Passenger side tires wearing faster

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Jun 12, 2007
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The tires on the passenger side both front and rear of my Mazda 3 are wearing out at a faster rate than the driver side tires. All tires are wearing evenly, just that the passenger tires are wearing faster. I had an alignment when I bought the current tires, around 15k miles ago, never hit anything. The passenger side tires are at the wear indicators while the driver side has about 1/3 life left.

Any idea why this would happen? Thinking of my driving routines, most of my turning are left hand turns.
 
Sounds like a NASCAR alignment.
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Get a tread depth gauge on Amazon, there's currently one for $2.78. This way you can accurately measure each part of the tire to see if the wear is even or not, which looks can be deceiving.
 
I suspect we are dealing with an alignment issue that was corrected 15,000 miles ago, but since the tires weren't changed, the tires wore a new pattern on top of the old bad pattern.

To correct this, buy a new set of tires and just to be sure, get an alignment. Get the printouts, and look at them before you pay. Check to make sure everything is in spec. Many alignment shops won't tell you they didn't put everything in spec because that would require extra cost items.
 
Do you just do a front to back rotation?

And do what Nick1994 said. A gauge can help you catch problems before you see problems.

Without trying to appear as a smart aleck, I don't put a lot of faith in alignment shop readouts. Here is my story and I'm
sticking with it. I had a problem with the right rear alignment on my LS430. It was fixed and taken back in for a new
alignment by another company 3 days later. Every tire read differently. Somehow the front toe had gotten out of spec.
Both were uniformly the same amount out of spec. Now as I type, I am wondering if the tech entered the correct car?
My LS430 doesn't have air shocks. Hmm...

If I had plenty of money and time, I would like to do an experiment where I drive onto 5 or so alignment machines and
compare their printouts.

If you are lucky, you may be able to find an older guy that knows how to align without a "computer." I found one here
that "everybody" uses.
 
How hard do you corner? If stuff flies off the dashboard that might be a reason for the tire life.

Might want to start doing a cross rotation, and often with this sort of tire life (not every 7,500 that is).

What kind of tires are we talking about? If they are sticky (or cheap) this might be the expected life.
 
Any chance the passenger's side of the car is always in the sun when you check tire pressure? In Florida this could make a difference, accelerating wear due to low pressure on that side as temperatures equalize.
 
Is your wife a little on the chunky side? Since my divorce I only have to do tire rotations every 40k and my mileage has improved 4 miles a gallon.
 
Originally Posted by CharlieJ
The tires on the passenger side both front and rear of my Mazda 3 are wearing out at a faster rate than the driver side tires. All tires are wearing evenly, just that the passenger tires are wearing faster. I had an alignment when I bought the current tires, around 15k miles ago, never hit anything. The passenger side tires are at the wear indicators while the driver side has about 1/3 life left.

Any idea why this would happen? Thinking of my driving routines, most of my turning are left hand turns.

The crown of the road and more pot holes are usually on the right side which is why the right side tires may wear at a faster rate than the left ones. You say they are all wearing evenly so that would rule out an alignment issue.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted by JohnnyJohnson
At the wear bars in 15,000? What is the make of these tires? Are you the only one driving this car?


Dunlop Direzza DZ102. I'm the only one driving.
 
Originally Posted by CapriRacer
I suspect we are dealing with an alignment issue that was corrected 15,000 miles ago, but since the tires weren't changed, the tires wore a new pattern on top of the old bad pattern.

To correct this, buy a new set of tires and just to be sure, get an alignment. Get the printouts, and look at them before you pay. Check to make sure everything is in spec. Many alignment shops won't tell you they didn't put everything in spec because that would require extra cost items.


I had the car aligned when I bought the tires new 15k miles ago.
 
Originally Posted by Gebo
Do you just do a front to back rotation?

And do what Nick1994 said. A gauge can help you catch problems before you see problems.

Without trying to appear as a smart aleck, I don't put a lot of faith in alignment shop readouts. Here is my story and I'm
sticking with it. I had a problem with the right rear alignment on my LS430. It was fixed and taken back in for a new
alignment by another company 3 days later. Every tire read differently. Somehow the front toe had gotten out of spec.
Both were uniformly the same amount out of spec. Now as I type, I am wondering if the tech entered the correct car?
My LS430 doesn't have air shocks. Hmm...

If I had plenty of money and time, I would like to do an experiment where I drive onto 5 or so alignment machines and
compare their printouts.

If you are lucky, you may be able to find an older guy that knows how to align without a "computer." I found one here
that "everybody" uses.


I had a tread depth gauge and noticed this a long time ago. Now they need to be replaced. I had the car aligned at a highly rated shop that's been in the business for 40+ years, I would think they did it right.

The tires are directional so I could only rotate front to back. Won't do that again...
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted by supton
How hard do you corner? If stuff flies off the dashboard that might be a reason for the tire life.

Might want to start doing a cross rotation, and often with this sort of tire life (not every 7,500 that is).

What kind of tires are we talking about? If they are sticky (or cheap) this might be the expected life.


The cornering has definitely effected tire life ...€ tires are directional so I couldn't rotate from side to side. Next tires won't be directional. Tire Dunlop Direzza DZ102, they aren't the best tires but are better than these new ECO tires new cars are coming with, those are terrible for grip!
 
Originally Posted by Danh
Any chance the passenger's side of the car is always in the sun when you check tire pressure? In Florida this could make a difference, accelerating wear due to low pressure on that side as temperatures equalize.


Car is garaged, I check the tire pressure every couple months never had an issue.
 
Very common on pickups where the rear axle has been bent. Usually from tying down too tight on transfer truck.

Make sure the rear end is in alignment and nothing bent.

I heard about this today on Agcoauto.com Podcast.
 
I've honestly never noticed my passenger side tires wearing out faster. It's always either been the front, or the rear tires wearing out faster depending on what type of car it is.
 
I think it's simply from my daily driving route which is mostly left-handed turns, it's like a big circle.
 
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