Unusual tire wear problem

[scottap2003]

Hello all.

I have a 2010 Mazda 3 Sport 5 door. It has Yokohama S34 tires on it. I love this car and drive it quite a bit. It has 18.7k miles on it already.

Here's the problem though. The driver's side rear tire is "worn out" according to my local Mazda dealer. The inside of the tire is worn quite badly, like would be expected with a bad alignment problem. They are trying to say that it is not misaligned and that everything is within factory specs. One of their mechanics came up while I was questioning their findings and looked at the sheet and stated that the numbers would put it out of factory spec. They are supposed to let me know what they are going to do to try to fix the problem that they say doesn't exist tomorrow.

My question is, why would only 1 tire show these wear problems, and am I the only person that's had this problem?

Their mechanic stated that their is an aftermarket kit that can change the camber of the wheels more drastically than what is allowed by the factory adjustments and that was the only way to fix my issue. Is this the case? Did Mazda really design this car so that it handles fantastically, but wears tires out after less than 20k?

Thanks guys, and possibly some ladies.

 

[Cannondale]

So what happened at the dealer?

 

[Caedmon7777]

Hello all.

I have a 2010 Mazda 3 Sport 5 door. It has Yokohama S34 tires on it. I love this car and drive it quite a bit. It has 18.7k miles on it already.

Here's the problem though. The driver's side rear tire is "worn out" according to my local Mazda dealer. The inside of the tire is worn quite badly, like would be expected with a bad alignment problem. They are trying to say that it is not misaligned and that everything is within factory specs. One of their mechanics came up while I was questioning their findings and looked at the sheet and stated that the numbers would put it out of factory spec. They are supposed to let me know what they are going to do to try to fix the problem that they say doesn't exist tomorrow.

My question is, why would only 1 tire show these wear problems, and am I the only person that's had this problem?

Their mechanic stated that their is an aftermarket kit that can change the camber of the wheels more drastically than what is allowed by the factory adjustments and that was the only way to fix my issue. Is this the case? Did Mazda really design this car so that it handles fantastically, but wears tires out after less than 20k?

Thanks guys, and possibly some ladies.

I have a 2010 Mazdaspeed 3. I had the same problem. I have not changed the car by any means. I brought the car in to my dealer at 6000 saying that ALL 4 of my tires are wearing unevenly on the inside. The male service person told me that it's the tire issue and that you should take it to discount tire to get it replaced under the manufacture warranty of the TIRE company and didn't even take a look at my car. I was like that didn't sound right but whatever so I left. I went to get my tires rotated at Discount Tire at a little under 15kand they said that they couldn't because of the condition of the tires were too bad on ALL 4 tires. So I went to the dealership right after that and told them that I have an alignment issue. They said that the alignment warranty covers 12 months or 12,000 miles but we can check it out and see what we can do for you. A day passes and all they said was that the alignment was fine and there was nothing wrong with my car. I asked them what did you do to check the car and told me they just took it for a test drive. A test drive doesn't check the alignment completely. Well I called Mazda USA about the situation and they said they would investigate the situation. Another day goes by and all they can do is cover the alignment and 2 of the tires if I purchase the other 2 tires. I was like why should I have to pay for 2 of the tires when I didn't do anything to change the alignment from when I got the car in January and I took it in before the warranty was up and your employee told me that the issue was from the tire manufacture? I was VERY disappointed with Mazda to say the least.

 

[skatethesea]

I am pretty sure the stock Mazdaspeed 3 runs about -1.8 to -2.0 camber on the rear. Mine is at -2.4 on the rear and -2.1 on the front, +0.6 toe in the front and zero toe in the rear. Cant remember the caster settings. Anyways, all of this is just a smidge off of stock specs and I am at a pretty aggressive street/track setting. So yea, you are going to run through tires at stock trim. And the insides are goin to go first. If you want to stop the wear, get a camber correction kit and zero out your camber and watch your wear and tear go down (along with your off ramp turning speed).

 

[ckfreeman20]

At skatethesea-Exactly how are you going to get any good use off your setup in any Hampton Roads area other than just wearing the ever living hell out of your tires. There's really no road/interstate around here where you need that setup, it's not like you can really pick up any speed for the "high speed cornering", to many slow dumbass drivers out here, and not enough road room due to all the idiots that somehow got a license and a vehicle.

 

[FLDesi]

I'm having the exact same problem as you've described. I'm at 18k miles and I have excess wear on the inside of the drivers side tire. Can you update us on this issue and if Mazda was able to resolve it? I'm going to try to go to the dealership on Saturday and any advice would help.

 

[edspeed3]

lol its a normal issue for a car of this calibur. the car's toe is just automatically set pretty aggressively especially if you like to flogg it through a few corners when your driving. it gives the car enough bite for the corners. if you want to keep this from happening make sure you rotate your tires more often. i rotate my tires every 3k miles and i've already noticed the inner part of the tires starting to wear down. if you want to make them last a bit longer just cross rotate your tires every other time you get them rotated. its just the nature of the beast.

 

[CulRidr]

Or, you could simply have the toe corrected... Camber wear should be very minimal or even non-existant if toe settings aren't aggressive.