Any more news on whatMMUKs supposed fix is?

Like many others in the forum, I would be amazed if this is a tyre related issue. Perhaps MMUK's solution to this saga is for them tofit solid tyres andhave us all driving round likeFred and WilmaFlintstone! Jokes aside, I would be interested in hearing what MMUK have suggested to your dealership,as I have want some reassurance from MMUK that once I have replaced all four tyres and had the wheels realigned, the irregular wear won't reoccur.

Bye the way, for what it's worthI have sent a note to the Vehicle Inspectorate (VOSA)in an attempt at getting their opinion. I won't hold my breath, but it may help us move this forward a bit.

 

Evening everyone

Paid a deposit on an 06 Sport 143, 16000 miles,last Monday. Sold my faithful Peugeot 406 estate yesterday. Due to collect the 5 on Wednesday. Today I read Honest John and found all 13 pages of this thread. Haven't told my wife yet....
What seems to me the obvious question which no-one (as far as I could see) has raised is that since the tyre wear problemsseem to belimited to the Sport and Furano, the culprit may well be the 6.5JJ 17 inch wheelswith 205/50 section tyres. No-one has said they have problems with a TS2, which have 6.5JJ 16 inch alloy wheels and 205/55 section tyres, or with the TS, which has 6.0JJ 15 inch steel wheels and 195/65 tyres. More people seem to have problems with diesel then petrol - maybe not surprising since diesel is heavier on the front. Gearing is identical on 110 and 143 diesels, so rolling radius presumably the same for all 3 models.
Honest John often warns people off big wheels and low profile tyres as they can ruin the ride and be prone to other problems such as tramlining. I didn't want big wheels, but Mazda don't do the 143 engine on the TS2, so had to go for "Sport" (drug dealer windows and all). I was planning to order a new one through drivethedeal.com, but saw this one at a reasonable price (I thought) and fell for it.
Rear tyres are Dunlops - looked OK, but I didn't get down & check inside edges. The salesman said that the previous owner had had new front tyres quite recently (Goodyear Eagle) and had bill for £200+, so looks like the guy paid himself. He said that earlier cars had had a front hub (I think) problem, but it had now been rectified (I specifically asked him this).
Maybe as a salesman he only has second-hand knowledge of any such problems, but I shall be on to the dealers on Monday morning.
Perhaps somebody who is already in negotiation with MMUK could ask them whether they have had any similar problems with TS and TS2 models. If they say no, then ask for a set of TS2 type16 inch wheels and tyres. Frankly it's damn silly putting bling wheels on an MPV in the first place.

 

My dealer has just got back to me on how much i am going to have too pay for my tyres,They tell me Mazda Motors will
pay nothing towards the cost of the front tyres and only 2thirds the cost of rear tyres so after doing only 7400 miles in my Furano
i am left with a tyre bill of £286.26 and my dealer will not give me anything towards cost as a way of good will .I have done 1000miles
since my new tyres were fitted and the back inside edges still look like they are scrubing (not happy car is re-booked back into garage)
Beginning to think i had never bought damn car and if i could afford to trade in and buy another i would.Oh i also phoned MMUK
on Friday Lunchtime told John Smith was on lunch and they would get him to phone back Friday afternoon But i made the mistake of not asking which Friday as i am still waiting

 

Paying 2/3rds on the rears after 7400 miles is (arithmetically) equivalent to saying that the tyres should have lasted 22,200 miles. That seems not too unreasonable for a fairly heavy vehicle which could be carrying up to 7 and/or luggage; higher speed rated tyres generally don't last as well as lower rated ones. Rotating front-rear at 6000 would confuse the evidence, of course; presumably this is advisory not mandatory (otherwise it would be a servicing dealer task).

MMUK's position on fronts clearly unsatisfactory. While they inevitably last less well than rears on a FWD vehicle, particularly diesel, doing lots of zoom-zooming would tend to wear outside rather than inside edges. It used to be said that under-inflating would cause excessive wear on both edges, whereas over-inflating wouldincrease wear in the centre relative to the edges, but that was in the days of 70 section (or even cross-ply) tyres; don't know how modern low-profile tyres react.

Where no warranty help is forthcoming, it could in theory be possible to extend tyre life by having the tyres reversed on the rims at mid-life point if inner edge wear much more than outer edge. But what IS the mid-life point? Well, this is a theoretical suggestion. Someone suggested a while back to measure inner and outer edge tread depths on each wheel every 1000 miles. For a new tyre, both readings will be about 8mm; total 16. If worn evenly, at end of life both readings would ideally be 2mm, total 4. Part way through life, call theouter edge depth reading X (for eXternal) and the inner reading N (for iNternal). With the prevailing problem, N will be lower than X. At start of life (X+N)=16, at end of life ideally (X+N)=4. If the tyre is reversed on the rim when (X+N)=10 [(16+4)/2] then wear should be more or less evened out at end of life. However, unless (X-N) is greater than say 2 at mid-life it's not worth the cost of removal, reversing and rebalancing. (Might be worth doing ifsay you get a puncture so one tyre has to come off the rim anyway).

This of course assumes no rotating wheels front-rear. In the (unlikely?) event of having a front problem but not a rear problem, then rotationmight bethe least bad solution.

Yes, it's a pain in the a**e, but might be worth considering if no better remedyis offered(or once outside warranty).

 

I am now in the position of almost having to put a third set of tyres on my car. Although my dealer has tried his hardest to be up front and helpful, I am afraid the whole debacle is going beyond a joke.
I now think that all this talk of complicated mathematics to work out the cost MMUK should pay makes the joke even funnier.
I spoke with the service manager the other day and he went on about 'tyre wear like this being normal on sports cars.' "we have similar problems with Evo viiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiii's"
I tried not to laugh as I really cannot see what similarities there are between an out and out Rally car and a 7 seat family car, other than the word Sport on the tail gate!

If you add up all the hassle in telephone calls, hours sat around the service area, and time spent moaning here and elsewhere. Mazda SHOULD be paying in full no questions asked.
I think we should all arrange a day to simply take all of our cars to the dealers at exactly the same time and lodge an official complaint to the dealer and to MMUK.
It would make a bit of unwelcome publicity for MMUK if the press were just lucky enough to pass a dealership or two with Mazda 5's blocking the dealership entrance, with disgruntled owners warding off potential customers.

have you got the url for honest john report?

Does anyone have the telephone number for Jo(h)n Smith at MMUK?

 

www.honestjohn.co.uk/home/index.htm

 

I agree with someone else's comment that big publicity could be an own goal in terms of resale values.

My handbook wallet contains a leaflet titled SMMT (Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders) New Car Code of Practice. This mentions a Regulation & Compliance Unit which claims to offer an impartial dispute resolution service. Start point is www.smmt.co.uk/consumeradvice . Phone number (switchboard) is 0870 751 8270, which www.SAYNOTO0870.com says is020 7235 7000. Could be worth a try; it says one should first have complained to the dealer in writing.

 

I understand your fears about adverse publicity, but unless people are made aware, Mazda are going to continue to ignore the problem. If they start to see a drop in sales because of the publicity associated with the car. They are more likely to find a fix.
Also, once they manage to sort the cars out, the fix wouldtake away anyresale problems.

I agree that we should all contact the SMMT using the form. As for raising it with Mazda before contacting them. I think it is fair to say that we all have, so we are well within our rights to move forward to making a formal complaint to them.

 

Did anyone else laugh at the Sunday Times "In Gear" Car Clinic today (6 May)?

Quote " ...if you wanted to save some money, the Mazda5 may be a good option. Go for the 2.0 Sport, which at £16,655 is well below your budget but probably the best driving experience of all the mid-sized MPVs." and also "The Mazda5 offers a lot of MPV for the money, along with a much better driving experience than most"
There is a large colour pic of a 2.0 Sport with a happy family having a picnic in a field too! Guess the bloke in the pic hasnt found this thread yet..he looks much to happy!

 

Can I suggest that you write to the following with your experiences.I have done so to raise the profile of the concern:

Times online.
technical@timesonline.co.uk

I think the more people that write a quick email, the more chance we have of getting somewhere.