Hey guys, the other day when i was walking away from my car i turned back around to admire her beauty, and i happened to notice a black spot on the tread of my back right tire. And i was kinda curious what it was, so i went back and looked at it. To my suprise a chunk of my tire was missing!?!? So i inspected the tire some more, only to notice about 10 of these 'chunks', they are all about a half inch deep and about 2 inches long. I still have the stock tires, and have only 4k miles on my 8. The car doesnt feel any different, but then again i don't know how long i've been driving around like this. I am positive this should not be happening, it has to be a defect in the tire.

But my question is, is this a mazda problem or a bridgestone problem? One of these companies will give me a new tire. This is the only problem i've had so far, so i dont want this to seem like a complaint thread. Everyone that is still on stock tires take a look at them, hopefully my one tire is just a freak incident. Just wanted to bring this everyones attention, since most people (imo) dont examine the tread on a tire on a regular basis.

 

My Bridgestone's have 23,000 miles on them with more tread to go, no problems here. Can you post a photo with some object in the holes for scale?

 

I'm at work now, but i can post some pics later today.

 

Is that 23,000 on the RE040s???? That's amazing.

 

Yes, with three track days on them. Rotated every 5,000 miles.

 

The tire manufacturer is responsible for the warranty on your tires, but I wouldn't be surprised if Mazda handled the replacement for you. Call your dealer.

 

Chunking is generally caused by heat buildup and heat buildup either happens for under inflation or heavy track use. Chunking is very common when using street tires on the track. Have you had it out for a track day? How's your inflation pressure?

 

Stew, i've never taken it out on the track, and pressure has always been consistant, at least as far as i know. I did buy this as a demo, which was used as the sales managers car. I guess i just assumed that he took care of little things since he has to sell it eventually or loose his job. I'm going to call my dealer after work and get them to answer my questions.

 

I found a screw in the thread of my tire yesterday and took it to the dealership to see if they could patch it. They only do plugs for some reason but luckly for me it was in a spot they didn't feel comfortable plugging so they replaced the tire. Thank God I got the road hazard. Tire had about 12,500 miles on it. So I am sure they would probably replace your tire.

 

There's a chance you have defective tires, but I wouldn't be surprised that car was used for track or autocross before you took delivery... I've seen chunking with bridgestones and other tires with big blocky treads like we have when raced on a very rough surfaces (like former airport tarmacs often used for autocross).

 

Kind of odd that's it's only one tire, yes?

 

my tires have worn fairly quick and when I took it in last I was told that this cars and tires is normal for this cars to wear thed tires. The car is very peppie but the tires suck. They spin to easy when you go around anywhere and punch it and I know that would cause that as well, it also depends where you drive at if you have like me a lane full of gravel to get to the house. My tires on the back look like slicks and the front look like new. I have tested this car in many ways. It handles very well at 163 MPH which is the fastest I've taken to in country roads where I live. I also have an 89 RX7 which the tires in the back last a whole lot longe, they're Yokohama tires and believe me they spin, but stck pretty good. One of my main problems with this car is that the check engine light has come on a few times and that really upseted me, when I spoke the dealer they didn't want to tell me how to reset it so I found on my own. I was so upset that I was ready to get another Honda and believe me; I'm a rotary freak.

 

Why didn't you rotate them??

 

Do you drive over tire spike traffic strips often? These cause this type of damage when driven over too fast even when you are going the right direction they can lock out before giong all the way in if they are driven over too fast.