strip.

It's not a driver's car. It does very poorly at settling into sweepers. At handling irregular pavement that is a reality off-track. At actually putting the driver IN the car (I cannot get comfortable in it with regard to steering, everything else is fine). Fore/aft weight transitions are horrendous.

We disagree entirely on the car, so I'll stick to your actual issue. Have you had a chance to get under the car and check everything out yet? I still think something's tweaked in the front end that's causing issues under braking.

I have not, nor do I even care anymore. I'll heckle the dealership to limp the car by in good order until it's time to trade it in. NO passion for this thing anymore. Junk. I'm emotionally done with it and just don't care. Also, I doubt anything is tweaked. It did this at 10K miles, and the car was hit (panel damage) at 17K miles. The bodyshop had the whole front end (bodywork) off, and looked specifically for tweaked stuff. Found none. Nissan has aligned it twice. Both times good to go. Nissan has looked at the front end numerous times, keeping the car for several days total, trying to figure out WTF!? So I do not feel that I am going to accomplish anything other than getting dirty by crawling under it.

Have you driven a corvette? Everyone I know who has driven a BRZ or FR-S says it's like a lighter corvette regarding how it feels. That also means it's MUCH more precise, as it's hard to hide the 275's up front on a 'vette. I really miss that light, tossable, effortless weight transfer of my Z06, but I don't want the performance I will never use, but still have to pay for. A BRZ STI would totally be fully tappable on some occasions, and have a nice feel to it. I'm tired of this car in the fact that it's under warranty and has racked up thousands of dollars in repair already (shop time is $135 at my local dealer, per hour. They've kept it all day before). You think I'm going to own this POS after the 3/36? HAH! I'm going to trade it at around the 32-34K mile mark. Hopefully on a BRZ STI by then, but I'm still of course open.

Anyway, they make more than 1 brand of car for a reason :)

Ok, I'm done. If the only action you're going to take is to continue taking it to the same dealer who has been completely unable to solve the issue there's nothing I can do to help. Good luck with your future vehicles, and may they bring you more joy than this one.

Thanks. You talk about the dealer like they are one person, though. Lots of different techs have worked on the car over the past 6 months trying to solve this, not just 1 guy. I prefer to stick with 1 dealer because rapport is oh, so important when you have issues like this so you don't get told "Go pound sand, it's a wear item".

If you were local I'd have crawled up under the damn thing for you and checked it out already. What harm would verifying the work youself, or taking it somewhere else for a second opinion cause?

What, exactly, should I look for? Everything has already been looked at by people who do this for a living. Tell me what to look at and I will.

If it were my car, I'd double check every single torque value on the braking system and front suspension against the service manual. Tap on things with a rubber mallet and see if they move. Pull out the pads and see if the pistons move freely and completely retract into the calipers. You may find nothing is out of whack. You might find something the dealer missed. If everything checks out, scuff up the rotors and pads slightly, go get the directions for bedding pads off Stoptech's website and go do it again yourself. If all of that solves your problem, fantastic. If not, you've just eliminated another variable.

Something is wrong with your specific car. Few people have had rotor issues, and those that had them solved it when they went to aftermarket pads and rotors. You've changed out pretty much everything but the calipers, master cylinder and ABS unit, and the problem still occurs. This suggests to me that the root cause is not a braking issue, and the warping of the rotors are a symptom of something else being wrong. That makes me think something gets out of line when the nose dives under braking. You've claimed that the rotors were previously toasted in a single stop. That's not normal at all.

**** car. Done with it. I'm not going to go and bother blowing a whole day to do what Nissan should have done, unless Nissan is going to pay me my standard working hourly rate to do it for them. I work to pay for my toys, and while installing mods is fun and I like it, fixing things that shouldn't need fixing that shouldn't be wrong is just drudgery to me.

The nose doesn't have to dip. If the pads touch rotor, the car starts shaking, now. Previously it was just the wheel, but we are now to the point that I get a bit of that blurry vision when my head touches the headrest and I brake, sometimes. Maybe that sounds worse than it is, but the whole car is shaking and my Dad in the passenger seat who can tool around in a busted down ex police car with no AC and a floor-pan that you can see pavement through, immediately proclaimed "something isn't right".

Everything that you have listed was done by the dealership. They checked the calipers and everything. The service manager suspected some form of hardware issue and made sure it was all inspected. I KNOW they are going to get tired of seeing my car, so I don't think they limp-dicked it, I really don't.

Now you're right, I might come in and find something wrong behind them, but I'm not going to hunt around my Dad's warehouse to find all the tools I would need, and kill an afternoon doing it, when I am pretty sure it's nothing I'm going to detect without specialized items (tq wrench, maybe Nissan specific measuring devices?). I'm really just not keen on spending the money to buy a good tq wrench and burning an afternoon. Further, I sleep during the day, typically, and this isn't something you do at night.

I never loved this car, and I'm not going to go out of my way for it now of all times. I spent my time wrenching under it when the Berk CBE I bought wouldn't fit for **** and I had to off-set it enough that when it sags down and the hanger on the left side slips off the grommet, it's sitting level. That was enough fun for me. Oh, I also installed Z1 smooth intake tubing...without removing the strut brace. At night. With a flashlight. Without breaking anything. It became a struggle of ego.

If you're not going to start troubleshooting the issue yourself, and you're unwilling to let another dealer take a crack at solving the issue then there's nothing that can be done. What's keeping you from cutting your losses and selling the car?

I'd also like to point out that a good torque wrench isn't a specialty item. It's a tool any man should own. ;)

I once took a car to a dealership 3 times and they couldn't find an issue under warranty. At the time I worked for the company at a different location and got in some regional people involved with a plan. I found the problem and then marked the problem at my shop with a giant yellow paint marker arrow. Then I wrote a message "bad ball joint". Then I took it to the service area for the 4th time for the same problem and again they couldn't find the problem. However, I had the contacts and resources to get corporate involved and the service writer and 2 techs were basically told they could no longer service their brand. So the dealership ended up firing them as a result.

Needless to say I would take it to a reputable independent at the very least.

I've suggested another place of service several times. That's a non-starter.

im having the problem right now when i bought the car (i bought it as an off lease) it had the problem they cut the rotors and it fixed the problem five months later i had the problem again so thats where im at now ive been dealing with it for a while and finally broke down and ordered the Z1 motorsports brake upgrade kit which comes with drilled and slotted rotors or slotted (your choice), braided steal brake lines, brake fluid (super blue or motul rbf600 +19$), and you get a choice of brake pads i got the hawks which was an extra 20$ i think? definitely something to look into if you would like to do brakes all around it costs about the same as the OEM parts if not a little cheaper im going to install mine tomorrow since it all just came in today ill let you guys know how they feel

Thanks for the input, but he's already replaced all of that with aftermarket parts. The issue persists, so we're trying to figure out what's really going on.


You forgot these, so I brought extra ................................................ :p

I'm waiting for the BRZ STI and '15 GT.
This whole car just feels fragile to me, and the 'vette guys tried to tell me it was a prettyboy ride. It is what it is. I ignored these facts, believed that magazine paper numbers told the whole story, and now Nissan and their faggy philosophy of compromising performance for looks and paper numbers is biting me in the arse. The Nismo eating the wall due to lack of airflow in the wheel wells during the Lightning Lap was my clue, aside from experienced guys telling me the same thing. When I had my vette. Well, its what I get, I guess. Hey, at least girls like the curves, lol!

Done with this car, and not looking for **** a body shop couldn't find tearing the front end apart, or the gtr service techs prying into the matter. Hate it, but it still gets from a to b, wo ill deal, but **** Nissan.

Just sell the pos. These cars are made for seriously heavy modders (think brake ducting) and pretty boy posers. If you drive it, it won't work out. Airflow is the issue. It just bakes things in the wheel well.

Well, good luck with that. Hopefully the next one works better for you.

Every vette owner I know has put brake ducts on their car and still crack one or two rotors a weekend.

Really? Mine came ducted from the factory. When i was at spring mountain in pahrump, we beat the **** out of them all day long. Nothing but tpms sensors died. The crew there said they usually get 12-14k miles and have only had a couple of clutch hydraulics go out on the '08 and newer cars.

All that's besides the point though, a 370z like mine won't even make it on the street, forget hotlapping it in Nevada, Lmao! What a joke. Like saying "I hear Ronnie Coleman took a break and benches 25# less, now.". Yeah. Okay. Get back to your two plates and the bar, lol

I'm sorry to be a ****, but nissan is taking me for $630/mo on a pile of **** worse than my 1980's mustang 5.0. Of course I'm going to be caustic.

Thanks. I keep hearing nothing but good about the brz and current mustang gt. I'll get the STI for sure if it drops, if not, the gt. My main problem is that brakes are not a warranty item. The dealer is doing me a favor, because Nissan misadvertised this car, and the dealer is pissed for me. I'd rather drop a valve than this. At least that would be a black and white warranty item. This is also why I'm not going to another dealer. I'm running full aftermarket up front, and they would just laugh. This dealer service manager is who recommended it, and will take up for it.

I've dumped half a grand into fixing a factory defect. If you reimburse me, ill spend more. Until then, I'm sticking with this dealer. No sense throwing good money after bad.

Maybe you just got a bad one. Why not cut it loose and go with something cheap for a year or two? No sense paying out the *** for something you hate. It'll only be worth less later. Might be time for a beater for a while and bank the payments.

I get what you mean, logically, but the ttl credit for taxes I get for this when I trade will make up for interest lost if i keep it, and as to the note, I'm upside down. I thought this car would last a long time and financed for 72 but it fell apart as I left the dealer lot almost it seems. Yes, ill pay more doing it my way, but the ac blows cold, and any repairs are warrantied on this. A beater is a wildcard. My g20 infiniti cost me $3-400 a month just in repairs...again...I'm a dipsbit for buying another Nissan product. :( they pedal sexy junk.

All of you who said "you can't compare a decade old sentra with leather to a new Nissan"...well you're damn wrong. Windshields in both crack super easy, both suspensions have way too much rubber, both cars have serious durability issues. Both have cheap paint. Really, I can see my old g20's annoying brokedown reflection leering back at me from this 370. Last Nissan. Ever.

I haven't broken anything yet, aside from the brakes, Lmao!
So much cheaper to bitch online than to take my anger out in the physical world, so chill out if it bothers you, I promise, this is the more mature option. Promises.

Ouch. You're on the right track then. If you're upside down, just drive the ******* thing into the ground.

A word of advice from a former multiple Subaru owner- dont buy the first year. Both times I did, and the second model year improvements were significant.

Yeah, that's about it. In my state, if you trade down, you don't pay ttl. You don't get money back, either. My z06 to 370 was a wash on ttl...just like a 370 to a beater...or $40k car would.be. ill take the greater wash. Make sense? La is wierd. Sry.

Yeah, I'm holding out until 32-34k miles, tires should still be serviceable (140 wear OEM lasted me 17k these pss are 300...) And it will still have oem warranty left.

I should hit that right about the time the '15 brz drops, and hopefully that means an STI.

Sorry for the bitching, but like I said...online venting is cheaper. I'm hitting the gym doing cardio hiit as I type this, too. Just really pissed as I wanted a fun, dependable rid for the next 6-8 years, and this car has **** the bed so hard.

Don't jump into the first run of a brz sti. I've made that mistake with a 02 wrx in late 2001 and an 04 sti in 2003. Both times I missed out on some serious improvements.

I won't jump unless its something I want, but a good company improves every year, and I don't mean a new shade of gray or slightly different rims and a black gauge cluster.

It wasn't anything that minor. They beefed up the transmission slightly in 03, and the 05 sti had better hubs and bearings, which failed regularly in 04. The stock tune detonated noticeably in 04 as well. And the 05 came with a radio, which was a nice thing to have. Mine had a blank plate.

These days, if you buy a turbo Subaru you need to be prepared to get a tune ASAP. The stock tune has issues and leads to ring land failure.