I would say these are the worst tire ever, or at least the worst I have experienced on a vehicle. These come stock on the new Skyactiv 3 and I believe also on the base model and sport trim (any of which have 16" rims).
Other than horsing around taking corners at intersections with a little speed or the occasional hard turn on some of the back roads, I haven't had a chance to put my car through its paces until yesterday. I already have noticed a bit of under-steer entering traffic circles and the road noise coming from the tires has gotten noticeably louder in the 3300 miles I have put on the car. After putting a new set of Michelin Primacy MXM4s on my wife's Civic, I really have started to realize how much I want to get rid of the Bridgestones.
So, yesterday I took the car out by the lake where there is a nice winding road with lots of s-curves and switchbacks. Because this is still a public road and I had my wife in the car, I kept speeds down to a reasonable level. The main goal was to get a better feel for the chassis dynamics of the car and that is why I was so disappointed with the tires because I could tell that was seriously hobbling the car.
Most of the corners where the decreasing radius type which allows you a gradual turn-in and then you can ramp up the lateral g-force as you enter the apex and throttle out of the corner. I was shocked at how easily the tires started signs of letting go. That is one positive I can say is that they do let you know by emitting audible feedback of the impending loss of grip. So, it is predictable in the way they grip (or lack thereof).
At speeds above 30 mph, the car's tendency to under-steer pretty much disappears unless you really are pushing it and try to drive into a corner too fast. Letting off the throttle will get the car to rotate nicely to counteract this. I am very impressed with how balanced the car is when you make mid-corner corrections and the rear end stays planted. I am hoping better tires will sharpen the car's turn-in responsiveness and keep it from pushing to the outside of a corner with all 4 wheels when you are carrying a bit of speed.
While I understand that Mazda wanted to keep from using "low rolling resistance" tires and went with a regular tire with lower rolling resistance than other tires, they could have done better with their OEM tire choice. Insideline said pretty much the same thing about these tires limiting the car's potential in their track testing of their 2012 3i GT Hatch long term test car:
IL Track Tested: 2012 Mazda 3
Other than horsing around taking corners at intersections with a little speed or the occasional hard turn on some of the back roads, I haven't had a chance to put my car through its paces until yesterday. I already have noticed a bit of under-steer entering traffic circles and the road noise coming from the tires has gotten noticeably louder in the 3300 miles I have put on the car. After putting a new set of Michelin Primacy MXM4s on my wife's Civic, I really have started to realize how much I want to get rid of the Bridgestones.
So, yesterday I took the car out by the lake where there is a nice winding road with lots of s-curves and switchbacks. Because this is still a public road and I had my wife in the car, I kept speeds down to a reasonable level. The main goal was to get a better feel for the chassis dynamics of the car and that is why I was so disappointed with the tires because I could tell that was seriously hobbling the car.
Most of the corners where the decreasing radius type which allows you a gradual turn-in and then you can ramp up the lateral g-force as you enter the apex and throttle out of the corner. I was shocked at how easily the tires started signs of letting go. That is one positive I can say is that they do let you know by emitting audible feedback of the impending loss of grip. So, it is predictable in the way they grip (or lack thereof).
At speeds above 30 mph, the car's tendency to under-steer pretty much disappears unless you really are pushing it and try to drive into a corner too fast. Letting off the throttle will get the car to rotate nicely to counteract this. I am very impressed with how balanced the car is when you make mid-corner corrections and the rear end stays planted. I am hoping better tires will sharpen the car's turn-in responsiveness and keep it from pushing to the outside of a corner with all 4 wheels when you are carrying a bit of speed.
While I understand that Mazda wanted to keep from using "low rolling resistance" tires and went with a regular tire with lower rolling resistance than other tires, they could have done better with their OEM tire choice. Insideline said pretty much the same thing about these tires limiting the car's potential in their track testing of their 2012 3i GT Hatch long term test car:
IL Track Tested: 2012 Mazda 3
I am a personal fan and owner of Michelin tires.
