Do I want to make noise about it - of course. Mazda should flip the $500 for parts/labor to put new rear arms on. If they engineered it for street racing, then advertise that - or at least install rear arms with adjustable camber!
A new set of tires won't cure the issue - you can visually tell that the car sits on the inner edges of the tires - clearly it's not going to wear right.
The original tires are Potenza RE050's I recall - I'll be sure to street race the next set to follow Mazda's instructions for proper use.

 

Please note that I said, the "last straw." This is not my first bad experience w/Good Year's and I have written about them in several posts here and elsewhere. As for the RS-A's: My expereince w/tyhe tires, GY's customer service and the company shop they required me to visit is really what did it.
You think Mazda is bad about taking responsibility? You ain't seen nothing till you've been treated like an idiot by GY.
I even told them up front that I had been in the business and that cars have been a continuing interest for my entire life!! They treated me like I'm sure they treat most unsuspecting women.
It's not that they may not make a good tire from time-to-time, its just that I do not wnat to promote their business tactics in any way from now on.
Consider that most forms of racing that use Good Year tires, that they are EXCLUSIVE to that series. So all is equally good, or equally bad. Talk about hedging your bets.


I agree, though some of the Mazda5 owners would disagree and have had good luck changing to new, different tires. In my own case it didn't help at all and I too could see the negative camber.
Buy the camber arms. Have them installed, or if you're the brave type, install them yourself. Then have a good alignment done. My own is @ -1* camber/0" toe-in.

 

Thanks - I'll get the new rear arms after the warranty period expires - good to know that they indeed solve the issue.

 

Do we know for sure that Virgin1's "cure" was the new arms and not different tires? I have factory original rear arms which are identical to the ones on your car and I'm able to get nearly 50,000 miles out of a set of tires, albeit better tires than what Mazda put on the car at the factory.

Another thing to consider is that you have a MazdaSpeed3 with high performance summer tires, tires with a 140 treadwear rating, and tires which would be lucky to see 20,000 miles on any car from any manufacturer. The tires which Richard and I are running sport treadwear ratings of 500 and higher. It's hard to stress this enough, you really need to look at the tires before you mess with the control arms.

 

Here are a few pix - you can see each rear tire is running hard on the edge and cupping on these rears that were rotated from perfect wear is clear after about 4,000 miles. I put a level to the rim and while it is hard to see, the bubble is all the way left holding this to the left rear wheel. I'll try some harder compound - any suggestions for longer lasting rubber that's also solid for performance?

 

Assuming your tire size is 215/45 R18, my short list would include:

1. Yokohama AVID ENVigor (A set of which arrived for my Mazda3 yesterday)
2. Continental ExtremeContact DWS (The tires Richard is running on his car)
3. General G-MAX AS-03
4. BFGoodrich g-Force T/A KDWS

I would also recommend the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S but that particular tire isn't made in your size.

 

im pretty sure that the arms on speed are different i see alot of people selling them on other forums and lots of people say they are an upgrade for a lowerd regular 3

 

While what you say is certainly possible, I'd be rather surprised. This may bear some further research. Regardless, the OP has managed to get over 17,000 miles (and counting) out of Summer Performance tires with a treadwear rating of 140; no vehicle or tire manufacturer in the world would be concerned with that kind of mileage.

FWIW, I bought my last BMW with the Sport Package (which came with summer only rubber with a treadwear rating of 240), and I was estatic to get 20,000 miles out of them. Said another way, I guess the problem I have with the OP's initial post is that he bought what is essentially a factory tuner car and he's expecting the tires to last as if he's driving a Honda Civic; ain't gonna happen.