What would cause this?

 

Alignment wear forces belt edge separation sometimes putting more wear on certain parts of the tire more than others but you can clearly see where the belt is separating.

 

Chinese tires or lower end tires tend do that the most fyi,

 

Thanks!!

 

Not good. Tires are getting expensive lately.

 

Looks like camber or toe wear. More info needed. Front or rear? Is the car lowered? Are the other tires worn on the inside edge like that too? (assuming its the inside) Are all the ball joints and tie rods tight with no worn parts? How may miles are on the tires?

Either way its about to blow out. Needs to be replaced.

 

It was rear, but the wear is normal, the bald spot is not!!

 

wow ... thats some crazy inner tire wear

 

Always is, it has been like that since I bought my 8, and it gets a regular alignment at mazda. Mazda even says that is normal due to the factory camber or something. I have had 4 sets of tires on this car and it always wears on the inside.

 

you wouldn't happen to know your current alignment specs would you?

 

Would this issue be covered under warranty?

 

That is not normal wear and no it's wouldn't be covered by warranty.

 

It is definitely normal wear, not the spot the inner wear is normal. With factory alignment setup it is normal. This is set four and they have all done this. Again, not the spot but the inner wear.

 

wtf is your tread wear rating ..... 20?

 

Two possibilities:

1) locked up the brakes, tricky since the RX-8 has antilock brakes.

2) Softer rubber in that region of the tire (manufacturing defect).

paimon.soror: how do you know those tires don't have 50,000 miles on them?

 

Got a little more than 40,000 Can't rotate. Got my money's worth...

 

it may be "normal" wear but if i were you i would get a caster kit and get it fixed. people say the bold spot is normal? yes the rx8 has antilock brakes but it is still possible to lock up a tire for a second before it kicks in ask anyone that runs their car at a track hard. and with the little tread you have left i would bet thats what happened

 

Not sure what you are talking about, but there is no such thing as a "caster kit". Care to elaborate a little more as to what you meant?

 

I think he meant camber kit lol

 

Caster does not cause that kind of wear. Assuming you meant camber, the OP said he has alignment done regularly to factory spec. That being the case, He does not need a camber kit.

He is saying that the inner tire wear is normal for him based on his previous 4 sets of tires. Not the spot that is worn down to the cords.

 

It's worn past out If that is inner rear tire wear at stock Camber settings you might want to re-check the toe in

There is always a spot that is a bit thinner than the rest of the tire and it cords first....then the wear increases very quickly around the exposed cords...

Those tires were worn out months ago

 

275/30/zr19 all around. Replaced my lateral arms as well.

 

Here where I live it's $190 for a five year alignment. Get aligned anytime you want for five years.

 

Factory camber spec is a large range. I had my car aligned at a dealership to "factory spec" and my rear left camber was -1.8 and rear right was -1.1

 

Yep, factory spec is that left to right side is within 1 degree. Horrible in my opinion. Best to make friends with the tech, or just do it yourself.