Help !!! Uneven Tire Wear Problem.....

[Car Guy]

I have a 2001 Mazda Protege' with 29,000 miles and can't figure out for the life of me why the tires continue to wear unevenly.

Purchased the car brand spanking new in 01' with 9 miles on the clock. The factory tires were the Bridgestone Potneza RE92's size 195/55R15 V-rated tire. At about 10,000 miles the tires started making the 'moaning' noise similar to a tire that is not rotated, but here's the catch. I rotated them according to factory specs and had it aligned every year. At 25,000 miles (about 3 months ago) it got so bad I replaced them with BFG's Tractioin T/A's, same size and rating. The tires that came of the car had at least 6/32's left on them but it was to the point where you could bearly hear someone talking right next to you. The new tires with ONLY 3,000 miles on them are starting to do the same thing! I've been to the dealer for numerous re-balancings/alignments and it's still there and getting worse by the day! Personally I don't think this it's a tire, alignment, or balancing problem. I had talked to a person who had this same problem with a newer infinity SUV with just over 40,000 miles. He had the dealer replace almost everything and still had the same problem. The problem solver was the struts, all 4 were defective right from the factory. The problem has never come back and the truck now has 85,000 miles.

Has anyone come across something like this or has heard of someone that has. What can I do because the dealer has no clue and is no help at all! Any information would be much appreciated....

Thanks,
Car Guy

[woodurb]

The problem is that nowadays manufactuers are using more agressive camber ( alignment setting) to get a better handle or feeling out of the car. & what this does is cupp the tires to the point of being noisy... esp. if you drive the car harder than everyday drivers. So I'd like 2 know if the tires are cupped (or rough) on the inside. outside. or both.

[Car Guy]

Problem Solved!!!!!!!!

The two back tires were ‘feathering’ just on the inside, real bad. We took it to a well respected alignment tech and he figured it out. The camber was in spec for the back two but it was all the way towards the negative side, which caused the tires to wear on that inside edge. Most of my driving is highway and the tech said these cars are set up more to be of a handling car than anything else, hence the camber setting. If I remember right the spec range was +.48/-1.48, but don't quote me on that, but I think it's close. The backs were around -1.30 to -1.45, but When I was rotating the tires I was just spreading the uneven wear around to all the tires, which is why all four were bad. I'm still puzzled as to why my fathers Protégé' doesn't do the same thing, the only difference is the H-rated tires. I’m just glad mine is figured out!

[jeffrsummers]

I've got a 2002 Protege and after 34K miles have a 1/2" wide by 1/2" deep groove cut into the inside edge of the left front tire. Rest of that tire is fine and other 3 are in good shape. Dealer says it's an alignment problem.
Saw this post, wondered if the wear you saw was even on your tires.
On two different occassions heard really loud noise in that wheel well area at highway speeds. Lasted 5 minutes then stopped both times.
Thought noise was coming from engine compartment and didn't notice if was something on the tire. Any ideas?