I bought my 2005 Tribute in November 2004, and at about 2000 miles it started to creak, moan and tap inside the car. The sound grows louder every month and drives me crazy. I have had it into dealer several times, no luck. The district rep drove it with me and determined it was normal flex noise that does not affect the value of the car. I have read several other Tribute owners having the same complaint and Mazda states they can or will not help it. It now has 8500 miles. I am not letting this go, and in fact have the name of the district reps supervisor who deals with Mazda lemons. so I will pursue this. Does anyone have the same complaint?

 

HAVE THEM INSPECT THE SWAY BAR LINKS FOR DISTORTION AND ALSO HAVE THEM LOOK AT THE TIE ROD ENDS....COMMON PROBLEM IN SOME CASES

 

A Mazda Design built Ford Tough. A lot of new cars go through this, if it continues after 15,000 miles then I would be concerned.

 

I've got a 2005 Tribute i. I've got about 126 miles on it, had it for 48 hours now. No CREAKS yet.


Actually, I've read of long term reviews of previous model year Tributes that develop a creak in the rear cargo area that tends to get louder with time. Usually happens at about 10,000 miles and continues to get a little worse. Not a big deal really, unless you try to keep your cabin noise floor at an absolute minimum level.

The first thing that I noticed is the HORRIBLE factory sound system. This is possibly one of the worst factory stereos that I've ever heard. Now, that muffled sound annoys me to no end. Much, much, much worse than any CREAKS could. The first upgrade I'll make is to replace the sound with an aftermarket system. I'm going to drop in a DVD head unit with screens in the back head rests or maybe above on the ceiling, replace the speakers with MB Quart components with separate tweeters in the front door pilliars, put in a JL Audio 8" sub, and mount AMPS under the front seats. After I do this, I will be much happier. Then, if I shall develop the CREAKS, I will crank 'er up and drown it out. It would annoy me if the creaks were so loud that I had to really blast it to drown it out. At that point, I'd be throwing down Dynamat sound deading material over the rear carge area where the CREAKS typically come from.

If you haven't already, go ahead and put in some Dynamat. It will not only solve CREAKS, but it will dampen road noise and reduce sound fatigue, which will make driving your Tribute much more fun.

ZOOM ZOOM.

 

Can you tell where the noise is coming from. ie. front, rear, a door?? There is a special grease that mazda uses to lubricate the latches on both doors and rear hatch that works really well. I have also noticed some noise from the door seals that can be greatly reduced or eliminated altoghter with a seal lubricant from honda.

 

New to this forum.

My 2002 also creaks in the rear. I isolated it to the hatch door since there is no creak when the door is ajar. The dealership replaced some strut parrts and I had to return when that failed to solve the problem. They must have done something to the latch mechanism since it went away for awhile. It is back again.

 

They need to apply a latch lubricant to the rear hatch latch mechanism. The lubricant is a 3M product called KRYTOX and is the best fix for that creaking noise from rear hatch. The dealer should have it in stock for the fix. Very common problem on the Trib and works like a charm.

 

Yes I have the same problem. It has now grown to all four doors. I took everything out of my tribute to make sure nothing was rattling or hitting anything first. It has been to mazda three times now and they tell me the same thing you heard. All they want to do is lubricate the door seals. It worked at first, but now when it starts creaking again it is twice as bad. My doors creak so bad they do it during long sweeping turns that apply no stress to the vehicle. I removed the outer molding and seals to make sure those were not it. I can push down on my door with the vehicle sitting in the driveway and you can hear it plain as day. My next move is going to be making mazda replace all the door seals. My mazda is a 2005 also. I have to wonder if there was a change in door seal materials. Lubricating it should not be required, as some lubes will dissolve certain rubbers. I doubt mazda bothered to look that up. Thats all I can suggest. If it doesn't get fixed soon my tribute is as good as gone.

 

I FOUND IT!!! I went to another dealership today and they told me the same thing everyone else did. So, it pissed me off and I went troubleshooting again. It's the damn DOOR HINGE! It had some white lithium grease on it once before and I could see where the normal wear points are. So, I got some regular bearing grease, put some on the stricker, and put a dab on my finger and put some in the door latch. Just like that, no more creak. The door doesn't move much, but the striker moved enough to be rubbing on the top side of the latch housing. I could see the fresh rub marks on the striker. I lubbed up all four doors, and not a sound. I drove my normal route with dips and such to test it out. I don't know which grease is best or which one lasts longest, but at least I have identified the fix. White lithium grease is probably the best as it is a more dry lube, but I happened to have bearing grease available. I sure hope this fixes anyone elses creaking issues!

 

I bought my 2005 Tribute on June 2005, it now has 5300 miles. I have the same problems and more. The steering squeeks when turning. The entire chasis squeeks when stopping and accelerating. Rear driver side wheel squeeks extremely loud when moving under 40 miles/hr.

This problem started from few days after picking up the vehicle. So far it has been in service 4 times, whenever I had time. Seems they fixed the chasis squeeks on last repair, but since then interior seems to pickup more noise from outside when driving, as if they removed the insulations.

Last Saturday, I drove it for an hour, and that rear driver side tire went flat. Strangely, after I installed the spare, that squeek has stopped. I checked the flat tire and there's no nail or sign of puncture, I filled it with air and there's no leak.

I dropped off the vehicle this morning for repair, again. I'm curious what they are going to tell me this time. This is my first Mazda, and so far, I'm very disappointed.