Any suggestions on how to best “Break in a New CX5?

 

I always keep the revs down, but vary them frequently, on ALL my new vehicles for the first 1000 miles.
Only two issues in 50 plus years and those were manufacturing and covered under warranty.

 

Exactly the correct way.

Similarly take it easy with the brakes. Excepting emergency situations, which can be avoided by driving style.

 

I am not trying to correct the other great responses which would be my response for most any other engines!

The Skyactiv engine hone and piston to cylinder wall is different from past engines. The best way to break in the engine is simply drive it as you would any other daily driver. If you go by old school method, you actually may cause a cylinder glaze which will reduce the total power the engine could develop and also the formation of a carbon ring to form at the top of the cylinder and head. The break in for Mazda Skyactiv engine is between 15,000 and 18,000 miles. This in itself is far greater than Old School engines of the past which would normally take between 500 and 100miles to break in.

I do recommend to do a oil and filter change long before the service recommendation.

As for the brakes, unless you bed them as soon as you purchased your MAZDA and that there was less then 5 miles then they are already at the point of what they will be? In other words, bedding them in properly has long passed. I would not worry about them unless you get brake pad squealing with light brake pedal pressure. And then you can't really cure that, and it is not technically going to drastically change the braking efficiency in most operating cases?

 

Mazda uses head torque plates and a special cylinder honing process that is next to impossible to duplicate in the private industry. Not to mention how the heads are attached to the engine short block which currently cannot be duplicated anywhere but an auto manufacture. The hone finish basically makes for use of the engine in normal operation for the average user without the tedious attention to an engine break in period from mile one. However, waiting or better word allowing for all the reciprocation assemble to fully wear in between 15k and 18 k miles will allow the best supportive power output, the best cylinder sealing under the compression stroke and also the removing of any material that is normally will fall to the bottom of the sump or caught in the oil filter.

 

Very much like my automotive machine shop does for me. Thick machined steel deck plate torqued to the seasoned cast iron block using the same model head gasket that will be used during assembly. Fine 30 degree hone process delivering a proper oil retaining finish, with each piston to cylinder clearance qualified during honing.

Assemble - Install with Tri-Y exhaust - Run in - Drive 300,000 miles - Disassemble.

(Tri-Y headers are what Mazda now calls 4-2-1 exhaust.)

 

Not exactly .... but I understand the thought.
And no..... the Tri-Y exhaust is nothing like the MAZDA.
But you have now defined yourself with age and Rodding time period!

 

You can break in the brakes much more quickly by “bedding” them yourself. This is the transfer of pad material to the rotor, which is necessary to achieve maximum brake efficiency. That takes some effort so all manufacturers just tell you to “take it easy” the first few hundred mikes as the rotors get coated with pad material. I use a procedure like the one below, works great. It also can help any time you get vibrations when braking; this can be caused by a warped rotor but is as likely to be uneven coating of the rotor with pad material. The bedding can even out the coating and stop the vibration.

https://brakeperformance.com/bedding-in-rotors.php


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I am quoting your response because:
Your http is great information for the time period it was written and intended for.
The information really only works when the brake pads, disc/rotor and or drums and shoes are NEW. Seldom can you recover if this not done when those parts are not bead in properly and when first used.
I might add that http information procedure (not written by only posted by that retailer of products) has been around for a couple decades provided and written in a few different ways depending on the source posting the information and does not really work well with most currently (from approx. 2015 to present) vehicles with the current stability and braking safety computer-controlled systems.

The best advice is for those that do or have done their pads and rotors to bed them in the very day you change them and not wait.

I also highly recommend not to do any other mentioned rotor or pad conditioning once you have already driven on your brakes for any length of times or several hundred miles. In most cases you are more likely to cause additional brake problems then to cure small ones.

ASE

Engineer and Manufacture of brake products.