Best Tires for Mazda 3
 

My wife has a Mazda 3 five door or whatever they call the hatchback. It has the low profile Goodyear RSA tires on the large rims. It sure does ride hard. Is it worthwhile to change tires to something like the Michelin that gets good reviews from Tire Rack or would you have to change aspect ratios and go to the tire size/rim size combination used on the standard Mazda 3. Thanks.

hey i have a Mazda 3 also and I had those goodyears but wasnt to happy with them, I did alot of research and found a great set of tires that are considered performance but are all seasons also, they are from Kumho Ecsta ASX. I purchased them personally and there a great tire and worth every penny. Let me know on what u decide

FALCON ZIEX 512'S i love them im ordering them for my rims here soon had a set on my focus........excellent tire and cant beat the price.....btw if you decide to get some from discounttiredirect.com (which is exactly the same as tirerack.com) i can get you a discounted price..let me know

yea i was lookin at those falcons also but i was not to impressed with the water traction of those tires. overall they were rated good but i find KUMHo makes a better tire.

looking at reviews is not a true pic of tires people are biast and want every thing perfect* thats not going to happen.....i had those tires for 6 months noticed no visable wear....and i could drive in the rain just as good as dry i was still doing 80 and 90 mph in the rain on the highway without a problem....and the price difference is not worth it in my opinion...yes it is may have a very little better reviews but its a kumho ppl love that name......like i said ppl are biast..... maybe what i am saying right now is biast but on my car right now are kumo ectsa i dont like them at all dont corner near as well and ive hydro plained 2 times allready, but ive had everything from goodyear,hankook,falcon,pirelli,sumitomo,kumho the best so far has been the falcon zie512's(for the price nothing even comes close to performance wet or dry) every one has there own opinion this is mine....those are going to be the only all season performance tire ill ever buy....

My issue is ride comfort. I'm looking for someone who got rid of the Goodyears and found something better as far as ride comfort.

wahtever you do dont get the bridgestone potenzas. any of them. i absolutley hate them.. .they suck suck suck... and theyre expensive. ive heard really good things about t he falkens. id go that route.

I have Potenzas (RE750) and they amaze me all the time. Care to elaborate on why bridgestone is apparently a shitty company in your eyes?

I'm still dealing with the crappy Goodyears, but my recomendation for comfort is Toyo Spectrums, if you have the 16" tires. Unfortunately, they won't fit the 17's.

The Mazda3s with the 17" wheels really wasn't designed to have a comfortable ride. It was designed to handle better than just about any other car in its class, and better than many that are in a "better" class. You can probably find squishier tires in the same size as OEM, but I'm not sure why you'd want to. Handling and steering response will both suffer. It almost sounds to me like she would have been better off with a less sporting automobile. You could also pursue 16" wheels, therefore allowing you to go with a higher profile (larger sidewall) tire. Again, it will result in worse handling and worse steering.

I have an '04 Mazda 3, bought new, and am just now rotating the tires. Very few miles on it. HOW THE HELL DO YOU GET THE WHEELS OFF?
(besides taking all the lug nuts off)

sorry for my smart ass but please tell me this is a joke....

No, it isn't. I know it happens specifically in the winter months, but the wheels can kinda corrode onto the rotors. You either have to pour hot water where they mate together or just kick the tires a few times and they'll come off.

oh ok i see now i didnt think about that....now it makes a lil sence

I guess I should have directed my comments to Mazda 3 owners only.
No, corrosion has nothing to do with wheels locking on to the hubs. There is no corrosion on this car. I called the dealer and was told this is a common problem with the 17" wheels. The tolerance is so tight between hub and wheel that it won't come off.
I sprayed all 4 wheels with penetrating oil, let it set, then beat the shit out the inside of the tires with a rubber mallet, front side then back side. They eventually came off but after a hell of a workout.
I immediately put one of the wheel back on, cranked the lug nuts tight, then tried to remove it again. Same problem.
Kicking the tires on the outside might work, but you'd better wear steel-toed shoes and be patient.
It appears that along with the jack and spare, I'll have to stow a can of oil and rubber mallet. A slightly bigger, heavier one. Kinda dangerous situation when you almost have to get partly under the car to beat on the tires.

Ha! I thought I was the only one that had that problem. I have 17" stock rims too and it took me 20 minutes to get the wheels off and only 5 minutes to change my brake pads. Just using a rubber mallet gently on the inside of tires worked, but it was hard and annoying. I was chalking it up to me being a girl....sounds like that's not it!

Back to the kitchen! ... to get some hot water to pour between the wheel and the rotor to get it to come off :)

... oh and to make me a delicious dinner haha

yeah i Was amazed the first time I washed my car, the brake disk became all rusty, so i guess chances are, that other less visible parts of the car suffer this rusting too.
My car, has the OEM TOYO Proxies, They have great traction, practically no Understeer or Oversteer, on dry, never tested them in wet... yeah i live on a desert so i get scared when it rains and i tend to drive properly... I have heard that TOYO sucks because is so cheap, but you wouldn't know just by driving them, they perform great.

Hey, i never said I can cook. I can boil water though..for lobsters and rotors

or both?

Bridgestone Potenza SO-2 or SO-3
Michelin Pilot Sport
Yokohama AVS Sport

Yokohama AO32R
Michelin Pilot Sport Cup

Nokiyan Hakkapelita 4's or 5's

That pretty much does it for me when it comes to tires.

Michelins are way overpriced. They aren't bad tires but i'd get a bridgestone over a michelin any day.

To each his own. I've run all three on the Porsche and/or the Audi at one time or another with no complaints. How they will act on a FWD car is what I'm worried about.

I like the general exclaim UHPs/ Sporting, but seem to be comfortable as well.

I went with the Toyo Proxie, t1-s series, and if there is better street tire I have never found it. . .I have the best ride out of any low pro I have ever owned. The T1-s are worth the money.

Good to know...thanks!

Nitto NT555's if they have them in your size. Great tires, had thm on my mustang.

Try Goodyear F1 GS-D3
 

Dear folks, I had a Ford Laser 2000 (Mazda Protege Venezuela). I put it a whole set of Toyo Proxes TS-1 205-50-R16 on OZs. Those were a tires that I cried a lot when I sold the car. The best tire I thought I had. The tire feels like having nails and the water was seems non existant up to aquaplanning speeds. It seems that Toyo sold out the tread pattern to Goodyear to make these F1 GS-D3. In a test from TireRack they won hands down on every category. My pity is that I can't find those tires in Venezuela.

I have now a Mazda 3i. I brought a set of Dunlop Direzza 225/50R16. They set wonderfully in the car, and surely provides a much better ride quality. The roads here are in a pretty bad shape, so lower profile tires could damage the rims.

These Direzzas ride with a little noise but they are so wonderful in the dry, rather sticky. The first time I ride them I feel myself going 20% faster than the originals Pirelli P6 205/55R16, softer and no squeals. Later, I went to ride 200 Kms in a twisty highway by here. I could drive up to 205 Kmh (120 Mph) peak and a 100 mph average. It was the first time that i felt pain in my neck's muscles. That was pure speed and pure grid. By the way, no squeals at all. 34 PSI setup all around.

Just try any of them and tell me.

Hey Jzoomer are you still able to get discounts at Discounttiredirect.com?

Bringing the tire issue back- Advise...
 

2005 3s sedan - 17s
I just wore out my stock RSAs and got stock size - Potenza Grid 016
is it me or am I dreamin...?

-my ride feels squishy and sluggish (quiet though)
-also Firestone set my PSI at 32 and my tires seriously look flat!
- I took the car back to firestone and they said use whatever PSI is on the door!
- how can my tires be safe and get normal wear if they look compressed at the contact patches?

-Has any one else had a similar issue or knowledge that can shed some light on my ride??:dunno:

New tires 4 my Mazda 3 H/B.
 

I can't seem to find a long lasting tire for my Mazda 3 H/B. But these Yokohama YK520's seem to be doing good. Smooth ride ,good as far as cornering, great traction,and THEY do look great. I have the P215/50R17 93V's.They are taller and wider. I got them at Discount Tire. They come with a 60,000 mile warranty.But they dont even come close to that. SO D/T does pro- rate them when they wear out.......Anyone has a better idea let me know.

yokohama tires last longer than many other brands. I had toyo tires on my previous car and they lasted about 2.5 years. I have yokohama tires on my car 4 years ago and they are not even worn out half way yet. I put about 50,000 miles on them. YOKOHAMA IS MY CHOICE OF TIRES.

Tire review AND removing stuck wheels
 

The car had 17" Goodyear Eagle RSA's on it when I bought it (with 20K miles on it), and they were fine and dandy in the summer but absolutely rotten in the winter. The ice traction was average for all-season tires but they could not pump any snow or slush out due to the tread pattern so they would float like snowshoes on even traces of snow.

I had them replaced even though they had tread left, replaced with Kumho Ecsta's. I was very pleased, at first anyway. They were definitely better in the snow, at least when new. I did get a sidewall blister in one after hitting a pothole, but that pothole was a doozy, I'm lucky it didn't break some windows too. About a year after I got those tires though, the dealer rotated them and now the road noise is horrendous. It was fine before they were rotated though.

As for removing the wheels, here's one easy (but mildly risky) trick. Raise the car, loosen all the lug nuts but don't remove them. If the wheel doesn't budge, lower the car (lug nuts still on but loose). if the wheel doesn't break loose then, get in the car and drive it for a couple of feet. If it still doesn't come loose, move the car a few feet and and hit the brakes. Works every time. Then raise the car again and take the wheel off. DO NOT try it with the lug nuts completely off, you don't want the wheel coming all the way off the car. Also don't do it with the lug nuts too far from the tight position, you don't want to damage your lug bolt threads. Give it just enough room to break loose.

Agreed, those Goodyears are terrible in even 1/16" of snow. Pretty bad in the wet as well. Ought to have been recalled, IMO. As for the road noise, I don't know why it's affected by rotation, but there's a high probability you have bad front wheel bearings. I had similar issues and blamed it on tires and rotation, but it's the wheel bearings. I complained and the dealer blamed the tires, but when it got worse they ended up replacing both bearings after it was slightly out of warranty and Mazda paid the bill. Check those bearings.

I also have the same problem. I have a 2011 Mazda3 HB and have used so many sets of tires. I work at a mechanic shop and learned these cars come with the toe &camber off causing this issue. The longest lasting tires I have found were Pirelli P7. Im trying to decide now on trying the Falcon Pro G4 or the Firestone indy 500. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. The pirelli last a little over a year.