just to let people know i have just written an e-mail to watchdog and asked them to look at this site to see the size of the
problem with the mazda 5 and try to help out and get this problem with the tyres sorted by contacting mmuk because i am now miffed with the response from my dealer and mmuk i will keep you posted as to if i get a reply and how i get on with mmuk

 

Have been back to the dealer today just for tyre tread depth readings to be taken, which they reckon will probably be used by Mazda UK to calculate any contribution to cost of replacement tyres. I await the phone call!

However, when I asked about any known cure for the problem, and mentioned that we forum users had heard of a recent bulletin from Mazda, the technician disappeared to his computer for quite a while and denied that a bulletin has been issued. He has promised to pursue this though.

I then took great delight in telling them that the Mazda 5 Sport in the car park that was obviously another customer's car, had totally wrecked front tyres. The look on their faces was great. I don't know who it belonged to but the front tyres were lethal, and worth a few points on anyone's licence! They were fine on the outside edge though!

More as it happens....

Dave

 

I've just got my mazda 5 diesel sport back after 2 weeks in dealers - only expected 1 day for servicing and recall work(until phone call received warning me about my tyres).I ended up havingto buy 2 new front tyres as they were totally worn on inside edge, and the dealer couldnt takealignmentreadings until new tyres were fitted(- opted for Maxxis tyres as they were half the price of dunlops and only slightly inferior- according to autoexpress tyre survey 2006). Dealer e-mailed tyre tread depths and photos of worn tyres to Mazda today and hopefully they will reimberse me some of my costs. Back tyres were worn on inside but no where near as bad as front and are still legal. Dealer stated that all four wheels required adjusting and mine is the fifth Mazda5 with similar tyre wear problems. Will keep hassling Mazda until they recognise the front tyre wear issue and reimburse me some much owed money.

 

Dont hold your breath re front tyre wear - We did the correct thing and had all 4 replaced - front at our expense and rear - dealer 20% and MMUK 80%.
Wrote to complain to MMUK about fronts + pics and not herd a thing in 10 days.

Now running tyre depth guage recordings - ever month or 1k, which ever is teh sooner so tat we can see if the wear profile has changed since 'being sorted'
Would anyone with a tech mind like to suggets a regime and format so that we are all consistant, unless below makes sense:
I have gone for three readings across the tyre, one in the inside edge tread next to the side grove, depth at middle grove and same at outside edge tread next to outside edge grove. Two test per tyre - one at valve and one opp valve.
Recording on new tyres and then each month.

If we get consistancy in 8 - 12 mnths time - even better proof that MMUK have either fixed or not fixed the problem - as if I did not have enough to do with 3 children under 5 and a full time job - reason why we bought a brand new car with sliding doors!!

 

Had call from garage last week to inform me that they are having problems with sourcing the original tyres for the 5. They offered an alternative of Continental, which i agreed to, but advised them to contact my companies service agents, Fleet Support! Have heard nothing since from, either garage or Fleet Support. On the subject raise earlier in this forum. Does anyone know the wear rating of the Dunlop SP sport tyre (had some Pirelli P6000 on an XR2 that went after 3000 miles..!). Although alignment is the major tyre wear issue here, the compound & wear rating my also be a contributing factor & affect the choice of tyre used in the future..!

 

Car went in on Friday for tyre wear and laser alignment readings. Service Manager couldn't contact John Smith before close of play, so do not yet know what the result is.
Seems to be a few people who haven't posted for a while! Has MMUK slipped you a bung to buy your silence? Or are they supporting a motorway flyover somewhere?
Seriously though, if any of you originators have had some success that you can share, please don't be shy.
Crafty look at my alignment showed all was OK, should we be looking elsewhere for the culprit? I'm running out of ideas.

Regards,
Dave

"....but they will be back, and in greater numbers"

 

I don't really have anything to add to the tyre wear and suspension issues detailed here - I have had exactly the same issues and responces. My only addition is that I have also had the front discs skimmed on 2 separate occations and the pads 'conditioned', the uneven wear on the discs obviously down to the same root cause as the tyres.
This weekend, before having read any of these similar tales of woe I sent a very strongly worded letter to Mazda UK.
Having read the above threads, I will now telephone tomorrow and try, like another poster to get a replacement vehicle out of Mazda.
As yet I have not contacted watchdog/which? etc believing that I was giving Mazda a chance to come up with a solution to my problem - it now appears that this was niaive on my behalf.
please leave a message if it would be of any benefit if i was to cut and paste my letter on here.

 

Spoke to Dealer today.
He explained that my tyres would be replaced with a formula that Mazda have worked out based on the "normal" wear in the middle of the tyres. This sounds ok. He highlighted that the Dunlop tyres were at fault and he recommends that I put on a set of extra load rating Avons. Never heard of Avons, but he said they are a good option. Any opions on this?

 

It is odd that the tires are to blame here. Is the dealer just replacing tires, or are they implementing a fix? I will keep a very close eye on my Yokohama 520s. They are a hard compound. Maybe I should switch to my original wheels and tires, and document what happens.

BTW: I have a 2007 Sport w/ a 5-speed.[X(]

Were any adjustments to alignment made between sets of tires?

 

Regarding Avon tyres as the recommended replacement: maybe it's my cynical nature, but when I've been pricing replacement tyres, the Avons were the cheapest brand name, so maybe they are the recommended brand because Mazda's financial contribution will be reduced if you agree to cheaper tyres??

I may be wrong, but I remember being extremely disappointed with a set of front tyres on my Espace a few years ago, which were worn to the limit in about 10,000 miles, and I have a suspicion that they were Avons. Unfortunately all my service records for the Espace went with the car so I can't check up on that.

I will be pestering Mazda again soon, not heard anything since last Friday when my tread depth readings were taken. As the last poster, AIMWO4, says, we need to know if any adjustments are made to the wheel alignment when the tyres are changed. I'm no motor mechanic, but it seems obvious to me that the current alignment spec is incorrect for our cars. Just changing to a different brand of tyres doesn't seem likely to be the solution to me.

More as it happens........

Dave.