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I've got 20K on my Bridgestones with quite a bit more tread left. Could be an alignment problem.
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport; 2020 C43; 2021 Sahara 4xe 1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica Wife's: 2015 X1 xDrive28i Son's: 2009 328i; 2018 330i xDrive
I have an MS3. My point was that if an MS3 can get over 20K miles out of a set of Potenzas then an MZ3 should be able to do much better with the less aggressive rubber it comes equipped with...
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport; 2020 C43; 2021 Sahara 4xe 1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica Wife's: 2015 X1 xDrive28i Son's: 2009 328i; 2018 330i xDrive
I had to replace 3 rims( $1400) and 2 tires($360)
tech says its because of potholes. I think that is crazy!
My brother spent $1700 on rims and tires in less than 6 months when he made the mistake of going to low-pros for the look in northern NJ. They may look nice, but the roads you travel on need to be better than average conditions because potholes can definitely chew them up.
Standard equipment on the 3i touring is a tire with an aspect ratio of 50%. That falls under "low profile"
I had to buy a 225/50-16 after hitting a big pothole on vacation a few years ago, and that's been the only time in35 years of driving. My Mazdaspeed 3's 215/45-18 tires have less than 5000 miles left on them at 20000 miles, but that's due to my hooligan driving antics on both the street and the road course. All four 18" wheels are also still straight and true.
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport; 2020 C43; 2021 Sahara 4xe 1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica Wife's: 2015 X1 xDrive28i Son's: 2009 328i; 2018 330i xDrive
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport; 2020 C43; 2021 Sahara 4xe 1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica Wife's: 2015 X1 xDrive28i Son's: 2009 328i; 2018 330i xDrive
Unless you are rich and can afford tires every 17,000 miles, it is not worth the trouble you will incur. You will be zoom zooming every 17,000 miles to a tire store.
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Interesting, I have a 2007 Mazdaspeed 3-with 25,000 miles on it-which I drive pretty "briskly" as the Brits put it. On top of that, the car has spent @4 hours lapping Putnam Park Sports Car Course. The Bridgestone Potenza RE050A tires still have 2,000-3,000 miles left on them.
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport; 2020 C43; 2021 Sahara 4xe 1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica Wife's: 2015 X1 xDrive28i Son's: 2009 328i; 2018 330i xDrive
It sounds like the Toyos lasted 21K. How long did the Firestones last?
had the tires aligned, rotated and balanced every 3,000-6,000 miles
Having an alignment done every 3K to 6K miles sounds costly.
What are your expectations in terms of tire life?
25K miles? 30K miles? 40K miles? more than 40K miles.
How would you characterize your driving and braking style?
What are your expectations in terms of tire life?
25K miles? 30K miles? 40K miles? more than 40K miles.
How would you characterize your driving and braking style?
I'd also suspect that tire pressures were checked on no more than an annual basis.
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport; 2020 C43; 2021 Sahara 4xe 1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica Wife's: 2015 X1 xDrive28i Son's: 2009 328i; 2018 330i xDrive
How big can I go with out modifying
ex: 205/70r16 etc.
Why in the world would you want to go from a 55 aspect ratio to a 70 aspect ratio?
In any event, the techs at Tire Rack will be able to answer your questions.
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport; 2020 C43; 2021 Sahara 4xe 1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica Wife's: 2015 X1 xDrive28i Son's: 2009 328i; 2018 330i xDrive
What does your car currently have? I would not recommend switching rims if you want to save money. If your driving is not "sporty" then you can choose a lower speed rating; the speed rating is often indicated by the letter (other than R which stands for radial) shown in the tire coding. For example,. 205/50/16 V is a faster tire than a 205/50/16 H tire; generally, faster tires are more expensive than slower tires.
These are performance tires (note the "V)" and not intended to be driven in the snow.
Is it in my best interest to look into switching rims because the snow handling on the ones i have now are terrible.
What many of us do is buy a separate set of winter tires with rims. The advantages of doing this are:
- you save your regular alloy rims from winter damage,
- the switch from summer to winter tires is quicker and cheaper
- you can downsize your tires as well as your rims to save money.
By buying the tires and rims at the same time, you can get a package deal which should be lower than if you bought them separately. Your winter package can be downsized by at least 1 step; meaning that you can go from a 17" rim down to a 16" rim. Any reputable tire dealer should be able to advise you. Some good choices for winter tires come from the usual suspects: Bridgestone, Michelin, Yokohama, and Toyo. Personally, I have been using BF Goodrich Winter Slalom. Some rate them as a lower rank of winter tire but I have had no problems with them for the last 5 winters. They come in a variety of sizes, are widely distributed and are cheaper than the first tier of tires. Also, don't wait too long before buying winter tires as they run out of sizes by late Novermber. Good luck!
I had them on my last car, an 02 Lancer OZ Rally, and went up one size with them too.
Many people on Tirerack have done this upgrade and it seems the size of the original tires is very hard to find and V rating makes them expensive with little tread life.
I would go up one size in width rather than buy expensive tires twice. The best you can expect on the current tires is 30K, my tires are starting to look bad now, so I expect at around 20-25K I will switch them.
I would not go down on the speed rating because of the suspension, lowering the speed rating on the tires would defeat the purpose of the vehicle. V rated tires are stiffer and more responsive.
Your reply: I would not go down on the speed rating because of the suspension, lowering the speed rating on the tires would defeat the purpose of the vehicle. V rated tires are stiffer and more responsive.
Could you explain what you mean by saying "I would not go down on the speed rating because of the suspension"?
I took my car to Tires Plus in Port St. Lucie Fl and they called me into the garage to explain that the alignment computer is showing "factory specs" on all four wheels. They said there must be a factory defect in the car and to take it to the dealer and demand correction and a new set of tires or threaten Lemon Law !. I took it to the Mazda dealer in Stuart Fl and they said the car was fine and that I just had not rotated the tires each oil change. I went home not convinced and started searching on line finding all the forum write ups on the problem being extreme negative camber on the rear of most Mazda 3s. One forum explained how you could personally try to make your own corrections to the rear camber by turning the two hatchmarked adjustment bolts in or out on both rear wheels. This made sense seeing my problem started exactly at the same mileage a lot of the other forum writers stated. 17k on factory tires. I rotated my tires once since new at 14k moving the rear tires with the worn inner ridge to the front of my car. That is when I started noticing unusual tire/road noise. It threw me off because most tire wear is usually caused from front end misalignment. My front tires were fine and then they started wearing right away when I moved them to the rear. I noticed the wear was a little more extreme on one side than the other so I adjusted the rear camber on that side one and a half hatch marks and the other side only one hatch mark correction using two large 17mm box end wrenches with the car jacked up and with safety jack stands in place. You can actually see the correction to the negative camber when you turn the camber bolt in or out after loostening the threaded lock nut on the outside. You can notice the tops and bottoms of the tires moving in or out a little with each turn. Negative camber is when your wheels are tilting in at the top and out at the bottom. As you add weight to the car such as heavy passengers you will get even more negative camber on the rear wheels. The front wheels do not need camber adjustment and don't have an adjustment as far as I could see. After making the minor adjustments to my car I took my best tires and moved them up to the front hoping that I could get a little more out of them. I figure 30 to 40K would be fair. We'll see. I still have the road noise because of the previous wear damage. I haven't noticed any oversteer as a result of the minor adjustment which I considered an easy fix/job as car repairs go. Now I'm driving around behind every Mazda 3 I can catch up to in traffic and in parking lots observing the rear camber. It is amazing. Some are very easy to detect visually that the rear tires are tilting in at the top as compared to other cars . I stood behind a Mazda 3 five door the other day and couldn't believe how obvious the negative camber looked. Why the dealers are so misinformed or underhanded I don't know. It sure isn't ethical. Withl the problems they fix and diagnose, I wonder if the service managers ever read the forums to find out stuff that is affecting their customer's confidence. It probably has to do with them having to own up to a new set of tires for every complaint. That could be a lot more expensive than a routine alignment. On the other hand their reputation is at stake trying to hide stuff. Who would want a car that wears out a good set of very expensive tires every 15000 miles?
There have been 3 such complaints made so far and only one of them really had to do with the tires wearing down. Others say the Toyo tires are not made for the snow.
That's just not true. I have seen the stock Goodyear Eagle RS-A's last past 40K on many Mazda3's that come into my store.
There are plenty of variables that attribute to tires wearing out. First, lack of proper rotation or proper inflation pressure. Second, aggressive driving. The Mazda3 is a compact the promotes sportiness. Many owners, unfortunately, assume their Mazda3 is an autocross car.
It seems like Mazda should have a recall on this and fix this problem.
There is nothing wrong with the Mazda3. The car does not magically make tires wear out faster. If there is something not right with your Mazda, out of alignment comes to mind, then your tires would wear unevenly. You would see uneven wear on the inner half or outer half. If the tires are wearing evenly, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the car.
Every vehicle on the road does go out of alignment from time to time. That's the nature of automobiles.
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport; 2020 C43; 2021 Sahara 4xe 1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica Wife's: 2015 X1 xDrive28i Son's: 2009 328i; 2018 330i xDrive
I have about 34,000 miles on my original Goodyear Eagle RS-A tires. They are slick as a bottle of tire shine on ice. I am looking for a decent all season tire that is good both in wet conditions, snow, and holds up to the "estimated" mileage warranty. I don't want to pay more than $125 a tire though. As I navigate Tirerack.com I see the best sellers under my car tire category.
1- Kumho Ecsta ASX ($90/each) 205/50R17
2- Dunlop SP Sport Signature ($105/each) 205/50R17
3- Bridgestone Potenza G 019 Grid ($115/each) 205/50R17
I do like to drive fast at times and enjoy corners so you could say I have the zoom zoom type mentality.
What would you suggest out of these three tires? Also, is there a better, read cheaper website to order from?
Thanks!
Zac
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport; 2020 C43; 2021 Sahara 4xe 1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica Wife's: 2015 X1 xDrive28i Son's: 2009 328i; 2018 330i xDrive
You might try www.discounttiredirect.com for another option to the Tirerack. Good Luck.
What do you know about staying with the same speed rating? My car came with a V, do I need to stay with a V or can I go one lower or one higher - H or W. The Kumbos is a W.
I got a quote today from a garage for 4 Pirelli P6 all season tires with install and disposal for $530 w/tax. I think the Pirelli's he quoted were H though.
The Pirelli P6 has been around is an old design that was very popular in its day, but you should check other available options with newer technology that will fit your car. Look at the reviews on TireRack to make your choice, weighing the factors that are most important to you (wear ratings, handling, traction, noise level, price, etc.) I wouldn't get too hung up on speed ratings but for an all season tire on this car I personally wouldn't buy anything rated less than H. Remember that all tires involve compromises of one sort or another.
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport; 2020 C43; 2021 Sahara 4xe 1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica Wife's: 2015 X1 xDrive28i Son's: 2009 328i; 2018 330i xDrive
I've had all my service done at Evanston Mazda including oil changes and tire rotations. But at 25K miles and 24 months later I need new tires. I don't race, my alignment is fine, I have checked my tire pressure in between oil changes and still only 25K?? doesn't seem right.
My service tech also gave me some line about they worn out due to my high mileage, but I don't think 1K/month is high mileage. But then admitted many people are unhappy with their RSAs. They are more than eager to sell me relacement RS-A for $1,000 or Michelins etc for the same price.
I'll probably get michelins, but not really keen on going back to Mazda.
because I didn't feel they were safe enough(hydroplaning). Bought the Kumho
Asx's and they have been great - Have not had great luck with Dunlop's in the
past so I couldn't recommend. Bought the Kumho's on Tirerack.com and
couldn't be more pleased with their service,speed of del. and price - alot less
expensive than any dealer in my area!
I'll probably get michelins, but not really keen on going back to Mazda.
I agree a thousand miles per month is not high mileage. I disagree that your tires are anything but cheap. Tthey are fast-wearing performance tires. If you don't need performance tires (and many commuters don't) then why not opt for regular cruising / touring tires? They are not difficult to find. Finally, buying tires from a dealership will limit your choices; consider a tire specialist and ask for their advice or check out the choices online at TireRack and other providers.
4 Toyo snowtires with 4 custom alloy rims for sale from his Mazda3 Touring.
The size down for the Mazdaspeed3 is 215/50-17(from 18") - the tires and rims
he has for sale are 205/17-50 - -- will they fit the Mazdaspeed3 or should I buy new snow tires and put them on the 18" Mazdaspeed3 factory rims?
Hmm, why would you put snowtires on custom alloy rims? Unless, of course, you don't care about the rims. How much wear have the tires had?
or should I buy new snow tires and put them on the 18" Mazdaspeed3 factory rims
The problem here is that one has to switch the summer and winter tires onto the rims each year. This is more costly and can potentially damage both the tires and the rims.
A third option is to buy snow tires with steel rims. This makes for a quick change each year between summer and winter tires.
They are $175 including installation at Costco
Any comments?
Don't go ugly all winter with steel wheels. Puke. Better off just going all-season.
the minus size (for snow tires)is 215/50-17. I have emailed Tirerack,but they haven't gotten back to me yet. Question is this - someone I know has a set of 205/50-17
newly used(1 year) aftermarket alloy rims with Toyo snow tires, off of his Mazda3
(2007) touring hatchback - will this set fit my 2009 Mazdaspeed3 ? I guess the
205's would sit alittle lower than a 215 - would this be a problem in winter?
I'm interested because the used rim, tire set would be less than half the price
of new (cheap) alloys and tires(new). Anybody out there know?
Does anyone have suggestions on what type of tires I should get and where I should get them put on? I obviously have little car knowledge and just want something that is cost effective and won't wear easily. I also don't want to get "taken" at the dealership or any other place because I'm a young woman with ZERO knowledge on what I should put on the car. Thanks in advance with your help
Good luck and try not to stress out about it.
Q 99 mph
R 106 mph
S 112 mph
T 118 mph
U 124 mph
H 130 mph
V 149 mph
W 168* mph
Y 186* mph