What would do this to my tires? (w/ Pictures!!!!11!eleventyone)

[EChid]

Hello all,

I'm currently frustrated, so I have come here for some help. The set of tires you see in the pictures below became like that while on the rear of my 05 Mazda 3 Sport. The especially bald one was on the rear right. They have been on the car for approximately 30,000kms. Note that the other is warn fairly regularly, it still has treat on it, with some slight smoothness issues around the outside.

We have talked to mechanics that say there are some cars were Mazda's suspension "just isn't right" and that this is most likely an issue with dog-paddling, as they term it. I'm thinking struts, but I really have no idea and we are used to Honda-level longevity...i.e. we didn't replace the struts once on our 435,000km Honda.

This car has been balances and aligned twice is the last year and a half. Not with these new rear tires though.

Incidentally, we put new tires on the back. There is still the same loudish waffling/dog-paddling/slight vibration, and I fear that if I give it a few months the damage will be done on these new tires as well.

What is going on?

http://img229.imageshack.us/img229/1097/mazdatires1.jpg (http://img229.imageshack.us/i/mazdatires1.jpg/)
http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/7348/mazdatires2.jpg (http://img221.imageshack.us/i/mazdatires2.jpg/)
http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/2853/mazdatires3.jpg (http://img171.imageshack.us/i/mazdatires3.jpg/)

[Hives]

which shop does your alignment? Maybe they don't know what they are doing...

[Thrizzl3]

looks like Ken Block got a hold of your car :chuckle

all jokes aside..looks like your toe is out of wack..i'd go to altech alignments to have that fixed.

[michaelm]

is you car lowered/aftermarket rims? If so, you may need a camber kit. If your setup is oem, yes try a different place. A buddy of mines on this forum had uneven wear on his new tires and after getting it realigned twice at the dealership the problem still persisted. He went to a local shop and had them realign them. Since then, he hasn't had a problem with uneven wear.

[Rob23]

rear alignment is off probably, way off.

[M&D Executive Auto]

if your car is lowered, the factory rear camber arms the part that kind of looks like a fat boomerang won't have the proper camber adjustment and would cause your tires to wear like that. If your car is not lowered than definatley something is wrong with your alignments. Try another place for your alignments or get the camber kits if your car is lowered.

[dentinger]

looks like your tires are/were overinflated. notice how the inside is more worn than the outside?
if you're above the recommended tire pressure, you get more inside wear
if you're under it, you get more outside wear.

also, it could be the tires. belt shift or something.

[EChid]

My car is modified to my knowledge, I am the second owner.

As far as alignment goes, it was aligned once at a local garage and then aligned again at Bank Street Mazda in Ottawa this past summer. When we put the summer tires back on, the tires that had been on the front went to the back (the car ate the previous back tires after 16,000kms) but we made sure to keep the tires on the same sides of the car. Then these lasted the summer.

Would an alignment/balance not have caught a problem with the toe?

Also, for the the tires. They were on the cheaper end, is anyone familiar with Fuzion? And why would this happen to one and not both? And why would I still get this vibration after putting new tires on it?

[mazdabetty]

As far as alignment goes, it was aligned once at a local garage and then aligned again at Bank Street Mazda in Ottawa this past summer.

Well there's your problem right there. :chuckle Stay far away from there... lol

Have you not been rotating your wheels every 8-10k or so? Yikes they look bad.

[Takumi616]

those look in pretty bad shape, lucky you didn't blow a tire...

[Jackal]

My car is modified to my knowledge, I am the second owner.

As far as alignment goes, it was aligned once at a local garage and then aligned again at Bank Street Mazda in Ottawa this past summer. When we put the summer tires back on, the tires that had been on the front went to the back (the car ate the previous back tires after 16,000kms) but we made sure to keep the tires on the same sides of the car. Then these lasted the summer.

Would an alignment/balance not have caught a problem with the toe?

Also, for the the tires. They were on the cheaper end, is anyone familiar with Fuzion? And why would this happen to one and not both? And why would I still get this vibration after putting new tires on it?

As for the vibration, I remember
this one guy who had that on his Mazda and he said in the end after checking alignment, balance and everthing, the mechanic figured it was a warped rim from a huge pothole or something. Check when you switch your tires from summer to winter to see if you still have the vibration, assuming that you have different rims for winter.

[mazdilla]

need to know what mods have been done to your car.

If it's lowered without an adjustable camber kit installed, your facked. They may be able to set the toe at 0/camber @ 1.6 while the car is sitting flat, but the non-adjustable camber links do not allow for proper suspension travel on most lowered cars.

I agree with dentinger as to the tire overinflation diagnosis as well.

... and for a mechanic to say that some cars are just like that, is BS. Check to see if he has a wrench stuck in his ear.

It's like diagnosing that some cars are blue. That's why they don't start all the time.

[dentinger]

almost looks like the toe is out too. the outer tread is feathering, and the inside is more bald in some spots than others.

definetly over inflation, and/or toe out and/or shifted belts.

[Noisy Crow]

Take it to an alignment shop that can check the whole car, not just the wheels.... it may have been in an accident....

[McGuyver_3]

if you are getting a vibration and such severe tire wear in the rear end and only 1 of those tires is worn out their could be a couple of things wrong, you either have a warped wheel, suspension components are bent, the belts have shifted in the tires, or their is a bad balance on the wheels.
Not to bash anyone here but cheaper end of tires sometimes have that problem that the belts shift or the runout is bad.
Like suggested above i would get the alignment checked at a shop that specializes in alignments and get that suspension checked aswell because usually when you get 1 wheel wearing like that usually means a repair shop skimped out on the repair bill because they thought it was "straight enough"

[EChid]

Alright y'all, thanks for the advice. I will have to look into all of this.

As for the accident, we thought about that...but the carproof was clean as was Mazda's check of it.

Blimey, this is a lot to look into though. I'm really not used to having to spend all this time/money on solving issues in cars :(

[McGuyver_3]

you said you were from ottawa correct? if that car came from quebec they have very strange laws regarding car proof so i am not surprised their was nothing on it if it came from quebec. Also if the accident went through cash repair their will be no evidence of it. look over the car for super orangepeel or waves in the body. look in the spare tire well if it was a heavy enough rear end collision you will see rippling in the metal

[gabbygenier]

if youre from ottawa. i would go to Elite mazda in Gatineau. if you go on OMC (ottawa Mazda Club) and read reviews they are awesome. best dealer around ottawa. i now go there for everything needed. and also if youre a donating member (20$) on OMC you get some good discounts there and other sponsors. its worth the 20$ IMO

[Dave_The_BMXER]

if your car is lowered, the factory rear camber arms the part that kind of looks like a fat boomerang won't have the proper camber adjustment and would cause your tires to wear like that.

His issue here is waaaaaaay more than the camber increased by lowering. The wear goes a lot farther than any camber wear I have ever seen.

[EChid]

you said you were from ottawa correct? if that car came from quebec they have very strange laws regarding car proof so i am not surprised their was nothing on it if it came from quebec. Also if the accident went through cash repair their will be no evidence of it. look over the car for super orangepeel or waves in the body. look in the spare tire well if it was a heavy enough rear end collision you will see rippling in the metal

I was just in Ottawa for 6 months, I don't live there. The car came from Whitby. And I will have a look.