Normal tire wear?

[Unobtanium]

I have heard that Mazda sets up their suspensions very aggressively. Great handling at the expense of tire life. Is this normal wear for the front tires on my CX5? Area of interest is the inner part of the tread.

Left

Right

 

[cybercruiser]

I'd have an alignment done. I had mine checked when my CX-5 was brand new, to make sure it was good to begin with, and it was within spec, I had it checked again at approx 8,000 miles and my right-front was out slightly.

I purchased a 3 year alignment(not from Mazda), so, I'll check, and tweak as necessary, often.

 

[Unobtanium]

I am not pleased with these tires. They seem low quality (Geolanders). Two of them show dry-rot cracking in the tread grooves, and all 3 are at various stages of worn, while 1 is new (likely picked up a nail and was replaced). With only 1 year and 27K miles total, I find this performance disgusting. I also note no "chunking" of the tread or anything that would indicate that abusive driving habits are the cause.

I bought four Continental Crosscontact LX20's to replace them with, along with an alignment, tomorrow. I have read/seen very good reviews about this tire in light snow/ice/rain/etc. as well as reading that it is quiet.

 

[cybercruiser]

Still, uneven tire wear is more a sign of alignment issue, than of poor quality tires(I think). It's usually a good idea to get an alignment done when getting new tires, tires are so expensive. You want to at least start out with things lined up as they should be.

 

[Unobtanium]

Still, uneven tire wear is more a sign of alignment issue, than of poor quality tires(I think). It's usually a good idea to get an alignment done when getting new tires, tires are so expensive. You want to at least start out with things lined up as they should be.

That is why I bought new tires. I don't think mine need replacing RIGHT NOW, but they will need replacing before winter, and why pay for 2 alignments? I'll just get these new one's aligned and installed and be done of it. I don't like tires that are dry-rot cracked like these, either. I'm a big tire fanatic. Very picky.

 

[cybercruiser]

Yeah, I tend to be a bit obsessive / compulsive myself. I agree, tires are important enough, it's a good thing to be a bit fanatical about them.

 

[Kedis82ZE8]

I wonder if those were rotated from the front which has a possible camber issue? An alignment should fix that though.

 

[Kedis82ZE8]

A tire tread depth gauge is a good tool to keep on hand. I check my tires about once a month. It gives me an early heads up if something is wrong with alignment.

 

[Ride92]

I am not pleased with these tires. They seem low quality (Geolanders). Two of them show dry-rot cracking in the tread grooves, and all 3 are at various stages of worn, while 1 is new (likely picked up a nail and was replaced). With only 1 year and 27K miles total, I find this performance disgusting. I also note no "chunking" of the tread or anything that would indicate that abusive driving habits are the cause.

I bought four Continental Crosscontact LX20's to replace them with, along with an alignment, tomorrow. I have read/seen very good reviews about this tire in light snow/ice/rain/etc. as well as reading that it is quiet.

I didn't think geolanders were ken tires. I thought toyo and Yokohama tires were used.

 

[paris1]

I wonder if those were rotated from the front which has a possible camber issue? An alignment should fix that though.

Camber is not adjustable on CX-5.

 

[paris1]

I didn't think geolanders were ken tires. I thought toyo and Yokohama tires were used.

Yokahama Geolanders are the OE 17" tire on CX-5.

 

[deuce_WI]

Too much toe in or out will cause wear on the inside edge and scaling (usually in for stability). It doesn't have to be a camber issue to look like that.

 

[Unobtanium]

Too much toe in or out will cause wear on the inside edge and scaling (usually in for stability). It doesn't have to be a camber issue to look like that.

Correct. This is a toe issue, IMO. Camber would affect more than that, and I can SEE camber bad enough to cause wear like that. I don't recall the camber my Z06 or 370Z were set at, but I could visually identify that the angle was greater than my CX5 for sure. I believe this is a toe issue, especially from driving the vehicle. It feels VERY planted, and this might even be a correct spec for this vehicle (Stability at the cost of tires) from Mazda, and the Geolanders just suck at dealing with it.

 

[erhayes]

I don't see anything "aggressive" about the alignment specification on the 2014 Mazda CX5. The tires shown definitely appear to have an alignment issue not caused by tires. Please post where you are getting these aggressive numbers from Unobtainum. My Geolander 17 inch tires are wearing evenly across the tread while running 33 to 34 psig cold pressures. The Geolander tires are tread wear rated at a 280 rating so that suggests a fairly soft tread compound. Ed

 

[Unobtanium]

I don't see anything "aggressive" about the alignment specification on the 2014 Mazda CX5. The tires shown definitely appear to have an alignment issue not caused by tires. Please post where you are getting these aggressive numbers from Unobtainum. My Geolander 17 inch tires are wearing evenly across the tread while running 33 to 34 psig cold pressures. The Geolander tires are tread wear rated at a 280 rating so that suggests a fairly soft tread compound. Ed

I don't know the factory tolerance for alignments. I do know my z06 was said to settle about a half inch after a few months of ownership, and was aligned accordingly, but I never measured it. Similarly, maybe the Mazda settled a tad and threw off already questionable specs? Plenty of people have had new vehicles like that. The GTO's were terrible about it, due to how they were strapped to the boat when shipped over to the states.

Anyway, with the new tires will come a new alignment, and all issues should go away.

 

[Unobtanium]

New tires installed, and while I only put a few miles on them, that's enough to see that they aren't scrubbing the insides like the old one's were (alignment performed, as well.). Very pleased with the Crosscontact LX20's so far from a NVH standpoint. Obviously have not tried them in various conditions of the elements, yet.

 

[Unobtanium]

Drove some more on the new tires. I am really liking them.

 

[Unobtanium]

I drove them through a veritable Monsoon this morning, and they cut through standing muddles at 40mph VERY WELL! Yes, lots of drag and all that, but very good performance. In pouring rain on the freeway they felt stable at 60mph (the speed limit). I have had vehicles on new rubber that would have swapped ends in that. Granted they were sports cars on summer tires, but still. Very confident handling from the little CX-5 on these even in heavy rain.