Uneven Tire Wear

[GaryL]

I have a question on tire wear. I bought stock size PZeroNero All weathers this spring. After about 13000 miles the right front tire is severely worn - even after several (?) tire rotations. It is only worn in the middle, like I have it overinflated.

I take my car in to the dealer every 5K for oil change and tuneup.

I talked to the Mazda rep and he said I must have hit one of the many Massachusetts potholes and need an alignment - that's why the right front tire was so bad.

I called a local Town Fair Tire and the guys said that uneven wear was very common for the Speed6. Particularly the right front. He said it might have something to do with engine torque to the drive wheels. He recommended rotating my tires more often than every 5k - of course, as a tire store, he would.

Has anybody else had this problem? Did I get a bad tire?

Thanks,

Gary

 

[Lawrence C]

Alignment i would say.

I rotate my tires 2-3k miles because of my camber.

 

[amillman2]

idn thats weird.. ive never had an issue with center-wear... only alignment issues ive had were inner and outer wear and there were ALOT of issues with my honda considering i slightly dipped off of the road.. ( kind not really a road just gravel so its hard to tell) and BOOM hit a one of the rail road tracks straight on.. tore my rim back like i piece of paper.. many many alignment issues followed but no center-wear.

 

[es99cobra]

I too am having problems with uneven tire wear, but my problem is on the inside edge. My stock Pirellis wore the inside bald at about 20k and now my Kumho replacements have about 24k and are doing the same thing. From day one, the car has pulled to the right. I took it to the dealership and they adjusted it some, but it never really stopped pulling. After the first set of tires started to wear on the inside, I took it to the dealership to see why. They aligned it, but said it was mostly within tolerences. This set of tires wore evenly for about the first 20k, but suddenly started showing exterme wear on the inside again. I might mention that my wheels are 18s.

 

[Aurilious]

I also have excessive tire wear, which started after a 1k mile road trip. Bought the car used a year ago with new tires that the dealer had put on (General Exclaim UHP). The first test drive before buying the car it had an excessive pull to the right. The dealer aligned the car before I bought it, and the pull was nonexistent for in-town driving (below 70 mph). Went on a road trip a few months later and had the car over 70 mph for an extended time, and the car began to pull to the right. By the time I returned home after 1500 miles, there was excessive tire wear on the right front tire.

Went back to the dealership and had them put the car on the alignment rack. The alignment was in spec (all green according to their rack). They couldnt explain the tire wear, and ended up replacing the one tire for me for free. I then had one new tire at 9/32 depth, and the rest at 5/32. They said the difference in tread depth wouldnt affect the differentials or transfer case. Having owned several AWD cars, Ive always changed all 4 tires, never having one at greater tread depth. Since the car was still under warranty, I left the tires alone based off the dealers expert opinion.

The car has been on the dealers alignment rack 3 times. Each time the values are slightly different, but always in spec. The differences in specs each time it was put on the rack Id attribute to operator/setup. The tech never adjusted anything, and the car stopped pulling to the right after the new tire was put on the right rear and the rear tires rotated to the front.

Now with 5k more miles on the car after the one tire was replaced, the front tires are showing excessive wear on the outside.

This is the only car Ive owned that I havent done the alignments myself, and it is the only car Ive had tire wear issues with. The warranty expired just last month, so Im planning to align it myself after installing front adjustable ball joints.

 

[es99cobra]

Very interesting. It sounds a lot like my encounters with the dealership. Was in spec for me too but they adjusted a bit anyway to try to compensate. Went away for a bit, but now the pull to the right is back.

 

[keymaster]

I had the same deal with the dealer, and they said they had to move the entire steering rack to align it properly. There is a TSB out about that. Mine has a slight drift to the right, next time I'm due for an oil change I think I'm going to a dealer down here that is really good and having them look at it.

 

[es99cobra]

Wouldn't happen to know the TSB number on it would ya? Sometimes I have to help my dealship out a bit.

 

[OJ Bartley]

There's a thread at the other site called something like "Mazda alignment in spec: not good enough" that will give you a ton of similar stories, including mine about excessive outer tire wear. Basically, you really need to have an alignment shop do a very specific setup for you, because Mazda's spec numbers cover a pretty wide range of what's considered acceptable. If you drive aggressively, you really should get a set of SPC ball joints for the front so you can adjust the camber. I had mine installed, and the alignment set very presicely last summer, and wear was 100x better. So was the feel of the car, no pull, great cornering, it was well worth it.

 

[keymaster]

Unfortunately, I don't know the number...I saw the TSB online at some point, but I can't find it anymore. I know the dealer had to look it up in order to get the alignment to the point it's at...before that it wasn't really safe to drive it as far as I was concerned.

And, that dealership's service department sucked...anywhere should be able to do a better job than that.

 

[tunersteve]

Front camber isn't adjustable without different front ball joints, so you need to be cautious. Definitely need to monitor alignment and frequent rotations on the MS6 or you'll wear tires out long before they're due.

There is a TSB out for the camber links on the front, but that doesn't apply to the MS6. I had issues from the day I bought the car with alignment, which took the dealer 2 times to finally get it right, but that TSB would not apply, even after the SM looked into it.

Another thing; alignments are more of an art than a procedure. Anyone can get the numbers 'in spec', but a good alignment specialist will set up the car to as close as possible, or within spec and where the customer wants it. I have my rear camber set at -1.5 on both wheels, and the car tracks true and isn't eating tires right now, which I'm happy about.