Mazda Protege 5 - Terrible Tires!

[Mike R]

I sold my stock dunlops at 20K with only 1/32" wear. I have 118K on my car and am on my 4th set of tires. Tore up 2 sets autocrossing and am currently driving on a set of Falken Azenis RT-215 (essentially a race tire), which have a treadwear rating of 200. I have 40K on these tires.

In short....Get the alignment checked!

And definatley look around for some different tires, even costco has tires... You can go with a 205/45/16 or a 205/50. Yo do not have to stay with the stock size tire.

 

[Roywhitep5]

3k in tires? sounds like toe

 

[iLisa]

I put at least 30k on my Dunlops..

 

[GordonJ]

$3000 in TIRES?? That's beyond ridiculous.

I had just about 20K miles on my P5 before I traded her in, and while the stock Dunlops are NOT the best (especially in rain/snow), they shouldn't be doing what your describing.

Definetly get your alignment checked at a local shop...I don't see how else you could be going thorugh that much tread in so short a period of time. Have you had like a minor collision or accident recently? Or nailed a few potholes pretty hard? That alone wouldn't destroy your tires, but if your alignment is off somewhat, it greatly increases pressure on the tire and causes it to wear FAR faster than it should.
Check alignment first BEFORE buying better tires, because if your alignment is off, your just going to keep ruining whatever tires you put on.

After that, just get some better tires and you'll be fine. Unless you're looking to sell your car anyway, getting rid of the whole car because of a tire/alignment issue would probably be a huge mistake.

 

[InFlames]

lol @ having a DEALER change your tires

 

[Magus]

Zdama,
I sorry you haven't posted sooner, but I got the answer for ya bud. I got a new set of tires and ditched the dunflops. I knew they sucked and they are were balding. I found the best all-season tire ever. BF goodrich Traction T/A 205/50R16. I got the tires at 45,000 and will be replacing soon after 90,000 miles (45,000 miles). I definitely could have gone longer but I had a faulty air gauge and I was running 29 psi instead of 32.5 psi. They are rated for 60,000 miles. They were awesome in dry, ridiculous in wet, and great in snow. I was able stock, to take a 30mph corner at 50 mph and impressive a fellow worker with a Mazda Speed Protege. I removed the bars and got a CAI (injen styled ebayer). I usually get 27 mpg around town driving like it should be, and got 34 mpg on the way to Myrtle Beach. I found that if you drive on flat area and go 60mph you can get this with 35 psi in the tires. I figure the slightly taller gearing and CAI help. Best tires ever owned, period! I would recommend you try these out before replacing the car. The price per tire should be $89-110 a piece. I hope that gives you hope.

PS: Always get an alignment, get a $20 craftman tire gauge, and check your air pressure.

PSS: The side walls are steel reinforced!

Magus

 

[nate0123]

I was able stock, to take a 30mph corner at 50 mph and impressive a fellow worker with a Mazda Speed Protege.

that's not even double... shameful (headshake

 

[StealthWyvern]

I got a set of Toyo Proxis TPS ( I belive thats correct) which are warrentied for 65k. Which set me back around 90 bucks a pop.

 

[Magus]

Trust me, this is a really sharp turn. I am sure if I got a rear strut bar or rear sway (maybe both), I could take it faster. I thinking lowering the car would help as well. I have found the P5 likes to rotate much better than sedans I have driven (I think it's the weight and spring setup). Mine you I could probably taken the turn faster, but that would be me sliding this thing. If not done right you would ram right into the railing (not a lot of room for error). It's basicly a u-turn within 20ft I think.

Yes I realized that it's not 60mph, I was stating the fact that a fellow Mazda speed person would be impressed with they way the P5 takes the turn should say alot. Cause not all turn speed are on the money. I have seen some and said what where they smoking. I seen interstates rated at 70mph that where very easy turns. And then there were turns that required you to use both lanes in the turns to keep it at 70mph (yes, same interstate)!

 

[YellowMP5]

I'm writing this post out of the share frustration with the low quality of Protege 5 (low profile) tires. I bought my Mazda Protege 5 in 2003 (currently has 44K miles) and with today's payment I have spent over $3,000 in tire replacement.

Dont get me wrong, I initially really liked this car but the thing about tires finally got me to a conclusion that this car needs some major re-thinking in regard to tires.

I have the feeling that a bubble gum would do better job than the tires on Protege 5. This is just horrible.

It is a major hazard to drive (btw I have a toddler), bumps and cuts appear quite regularly. When I asked my Mazda rep his only explanation was (quote) "Just try to avoid pot holes!". What a ridiculous statement! And I usually drive in the city, not on the mountain.

Despite the fact I like other features, I plan to sell this car pretty soon and get a car that has more reliable and secure tires. I dont have a budget to change tires every other month.

If anyone had a similar experience please let me know. Im not a fanatic driver or anything like it but after so many tire replacements I think this car has a major problem.

Thanx.

no offence, but you need to learn to drive
I got 30k miles out of my stock dunlops. since then i have replaced all 4 tires twice, once with kumho 712 and once with kumho asx. This week i will replace 2 of my tires with kumho asx again. I am at 83k miles now. $3000 for tires (shocked) I think you need to learn the value of money and to shop around.

 

[YellowMP5]

that is the problem. You never looked up tires here. Those Dunflops are terrible, and are well known about it. No worries, though. You can get 205-50-16 tires elsewhere that will work fine. I toasted my Dunflops after 8K miles, never wentback to stock. Went through a setof Yokohamas in 24K, and now have 18K my Kumho Ecsta 711 205-40-17 tires on aftermarket wheels, and they are almost like new, surrprisingly.

Go get a good set of tires, and avoid the dealer at all costs!

raider, was there a reason that you went with 711 over the 712 other than the few dollars in savings?

 

[aMaff]

I have found the P5 likes to rotate much better than sedans I have driven (I think it's the weight and spring setup).

The P5 likes to rotate?

HA! Ok, you got me. April fools! Oh wait, it's september...

EDIT: I forgot my actual contribution to the thread lol.
Yeah, forget the dealership (called stealership for a reason...). There are plenty of reputable places to get good rubber for WAY cheaper online, and plenty of good shops to get them mounted and balanced for a fair price.

www.tirerack.com
www.discounttiredirect.com
www.vulcantire.com

to name some of the big ones

 

[Magus]

When someone refers to a car rotating in a turn, they are refering to the fact the rear end is swinging outwards in a turn more so then the front. Rear wheel cars do this and then power out of a turn. Then helps them maintain a high speed in the corner without slowing down. This can also be mentioned at slight oversteer. When you have a lot of oversteer your back end will swing all the way around and you spin. Most car manufactures make the cars the opposite way. They put understeer in most cars, where the front end goes in towards the turn. They do this cause you just need to simply let off the gas to correct. Why is understeer bad then? Well when your trying to steer a corner you need traction. Losing traction in the front is bad. Losing it in the back very slightly if your aware good. Losing it in it in the back completely is worse than in the front. I hope that helps. Oh and incase you did not know it's been mention with the WRX that the wagon seems like it's easier to go around corners for the same reason as the P5.

Magus

 

[aMaff]

Thanks for the driving dynamics lesson, but the P5 on stock suspension pushes really bad at the limit...

EDIT: push = understeer...

 

[P-Funk!]

...at the limit. Very neutral right up to it. Me Likee my handling! Big Hugs!

 

[YellowMP5]

Most car manufactures make the cars the opposite way.
Magus

what? they don't make it on purpose, it depends on the drivetrain of the car. a front wheel drive car will tend to loose traction at the front wheels when turning. its a "property" of front wheel drive, not because the manufacturer mad it that way.

 

[aMaff]

Yes they do. A car that understeers is far safer in the hands on an inexperienced driver than one that oversteers. It wouldn't take much to make the P5 tail happy (springs / big rear sway bar), which if they wanted to, they could have done from the factory.

 

[Purrfectangel]

Hooooolly s***...$3000 in tires(shocked) ....dealerships are useless pieces of s*** for the most part..never, never, never order or get anything replaced by them unless you absolutely have too...holy fook.

I run on Toyo Proxes4 195/50/R16 88V treadwear 300, rotate them every three months or so and watch how I drive...ie: can I take turns at high speeds yes but do I, only once in a blue moon, and I agree it sounds like it may be seriously out of alaignment! but that you should be able to notice right off unless you're really not used to driving your car.

So far in two months I've put over 10k on and I've got enough tread left to pass inspection when I put them on again in the spring. My tires were put on by the previous owner, who put about 19k on them. They wear incredibly well....I absolutely lov'em...Toyo's rock!

Not sure who it was that said "don't throw the baby out with the bath water"...but dude...it's good advice. Keep the car...it's a great rig, I'd live in it if I could...it can be a rough ride if you're not shifting properly or your dampers or struts are ****** but if you keep it in good maintance ie:right psi and aliagnment etc...you shouldn't have too many problems.

 

[YellowMP5]

Yes they do. A car that understeers is far safer in the hands on an inexperienced driver than one that oversteers.

agreed, that's why the better tires always go on the back, it doesn't matter whether its fwd or rwd. but a rear wheel drive will oversteer more often than understeer and vice versa for the fwd. it is a "property" of the respective drivetrains. of course in the rain, its easy to get the car to understeer or oversteer.

 

[aMaff]

Either one of those is bad in the wet lol. I know from 1st hand experience (more on the under than the over...but we're not gonna talk about that one...)

RWD cars from the factory will generally turn better than their FWD counterparts, but at the limit, most still tend to understeer. This is because the way the front suspension is tuned (and the fact that most cars have front heavy weight distributions), the front tires start losing grip.