Scary Tire Wear on 2006 Mazda5

mazdadude

mazdadude

ZOOOOOOOOOM ZOOOOOOOOOM
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'16.5 Mazda CX-5 Touring
Hello friends!

I would like everyone with a 2006-2007 Mazda5 who reads this, to PLEASE go look at their passenger rear tire. I am talking get down on your knees, behind the rear bumper, with a flashlight and look at the inside shoulder of your tire. (I will wait here while you go check, if you want to go look now.)

I had faithfully rotated my replacement Bridgestone g009 215/50/17 tires every 7 to 10k miles, and have never had a complaint about noise or road feel for 40k miles. However this weekend, I had started feeling a little vibration, and a "woomp" noise similar to a wheel bearing going out. This noise perked my ears up a bit, because many, many, years ago, when I happened to own an '98 Integra, I had the same noise occur right before I had a tire let go while I was doing 70MPH on the freeway. FUN TIMES!

So, I decided to look at my tires, I walked around the car, and they all looked great. They all look nice and meaty, and like they could go another 40k miles easy!

However, when I got down on my hands and knees, with a flashlight, and looked at the inside shoulder of the passenger rear tire. (boom06)WOW! Was I in for a shock, the inside shoulder of the tire had gone down to the CORDS, and the tread was starting to delaminate from the cords.
When I looked at my passenger front tire, it was in the same condition. The left side tires had bald inner shoulders too, but had not yet gone down to the cords.

It made me absolutley sick all weekend, to think what could have happened, and that I had been carrying my family members around in such an unsafe manner. And I am one of those who is very careful about checking pressures often so I know that they have never been over or under-inflated.

/ / \ \ Since the rear tires on the 2006-2007 have such aggressive camber, I wanted everyone to be especially careful, and to please add this tire inner shoulder inspection to your "to-do" list when you check your oil.

I would also be very interested to hear replies from other 2006-2007 owners after they inspect their tires' inner shoulders.
 
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#1, 10,000 miles is TOO LONG to go btw tire rotations, especially w/FWD. We don't have a 50/50 weight distribution, so that much time on the fronts wears on the tread too much.

#2, I was sure to NOT buy assymmetrical tires because I knew of the negative camber issues that make the car so much fun to drive. The only thing I could find w/o going to Buick or Avalon OE-style tires was directional, and I rotate ever 3-4K, and I estimate that every 10K I will have them all dismounted & flipped so the outsides are moved to the inside to prolong the life of the tires. I recommend this to all who read this. Sure, its gonna be a PITA, but vs. $$ for 4 new 17" tires every 40K miles... worth it!
 
Agree, I rotate my tires with every oil change (8000km) not had an issue yet. The inners do wear faster but then, it's a trade off for all the things that last soo long on the car. I've saved soo much on the brakes alone that a bit of extra tire wear is a fair trade off. I still can't believe how long the brakes last on this car!! 145000km before my first change of pads and rotors!! On my last car I would have been starting my third set by now!!!
 
Maybe you should now consider flipping the rear tires at about 20k or the second rotation in your case?
 
is there a good aftermarket fix to this? By that I mean a camber kit.. surely someone has realized its better to FIX this as opposed to constantly rotating/flipping/purchasing tires?
I finally took my 5 to the dealership for an oil change and requested a rotate with, was told it wasn't necessary. Maybe I got lucky and my camber is good? Gonna look closely at insides of the rears today.
 
Yes there is a camber kit available, I am thinking about it, but I am not sure that I want to give up any of my handling though.

They fixed the issue for the 2008 and up models.

I just wanted folks to know that you have to inspect that inner shoulder carefully, as that is what the car is riding on. I am wondering if the abnormal wear is amplified by the wider tire size.
 
There's a pretty long tire thread, I suggest you read through it.

And the problem isn't the camber, it's the toe. That is, the tires are tilted slightly inward if you were looking at the tire from the top. This is an alignment issue from the factory. Frequent rotation won't help.

For this reason alone I would tell anybody thinking of a used Mazda5 to stay far away from the '06 / '07 models. If you already have one, good luck.
 
Yes, the 2006-2007 are the years that had the issues.

The point I wanted to make, was how shocked I was about my tires. Even though I am very aware of this issue, I have a properly aligned car, I have checked the pressure often, I have frequently rotated the tires, and also within the last 1k miles I had my tires "inspected" when my oil was changed, and the tires were found to be 50% tread remaining!

I was not complaining about my car, as I do not intend to change anything but the frequency of my rotation and inspection regime. I was only hoping to help remind others here about how easy it is for things to go south on the 06-07 rears, and that it is only visible with the tire off the car, or if you get on your hands and knees and look carefully. It is no fun changing a tire on the side of the road or having a blowout.
 
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If you buy 215s instead of 205s the tire wear issue is nonexistent if you rotate them every 5,000 miles.
 
Robotaz said:
If you buy 215s instead of 205s the tire wear issue is VIRTUALLYnonexistent if you rotate them every 5,000 miles.
Click to expand...

I got mine w/those crappy Ziex tires on it and besides premature wear, they were alittle more worn on the insides when I got the BFGs instead. That's why I made sure to not get asymmetrical tires as replacement, because it still happens, but to a lesser degree.
 
I got my camber kit included when I bought my springs from a poster here, changed the spring and went for an alignment hoping that i wont need the camber kit. If needed I can get the alignment guy to install it. After alignment my alignment guy told me i don't need it he just adjusted the toe, and I'm good ever since. The car right now sits close th 2 in. lowered and no problem with tire wear. Only had a prob. when I installed astrut bar which seems to change a bit my front alignment, so a slight wear on my front passenger side tires. got it aligned and fixed.
 
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So have we concluded what the best way to save our tires is. Im willing to install whatever i need to. My wife loves the car but what a stupid problem. Please let me know what needs to be done. Thanks
 
willis20 said:
So have we concluded what the best way to save our tires is. Im willing to install whatever i need to. My wife loves the car but what a stupid problem. Please let me know what needs to be done. Thanks
Click to expand...

The best long term solution would be to install the 2008-10 rear links. The cheapest solution would be to swap the tire on the wheel so that the outside shoulder becomes the inside, while still retaining the same rolling direction, and do this at the mid-life of the tire.
 
RunAroundNekid said:
10k is wayyyy to long to go on a rotation with directional tires.

You're at fault here, not your car ;)
Click to expand...



Exactly what I wanted to hear! I would never recommend going 10k on a rotation, in fact, these tires on the 2006-2007 wear so bad on the inside shoulder that I would recommend rotating every 5k miles if possible. It is just one of the things that you have to give up for a car that performs and responds well, or for that matter, a minivan that handles like a sportscar.

However, rotating that often is not going to help much, unless you rotate the tire on the rim one time during the tires life as well, as BOTH my front and rear tires on the right side failed at the same time, meaning I had rotated them as evenly as you could ever hope to or expect to.
(hand)

More rotations would not have helped me at all. Maybe I am not explaining this clearly enough?

I have had the opportunity to have had a few experiences with tire failures, and do not wish to ever experience another tire failure. I will even tell people on the road, or gas station that they have an underinflated tire, or I will leave a note on their car if they are not around. This is why I believe that my tire routine is borderline obsessive, and why I wanted to start this thread, because I would venture to guess that 95% of the population is not as careful or obsessive as I am when it comes to their tires. Here is what I mean by that:

Every time I see the car for the first time that day, I visually glance at the bottom sidewall of all 4 tires for a flat/under inflation before I sit in the car. My first few moments riding in a car always involves feeling for a slight pull or flat spot from an under inflated tire. Once a month I check and adjust all tires to my desired pressure. Every oil change the tires get rotated and inspected (not done by me). Every 6months I do a complete tread depth chart of 3 places across the tread of the tire, and for each tire. This aids me in getting as many rotations as possible out of a set of tires.

Even with all of this tire vigilance, I was still shocked how all of the wear was located at the inner shoulder.
 
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How involved is this rear link swap? I have an 06 that eats rear tires that I will be keeping for ever (my Miata lasted me 17 years) I replaced the whole suspension on that car so I'm up for whatever. Is this link swap like changing a strut or worse than that?
 
Check your alignment first. The problem is with excessive toe. If you are not lowered camber kit is not needed. If you're a bit lowered, you might be in the limit. Our 5's rear suspension has no camber adjustment only for toe. If you need the camber link, ebay is your friend, can be had for less than $100.
 
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yup. rear inside shoulders on my 06 are wearing down faster. still got tread so no new tires yet. so I picked up a set of Mazdaspeed 3 rear camber links to help alleviate problem. might as well get some springs so I got the H&R Sport kit. can't wait to get these parts installed.
 
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