Hello, I'm having an odd rattling noise on my wife's 2010 Mazda 5 that I can't seem to track down. We got the car in 2018, and it seemed perfect then. Since then it's developed an odd noise at regular speeds. Seems like the noise is from the front right-ish of the car, something you can maybe feel in the wheel, but you also sort of feel in the body of the car so who knows. Jacking the car up and looking at the suspension bushings, unless I'm missing one, they all seem perfect and stiff, no cracks. Same for the CVT joints, no cracks. Wheels spin freely in neutral. It doesn't seem to be worse or not depending ambient temp. I've checked for loose splash guards in the wheel well/suspension area as well. Tires have recently (September) been replaced. I'm at a loss to what it could be, unless it's one of the CVT joint going without it showing any cracks in it? At any rate, I'm getting more and more worried since this is the main car for our kiddos, despite not seeing any degradation of performance or safety, and wondering if it's really "just a noise".

Here's a quick video of me driving down a reasonably un-bumpy street, as you can see while turning it's less noisy :
Thanks!

 

Have you replaced the front sway bar bushings since you got the car? If not, I'd definitely recommend replacing them. Despite the fact that they may look fine, there could be a gap between the bushing and the bar (the hole in the bushing may be worn and larger than normal) that you can't see without removing the bushing, causing the vibration. Mazda 5s are notorious for this - this was the case for my Mazda 5. My bushings looked fine, even when I removed them, but the noise disappeared after replacing them because the new ones formed a tighter seal. The sound in your video seems to be a bit louder than it was in my car, but your bushings may also be more deteriorated. I'd mainly recommend this replacement because it's very cheap (although time consuming), and likely will help you out in the long run anyways. At least you can rule it out.

If that doesn't do it I'd maybe look at your front stabilizer links - another part that fails often on our cars and can cause these sorts of front end noises and vibrations. Should be another DIY job you could do fairly inexpensively.

 

I've got the same constant rattle 0:20 - 0:40 in the video coming from the rear.
My rear upper shock mounts look okay, but going to take them out for a better look.

I just replaced a front sway bar bushing which fixed a clunking in my front suspension, but it did not sound the way yours does.

Are you referring to the sound at 0:32 and 0:43 or the constant 0:20 0:40 rattle?

 

If that doesn't do it I'd maybe look at your front stabilizer links - another part that fails often on our cars and can cause these sorts of front end noises and vibrations. Should be another DIY job you could do fairly inexpensively.





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Did you get this resolved? My wife's 09 is doing the exact same thing.

 

Could be a loose shaft/rod nut on the top mount of your struts. Easy access under the hood. Happened to me twice after I replaced my struts. I guess I did not torque it tight enough, or I probably should have put a dab of loctite on it. The noise is similar to the one on the video, and it makes you want to stop the car right away.
You would need a deep box wrench (I managed with small adjustable) and another one to hold the shaft so it does not spin.
After I tightened it, I used a red sharpie to mark the nut position relative to the shaft so it is easy to see if the nut is starting to loosen up again. I might add another nut on top since there's still some thread sticking out, kind of a locknut.