We got our new Mazda 5 in July 2008 (08) it was the 2litre petrol Sport. Now at 14500 miles the inner edge on all tyres is 'smooth'. Though the normal thread area is very good with the worse thread depth at 4.2mm, and that was to the wear indicator bars on all tyres not the total thread depth which would therefore be in the order of 5.7mm. I'll try to add a picture.
I have conposed a short e-mail to send to my dealer (4 miles away). I plan to call MMUK some time next week to log the official complaint. Then see how it pans out with the garage. I expect 4 tyre replacements. Even though a 12000 mile service since Xmas and no comment about excessive wear on inner tyre edges. This & more I will go into depending on garages 'response' to e-mail.
The car is fast, nippy and great but has it's small annoyances like the driver not able to control all windows when the 'lock' button is pressed to stop children playing with them, it stops me working them too (not like on my old Saab).

UPDATE
After thinking about the Mazda 5 and the tyre wear problem, due in my humble opinion to be Mazda'a fault, and having a few days to think about mine and your similar condition I have come to the conclusion that the Camber is too negative ( -0°42' +/- 1°). At a quess it should be 0° or positive. Quote, ...'Too much negative camber will result in premature wear on the inside of the tire and cause excessive wear on the suspension parts...'. see picture (if I can attach). For example on a motorbike the camber would be 0° because the weight bears down directly through centre of wheels. Whereas cars have their weight divided through 2 wheels on either side of the car with the complication of steering geometics and suspension. Think about it. This will explain why that in the slightly damp or wet weather it handles terrible as the front steps out (or spins) when accelerating or pulling off reasonably swiftly, because the load of the vehicle is on a much reduce contact patch with little tread. For you mechanically minded (engineers etc) drivers here, would you think my conclusion is fair comment or was I mislead many years ago in physics with material forces and ceofficent of friction etc? See also the picture and text from workshop manuals we've all had in the past in the tyre wear section, like Haynes and Autodata etc..

 

It's bizarre that in these mazda 5 cases that the legal limit is well within limits, as in having a total depth of well over 5mm yet the very edge of the tyre that looks like it shouldn't even touch the road (in normal use) can be so worn that in a short period of time I beleive I will see wire braid. See my pictures of this July 2008 petrol sport. You have to look carefully at the edge when you are inspecting, don't just look at the main obvious road tread. These tyres have covered 14500miles. Now I beleive that they are potentially dangerous despite the '... plenty of thread there sir!...' I got from kwikfit a month ago. I expect a vist to Mazda and a courtesy car while they 'inspect'. I rotated fronts to rear about the 10000 mile time. Just prior to the 12000m service. The fronts are now looking like the original front tyres now.
If these tyres are not monitored specifically at this location on the tyres there would, surely, end up with a lesser experienced/competent owner having an 'incident' where the tyre carcass will seperate from the wheel, for definite.

 

Your's are worse than ours !! Thought I was the only 08 model with the issue.

We only have 7500 on the clock though. Since the dealer adjusted the settings at 6500 miles I have been keeping an eye on the fronts to see if there is any improvement but its a bit hard to say yet. As soon as I see any blistering like on yours I will be straight around the dealer - I am not putting my family at risk and I will make sure they know it.

I have resisted swapping front to rears just so I can see how quick the fronts actually wear out.

Keep us posted how you get on with the dealer.

PS Where abouts in the midlands are you ?? Not Coventry by any chance ??

 

I have read all the threads regarding the problems regarding the tyre eating issue, and have seen a number of replies relating to the tracking been reset. I have also down loaded the manual from the web site with the "haynes" guide for Mazda. I have yet to find the actual toe in and toe out settings. Can anybody help?

I have in the last six months purchased a secondhand Mazda 2.0 ltr Sport Nav and overall i am pleased with it. Some issues with the comestic damage that i am sorting out but i like the way it drives. I have posted threads regarding the TMC function on the sat nav, which until now i did not think was a problem.

What concerns me is the tyre issue, as when i purchased the vehicle i have three dunlops on the vehicle and a linglong tyre. I have another fitted and have the linglong as a spare. I however had the fronts dunlops put onto the rear as i saw that both outer edges were wearing down. Although legal at the time of sale i thought this was a traking issue and i would get it sorted in the near future. Plus having a new tyre on the offside and a semi new tyre on the nearsside i thought i would monitor them. I am begining to see scrubbing on the outer edge so suspect that these will now doubt be going the same way as the previous tyres.

Before i try and get the tracking done i though i would ask what is the tracking settings, as i am a quailified engineer and my experience with these fast fit garages in the past have raised my concerns. Some are very good, others have some right muppets working there. So before i go i want to get the correct ammend settings before i end up with a muppet who buggers it up.

Also i have seen many threads about the best tyres to put on the 17" wheels the lastest being Bridgstones..Any more ideas as i suspect that the rears will need changing as was down to 4mm when last checked.

Thanks quys and i look forward to your threads....

 

I sent my e-mail with pictures of all 4 tyres (similar to above) to my Mazda Garage ( East Northamptonshire - but not Coventry). I got a phone call at 0905 on Monday arranging a session at the garage next Monday when they are going to take photographs and measurements with their equipment and send results to Mazda (head office I assume) where they scrutinize the data (tyre depth, wear & mileage, I assume) and apply a proportion for me to pay for replacement tyres. I asked at Mazda UK do they have some protocol they can send me as to what they are doing. 'No!'. I'll let you know after next week as we have to wait 7 to 10 working days for reply.
Below are geometry setting values I aquired out of a manual (electronically copy and pasted). Suppied as I got so take it under advisement:-These are UK values .
Update:- after looking at the properties of the document it was 'modified' 14 March 2005 so may not be valid for our 2008 (and now 09) Sport models.
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'

{MZR-CD - Diesel Engine}
{L8,LF - 1800 & 2000 petrol engine}

I'm temped to go and get some laser tracking done & get a print out, from a tyre 'specialist' type garage. To compare. I am interested in the Camber value

 

I take back what I said previously, at 7,800 miles one of our front tyres is blistering down to the second layer of rubber on the inside edge !

I will be speaking to the dealer tomorrow and will let you know how i get on.

 

Is it your Near-side (N/S) or Off-side (O/F) front tyre that has 'shown' first? Assuming you live in the UK driving on the left with a RHD car.
My Mazda garage took photos today of all tyres and filled in 2 pieces of paper with photographs of the Dunlop tyres with markers indicating the 4 main grooves around the tyre were they had to enter all the depth values per wheels. Mine were all 5 & 6mm. Though when I got home I measured again with digital caliper & got values from 5.3 to 6.6mm. The other piece of paper had what to look for on the edge. I asked for a copy but it was declined. I didn't read what either said. They said they'd send them off and call me in a few days. Covered 15100 miles, no 'feathering' or outer tyre scrubbing. As the tyres should be except for the inner wall/edge wear generated by the front.

 

NSF worse although there is not much in it.

Mazda are currently saying that as our car was built after a certain date and vin number that it is not one of the ones affected and therefore they won't do anything !!

Obviously I am not happy about this and I am trying to take it further - waiting for a call back from MMUK customer service today but definately not holding my breath.

7800 miles and I need 2 new front tyres at around £140 each. My wife intends to write to watchdog, trading standards etc if this is not resolved.

Keep us posted how you get on & I will do likewise.

 

That's utter bull. That only really means they never actually cured that problem or it wasn't what they thought or claimed it was. If the symptoms are the same as the previous, they should cure or help in a solution. If they say it was cured have them get Mazda UK to explain why the inner edge is wearing so excessively. I wont accept any bull about under inflation, over inflation, toe in or toe out without them showing their supporting evidence. For example if it was under inflation, then the under inflated tyre would wear on both edges and even then on the outside edge the most as the car would tend to roll that way. It's not a toe issue as it would show as 'feathering'.
It it however, I beleive, a geometry probem. Them lobbing on 17" wheels on a car designed for 15". I know that the brake discs are larger than on the 15" cars. Now, unless this car has camber adjustment (which I doubt) they should have fitted a different 'sized' MacPherson strut. I strongly beleive that there is too much negative Camber (-0.49° +/-1° for the petrol versions) on the front of course. We need to get hold of a workshop parts ordering manual/cd to identify the components installed on different models ...... Hopefully enclosed is a drawing of the Mazda 5 front suspention. The part I was refering to is encompassed by items labelled 1 (spring), 2 (damper) & 3 (lower arm), making what is know as a 'MacPherson strut'. Either the damper length or the lower arm length, or both, needs to be different compared to a 15" wheeled cars. I may be wrong ....if so accept my apologies but feel free to add your comments or opinions too.

 

Hi MMUK rang back this morning and have now "escalated" the complaint and will be back in touch within 7-10 working days. They are going to liase with the dealer.

I think that the -ve camber is an issue that I believe is made worse on the 17" rims as I think they are wider and have a different offset to the 15/16". (would need to check this)

The combination of the change in offset and the -ve camber that the vehicle probably has as std makes the wear more evident on the 17" rims.

However I also believe that the dunlop 2050's are not up to the job and hopefully a change in brand will at least improve matters.

Heres a pic - if you zoom in you can see the blistering: