I have a 2021 Mazda cx9 whose lease is maturing in early November. Long story short I hit a bad pothole, blew out one tire, and another was damaged. Dealership is suggesting I change all 4 tires since tread is low and they claim I will likely be dinged for the other 2 The car has 32,000 miles. Im trying to figure out if I just replace 2. I did put max MSD’s on the vehicle and wouldn’t want to lose on that. Suggestions?
Dealership is almost never the right place for tires.
Are both of the damaged tires on the same side? Any damage to the rims? What is the tread depth on the two remaining good tires?
Many people in this situation, either purchase used tires that are at the same/allowable variance in tread depth (roughly: plus-or-minus 1/32nd, but check your owners manual) or buy new tire(s) and have them shaved down.
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100% agree, dealership will always upsell and sometimes overcharge when compared to alternate shops. I replaced my tires for some used ones (same brand/model etc.) right returning a lease. On my last lease the tires were right at the borderline mark and the dealership/sales guy pointed it out for some leverage, simply replied that I could be back in an hour with 4 used ones for $200-$300 and that was the end of it.
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What’s the measurement of the existing tires?
You can probably find used tires that are good enough off ebay so you don’t have to buy brand new.
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This is an easy fix. Go to utires.com and select your tire size. They have used tires at deep discounts. Plus they FedEx 2 day to you. Their CS is top notch.
Your lease return doesn’t care what tires you put. Even if they did (which you should check your lease contract), then just get the same OEM tires.
Just find an indy shop to then get the tires mounted.
Easy peasy.
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This is a huge YMMV. Last time I needed tires, there was hardly any savings buying used vs brand new tires on sale.
Not the brand but you have to match more than just the size. Load and speed ratings, RFT if applicable, etc.
It’s not complicated; most decent online retailers allow you to shop by vehicle and filter down for you.
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Obviously you need to verify if this claim is true or not. No one on the internet knows.
Measure the tread yourself or have someone measure it for you.
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The Mazda dealer here takes a video of the vehicle and shows the tread measurements.
It’s very cheap to get a tire tread gauge off Amazon or use the penny/quarter trick and report back!
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If the tires on the car have 32k miles on them, depending on tread depth they may very well need replacement anyway. If so, I would just buy a new set (they’re not prohibitively expensive) as chances are you’ll be replacing them prior to lease end. Look at Tirerack.com and Discount Tire (they’ve merged) to see what your options look like.
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This is what i ended up doing. Paid a little over $200 for 5/32 treads. Not the greatest tires, but like you said they don’t care what tires on there. Thanks for the suggestion!
Two good places I would recommend from personal experience are Tirerack and COSTCO.
With COSTCO you get them installed free (I believe they currently run that promotion), and many top brands offer rebates/discounts, so you get $80-$200 off on a set of four, on top of wholesale price. On good tires, like Micheline.
I would read carefully your lease contract before paying $800-$900 to replace 4 tires. Normal wear and tear is covered under most lease contract terms. If you drove it 32000 and they look like driven 32000 (you weren’t drifting and wearing them down on sharp turns), then why would you be expected to replace them? Most tires have 50000 miles lifespan (it’s part of their description when you buy them, and it can range from 20000 to 80000 miles, more or less). Obviously, a tire with 50k lifespan and used for 32k miles will have only 18k lifespan left. Also, check your contract, does it require you to maintain the same brand and specs of tires on all four wheels? I have routinely changed my tires when I got a flat, sometimes I mounted a good tire from a different brand (but generally kept it under the same classification, i.e. “All Season” replaced by "All Season: and etc.). No dealer ever brought it up during appraisal when I was turning in my car as a trade-in, as long as the tires were in good shape they were happy. MB might be a bit picky when negotiating a buyback/payoff, and say “To make it CPO we must mount 2 or 4 new tires, it will cost us $X, so we will deduct this from your trade value”, but Mazda I believe shouldn’t be that picky.
If your contract says 4/32” or more tread remaining, then that’s why.
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Yes, therefore I suggested OP to review his contract and read all the fine print in it. He should return the car in the same or better condition he agreed to in a binding contract, not in the condition that dealership conveniently wants to accept it in.