harveysduvet Posted February 16, 2011 Report Share Posted February 16, 2011 Hi there - been lurking for a while, reading around (and particularly enjoy Horror of the Week') and the time has come for my first post - Hooray! What I'm after is finding out if you have much or any experience of the Mazda 5 (2005 - 2010 model) and reported tyre wear problems. I'm in the process of sizing up replacement cars at the moment and the 5 cropped up as it ticks a lot of boxes in terms of size, practicality, running costs etc. Doing a bit of internet trawling for reliability and common issues and it seems that a a significant amount of people report rapid / uneven tyre wear on them - tyres going down to canvas in 10k, that sort of thing. Some reports are that it goes away with a change of tyres, some that an alignment sorts it, and some that it just persists and therefore the car must be a wrong 'un by design. And then some reports from people who's cars have never suffered it. The reports concern me because I travel between 25k & 30k miles a year and don't want to be faced with the prospect of replacing tyres 2 - 3 times a year. I'm wondering if you've ever seen any with this problem, and if you have what the causes are. Are they just badly set up from the factory or the factory settings are poor and it can all be sorted out with an alignment tweak from the likes of WiM, or are they more deep rooted than that and am I better off crossing it off my list. Cheers Jon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted February 16, 2011 Report Share Posted February 16, 2011 Hello and welcome to wim I've only ever seen ( stock suspension ) MK3's wear the front outsides due to them being raised. A geometry and or lowering to the original build height will stop this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adam_r Posted February 16, 2011 Report Share Posted February 16, 2011 Tony... why on earth would some one raise an mx5? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hms Posted February 16, 2011 Report Share Posted February 16, 2011 Mazda 5, not mx5! h Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted February 16, 2011 Report Share Posted February 16, 2011 Mazda 5, not mx5!h I see 5 and automatically think MX5..... No know issues my end for the 5. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted February 16, 2011 Report Share Posted February 16, 2011 Tony... why on earth would some one raise an mx5? Seemingly volunteered for better points regarding pedestrian impacts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harveysduvet Posted February 16, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2011 Thanks for the replies. Yup, boring old family car 5 rather than an mx-5 I'm afraid Interesting and re-assuring that you're not aware of any issues with it. A quick google search throws up an alarming number results for tyre wear on them - this is just one example I found and it runs to 70+ pages of people experiencing problems - http://www.mazdaforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=20951 I know you'll always find people reporting common problems with cars on the internet if you go looking for them and that it doesn't really present a balanced view of a car. But I've been somewhat taken aback by the sheer number of reported problems. It seems to be the only big common problem with them (DPF issues aside, but loads of cars have issues with them) and I'm in a quandry now whether to take a punt and risk being lumbered with something that chews through tyres quicker than a fat lass through a box of doughnuts. Jon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted February 17, 2011 Report Share Posted February 17, 2011 I know what the problem is...... The 5 has a range of wheel sizes from 15" to 17", as the diameter changes so does the width but not the off-set, and since the camber is not adjustable the wider tyre has to support more weight on the inside edge. If an owner comes to me with wider wheels and has adjustable camber we remove some to project the cars weight nearer to the centre of the tyre. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harveysduvet Posted February 17, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 17, 2011 I know what the problem is...... The 5 has a range of wheel sizes from 15" to 17", as the diameter changes so does the width but not the off-set, and since the camber is not adjustable the wider tyre has to support more weight on the inside edge.Makes sense - so if the camber is not adjustable, there's not a lot that could be done, other than changing to smaller wheels or getting one that had smaller wheels to begin with? I vaguely remember a while ago reading about someone addressing tyre wear one a lowered car where the camber had increased by making changes to the rear toe settings? Jon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted February 17, 2011 Report Share Posted February 17, 2011 Rear toe won't help.... If the front struts have twin pinch bolts at the hub an EZ cam can be fitted to adjust the camber. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
89mustang Posted February 19, 2011 Report Share Posted February 19, 2011 Pretty sure Mazda recalled some of these due to rear tyre wear, think they issued an alternative set up. Will have to check at work, we did a few for the local dealer! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
89mustang Posted February 24, 2011 Report Share Posted February 24, 2011 Bulletin Here http://s336.photobucket.com/albums/n321/89gtgt/mazda5/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted February 25, 2011 Report Share Posted February 25, 2011 I'm amazed their concern is the toe when the problem pattern of wear is clearly camber. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
89mustang Posted February 28, 2011 Report Share Posted February 28, 2011 Toe is adjustable, camber would require suspension arms being made adjustable! Similar platform to Mondeo/focus/c max etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted March 1, 2011 Report Share Posted March 1, 2011 So we are back to the off-set issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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