Vibration with 50% tread left

[AWmustang]

I have stock 2010 Mazdaspeed 3 rims and tires on my 2009 MZ3. They have been on the car for about 15,000 miles.
Recently, I was starting to get a vibration mainly when I braked, but also just when driving at a steady speed. And it was getting worse.

I took the car to the dealer thinking I might have warped front brake rotors. They said their is nothing wrong with the brakes and that there is 50% tread life left on the tires and this vibration is normal as high performance tires get past 50%. They said there is nothing they can do except replace the tires, but they don't recommend replacing the tires as they still have plenty of tread. They rotated the tires and the vibration has lessened significantly. But it is still there and quite annoying.

I have searched this forum and the internet in general and I can't find anyone who has reported this issue with high performance tires.

I just moved and had to find a new dealer. This is my first experience with this dealer and I feel like they handed me a line of crap, but I can't figure out what their motivation possibly could be. They had the perfect opportunity to sell me something to get rid of the vibration, but instead said there was nothing they could do and I should just live with it.

I'm hoping you guys will have some advice for me.

 

[WillD]

Vibration through the steering wheel or the whole car? When you brake are you feeling the vibration in the pedal or through the steering wheel?

 

[AWmustang]

Through the steering wheel when at speed, through the brake pedal when braking.

 

[WillD]

Sounds to me like you have two separate issues. First thing would be to try and check to see if you lost a wheel weight which is causing the vibration through the steering wheel at speed. If it isn't obvious that there is a weight missing, taking it to a shop to have the tires re-balanced is what I'd do.

In the winter my wheels will collect snow and dirt that will cause vibrations if it gets bad enough so that could be another thing to think about.

I've never had a balance issue cause a vibration through the brake pedal when braking. Every time this has happened to me, replacing the rotors fixed the problem immediately. If I were you I'd tackle this problem after the vibration in the steering wheel in the of chance that it also fixes the pedal vibration.

I know your dealership said that there was nothing wrong with the brakes but in my experience you can tell they are warped just by looking at them...

 

[AWmustang]

Yeah, I was thinking that balancing the tires would help. But when I asked the dealer and they said they couldn't do anything, it through me off.

I think I'll take it to a tire place and see if they can balance the tires.

(Oh and its definitely not snow. I forgot to change my profile when I moved, but I'm in Florida now).

 

[WillD]

Yeah I think you'd have other problems if it was snow Yeah take it to a good tire shop and make sure they do a good job balancing not just "within spec".

 

[SpoolinMS3]

Its the bad stock tires...they are horrible unless its summer time. Still not sure why Mazda puts performance summer tires on their sporty cars. I had the same problem with both my RX8's until I got rid of the tires. I've the same issue now with my stockers on my current MS3...I have 13k on these tires, getting new tires as soon as my income tax check comes in. Also, getting them rebalanced will not solve the problem so save your money.

 

[WillD]

He shouldn't have a problem because he is in Florida. Summer tires being operated out of their temperature range will definitely cause some vibration but I doubt that is the case for him.

Performance tires on a performance oriented car makes sense to me. I would be pissed if I bought a Miata and it came with all-seasons. I'm sure the dealership would've given you all-seasons if you had wanted them. Personally, I run UHP tires in the spring, summer, fall, and winter tires in the snowy seasons. Best of both worlds and I'm not subjecting my nice summer wheels to salt. To each his own!

 

[SpoolinMS3]

I'm not saying its the performance aspect of the tire I'm saying its the Potenzas that are on there. Those tires are pure junk. The same tires came on both of my 8's and around 15000 miles is when the vibrations started. Amazingly once I put on new and in my opinion, better tires, the vibrations went away completely for the life of the those tires. I also lived in TX with my first RX8, and then in NC for my second...the seasons are completely different yet I still had the same results with the tires.

 

[WillD]

Hmm... that is strange. I really liked the Potenzas and I put 30k miles on mine with no vibrations except when it was really cold (and that was only to the point when they warmed up). My Dad's Porsche came with the same Potenzas. If they weren't so expensive I would've bought another set.

 

[SpoolinMS3]

I liked mine in the summer but never on track. I could only manage 20k on mine... I've tried many tire combinations on my 8, my favorite so far has been Nitto INVOs...I think I may end up going with the same for the MS3 but I'm still reading up on the reviews from other owners.

 

[Tyrdstorm]

The 2010+ come with Dunlop SP Sport 2050 tires, not Potenzas. I only have 4k on my Dunlops, so I don't know if they're any better or worse than the Bridgestones yet.

 

[SpoolinMS3]

Very strange now, my 2010 has Potenzas...and I bought it new that way.

 

[Russm]

Try and find a shop that has a Road Force ballancer(Hunter/John Bean) and get them balanced, they can tell if your experiancing ply seperation or other problems and can get them balanced as well as possible, at the same time they can do a simple run out test on your roters for very little cost on the car.

 

[VegasMS3]

The 2010+ come with Dunlop SP Sport 2050 tires, not Potenzas. I only have 4k on my Dunlops, so I don't know if they're any better or worse than the Bridgestones yet.

I had these tires till about 20K miles, never had an issue, I should have gotten a second set. My replacements were free from the dealer so I took what they gave me.