Build Quality Issues
 

Since discovering the gapping problem with my factory installed splash guards, which are all being replaced under warranty because they are "deformed" according to my tech, I really have started going over the car with a fine tooth comb.

I have been checking the body panel fitment and have noticed that space seperating the panels on the rear quarter in front of the rear wheels is misaligned. I actually spent an hour gently pully and pushing to get the panels to line up. I hope they stay in the position I got them to.

That, along with my off-center passenger side exhaust tip, makes me wonder if anyone else is disappointed in the build quality. I have ZERO rattles, no mechanical issues, just body fitment issues.

Am I alone in this?

I think the gaps for the rear-hatch are too large, but, what do I know...

Cars are built with tolerances in mind. Perhaps it wasn't fitment, but the heat working those panels out of place...

Other than a rattle the build quality is top notch. Beats the crap out of my old Mustang.

Any ideas where the rattle in the hatch area comes from? I have the same problem.

You bought an inexpensive, but very sporty, sports car. If you want high fit and finish and sport, buy a Porsche, Aston Martin, and Audi R8 or an AMG.

Sorry.

The 370 is great and very well built--for what I can tell so far. But I am not expecting perfect body panel gaps, perfect dashboard alignment, etc. If I want that, I would not have bought a Nissan. <flamesuit on>

If you think the 370 is bad, u should see my SL550 that i use ONLY for work. HAAAAAA it costs 100k and build quality is.......hmm. let's say poor is an understatement. i hate that car with passion. Most horribly engineered car in every aspect.

Actualy the Japanese cars have fairly good fit and finish. The 370 is supposed to be better than the 350z. Before I bought my z I examined every gap and panel allignment. You don't have to buy a Porsche to get good fit and finish.

Your one of those. Those people that believe, the more you for something then it just has to better. Just to let you know, this way of thinking isn't necessarily true.

Exactly.

I do not think that if it is more expensive, it is automatically better. But I do firmly believe that one should not put more quality into a product than the consumer is willing to pay for. People that are willing to pay $100K for a car are willing to pay for more quality.

To me, the 370 is a great value by a combination of performance, reliability and quality for a very good price. If I wanted full leather, lower road noise, etc...I expect to pay more.

Have we met? Just curious why you are making gross blanket statements about me and seem to think you are in a position to give me advice on life.

I think you are confusing the term quality. quality as i see it means that something has been built to exact specs, will last a long time and has no mistakes. A full leather interior is simply a feature and has nothing to do with quality. just because a car has more features does not mean it is better quality, it just means it has more features, that's it.

"Have we met? Just curious why you are making gross blanket statements about me and seem to think you are in a position to give me advice on life."

Unfortunately, that seems to exist on any forum, concerning any product or hobby........... how you handle such issues can define you. :icon17:
John

There is such a thing as "overpriced"! Which the Z is not!

Reading the replies to my original post is making me a bit annoyed.

First of all, I agree with the fact that "Quality" has nothing to do with features.

I have owned all of the high-end sports cars accept Aston Martin, Lambo, and Ferrari. I currently own a 2008 C2S Cab and I have owned many P-cars, Vettes, AMGs, M cars, XKR, Maserati, etc... I am fortunate enough to afford whatever car I choose.

If you think quality has to do with features than Porsche would have awful quality. Unless you pay crazy prices for options they come pretty bare bones (manual seats, crappy stereo, no bluetooth, no heated seats, etc...). But the car screams quality because it is put together well.

Vettes have terrible quality and they are priced much higher than a Z. Crappy interior, outdated NAV/Stereo, awful seats, etc... They rattle and squeak like crazy. Great car, great fun, but quality is sad.

I bought the Z as a daily driver that is fun, comfortable, and reliable. I can leave it at the airport or shopping mall and not panic about whats happening with it. But it still is a $40k car (fully loaded) or at worst a mid-$30ks car) and should be assembled as well as an Infiniti or Lexus in the same price range, considering it is made in Japan in the same factory as the G37 I believe. To me the car's greatest selling points are the bang for buck factor and the beautiful lines of the car. Great value. But if it isn't put together well it ruins the experience, and, quite honestly, the competition in this pricepoint is fierce (RX8, Camaro SS, Base Vette, G, Z4, Mustang GT, Genesis Coupe, 135, etc...) and, while I chose the Z and feel it is the better of all of the competition, I expect to have a car that is put together well.

After 1 week, I have had the original car replaced because of a huge paint defect from the factory, the factory splash guards not fit properly, the body panels not aligned, crooked exhaust tips. All minor and easily fixed, but makes me worry about reliability and longevity.

Sorry so long, but I don't like when people where blinders or feel the need to justify deficiencies so they dont feel inferior. Expect quality and demand it, you will be suprised how much you get.

i think fit and finish are fine on the 370z,much better than my 03 vette,wifes 09 maxima is tight,but has large trunk gaps.

I'm very picky. I have owned nothing but new cars for over a decade. One of my most recent cars was a 2006 Lexus IS350 and the build quality is nearly identical to my Z. The only issues I have had is a persistent rattle in the rear and condensation in the right rear tail light in the winter. I do have some bitches about available options, but that has been discussed at length. All in all I am very pleased with the quality.

The Japanese are renowned for being assiduous when working and do not mess around. Americans on the other hand aren't really the opposite, but we're not quite up to par with the Japanese in that sense. Sorry, I don't mean to sound unpatriotic. I do not speak from hearsay or 2nd hand experience. When I was in the Marines stationed in Japan for a year, I seen how the Japanese culture instill in its people seriousness when working. Go to a fast food restaurant in Japan and you'll see what I mean. Typically, in an American fast food restaurant, the people who work there show reluctance and drag their feet--they do a sh&tty job in a cursory, botched manner many times.

I remember in college, in my statistics class, my professor started with an anecdote the very first day of class. He explained why the Japanese economy during the 60's,70's and into the 80's was on the verge of eclipsing the U.S. The Japanese are the "masters of mass production" I recall him saying. To make the long story short, he said the Japanese control variances (keep it to a minimum) in mass production perhaps better than any other industrialized country in the world, hence their reputation for building durable automobiles, electronics and other consumer products.

Sorry for my digression. I coincidently have the exact same problem as the TS in how my body panels don't line up perfect, the driver side side skirt. I'm going to overlook this because I don't want to work myself over this. And I agree with the 2nd post, this ain't a $100,000+ high end Euro car, you get what you pay for--an affordable sports car trying to emulate a $100,000 sports car.

I agree with you that the car should be put together well. parts should fit. To answer your question, I do not have any of those issues with mine. The body panels are fine, everything is straight - the exhaust, splash shields, etc... I wonder if your car took a bump or something that knocked some stuff out of whack? Overall the build quality of this car is good IMO. I do have one slight rattle from the trunk area.

With the possible exception of a hand-built vehicle where attention to fit and finish is beyond meticulous; any car at any price level can (and some will) have fit/finish issues; it's simply the nature of mass production...manufacturers try to catch such things before they leave the factory floor but I doubt any manufacturer catches them all no matter how hard they try.

Overall, Japanese built vehicles have a high fit and finish grade but that does not mean that there won't be problems on some individual vehicles and that is assuming, of course, that any body-panel misalignment, etc. stems from the assembly itself and not from any other factors that can contribute.

To the OP; I hope you get whatever issues you do have addressed by your dealer!

Trunk rattle....
 

How about that trunk rattle? Mine seems to be coming from the passenger side rear. Anybody got any ideas what might be causing the rattle?

You should also keep in mind that as you put the km on your car, the pannels might shift a little under the flex and strain. This can be good or bad, but I'm just putting it out there.

Interesting, I find that my 04 Vette was better put together than the 370Z. :confused:

I agree with you. Unfortunately, not everyone has the same expectations for quality and to be fair, we all rate quality in different ways.

I test drove a new 08 C6 and coldn't believe how craptastic the intertior was! It was one of the deciding factors in not buying one. It also had condensation in BOTH headlights.

My sentiments exactly... even with the short time I've had my Z (1700 miles) I'm much more satisfied with the build quality and overall execution as compared to my '07 Mustang GT.

Wow....you folks looking for "gaps" would have never have been able to get a wink of sleep if you had been born or old enough to drive in the 60's, 70's and
80's. The cars made in those days never had a panel on the car that wasn't creating some kind of noticeable gap. Fitment in those days would have driven you folks insane! :eek:

I have the same type of faint rattle coming from the hatch too. It's almost like the interior plastic surrounding the rear window is constantly making contact with something.

It seems like 50% of the cars have this same rattle.

50% of the 370Zs?? I call BS.

But what is causing the rattle, that is the question?

Have you looked around? Lifted up the carpet? Checked that the jack and tools are in place?
You just need to track it down. Complaining about it doesnt accomplish that..

I would agree...there are things in the rear hatch area that "could" cause a rattle but I would think it could be nailed down by going over everything/trying to find something loose - a great starting point is the spare tire/jack, etc.

If, however it's something coming from the suspension, etc...that could be more problematic and more difficult to find.

Well said. Well spoken. Whether we agree or disagree ( which I mostly agree) we ahould respect peoples opinions and have discussions with respect.
I can tell by the way a lot of people write on here. They need this car to define them as a man.
The lack of respect for peoples opinion in the forum is gettin outta control.
Everyone in here is a lover of the same car. Whether we have positive or negative posts.
We should do it to aid in uplifting the brand. Not belittling each others opinions.
We will all have different experiences in life. Share n help or give ur experience.
End the mocking and downtalking already.
If owning a Z makes u a better man in your mind? Then u r still not a man yet.
A real man is defined by the respect he has for self and others.

BRAVO!:iagree:

The ability to disagree respectfully, while respecting the opinion of your fellow Z member, is what makes this place a fun site to belong to. God help us if it were to ever turn into that "other" site :eek:

John

Do a search, the rattle on mine, and on others, stems from the middle rear brake light assembly. I plan to order the gasket so I can remove it and somehow figure out a fix.... When I decide to not be lazy.

:iagree: I agree with you, however instead of just calling :bs:, I would have preceded it with "50% - a figure that was directly pulled straight out of your :icon23: "....that would have made what you said a bit more precise...

Now I call all that :bs:. I will respect the fact that a person can post an opinion....but I don't have to respect the fact foundation of an argument they are making in their posting no matter if we own or like the same car or not.

Attacking what the person says is not attacking the person. Unfortunately you and a majority of others who have bought into the :bs: idea of POLITICAL CORRECT communication have grossly mistaken the two entirely different things as being one-and-the-same.

I don't have a problem with the person posting an opinion..but when some one posts something and then bolsters their statement with some illogical non-fact pattern or some statistical measure that is pulled right out of the poster's :icon23: then yes I am going to attack the argument. And yes I might even fling a little personal piece of poo at them too since I had to wade through the uninformed and unsupported :bs: they used to support their opinion.

If a person is going to post an opinion, then in my books, make it an educated opinion...not something completely pulled from their heart, butt or from some magician's hat.

:owned:

Wel mine rattles, and I have already had the 3rd brake light changed (only half of it worked), I took all the stuff in the back out and still had the rattle. The interesting thing is the ratlle does seem to come from the back, usually on roads where the suspension is really working the bumps...and when the hatch is opened and closed it then goes away for awaile...........who knows??????????? :icon14: