tires rubbed off on inside
 

Hey guys,

Havent been here in a while, been way too busy. But I have a horrible horrible issue. Approximately 2 months ago I had my 50,000 mile check at my dealer. They said everything was green, and that my tires were rated yellow (meaning I have 15-20k more miles according to them). So I have driven them for approximately 2k miles since then and the inside of my tire sides on the rear tires are both now at the metal tire protector sheet.

So i have 2 questions,

What could have happened for something like that to happen considering I have not been in an accident with this car?

And, if they do a diagnosis and understand that I did not damage this car in any way to make that possible, do they have to pay for the damages, AKA the tires and the service to put them on?

My appointment is for thursday the 2nd, so I just want to make a good argument when I am there.

Thanks for the help,

-Phrozt

Lowering your car can throw off your front and rear camber which will ultimately lead to your inner tires being bald. You lowered?

never lowered, and the tires are all at the right pressure. I havent even noticed the car performing differently, even in the rain, it has been perfect. But obviously the meuller mazda is supposed 2 do a quality control check on everything at 50k miles. So I'm a bit pissed.

Have you had the tire rotated?

Something changed your camber - have you hit some big potholes?

Well, it could depend on where they put the penny when they checked the tires.

Have you driven any long distances with a load in the back of your car? Or generally have someone in the back when driving?

I was under my car a month or so ago and was surprised to see cord showing on the inside of the Dunlops at 22k on my 8.

I could only guess it was due to traveling with a teenager and luggage in the back. Tires were always aired up and rotated. I did not suspect alignment as the car always drove nicely. I did 2400 miles with some weight in the back though.

I think this weight shifted the suspension enough to cause the inside wear.

This visibly affected the back only.

When was the last time you had your car aligned?

I'm guessing your toe-in is out of whack.

When I drove 25K without an alignment on my Protege, I wore out the insides unevenly, and to the belts. The outside of the tire had 2/32nds more or so.

Ever since then, I align every 10K.

inside wear is typically more of a toe alignment issue than camber

Common with stagered set up or lack of tire rotation. I do an alignment check every 15,000 miles or if uneven tire wear @ tire rotations.

get an alignment.

and to get 22k out of the stock Dunlops is not too bad really, I got 20K out of mine, mostly civil driving too.

I went to a staggered setup and did not re-align. Now I'm paying for it(with the same problem, (excessive wear on inside rear).

IMO, any time you change something like wheel size, ride height, addition of lots of stereo equipment, the alignment should be checked.

IMO..you need to check you alignment at least twice a year........AND like L8APEX said above...anytime there are any changes to wheels, tires or suspension.

All it takes is a small bump the wrong way and your alignment can be thrown out...especially the toe...and it really eats tires if it is out of spec....

I think a set of $1K tires is worth a few $75 alignments to get maximum performance

yep, I try to do my alignment twice a year, we have a great alignment shop here in Atlanta, that does all of the race cars and track cars in the area.

thanks for the advice guys.

yeah the mechanic said its most likely an alignment issue, but I have only driven it for 2000 miles since that last check and I havent been driving it hard because of gas prices. So I am guessing its the camber as well at this point. They are installing 2 new bridgestones, rotating everything, and aligning everything, so I guess we shall find out.

Hopefully its not any frame damage or anything drastic, that would really really suck.

Thanks again,

-Phrozt

The camber would have to be out by way more than the stock adjustments allow to tires to wear like that...it will be the toe for sure..........

yeah, too much toe out would be my guess, if the inside is wearing out.

I am at -2 degrees in the rear and my tires wear only a little uneven.

What happened at the last check though? Tires didn't show cords?

Visually, tires can look pretty even, even though they are really not. It's especially difficult to see uneven inside wear on rear tires, well, since you can't turn them to look.

How often have you had the car aligned since you bought it new?

You don't have to drive hard to have toe mess with your wear, just driving on the highway will do the trick (tires are kinda sorta dragging sideways as you are trying to go straight).

To compare, after 20K of not aligning the car, my 89 whp Protege had inside wear to cords and I was doing 80% highway driving.

Did you check that your tires were actually that good before the dealer inspected them and said they were in the green? I've had my car get worked on at the dealer and it never fails that their paperwork says all my tires are in the green yet I've gone in with multiple almost bald tires. So I know they didn't actually check the tires and just marked the paper. Maybe this isn't your case but possibly the tires had been bad and they just marked them good.

that is funny, my dealership that used to work on my car, actually put down depth measurements on my paperwork, which surprised me, because that meant that they both owned a tread depth gauge, and knew what to do with it.:rolleyes: They never told me anything I did not know, but it was good peace of mind that they were doing a good job.

Uneven tire wear
 

I too have experienced excessive tire wear on inside of both rear tires. The dealer told me I need to rotate more often. However, this is the second set of ZR rated Yokohama tires I've put on and I love the way they stick to the road. Much better than the Good Year tires on it when I bought it.

The Yokohamas are unidirectional. The front tires have a good amount of tread on them so I hate to just switch the same side tires. I wouldn't want the unevenly worn tires on the front anyway.

Should I stay away from the unidirectional tires for this reason? Or do you get satisfactory wear with uni's and just swithing front to rear? Also, since the car has done this to two sets of rears, with an alignment before installing both sets, I assume the uneven wear is something I just have to live with? And maybe it's inherant in the RX8?

How often do you rotate? You should rotate every 6K max. Uneven wear on the inside is inevitable with the negative rear camber. But keep your car aligned and make sure your rear toe is correct. If you rarely/never do the alignments, your toe can get out of whack and cause that inside wear.

Same thing happened to me bro!

only thing is i traveled to chicago from texas and back again... i even hit 148 MPH with 4 adults and trunk fully loaded myu rear end looked lowered haha

these potenzas can handle some abuse!

the inner of the tired had th wires sticking out they guy at the tire place was like you traveled on those tires!!!!

I guess the mazda dealership missed it when i braught it in for a oil change.. it happens when you have new people... they usually have the less experienced guys that do the tires and oil changes.. still no excuse they are playing with peoples lives

Thanks for the input 05rx8mazda!
 

Hey man. I guess the inside tire wear on the 8s is a pretty common thing. I'm thinking I will do better if I don't get one directional rotation tires next time. With the ZR rated Yokohamas I have, the only thing I could do to rotate is switch the same side front and rears. And now that the rears are unevenly worn, I dont want to put them on the front anyway.

I have GOT to ask you one thing. How the H*** did you get up to 143mph? I have an 05 automatic 8 and the computer chip cuts off the engine immediately after 125 mph. Theres plenty of RPMs left to go faster, but the factory chip won't let me. I also feel that the computer cut off at anything over 7,500 rpm is too low (the autos red line at 7.5). The car feels like it would go to at least 8 or 8.5 on the revs. If you've re-flashed or changed your chip, can you tell me what's involved in doing that? And which chip is good?

If I don't start modifying the one I have, I'm thinking about trading in the Automatic for a stick shift since it has 40 more horses than the auto trans. And with the gas crunch I would think Mazda (or other dealers) are crying to off load their 8s now.