OK, 3700 miles on the car. today in the parking lot I noticed a big shiny silver head of a SCREW in the tread of my RX-8's right front tire! eeegads, shove off for the tire store immediately.


they won't guarantee a plug in the tire because the tires are speed rated but I figure what the heck gotta do it anyways. get that screw outta there.

I said, as long as it's up on the rack let's check all 4 tires, who knows what else is in there.

to make a long story short:

- right rear, sidewalls damaged from hitting the curb (some scrapes on the wheel, see other threads on this topic!)

- left rear, another nail in the tread!! this was a little nail, like a 4d size. very rusty, obviously had been there for a while but does not make me happy.

- left front, some feathering on the outside edge of the tire. no road damage. the feathering looks like ALIGNMENT TROUBLE!!! could it be my high speed cornering? come to think of it, most of the cornering has been right turns like freeway on & offr amps, etc.


without thinking about it too much I bought 4x of the stock Bridgestones. there isn't much selection in our RX-8 wheel size. I remember there were some Yokos or something, probably just rebranded Bridgestones ...

Since we live in California we don't need snow tires. we've been pretty happy with the stock tires, they suit the "daily driver & occasional abuse" mode.


looking at $1000 for 4 tires & alignment to fix this, that's nearly $0.30 per mile for the wear on my tires.



years ago I accused my roommate of driving on erasers, on his 300ZX. he had trouble paying the rent that month because his stock tires only lasted 10,000 miles.

now I have some idea of how he felt, only I am driving on rolls of $1 bills, leaving a trail behind me!!!

follow me to Fort Knox, let's get some more $1 bills!

Wow.

Better stop your drift practice at those carpentry clinics.
At least it wasn't drywall screws in the side walls.
Shouldn't you get a pro-rate on the two tires that wore poorly?

thanks for your reply and ideas.

only the left front is wearing poorly. I don't think the car comes with any road hazard insurance that would give pro-rating but you are right that would be worth checking out.

we've had some pretty bad luck with nails and screws around here, on our other cars too.

the sidewall damage is our fault, hit the curb while parking.


oh yeah, forgot to post above, the tire store guy said another RX-8 came in earlier and needed a new tire, same thing, got a nail or screw in it.

I've had really good experiences with regular commercial tire patches over the years.
If the puncture isn't too irregular and is in the tread, a typical Vulcanized rubber insert will patch it just fine and forever.
I got 27,000 miles out of a set of Nittos that had punctures in all 4 over their life which included a lot of long trips and some drag racing.

Originally posted by madhaus
thanks for your reply and ideas.

only the left front is wearing poorly. I don't think the car comes with any road hazard insurance that would give pro-rating but you are right that would be worth checking out.

With only 3700 miles, that poor wear wouldn't be covered under a road hazard insurance but should be covered by your Mazda vehicle warranty! For a certain period after delivery (at least 5000 miles), alignment is covered by warranty. If poor alignment caused that tire to wear prematurely, then a) you should have your dealer check and reset your alignment (for free, under warranty) and b) Mazda should be covering the cost of the tire ruined by the poor alignment.

Regards,
Gordon

I have the same "feathering" on the outside edges of my Stock bridgestones. I took it to my dealer and had the alignment checked.
The tech took me inside to watch......and he found NO alignment problem. He gave me a copy of the Alignment specs (I posted them) and a copy of my actual measurments.
He said it was most likely high speed cornering that causes it.

Side Bar-
My good friend is a long time master tech at Nissan. He told me that they are seeing alot of problems with the 350Z tires...which are the same as ours, Bridgestone Potenza REO40. He also said the major complaints have been excessive road noise after about 10.000 miles. hmmm

I have to agree, my feathering is probably a result of my driving not alignment. still it's worth checking, not sure if somebody hit the curb or something....

there isn't much selection in tires in the 225/45-18 size; the RE040 seems to be the best for grip and wear. the michelins and pirellis were rated very poor, people getting less than 10,000 miles etc.

Unless you drive over 80+ mph a lot, nails in the tread can be plugged safely.

one of the other things that leads to feathering on the edges is low tire pressure. just a couple psi can do it. the oppisite is also true. if you notice the center of the tread wearing prematurely lower the pressure some. it was a good idea to have the alignment checked as well. hope all goes well with the new tires and heres wishing for no more screws. I just had a 5'' bolt removed from the center of my tread about 2 weeks ago and the patch is holding fine so far.

i'd say that the Bridgestone Potenza S-03s would be the best choice for 225/45/18s, the stock tires are about the same price (on tirerack) but certainly not as good performance

Just discovered a nail in my tire when I got to work this morning, will it retain air till I get off or should I hussle to the tire store immediately.

Definately go for the Bridstone S03's as a repalcement. REO$)'s were OEM on my Audi S4 and I found that they had a much softer sidewall after I switched to S03's. Plus the S03's have a 1'2 inch wider tread with in the same size (go figure but check out the specs on the Bridgestome site). With the stiffer sidewall my S4 had increased steering response and cornering grip. Plus the treadewear on the S03's is 220 vs 140 on the RE040's so the definately will last longer (which I can attest to). As soon as I wear out the REO4Os on my 8 I am goign to SO3's

Alright, are these tires magnets or what:confused:

I found a nail on the edge of the left rear tire in October and had to replace it because it was an unpluggable location. I don't know how long the nail had been there, but I drove three additional days waiting for the new tire to arrive. No loss of pressure just loss of funds:(