Top Rattle & Vibration
 

Have any other roadster owners experienced a lot of racket coming from the drivers side ONLY of the convertible top (when closed of course)?

On side streets I have a constant rattle where the top meets the windshield.

On the highway, the rattle subsides & is replaced by a vibration down the entire length of the drivers side window. Sounds like a hornet's nest.

Passenger side is completely quiet. Been to the dealer twice & they cannot find anything wrong - although they can duplicate the noise & advise that it isn't supposed to be there!

I've experience similar racket in a friends 150+K 1991 Pontiac Sunbird Vert....but I never thought my 370Z would join the chorus at barely 6,500 miles. All I have to do is put the top down to solve the problem...but in Texas 110 degree heat that just isnt' happening until September. I've contacted Nissan Customer Service & expect a call back tomorrow. Any insight anyone has would be appreciated.

Thanks - Michael

I have the same thing in mine. I am heading to the Dealer for an oil change in a couple hours and will ask them to check it out. I know there was a recall back in Dec 2010 to adjust the window. This may solve the issue. I will let you know if they find anything.

There seem to be threaded adjuster bolts that stick up, one behind the driver side, one behind the pax side, that the body colored cover rests on. You can see them if you stop the top when it is open. I imagine that the driver's side is theaded in too far. If so you can back it out so that the top rests against this and then will not rattle. Depending upon how much adjustment is needed you can test this by resting a piece of paper folded as thickly as needed on the top of the adjuster bolt when you put the top up. There is a locking nut on the bolt that should be tightened to stop the bolt from vibrating in or out.

The other way to test is just to push down quickly and let up a few times on the cover while it is in place on each side and you can replicate the noise. You'll feel the difference if one side is loose.

I need pics. I tried to find the threaded adjuster bolts to no avail.

I can do that ob the weekend. If I can earlier I will.

I've had my window adjusted..actuater replaced. Still doesn't close as tighly as passenger side. They also replaced a busted clip inside the top, felt wrapped some loose wiring & insulated other cables. The rattle is mostly gone. Still hear a little on certain road types, but it's good enough for now. Funny how all the issues with this car go away when you lower the top. I think Nissan & Magna could have done a better job coordinating their efforts. Ready for some cool weather so I can resume enjoying my car. We are frying down here in texas. This summer totally sucks. 90 degrees would feel like a cold front. Also, my top is generally more noisy when its 100 plus degrees outside...I assume because materials expand when heated...expecially plastic.

I've begun to have the same problem on mine as well. Although, I'm somewhat frustrated to be experiencing this problem with a vehicle that is 2 months old and has 1900 miles on it. I've called the local dealer in my area and I am waiting on their return call.

And yes, it's WAY to hot to really enjoy this convertible. The only time I've been able to have the top down was a few times early in the a.m. or late in the evening.

Good luck with the fix.

Any luck with pics?

I have the exact same problem + some kind of metal to metal noise while driving on a rough road which is basically all roads here in the LA area. The metal to metal noise seems to come from the back of the car most likely where the top meets the car but not sure.

I have to take it in.

I have the same problem, and the car is only 3 months old. But I had a look at the adjuster bolt Velomaxx suggested and I notice that my driver's bolt has the rubber cap missing, unlike the passenger bolt. And it is leaving a gap, the adjuster bolt is next to the hinge. So that may well be the culprit. I notice no one responded to say whether a service visit solved the problem.

Have not had any problem to date. 2800 miles on mine.

Absolutely no problems with mine!

Has anyone had any luck figuring this out, I'm now experiencing the same thing, driver side only, just a squeak while driving down the road, but it's right a ear height and annoying as hell. I've had it to the dealer, the can hear it, but don't seem to be able to fix it.

Dsmarks2002...I've been able to minimize the noise by having the dealer insulate cables & place foam between moving parts that contact each other. I've learned to live with what little noise remains. If its any consolation, I took a ride in a buddies G37 hard top vert & it is more noisy than the Z! I don't think nissan has perfected the art of integrating vert tops to their vehicles. B- at best. They should study some proven Porcshe or BMW vert top engineering specs before realising the next model. I think the real failure occured when they attempted to integrate the Magna top into the Z's chassis. Some of the cabling systems & mechanisms are not engineered very well. My latest drama occured two weeks ago when a cable that closes the little flaps that fold down on either side when lowering the top snapped mid operation. This resulted in my top cover half closing at a weird angle which caused the whole mechanism to bind - lock up & freeze. My car was MIA for two weeks while my dealer who I trust completely...waited for nissan to send the correct replacement parts. They got it right on the thiird try. Been a wild ride with this car. I still love it, but seriously thinking about graduating to Porsche or BMW next go round. Something to be said for german engineering...there cars don't rattle unless you've wrecked it or have crazy high miles. Good luck.

Thanks very much for the reply. I got looking at the issue seems to be as you describe, poor isolation between some of the wiring harness and I can tell the dealer found the issue, and tried to fix it with some tape but it didn't solve the issue. What was disappointing while the dealer found it, they couldn't fix it, and we're not willing to do much more stating that they're not authorized by Nissan to do any more. Almost as if the fix wasn't described in detail by Nissan, they could go no further. I'm with you, when the top is down, I love the car, not so much when the top is up. I guess I'll take a run at getting a Nissan regional service rep out to look at it and see what they can do. Short of that I'll fix a fix myself