CS-XV: I replaced the original Yokohamas with new Bridgstone Dueler Ecopias which were top-rated on Tire Rack and noted for smooth and quiet ride, and I also got a set of winter tires on steel wheels. Haven't had these on the vehicle long enough to notice any abnormal wear. I don't otherwise notice any pulling or strange tracking.

At low speeds, I don't notice any strange vibration. It becomes noticeable on the highway above 60. Seems to start after driving for awhile and may be intermittent. Makes me wonder if it could be a bad CV joint or bearing. The vibration is not extreme but it is aggravating on longer highway trips (which is the reason why I got this vehicle). Just to mention MPG currently is 26-27.

 

Who did the installation and balancing of new Bridgestones?


edit - I just read in earlier that you had a good shop do the installation and balancing of the Bridgestones.
Did you have that shop check alignment yet? At this point you might as well have it checked by pros.


The concern is now you have a 3rd party involved and non-OEM tires installed on the CX-5 which might complicate your ongoing discussion with Mazda. Ideally the issue should have been resolved first while leaving the vehicle completely stock/original.


btw - I agree that you should expect your CX-5 to be as smooth as glass on smooth pavement at all highway speeds 50-90 mph, my AWD 2013 model on Toyos has been smooth since day 1 and now has 24K+ miles with 1 tire rotation at 15K.

 

CS-XV: Yes, the new tires were road-force balanced at a very good shop that I've used many times before. Yes, I agree that the new tires are a small complication for Mazda. (Although wheels and tires could easily be pulled from another.) Both the dealer and I thought that tires were the culprit--in fact the first two repair attempts focused on tires, the third on replacing the drive shaft. The Yokohamas did not receive great reviews. I was hoping to finally resolve myself. The new Bridgestones do improve vehicle handling and smoothness and are better tires overall with better life expectancy as well. Possibly a good 4-wheel alignment is the next thing I could try. I'm pretty frustrated having spend much time and money on this; my new CX-5 mostly sits in my garage while I drive my other vehicles. I'm thinking to wait to get a response from Mazda Customer Service to determine what to do before spending more $.

 

Woofer - Thanks for report, let's see what Mazda CS has to say.


It's sad your dealership service department had not yet checked alignment after all those visits (minimal cost to them being $100 retail).


And your good aftermarket tire/wheel shop should have checked your original tires/wheels (balance, runout, etc.) to determine if an issue existed before they installed the new setup.

 

Re: Vibration @ 70MPH
This is my first post (as being new here). I just bought a new CX-5 2014 FWD Touring.

Just now got a little over 500 MPH. I have not been able to get up to 70 MPH due to road construction, traffic, etc.

But, now that Spring Break is here and HWY has less traffic, I was able to creep up to 70. I too noticed a little vibration overall. Some in the Accelerator Pedal, my seat, etc.

I also noticed my coffee in cup holder had 'rings' of vibration.

Drop the speed just a tad and all goes away. I am thinking, well, if this is 70 then I wonder what 80 be !

I was able to get up to 75, but not 80. It almost seems like there is a "window" of vibration. It almost seems that at 75 it was almost gone.

So, this morning, I Googled vibration on CX-5 which landed me here at this forum.

I read all the postings. Especially the one on roadawg about his alignment.

I am mechanically inclined, but not a car mechanic. I do know that Wheels must be "balanced" and also "aligned".

My limited understanding is that alignment would be for the vehicle to drive straight and not to pull one way or the other.

I am not well versed on Castor, Toe in, Toe out to know what does what.

So, the recommendation on this forum is to take it to the dealer to perform an alignment on all 4 wheels?

Thanks to all in advance for your responses. I look forward to trying to resolved this as I know that some ahead of me suffered a lot of headaches on this and I can appreciate the fact that folks here are willing to help and to share their fixes.

Donnie

 

What you describe has nothing to do with alignment. You have a classic balance problem. Have your dealer rebalance all four tires.

 

Earlier this year I posted here on my vibration issue with my '14 CX-5 AWD Touring. To recap, my CX-5 was back to the dealer several times for tire and wheel replacement and even replacement of a driveshaft. (Possibly 10% of my vehicle's 4k miles were related to troubleshooting.) Later, somewhat out of frustration but also to correct the issue, I purchased my own top-rated tires; these were Road-forced balanced on factory alloy wheels. AND, I also purchased a set of winter tires/wheels mounted and balanced by Tire Rack. Essentially I tried 4 sets of tires, all with confirmed proper balance. At lower speed, all seemed normal. Last month, a 6 hour road trip on good highway confirmed that the vibration was NOT resolved. It generally appeared between 60 - 80 MPH and seemed to worsen with driving time and higher temperature. (Strange.)

Contacting my dealer for at least the 4th time, the Service Mgr. decided to set up a meeting with a Mazda factory rep. Some days later, we met to take a ride for at least 30 miles. While a cooler day, the vibration emerged for the 3 of us to feel. The Mazda rep appeared reasonable and knowledgeable to me. (I trained as an engineer.)

Upon our return to the dealership, the Mazda rep told me that mine drives the same as other AWDs with the exception that my tires made an overall improvement in tracking. (I agreed: the Yokohamas are mediocre.) His opinion was that this was NOT a service/defect issue. I said that it then appears to be an engineering issue. (My '14 Ford Escape AWD company vehicle does not exhibit this vibration.) He felt that I probably just did not like how AWD feels. With my winter tires do I really need AWD when I lived without AWD all these years? Really... but OK, I could forego the AWD. The dealer was nice enough to loan me a new FWD CX-5 to drive for 2 days. The dealer always appeared to want to make things right. And, yes, the FWD driving improvement was noticeable: no/minimal vibration, more fun to drive--and an average 4 MPG gain in MPG. Cool.

To make a long story short, I agreed that FWD seemed better for me. (I also own a Mazda3 and my wife, a FWD RAV4.) The dealer appeared willing to work with me. We discussed a 'trade assist' with Mazda to minimize my out-of-pocket while working the deal on their end to minimize cost so as to keep a satisfied customer.

I preferred a different color/package to my new FWD CX-5 loaner, so my dealer obliged and got me one from another dealer, again letting me drive it for awhile for my satisfaction. Great. I didn't hear very much for a number of days except that they were going back and forth with Mazda on the numbers. They called advising that they are ready to finalize. Great! My 5-month frustration would FINALLY be ended.

Happy to resolve, I picked up the FWD CX-5 today. So all is well? Ummm... almost. Yes, I like the way this car handles and MPG is about 4 MPG better. BUT, Mazda would NOT help with a trade assist as I was expecting. It did appear that the dealer went to the mat and it appeared that they squeezed the numbers hard.

How much pain? Out of pocket was $3500 + transfer and I lost the dollars I spent on the original AWD option, more than $1k. Ouch. The fact is that I'm trading a used '14 CX-5 with 4k miles and all was left for the dealer to resolve. (Possibly Lemon Law would have been a better route?)

So, I'm not sure how I feel... part of me is glad for the promise of resolution, a part feels angry over the higher-than-expected out-of-pocket $ with lack of support from Mazda for this defect (component and/or engineering), and part of me is angry--with myself!--as I originally went in thinking that I don't need/want AWD, but I purchased this option anyway right before this winter season. (Yes, I got through this bad winter with my FWD Mazda3 with winter tires just fine, thank you.)

I remain curious if others here notice the 'AWD vibration' at highway speeds (often 62 or 72 MPH).

And, of course I wanted to share my experience with you.

 

I took the hit ( and lost more than $3500) and traded my 2013 in after 3 months of living with the "vibration" and getting nowhere with Mazda.....only I got away from Mazda and went with another make. I believe most people don't even know they have a "vibration" or think it is normal. I can't believe after all this time Mazda hasn't corrected the problem or even admitted there is an issue....based on the fact they wouldn't help you with a new purchase. Life is too short to worry about $3500 already spent. Enjoy your new ride !

 

kcss88: Thanks for the reply and comforting words. Possibly misery loves company? I agree that many people probably likely don't know how a car should feel. This point was recently reinforced to me when my son told me that many who ride in has car comment on how smooth it feels; he usually asks, "why shouldn't it?"

Anyway, the FWD version does feel much smoother than the AWD--even as a passenger my wife noticed this. If, according to the Mazda rep, this is how all AWD CX-5's are, I'd suspect a resonance resulting from interaction between the drive line and suspension components. I can envision how the additional torque applied to the rear wheels in the AWD version could cause this to happen under certain circumstances. So this is then an engineering issue--and still a defect.

None-the-less, this was a trying and expensive learning experience for me. For not stepping up to help, Mazda lost points with me on this one. So, my next vehicle, likely a replacement for my Mazda3, will not automatically be another Mazda.

 

No, not normal, not acceptable to have vibration of this kind.


My AWD GT is 2 years old, has 27K miles, tires have been rotated twice during routine service visits, no vibration, completely smooth at speeds of 0-90 mph. Stock Toyo 19" tires are less than 1/2 worn at this point, no change in ride, noise, smoothness to report so far.


Note: normal freeway cruising speeds here are 70-80 mph, which I regularly drive at that speed range.