I was in my dealers the other day and noticed a few new Mazda 5's waiting to be collected or sold, I had a look at the tyres fitted and noticed 2 cars had 'Toyo Tranpath J4' tyres fitted all round, the other one car had 'Goodyear Eagle NCT5' tyres fitted all round. I assume they have finally decided to ditch the Dunlops.
I would advise anyone with alignment issues to go to an independant garage with state of the art equipment, to have it checked properly and by that I don't mean Kwik-Fit type High Street tyre & exhaust fitting places, as I said before since 2003 Mazda cars are leaving the factory with horrendous alignment settings and the dealers don't seem to be able to put it right, only last week I witnessed one of our Mx-5 Members have to put his car off the road after the dealer struggled for two days trying to set up the alignment, they claimed to have the best equipment yet he was scared stiff driving his car home because of the strange steering and pull, which wasn't there before.

I have a friend in England (I live in Scotland) whoused towork for Mazda he managed to get me the following settings for the Mazda 5, Idon't know how accurate they will be but perhaps you could ask your independant garage tolook at them......

Mazda 5 geometry settings

Total toe-in (Front & Rear)
2 +/- 4mm {L8,LF & MZR-CD}

Front

Maximum Steering Angle {L8,LF & MZR-CD}
Inner 40*05' +/- 3*
Outer 33*07' +/- 3*

Castor {L8,LF}
3*14' +/- 1*
Camber {L8,LF}
-0*42' +/- 1*
SAI {L8,LF}
13*59'

Castor {MZR-CD}
3*12' +/- 1*
Camber {MZR-CD}
-0*44' +/- 1*
SAI
14*04'

Rear
Camber {L8,LF & MZR-CD}
-1*29' +/- 1*
Thrust angle {L8,LF & MZR-CD}
0* +/- 48'

(* indicates degree)
{MZR-CD - Diesel Engine}
{L8,LF - 1800 & 2000 petrol engine}

 

Thanks for the info Douglas, I will see what my local tyre place of repute makes of it.
Ihave noticed that they appear to be using Toyo's and Michelin's on cars I have seen at the dealers.

Nig

 

5 Sport just had it's first service at 12,000 miles. Had to get the tyres changed urgently last week so took the old ones along to the dealer. They've told me the following:
* There is a service notice out on the rear wheel alignment. They have adjusted the alignment from the max. tolerance across to the minimum (2 deg in). This is important because if you have a 3rd party check alignment they will just say it is in tolerance - but it needs this correction.
* Amazingly there is no service notice on the front wheels. Dealer checked the alignment and these were good. You should have seen the tyres after 12k. Outer 75% was fine (impressively good) but inner 25% was down to the thread. Dealer offered nothing in the way of explanation.

In case you're thinking I did well to get to 12k, I think the tyres were worse than they looked and from 6-7k they were showing serious inner wear. My mistake not to take action earlier.

I've now fitted Pirelli P6000 XL which were the cheapest premium brand on BlackCircles. The dealer recommended Bridgestone Pretenza for hard wear. Or amazingly (almost as though he was conceding that the wear was here to stay) - Yokohama or Kumho for cost saving.

My advice to new Mazda 5 owners - get the tyres checked before 5k. If they show any sign of excess wear get back to your dealer and give them hell. Leave it too long like me and they don't want to know.
To those of us with 2006 Mazda 5 (esp.. Sport) I think we need to keep going back and giving the dealers a headache. They'll soon shout at Mazda when they start getting lots of customers coming back. I suspect too many M5 owners are currently running through to the first service blissfully unaware of the tyre wear problem - but by then Mazda just claim mileage has done the damage.





Sorry I did mean Toyo (as seen by Douglas) not Yokohama.

 

You are absoulutely right Darren.
This is a serious safety implication in my opinion and Mazda should be doing more to sort the root of the problem out rather than messing around changing tyre manufacturers. I really cannot believe that one quality tyre manufacturer can make a tyre that will wear so badly whilst another won't. The reason the tyres wear is surely down to how the tyre addresses the road surface?

I wonder if anyone has had an accident or even a prosecution because of the state of the tyres.

Two reports of alignment problems leading to severe prematgure tyre wear. Best to get a "four way alignment check" at http://www.alignmycar.co.uk
Quote taken from http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/carbycar...p_model=%20893


Nig

 

hmm looks like i be popin down the dealer this week

btw hello all

 

Greetings all...
I have just been to the dealer and whilst waiting there another chap was bemoaning the fact his car was eating tyres. I asked him if it was a 5 and to my surprise he said not, it was a 2. Exactly the same problem.
Sounds like Mazda have a mother of all problems on their hands.......

 

Hi Guys,
Looks like I am joining your wee club! Took my Mazda 5 Sport into local components shop for new wipers and the owner who was lying on the ground fixing another car said " you want to be getting some new tyres on the back son..have you seen them?" I couldnt believe it. My car is nearly 2 years old and the inside of the rear tyres are almost through to the cloth while the other 80% of the tyre is almost as new. The front ones are wearing just slightly on the inside.

Today i phoned my Mazda dealer, (30min ferry trip plus 1 hour drive away), i live in the west of Scotland. I have booked it in for a 4 wheel alignment check (at my cost, maybe to be recovered from Mazda once they get the results). There was no questioning from the dealer. He obviously knew about the problem and what he was going to say to me. Will they replace the tyres? Maybe they will also be able to cure the horrendous noise from the front suspensionwhen going over a speed bump or similar.

What else should i be doing? Is it worth contacting Mazda? What about the Warranty? How about an independant 3rd party to examine the problem before the car goes off to the dealer? Any suggestions will be greatfully received.
This is my first Mazda and I did really like the 5's practicality, but now I am wondering!

Cheers, Toggie

 

Greetings Toggie.
If I were you I would log a formal complaint with MMUK telephone 08456013147 The more people that officially complain might make them move quicker!
If you can get to speak to Nicole all the better, she is up to speed on this matter.
I would stick out on paying anything to anyone. Tell the dealer that it is a serious safety issue and they have a duty of care to ensure that the product they sold you is safe in general use....
My dealer has been really good and is slowly getting through my list of problems with the car.
I have not paid anything towards the repairs since MMUK refunded the cost of the first set of tyres last year.
Good luck and keep us posted.
P.S. They should be able to sort out your squeaky suspension. It is another known problem and usually sorted by replacing the bushes....

 

Might I suggest that we all e-mail the Honest John column as mentioned in CharlottenEddiesdad's posting on March 19th? Getting the press to put some pressure on Mazda UK can't harm our cause. Has anyone approached any of the newspaper motoring columns? There was an item on BBC Watchdog tonight regarding Renault bonnets popping open, and pressure from the programme has helped convince Renault to recall the model (think it was a Clio).
It's worth a try.
Dave


Sorry, this link escaped my last posting!!....

http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/carbycar...p_model=%20893

 

Thanks for your help and advice. I will try to get hold of Nicole tomorrow and keep you posted.

Toggie