I'm the original owner of 2003 G35 Coupe, stock OEM suspension, running OEM 19" Rays from a later model running Michellin Pilot Super Sports (225 40r 19). I noticed extreme wear on the inner tread ( had to replace tires w/ good tread ).

I'm having my alignment checked on Monday.

Could my compliance bushings be worn causing the abnormal wear?

Any suggestions other than ordering a camber kit?

Thanks for everyone's input.

 

Bad alignment

 

^this

Could also be bad bushing and you havent told us if your dropped or not but camber arms aren't needed if your not lowered.

 

Front inner tire wear is very normal for the G coupe due to aggressive handling setup from the factory. I'm speaking from an 05/06 with sport suspension (standard with 6MT) perspective but I thought this also happened with earlier years. Have you not always had the inner wear? You'll find a plethora of threads on driver from other coupe owners who have blown out their tires because they didn't notice the inner wear. The factory setup makes for nice corning, but it's expensive in the tire department. Changing the alignment won't do squat due to needing the camber kit that you mentioned in order to adjust whats needed for the inner wear. My 06 has done this since new and I tried taking it to an excellent shop to zero out the alignment as much as possible. A lone nissan tech here swore it would fix the inner wear but it made no difference. I can remember talk at one time on my350z about trying to put together a class action on this issue but I'm not sure there's really a case to be made since this is a sports car and that's why Nissan did what they did.

For my latest set of fronts, I've been using Nexen N3000 since they're inexpensive and they seem to be wearing better on the inside than the original RE050A's. I've also stopped over inflating the fronts for pothole protection and that probably helped the situation. It's definitely still there though. I've been through the oem RE050A's, Falken FK452, Nankang NSII and now the N3000's. The last 3 sets have all been the popular oversize option of 245/35/19 that most of us use on the Rays.

 

This is right on. They're setup with quite a bit of camber from the factory which makes them wear tires rather quickly. That's part of the reason they handle so well, but it's frustrating buying tires so often. My solution has been to drive until they
start showing a bit of camber wear, then have the tire shop swap the tires on the rims L to R and R to L so that what was the inside of the front left tire is now the outside of the front right tire. Don't do this if it's completely toast on the inside of the tread, but it will help you get more life out of the tire before it's trash.

 

Sounds like an alignment issue to me!

 

+1 There are a zillion posts on inside tread wear. No real fix for 2003-2007 Coupes although the 03 and 04s were the worst of the group. Best bet is go for an inexpensive tire unless you have deep pockets and of course you can do a cross rotation if they are symetrical or assymetrical or do a break down of the tire off the rim and reinstall and balance if a directional tire. Don't wait until there is too much inside wear or the tire will be dangerous to drive. It's one of the expenses of early coupe ownership. The 08s and up are considerably better.

 

It's completely normal for G35 Coupes and 350Z's to wear like that. There's no way to fix it without putting on aftermarket control arms that have adjustable camber. The factory '03 and '04 Coupe control arms don't have this alignment adjustment, so your inner edges of the tires will always wear faster than the rest of the tire. Having the camber set this way is supposed to help with handling a bit, but most of us will never actually need that for typical street driving.

 

Well, we'll see if anything can be done to mine. I'm taking it in for an alignment on Monday. My local shop seemed to have several ideas on how to correct the problem. I've prewarned them about what has been posted here. I'll keep everyone posted

 

Thanks for everyone's posts. A few months ago, I notice some squeaking sound coming from the front end. I thought it might be the shocks wearing out. I was planning to replace my OEM's. However, I found out my compression bushings, inner control arm pivot bushing as well as the lower ball joints leaking. It's going to be an expensive month.

 

This....^....is exactly what I figured, of course the alignment is off because the front end is worn out. This kinda thing doesn't happen over night, that front end has been sloppy for years. Front end suspension s/b checked every time you do an oil change. Good mechanics walk around under your car with a flashlight looking for worn parts/leaks....Gary