go48

RANT: Purchased a 2011 mazda3 2 years ago and have less than 10K miles on the odometer. The OEM Yokohama AVID tires are so noisy already that it is uncomfortable driving the car. Took the car to 2 different dealerships over the past couple of weeks for the problem to make sure it wasn’t a wheel bearing or CV joint making the noise. According to the service managers, the tires are wearing unevenly and that’s where the noise is coming from. They said: Mazda recommends rotating the tires at 5K mile intervals to “minimize” the problem. Minimize the problem? What ever happened to FIX the problem? They also stated that the basic cause of the problem is the way Mazda has the rear camber set and that is not adjustable. Isn’t that peachy?

So I had the service dept rotate the wheels yesterday and on the drive home, at highway speeds, the noise was unbearable. There’s no way we could take this car on a long trip with that level of noise. So today I switched the wheels back to the way they were prior to rotating them. Good bye $22.00 for rotating them. We will see if that returns the highway noise level back to previous levels which was annoying but bearable.

Anyway, while switching the wheels I took a close look at the tires. There is no noticeable cupping or uneven tread blocks on any of the tires that would cause the kind of noise we hear. The only unusual wear is on the tires that had been on the rear since we purchased the car. On those tires the inner band is almost down to the wear indicator. Can you imagine that—less than 10K miles! Obviously, there is a lot of negative camber.

Not sure where to go from here. Do I put new tires on and hope that very frequent rotation will alleviate the problem? If it does not—then what? I have contacted MNAO, but don’t expect to get a satisfactory resolution of the problem. And that’s pretty sad since I have been a Mazda fan for many years having owned 2 RX-7’s, an RX-8 and now the Mazda3. END OF RANT.

I would be interested in anyone elses experience with this problem before I spend the money for a new set of tires. TIA

djs2571

there are camber kits on ebay for about $100, or you can make the hole in the rear mount (upper mount for the rear) an oblong hole to adjust it.
I can send you info on my "ovaling" procedure, but the camber kit would be far easier. https://www.mazda3club.com/mazda3-mazdaspeed3-98/rear-wheel-alignment-problem-53425/

You may be able to get them to replace the tires, yes it's a wear item, but it's obviously a manufacturing error they are choosing to ignore.

go48

Thanks for the link. I will probably go for the camber kit when I replace these tires. Fat chance of getting Mazda to provide any help with the tires. Talked to them and got the company line about needing to rotate them every 5K miles. Of course I had mentioned that although the car only has less than 10K miles on it, I have not rotated the tires. They basically gave me a list of the tire manufacturers 800 numbers and stated that I would have to deal with them. The Mazda customer service person stated that she couldn't fine anything on the non-adjustable camber situation causing tire wear problems. The local shop I sometimes deal with indicated that this was a common problem with the Mazdas they see. They have actually installed the aftermarket camber bars on some of the cars.

Shades of the early RX-8 engine failures. The dealerships I asked about that at the time played dumb indicating that they had not heard of that. When the forum was rife with owners comments about engine replacements--sometimes multiple engine replacements in the same vehicle.

Oh well, they are a car company after all.

Conrad Hoffman

I have an '04 that's had so many problems with wheel bearings it isn't funny. It's on its third set of fronts and now the rears are shot. The symptom is what sounds like road or tire noise. If you keep turning up the radio to hear better, odds are high that you've got bad wheel bearings. It may be hard to tell when the car is on the lift, unless they're really very far gone, but bad they probably are. I've autocrossed cars with "unusual" camber settings and road noise isn't caused by that. Never had worn tires cause it to any great degree either. Guess what that leaves? Well, OK, a bad arm bushing can cause it too, but that's not where my money is.

Back in the '40s, maybe earlier, they figured out that ball bearings were lousy in wheel bearing service. Thus came Timken tapered roller bearings. Nobody ever had bearing failures with tapered roller bearings if they were maintained, and the replacement cost was near nothing. Now we have these POS sealed ball bearing hubs that aren't worth the powder to blow 'em to heck.

If you get quoted a very high price for hubs, try the on-line places like Rock Auto.

go48

I appreciate your input. I've had the car into 2 different dealerships and asked them to make sure the rumbling noise was not due to failing wheel bearings. They both said the noise was due to the tires. And also mentioned the crap about the negative rear camber being the cause.

I believe the tires are the cause of the noise. Reading many reviews of these specific tires on the TireRack.com web site the overwhelming comment was on the terrible road noise from these tires. In fact, more than half of the reviews were from Mazda3 owners, all complaining about the same problem.

However, I'm going to check out the wheel bearings myself just to make sure.

Conrad Hoffman

I'm not sure what the best way to check wheel bearings is, other than a lot of experience with bad ones. The design is cantilevered and listening with the car up may not show anything. One very good indicator is if you go down a long stretch of very smooth road and weave left and right, a bad bearing will often change sound from noisy to quiet, depending on which way it's loaded. When they get worse, they get loose, so more than a couple thou of play at the hub is a definite indicator. It could be the tires up to a point, but IMO the bearings will generate more noise than is possible from tires. If the noise is wildly different on concrete vs. asphalt, that would be a clue that it's the tires.

BTW, my dealer, usually very good, tried to blame noise on everything possible, other than bearings.

go48

Well, the noise does vary according to the road surface. On some surfaces it is very loud and on others almost non-existent. But there may be 2 things going on at the same time--noise due to road surface and noise due to failing bearing(s). I will eventually swap out the tires for a known quiet model and that should answer the question-I guess. Unfortunately, this is the wife's car and is driven only about 5K miles/year so it will take forever to wear out the tires.

One other fact. At one of the dealership visits for this problem, I had them rotate the wheels-front-to-back, back-to-front. The noise was so much more noticeable driving home that I had to return the wheels to their original position when I arrived home.

rfh

We drive a 2010 Mazda3 hatchback and never had much road noise until the last rotation, at around 40K. Then began a howling noise that increased pitch with speed. At very low speed you hear a soft whump-whump. Mechanic said the problem is not dangerous--something to do with front-wheel drive cars in many cases. Said there was a slight wavy wear pattern on the inside of the former rear tires. Said the noise should go away with time as tires adjust to new position.

go48

So, if the noise didn't appear for 40K miles and all of a sudden when rotating the wheels it appears and the tech says front wheel drive cars do it but it will go away in time? Do you believe that? I'm surprised that he didn't mention the negative rear camber and the fact that it is non-adjustable causing uneven tire wear. I had 2 dealerships more or less blame the noise on that.

Consider yourself lucky. My noise appeared prior to 10K miles. I discovered also that moving the rear wheels to the front made the noise absolutely unbearable. I had to return them to the rear. What tires do you have on the car? Are they the Yokohama AVID S34? If so, go to TireRack.com and read the reviews of that tire. Lots of Mazda3 owners complaining about the extreme noise.

rfh

Thanks, go48. Just had to go outside and see what kind of tires I have. They are all Hercules Rapits WR1. I had always been a Goodyear person before this but am following my mechanic's preference. Could there be something about the fact that it's a 2.5 engine, and with that much power on a small car behaves differently from, say, a Corolla, at 1.6 or 8? Or that previous rotations have usually involved getting a new pair of tires?

go48

I don't think the engine size has anything to do with the tire noise or irregular tire wear. In normal driving that is. If you got 40K miles on a set of tires that's not too bad. Did you rotate them regularly? Mazda "suggests" rotating every 5K miles.

rfh

Can't recall mileage but at 40 k I am on the second set of 4 tires--have been for 10 k or so. Sorry if I wasn't clear.

MaZdaXeLa11

hi sorry this is off topic but i have a 2011 mazda 3 2.0L 5 door and it has a hissing noise in the front of my engine and it only happens or accelerating and i have 16 inch rims but i want to put 17s or 18s does anyone know what size tires i can get without damaging or rubbing my fenders? car is not lowered..... thanks

rfh

I finally found out that my tire or wheel noise problem, reasonably attributed by someone to Mazda's inability to adjust camber, was, after all, a tire out of round. I had returned to the shop where I purchased the tires, twice, and both times was assured the round was OK. Only when we had a fender bender a while back did another mechanic where I took the car discover that problem.