RX8_Buckeye

Nah, they can make it! Just don't drive in the rain.

rled

Ok ,after reading several threads on the noisy tire problem,here is my dilemma. The Potenza's my car came with got so loud at 10,000 mi. ,I pulled em off and ordered the Avon Tech M550 A/S from Tire Rack. I chose theses tires as a compromise between performance and wear.They were also supposed to be great as to noise. They were really quite for the first 9,000 mi ,and now they are getting loud too. They show slight feathering on the outside tread. after reading the numerous threads and speaking with Paul at Tire rack ,the consensus is that it is an alignment problem. I had the Alignment checked at my Mazda dealer and they say it is right on. They maintain that all directional tires will have this problem. I have rotated the tires at every oil change ,3000 mi. The Mazda dealer X rotated my tires and told me the tires would even out in about 6000 mi.Only problem is ,the tires are dangerous with standing water on the road. It funnels the water to the center of the tire instead of out the side. Is there anybody out there who has tires that are not feathering on the outside and getting louder after a few thousand miles? My daughters car has Falken ZE 512 tires on her Tiburon and they are also feathering and getting louder. Her Tiburon was was checked 2 times for alignment. Same reply.No align problem! Thanks

RX8-TX

Never had problems with the Potenzas as far as feathering. By the time I changed them, they had some 25K miles on them and they were no longer safe. Not because the wore out unevenly but, they were simply worn. Replaced them with Sumitomo HTR+s (A/S) with a little of remorse. I was trading my RE040's summer tires for some lowly All Seasons. Guess what? they have been awesome.

Only problem....they are becoming loud after only 15K miles and they are wearing out.

To recap: feathering or uneven wear problems? NO. Noise problems? Absolutely...any tire will become 'noisier' with mileage. But nothing out of the ordinary.

Winning 8

I got 8k on my car and the tires are already making noise, I change the shocks did alignment and everything else on it and it dosen't help. the out side edge is cupping and the wear is uneven. the outside and inside block is wearing faster.

rled

Must be a problem with these type of tires. I hate loud tire noise.

MrWigggles

I disagree that a tire will simply become noiser with age. It can happen but it really shouldn't.

Allignment, driving style, inflation etc all play huge roles.

For my car, the camber was -1.7 degrees in the rear. That is too much no matter how you look at it, but that is very close to being within factory specs. The technician removed as much camber as possible and the car still has -.7 degrees. Now my tires wear very evenly and I haven't noticed any drop in performance.

If you have any doubts about your tire wear, cross-rotate them at least once over their life span. That means remounting and balancing making the inside tread the outside tread. It is not a bad idea to get your tires remounted and balanced anyway - weights could have come off, uneven wear might have thrown it out of balance. Put 20K miles on a tire and have it rechecked, if the tire and wheel are still spot on that is unusual.

Discount Tire does it for free anyway in Texas (not sure about the rest of the country).

As an update, my AVSdB2's wound up lasting me almost 40K miles on the front of my vehicle. The tires actually still had some tread left but too much inside wear caused some serious cupping (I should have cross-rotated the tires early on but by the time I found the problem, the cupping was too bad to be stopped.)

I now have AVON 500s and like them just as much as my dB2's (they were a little cheaper and I just wanted to try something new)

-Mr. Wigggles

Winning 8

**** me off driving a new car with shity tires that makes noise.

ferris11

I have the BF Goodrich's and I love them. Pretty quiet, but great performance in wet and dry. Even though it's a summer tire, they were great in the snow, instead of the bridgestones which made the car like a spinning top in bad weather.

I have about 20k on them, now, and they still have plenty of tread depth.

RX8-TX

How so? Typical tire construction offers a softer outter compund and a harder one underneath. Picture driving with plastic tires instead of rubber.

You can't escape it.

ndtechie09

New tires will make a huge difference. I replaced mine at 17k. I couldn't hear myself on the highway. Go with the Kuhmo Ecsta SPT's.

ScreaminRX8

Well I hope I don't have to worry about this, when I bought the car they had a deal going and I get free tire for as long as I own the car. I asked the question about what tire they would replace it with and they said they would put the Dunlops back on it same as what is own it. I personally have not any problems as of yet with these tires with 8900 miles on them. If they start getting loud I will make'em replace them!

maggotcorpse666

Bridgestone is ***...I replaced mine the day I drove it off the lot. Have had 2 sets of Falkens since (451's and now 615's) and lovin'em.

MadRonin

Here we are almost ten months and nearly 10k miles later and my Kumho SPTs are driving me crazy with road noise. They seemed fine when I took them off at the beginning of winter and put my snows on, but when I put them back on this spring, they sounded as bad as the Dunlops they replaced. I had them checked by three different places and they all said the same thing: evidence of cupping and feathering on the inside edge of the tire. Mind you I had an alignment done a month before I changed over to my snow tires and wheels, and when I had the SPTs and stock wheels put back on, I had an alignment done.

It seems like I have little choice. Either deal with the noise and vibration until the tires wear down, or buy a new set. It's really disappointing. I'm not going to blame the tires, but at the same tire, I don't know what to blame.

I'm thinking about going with Avon Tech M550s this time around, though I loved the wet handling of the SPTs. It's just that the M550s will give me a larger operating window before I have to switch to my snows.

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

c2k4-8

Seems like there are alot of people with the same problem here. Is there something wrong with the suspension on our car? Should Mazda fix this?

griffe

Uhmmmm if ya'll may remember one of my previous posts, I thought that there was something wrong with the front end on my 8 so I took it to the dealer for troubleshooting. They told me that the OEM Potenzas on the front were worn, and that's what was making that awful droning sound. I have 21K on my ride and the stock tires are awful. Then the service manager proceeded to explain why Bridgestone tires were so superior with their Long Linked Carbon and Uni-T technology (he even drew pictures). I told him that the OEMs that I have must didn't get any of that technology, because they are awful! I hate those tires!!! Then he insulted me by writing on my service receipt, "The cost to replace the 4 Bridg. Pot would be $1240." Of course I laughed.

When I replace mine, which will be soon....it would be with the General UHP 245/40/18 from the Tirerack. I've read good reviews about those tires. Most importantly, I hear that they are QUIET!

RX8Zoom

Now have over 32,000 miles on my OEM Bridgestone Potenza's. They are as loud as hell!
Just order a set of Yokohama ADVAN Neova AD07 from NTB. They matched the cheapest price I could find for these great tires at $238 each for the 225/45/R18's size. These tires are expensive but from what I have read well worth the money.
Has anyone else put a set of these on their RX-8? How do they feel?

DaveCM203

How anyone got almost 30,000 miles on the OEM tires, I will NEVER know. I had to replace them at 14,000 miles (and about 1,000 miles later than I should have). I never noticed them to be unusualy loud and they wore perfectly even considering that I am a very agressive drive. I did try the Nitto 555. I liked it ok for the price, but had to increase the tire pressure due to the softer sidewall and they did last a bit longer, about 17,000 miles. They are not great in the rain though. Snow would be out of the question. I just had the Dunlops put on today. I will have to see how they work.