CX-9 OEM Tires

The much maligned OEM Escopia tires also appear to be prone to "cupping". Had my 2nd oil change and tire rotation recently on my 2018 GT at 12k miles (1st was at 6000), and the shop noticed early signs of the unusual wear pattern. If I had to guess, over 90% of my 12k miles have been high-speed highway driving. The guys at the shop say this is something they are seeing more frequently on AWD models of many make vehicles.

My experience tells me that OEM tires will not have particularly long lives, but if the cupping continues at the rate at which it has already begun, I will likely be buying new rubber even sooner than anticipated.

BTW, I'm aware that "legetimate" cupping can be caused by certain suspension, alignment, and balance issues, but with a new out-of-the-box vehicle such as the CX9, those can easily be ruled out; the weak link in the chain, seems to be the tires.
 
BTW, I'm aware that "legetimate" cupping can be caused by certain suspension, alignment, and balance issues, but with a new out-of-the-box vehicle such as the CX9, those can easily be ruled out; the weak link in the chain, seems to be the tires.

I disagree with this - there are plenty of brand new, out-of-the-box vehicles that suffer from tire wear issues on unmodified/altered suspension and alignment settings. I personally owned a brand new, unmodified (at time of "issue") 350Z and G35 Coupes that had tire cupping and feathering issues. It was a common problem with those vehicles from the factory.
 
Single, were the cupped tires originally on the front or back? If the back, it might be the alignment of the rear wheels. Many cars have toe-in adjustments on the rear--I'm not sure about our CX9s. Other things could be a bent or otherwise damaged rear suspension part or an assembly problem from the factory. If the front, I'd suspect a defective front suspension part.

While low quality tires can be prone to cupping more easily than a higher quality tire, there have been very few reports of this. That suggests that your car is the cause. I'd start with a 4-wheel alignment and good inspection for damaged or defective suspension parts.

About alignment...some makers (my experience is with Toyota) give unreasonably wide acceptable alignment tolerances. A car aligned at the max of one alignment spec on one wheel and the max-the-other-way on the opposite wheel is "in spec" and terribly aligned. Demand that the alignment be set to the center of every spec; have this written on the work order.

Please let us all know what you discover.
 
Single, were the cupped tires originally on the front or back? If the back, it might be the alignment of the rear wheels. Many cars have toe-in adjustments on the rear--I'm not sure about our CX9s. Other things could be a bent or otherwise damaged rear suspension part or an assembly problem from the factory. If the front, I'd suspect a defective front suspension part.

The tires were on the front for the 1st 6k, and on the rear for the next 6k; the techs noticed early signs on the rear. The owner (who I have known for many years), said they see this happening primarily on rear of many newer AWD models. Part of the discussion then led to synthetic oil changes at 5-6k instead of the traditional 3k standard have led to less frequent tire rotation, as well as the front wheel bias of many current AWD set-ups.

I need to look much closer for myself because at a quick glance, I did not easily discern the pattern. Obviously, while still under warranty, I want to follow-up with the dealer.
 
My 6 months old cx-9 was misaligned in the rear. I had the alignement done as a precaution since i had bought brand new tires and it turned out that it was out of spec in the back. I could not feel any pull in any direction so wouldn’t have known. Other post in this forum have had the bad surprised of inegal wear caused by misaligned wheels on the rear which went unnoticed until they rotated the wheel to the front.

Don’t assume the alignement is good based on the age of the vehicle. It only takes one well placed pothole to misalign a wheel.
 
I agree with youri. Mr. Malt, the tires aren't beginning to cup because of the tires. Something in the car is making them cup, then they're cupping rapidly, 'cuz they ain't the best tires.

I don't think a wheel alignment is a warranty item unless it was noticeably misaligned at delivery. A defective part that has not been damaged would be a warranty claim. I'd take that car to a specialty alignment shop. While that shop owner has earned your trust, no one knows everything. (3000 mile oil drain intervals has been a debunked myth for at least the last 40 years. Conventional oil is good for at least 5000 miles; follow your owner's manual.)
 
(3000 mile oil drain intervals has been a debunked myth for at least the last 40 years. Conventional oil is good for at least 5000 miles; follow your owner's manual.)
Just to clarify, I'm not changing oil at 3k - and he wasn't suggesting that; his point was that with oil changes happening at less frequent intervals, tire rotation is also occurring less frequently as well, resulting in tire-wear patterns being more obvious.

Good thoughts though, I will need to check more on the alignment. Thanks!
 
In canada alignments are covered for the first 12 months. Not sure if it is the same in the states. It’s covered under the “adjustment” warranty.
 
I just picked up a 2020 Mazda CX-9 GT. It came with Falken Tires. Very happy not to be stuck with the Bridgestones.
 
I don't understand how some have the ecopias and some have the falkens. I am in Canada as well and when I was shopping for my 2018 I had the choice between 2 GTs, one had the ecopias on and the other the falken. When I asked the dealer about it they said they could swap the wheels and tires if i wanted, but didn't have to in the end since the one I chose had the falken on. I thought they had all been switched to falkens since but apparently not based on what you got.
 
2019 Sig, Falkens.

But...I was worried since I bought in winter and had them put snows on before I took delivery. They stored the all seasons for me. I did peek at the tires before, were Falken, and i was sure to check this past spring when swapped back. After all I've read, I half expected to go back and "mysteriously" find Bridgestones on!
 
Interesting, reading about all these OEM tires - my 2019 Touring came with Yokohama Geolander P255/60R18 107H G056B tires, which nobody else has mentioned - anyone else have these? Any opinions? Tire Rack's test said they are fine in the dry but poor in wet or snow, well we have little snow here in MD but I have noticed a little looseness in heavy rain.
They seem ok to me, can be very quiet on smooth pavement but some coarse concretes are pretty noisy. Handling seems ok, and with 11K miles on them now, loads of tread left - but then I've always been easy on tires, fast but smooth is my motto.
Overall I'm amazed how quiet this car is inside, last weekend we had grandkids in the third row and could converse easily in a normal voice. I love this vehicle - and my previous car was a 328 BMW coupe.
 
My 2018 came with Ecopias. I used to think it was limited to region, but have since found out that it isn't. I had considered that they just used one or the other depending on availability, but I would think that doing that would lead to inconsistencies in their manufacturer or reviewer-tested specs (i.e. braking distance, NVH, handling, etc.). At the end of the day, I still have no idea why this gen comes with one tire or the other.
 
Interesting, reading about all these OEM tires - my 2019 Touring came with Yokohama Geolander P255/60R18 107H G056B tires, which nobody else has mentioned - anyone else have these? Any opinions? Tire Rack's test said they are fine in the dry but poor in wet or snow, well we have little snow here in MD but I have noticed a little looseness in heavy rain.
They seem ok to me, can be very quiet on smooth pavement but some coarse concretes are pretty noisy. Handling seems ok, and with 11K miles on them now, loads of tread left - but then I've always been easy on tires, fast but smooth is my motto.
Overall I'm amazed how quiet this car is inside, last weekend we had grandkids in the third row and could converse easily in a normal voice. I love this vehicle - and my previous car was a 328 BMW coupe.
My 2019 Touring also came on the sam Geolanders! My observations match yours (little loose in the wet, good handling/braking, very quiet). The only real downside is treadlife. Ive got 26k mine and they are down to about 3/32’s. I expexted to hit 50k (my Honda Pilots routinely hit 50-60k on Yokohama YK-580 and YK-740’s from Americas Tire). We’ve done our share of windy roadtrips (Yosemite and CA Hwy 1) so maybe that explains the faster wear. Im looking for a replacement set of Yokos now that would be an improvement over the Geolanders but hopefully 45k min treadlife.
 
Just replaced the Falkens on our GT, got 39k out of them. Maybe could have got another 4k, but got a non repairable puncture in one. Picked up the GY Maxlife and got a great deal on them. Looks to be a good tire and they are quiet like the Falken's. Will update opinion after we get some miles on them.
 
Every tire design includes trade offs:

https://www.goodyear.com/en-US/tires/assurance-maxlife
"Goodyear's Longest Lasting Tire. "

http://www.barrystiretech.com/rrandfe.html
"There are three properties that can be traded off with one another - Tread wear, Traction, and Rolling Resistance. You can maximize one of these properties, but it has to come at the sacrifice of at least one of the others. This means that tires with good traction compounds have either sacrificed treadwear or rolling resistance (or both). This also means that tires with high UTQG treadwear ratings have sacrificed traction or rolling resistance."

Everyone needs to decide for themselves what attributes they most want in tires. I'll choose wet traction over longest tread life. (We're not high mileage drivers, and we live in the Pacific Northwet.) Low rolling resistance (better gas mileage) is important to some drivers.
 
Every tire design includes trade offs:
Everyone needs to decide for themselves what attributes they most want in tires. I'll choose wet traction over longest tread life. (We're not high mileage drivers, and we live in the Pacific Northwet.) Low rolling resistance (better gas mileage) is important to some drivers.

I agree PT guy, every tire is a trade off. Since no snow in L.A. that was not too important. Just wanted good ride, quiet and excellent wet performance.

CONSUMER SURVEYS (Tire Rack)
Based on 106 submissions of our online survey.
Average Rating:

Tire Category: Standard Touring All-Season
See Ratings Charts for All Tires in This Category
  • Survey Stats
  • 535,288 Total Miles Reported
  • 3 out of 25 in Standard Touring All-Season Tires
  • 99% vs. best in Standard Touring All-Season Tires
Would You Recommend?
8.8 - Excellent
+

Wet Performance
8.9 - Excellent
+

Dry Performance
9.2 - Excellent
+

Winter/Snow Performance
8.0 - Good
+

Comfort Performance
8.8 - Excellent
Treadwear Performance
9.4 - Excellent
Note: Consumer Survey Ratings are from 0-10 with 10 being the highest.
 
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