My wifes Mazda 323 is scrubbing rubber off the inside edges of the front tyres. It has been doing it since we got the car 3 years ago and 3 sets of front tyres and 3 lots of having the suspension checked by various tyre fitting companies, it's still doing it!

I live near Bicester Oxfordshire and I am looking for someone who specialises in suspension geometry. With all the Motorsport companies in the area you wouldn't think it was too hard, but I have been searching the net without any real success.

Someone must be able to set the car up so it doesnt wear a set of tyres out every 5000 miles. All the suspension and steering components have been checked for wear and all is ok.

Any help would be appreciated before I have to fork out for another set of tyres.

Drop Phil (Piv34uk) a PM. He's local to you and can probably also do you a good deal on some tyres at the same time

Chris

Thanks for that. I have dropped a PM to Phil an eagerly await his response:)

I'm not familiar with Mazdas but I had this problem on a Pug 306. It turned out to be the wishbone bushes. The tracking was fine when ever it was checked but it still wore out the inside edges of the tyres. From what i can figue out ,when the car was stationery there was no engine loading on the suspension components and the geometry always found to be okay but as soon as the car drove forward the play in the knackered bushes allowed the wheels to splay backwards when driving forward and effectively pushed the tracking out causing edge wear.

Maybe the same could be happening to your motor ?

That sounds very plausible and will get someone to check it again...but all the "professionals" say there is no detectable wear in any of the suspension components.

I had a scoobie a while back that suffered the same issue. My usual dealer kept on checking the tracking and saying everything was fine and as it said in the book. I took it to another dealer who straight away said it was a known problem and should be set to 1 degree toe out and not straight ahead as specified. This compensated for it toeing in under acceleration. That guy saved me a fortune! I wonder if the same could be done to the Mazda?

JRHartley's theory makes sense to me.

If you're sure it's not that, then yes the toe might be wrong, but I'd not rely on info from a Scoobie, cos 4wd usually toes different to the self-stabilising geometry used in FWD cars.

Thanks guys...just hoping that Phil (Piv34uk) gets back to me with a local specialist or advice to get it sorted.

PM replied to, cheers for the Rec; Chris:thumbup:

Phil

Personally i would be tempted to sell up and buy a proper car...........like a..well, a Skoda..

Only kidding, hope you get the problem sorted.........:dtp:

in my almost 4 years of experience of Mazda 323's , i've not come across your concern before , what engine does it have ?

they are pretty robust suspension wise , not replaced anything in the front before for being worn

Personally i would be tempted to sell up and buy a proper car...........like a..well, a Skoda..

Only kidding, hope you get the problem sorted.........:dtp:

When I can afford a new vRS I will trade the Mazda in and pass my current vRS on to my wife:D

in my almost 4 years of experience of Mazda 323's , i've not come across your concern before , what engine does it have ?

they are pretty robust suspension wise , not replaced anything in the front before for being worn

Its a 1.8 SE on a 'T' plate. The reason we bought it in the first place is that they are pretty much bullet proof. Apart from being a bit soggy in the handling department, it actually goes quite well.

Well a year further on and another set of tyres trashed and we still haven't got to the bottom of the tyre wear problem. The 4 wheel alignment didn't show anything up and a couple of subsequent investigations have drawn a blank.

I am convinced that a small tweek to the tracking will "cure" the problem. The issue is, which way? Nobody seems able to be able to tell me whether to toe it in or out and by roughly how much. All I get from so called experts is a sharp intake of breath and "nah yer dont wanna do that mate, it might upset tha handlin". Believe me the handling is pretty poor when the tyres are down to the canvas on the inside edge.

My educated guess is that it should be toed out a tad. But how big should that tad be to start with and am I right in thinking that toeing it out will reduce the wear on the inside edges?

Somebody please help!:weeping:

These were recommended on another thread somewhere on here

www.AlignMyCar.co.uk

Might be worth a look?

Thanks for that. Can't do any harm.

My mother-in-law had a 51 plate 323 Sport and she had loads of problems with the tyres on her car and it was set perfectly regards alignment but she didn't have the inner wear problems that you've been experiencing.

She did mange to solve her problem and it was done by putting better tyres on. Returning it to Yokohamas got rid of vibration problems she had and the tyre fitter did say that Mazdas are quite particular to which tryres are fitted.

Not sure if this will help but after so long with problems then it might be worth a look.

certain Dunlops do have a tendency to wear on the edge , yet the rest of the tyre is ok wear wise

Mazda 5 currently has problems with rear tyre wear on the inside edge , guess what tyre make is fitted

Well a year further on and another set of tyres trashed and we still haven't got to the bottom of the tyre wear problem. The 4 wheel alignment didn't show anything up and a couple of subsequent investigations have drawn a blank.

I am convinced that a small tweek to the tracking will "cure" the problem. The issue is, which way? Nobody seems able to be able to tell me whether to toe it in or out and by roughly how much. All I get from so called experts is a sharp intake of breath and "nah yer dont wanna do that mate, it might upset tha handlin". Believe me the handling is pretty poor when the tyres are down to the canvas on the inside edge.

My educated guess is that it should be toed out a tad. But how big should that tad be to start with and am I right in thinking that toeing it out will reduce the wear on the inside edges?

Somebody please help!:weeping:

If you can go as far as Cheltenham give Dirk or Rich a call at Powerstation. I travel from Winchester to them to get the car tracked, Ok Im running modded cars but they track a car from basic principles & do a lot of race & rally cars as well as everyday road cars, you tell them the problem or what you want the car to do, ie more or less understeer etc & they will set the car up to suit. Ive been using them for 6 years & they have done a great job.

PowerStation

Stuart

i was going to reccomend APS as they do 4 wheel lazer alignment but seems like that wont help. have you considered changing some of the bushes around the front suspension just to see as it wont cost all that much to do.

I wonder, does the Mazda run a lot of negative camber? I remember one of my teachers (Capri 2 3.0S) having a problem with the inside shoulders wearing heavily, but you could actually see the negative camber on the front suspension!