Edmunds.com | Inside Line | Auto Observer Your Account | Help | Directory
You are here:
![[F]](http://a332.g.akamai.net/f/332/936/12h/www.edmunds.com/media/townhall/webxicons/site.gif){kind=small}
Forums
Hatchbacks Mazda3 Mazda 3 Tire & Wheel Questions
267 messages, Last post on Nov 13, 2009 at 3:04 PM
You are in the Mazda3 Forum. Your Host is pf_flyer
|
Replying to: grace10 (Oct 06, 2008 12:52 pm) I had them on my last car, an 02 Lancer OZ Rally, and went up one size with them too. Many people on Tirerack have done this upgrade and it seems the size of the original tires is very hard to find and V rating makes them expensive with little tread life. I would go up one size in width rather than buy expensive tires twice. The best you can expect on the current tires is 30K, my tires are starting to look bad now, so I expect at around 20-25K I will switch them. I would not go down on the speed rating because of the suspension, lowering the speed rating on the tires would defeat the purpose of the vehicle. V rated tires are stiffer and more responsive.
|
|
|
|
|
Replying to: 06mazda3s (Oct 13, 2008 8:55 pm) Your reply: I would not go down on the speed rating because of the suspension, lowering the speed rating on the tires would defeat the purpose of the vehicle. V rated tires are stiffer and more responsive. Could you explain what you mean by saying "I would not go down on the speed rating because of the suspension"?
|
|
|
Replying to: blanca58 (Jul 09, 2008 12:57 pm) I took my car to Tires Plus in Port St. Lucie Fl and they called me into the garage to explain that the alignment computer is showing "factory specs" on all four wheels. They said there must be a factory defect in the car and to take it to the dealer and demand correction and a new set of tires or threaten Lemon Law !. I took it to the Mazda dealer in Stuart Fl and they said the car was fine and that I just had not rotated the tires each oil change. I went home not convinced and started searching on line finding all the forum write ups on the problem being extreme negative camber on the rear of most Mazda 3s. One forum explained how you could personally try to make your own corrections to the rear camber by turning the two hatchmarked adjustment bolts in or out on both rear wheels. This made sense seeing my problem started exactly at the same mileage a lot of the other forum writers stated. 17k on factory tires. I rotated my tires once since new at 14k moving the rear tires with the worn inner ridge to the front of my car. That is when I started noticing unusual tire/road noise. It threw me off because most tire wear is usually caused from front end misalignment. My front tires were fine and then they started wearing right away when I moved them to the rear. I noticed the wear was a little more extreme on one side than the other so I adjusted the rear camber on that side one and a half hatch marks and the other side only one hatch mark correction using two large 17mm box end wrenches with the car jacked up and with safety jack stands in place. You can actually see the correction to the negative camber when you turn the camber bolt in or out after loostening the threaded lock nut on the outside. You can notice the tops and bottoms of the tires moving in or out a little with each turn. Negative camber is when your wheels are tilting in at the top and out at the bottom. As you add weight to the car such as heavy passengers you will get even more negative camber on the rear wheels. The front wheels do not need camber adjustment and don't have an adjustment as far as I could see. After making the minor adjustments to my car I took my best tires and moved them up to the front hoping that I could get a little more out of them. I figure 30 to 40K would be fair. We'll see. I still have the road noise because of the previous wear damage. I haven't noticed any oversteer as a result of the minor adjustment which I considered an easy fix/job as car repairs go. Now I'm driving around behind every Mazda 3 I can catch up to in traffic and in parking lots observing the rear camber. It is amazing. Some are very easy to detect visually that the rear tires are tilting in at the top as compared to other cars . I stood behind a Mazda 3 five door the other day and couldn't believe how obvious the negative camber looked. Why the dealers are so misinformed or underhanded I don't know. It sure isn't ethical. Withl the problems they fix and diagnose, I wonder if the service managers ever read the forums to find out stuff that is affecting their customer's confidence. It probably has to do with them having to own up to a new set of tires for every complaint. That could be a lot more expensive than a routine alignment. On the other hand their reputation is at stake trying to hide stuff. Who would want a car that wears out a good set of very expensive tires every 15000 miles?
|
|
|
Replying to: petesleaf (Oct 21, 2008 5:35 am)
|
|
|
Replying to: slaterac (Oct 23, 2008 11:59 am) There have been 3 such complaints made so far and only one of them really had to do with the tires wearing down. Others say the Toyo tires are not made for the snow.
|
|
|
Replying to: slaterac (Oct 23, 2008 12:14 pm)
|
|
|
Replying to: slaterac (Oct 24, 2008 5:18 am) That's just not true. I have seen the stock Goodyear Eagle RS-A's last past 40K on many Mazda3's that come into my store. There are plenty of variables that attribute to tires wearing out. First, lack of proper rotation or proper inflation pressure. Second, aggressive driving. The Mazda3 is a compact the promotes sportiness. Many owners, unfortunately, assume their Mazda3 is an autocross car. It seems like Mazda should have a recall on this and fix this problem. There is nothing wrong with the Mazda3. The car does not magically make tires wear out faster. If there is something not right with your Mazda, out of alignment comes to mind, then your tires would wear unevenly. You would see uneven wear on the inner half or outer half. If the tires are wearing evenly, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the car. Every vehicle on the road does go out of alignment from time to time. That's the nature of automobiles.
|
|
|
|
| 80,000 mi tire. Very high wear rating--it's a hard tire but has very aggressive tread pattern for water evacuation. Pretty good in the snow too. Costco has pretty good prices. | |
|
|
|
Replying to: aviboy97 (Oct 24, 2008 5:42 pm) 
|
|
|
|
|
Hi there - I have about 34,000 miles on my original Goodyear Eagle RS-A tires. They are slick as a bottle of tire shine on ice. I am looking for a decent all season tire that is good both in wet conditions, snow, and holds up to the "estimated" mileage warranty. I don't want to pay more than $125 a tire though. As I navigate Tirerack.com I see the best sellers under my car tire category. 1- Kumho Ecsta ASX ($90/each) 205/50R17 2- Dunlop SP Sport Signature ($105/each) 205/50R17 3- Bridgestone Potenza G 019 Grid ($115/each) 205/50R17 I do like to drive fast at times and enjoy corners so you could say I have the zoom zoom type mentality. What would you suggest out of these three tires? Also, is there a better, read cheaper website to order from? Thanks! Zac
|
|
You are here:
Forums
Hatchbacks Mazda3 Mazda 3 Tire & Wheel Questions
New? Join Now!
Forum Tools
Search Forums
Browse by Vehicle
2010 Mazda MAZDA3
2009 Mazda MAZDASPEED MAZDA3
Browse by Board
Browse by Topic
Today's Chats
