Do your steering wheel and back seats shake?

[stillageek]

I am having vibration issues with my 5. Had them since new (about 2 months). The tires have been balanced 3 times. The number of weights on the passenger side rear tire seems excessive to me. While driving the first 10 miles of the day on a cool day (outside temp below 60) the steering wheel vibrates like the tires are out of balance. After they or the outside temp warms up things get better, but at highway speed 60MPH+ the steering wheel lightly shakes and the backseat headrest are vibrating enough to distract me (as seen through the rearview mirror). The steering wheel feels like there is too much play in it. I have been to three different dealers. All say the tires were "a little out of balance" and send me on my way. Is it normal for the 5 to have a little play in it at highway speed with the steering wheel shaking a bit? What about the rear headrest? Mind you this is all occuring on very smooth, even highway pavement.

 

[Henika]

Mine is shaking anywhere from 80km/hr to 120km/hr. Sometimes the shaking is very noticable, sometimes it's not very noticable. Yes, I can see in my rear view mirror that the headrest is shaking on the 2nd row. It's going in this Thursday to the dealer.

 

[jeebusm3]

seatbacks, yes. (as you already know from my thread) My steering wheel doesn't shake, but I can feel a bit more road noise through it than in any of my other cars (including a Mazda3).

 

[Esprit]

I find a same problem with my 08 MZ5. The vibration only happen when driving the car in first 10km of the day then gone. I am from Calgary and alway cool temp. in the morning. I will bring the car to the shop soon and have the first 8000km check up and see what they will say and find.

 

[meackerman]

No steering wheel shaking, except under hard braking at freeway speeds (thats brake related). Since the rear seats are normally down, I can't say anything about the headrests. Definitely more road feel through the steering wheel than any other car I've owned but not really enough that it bothers me.

Instead of taking it to a dealer, have you thought of taking it to a real tire place? My coworker had tires put on at Costco (yeah I know its not a dealer) and they totally botched the balancing twice, he took the car to a real tire place and they balanced the tires out perfectly.

 

[bulwnkl]

Do your steering wheel and back seats shake?

Yes, they do. I think it's the tires themselves on ours (not (just) the balance) since they wear excessively on the inside edge of the rears. I'm torn because new tires are going to be ~$600 for good ones, or much less for some that will probably be good but grip like a wet ice cube on our winter roads.

 

[dreamym5]

no steering shaking... but i do feel cabin shaking.. sometimes...(boom06)

 

[mazdadude]

When driving the last few miles on the original TOYO's, I remember looking in my rear view mirror and seeing one of the second row seats vibrating like the scene in the movie Contact where Jodie Foster is in the capsule, and the chair vibrates and rips loose from the floor.

This was going about 70 mph on a smooth Interstate 5. Not long after this I had it at the tire shop for a puncture/slow leak repair on the right rear tire. When the tire was inspected, with the car on the rack, and spun while on the car, the tire had a hop to it. You could see it visually, and feel it with your hand on the tread while spinning the wheel/tire. We decided to investigate further, and when the tire was dismounted from the wheel, we saw that inside of the tire, the interior shoulder/sidewall was not normal looking. The rubber was rough and balled up all the way around. I determined that most likely this was caused by a long trip with a very low or flat tire. This in turn overheated and stressed the interior sidewall. I had been chasing a vibration problem for a while, but after replacing all 4 tires, I have not noticed any more vibrations.

 

[jeebusm3]

When driving the last few miles on the original TOYO's, I remember looking in my rear view mirror and seeing one of the second row seats vibrating like the scene in the movie Contact where Jodie Foster is in the capsule, and the chair vibrates and rips loose from the floor.

This was going about 70 mph on a smooth Interstate 5. Not long after this I had it at the tire shop for a puncture/slow leak repair on the right rear tire. When the tire was inspected, with the car on the rack, and spun while on the car, the tire had a hop to it. You could see it visually, and feel it with your hand on the tread while spinning the wheel/tire. We decided to investigate further, and when the tire was dismounted from the wheel, we saw that inside of the tire, the interior shoulder/sidewall was not normal looking. The rubber was rough and balled up all the way around. I determined that most likely this was caused by a long trip with a very low or flat tire. This in turn overheated and stressed the interior sidewall. I had been chasing a vibration problem for a while, but after replacing all 4 tires, I have not noticed any more vibrations.

"supposedly" the dealer did a road-force balance on all 4 tires, which should turn up a problem like this deteriorating inner sidewall you had.




and to answer another question above, "yes" I have thought about taking it to a real tire place. I considered doing it before I took it to the dealer at all, because I just don't trust dealers. I decided not to because we are tight on funds right now and the car is 2 months old...I shouldn't be paying for ANYTHING.

 

[meackerman]

I agree with a two month old car you shouldn't be paying for anything, assuming the dealer has competent techs....

 

[stillageek]

Well I just got a call from dealer #3. They are going to replace my tires on Monday free of charge. He stated it's normally not covered under warranty but they are doing a "make good". He apologized for not fixing the issue and not looking into the history. He stated his tech simply assumed the low mileage that it had not been looked at before and balanced the tires negating that they had been balanced twice before. I was getting really let down with my first Mazda, hopefully new tires will fix the problem.

 

[HaGiBiZ]

I just got my 08 MZ5 3 weeks ago, and I have the same issues: steering wheel and back seats shake. I'll be calling the dealer and setup an appointment.

stillageek, so they replaced all your 4 tires?

 

[Henika]

I just got my 08 MZ5 3 weeks ago, and I have the same issues: steering wheel and back seats shake. I'll be calling the dealer and setup an appointment.

stillageek, so they replaced all your 4 tires?

Have the same issue. Car is 3 weeks old. Went back to dealer last week, they test drove it and didn't want to do anything. They said the tech did not feel any vibration, and the car is brand new so there should be no issues. I know they are lying because there is no hwy close by the dealership, there's no way they could of tested at 100-120 km/hr. They test drove less than 10 mins.

So I talked to the tech myself, and after a while, I convinced him to balance the tires. He said he can only balance the fronts, and that they might charge me for it. That's a load of BS! Brand new car, having problems, and they want me to pay to fix it?? Anyways, I refuse to pay anything. In the end, both tech and SA told me indirectly that Mazda's quality is really not that good, and not to expect perfect smooth driving on hwy. The SA said "Did you test drive the car on the hwy before buying it?". Anyways, dissapointed with the warranty service. If you are in the Toronto area, do not go to Gyro Mazda. Can anyone in the same area recommend a good dealership, or have good experiences with dealership service or warranty?

Car rides better with the 2 front wheels balanced, probably would of been perfect if the rear wheels were re-balanced too.

 

[stillageek]

So here's the deal. When my tires are warm...they are round...when cold...they aren't. This explains why each time I took it to the dealer it was "fine". I drive 10-15 miles to each dealer. This time they kept it overnight (and gave me a smoked in 3 year old Mazda3...at least its free). The service manager left me a VM stating he has never seen this before and it surprised them all. They felt it vibrate and checked all kinds of linkages and what not thinking it can't possibly be the tires (as they have been balanced 3 times already). Mazda is paying for new tires. They will get installed tomorrow and I will pick it up Thursday (I am out of town and they want to drive it first thing in the morning again when all is cold). I will be happy to have the bad vibrations gone. Sorry to everyone else having this issue. Good luck.

 

[wmzda5]

Have the same issue. Car is 3 weeks old. Went back to dealer last week, they test drove it and didn't want to do anything. They said the tech did not feel any vibration, and the car is brand new so there should be no issues. I know they are lying because there is no hwy close by the dealership, there's no way they could of tested at 100-120 km/hr. They test drove less than 10 mins.

So I talked to the tech myself, and after a while, I convinced him to balance the tires. He said he can only balance the fronts, and that they might charge me for it. That's a load of BS! Brand new car, having problems, and they want me to pay to fix it?? Anyways, I refuse to pay anything. In the end, both tech and SA told me indirectly that Mazda's quality is really not that good, and not to expect perfect smooth driving on hwy. The SA said "Did you test drive the car on the hwy before buying it?". Anyways, dissapointed with the warranty service. If you are in the Toronto area, do not go to Gyro Mazda. Can anyone in the same area recommend a good dealership, or have good experiences with dealership service or warranty?

Car rides better with the 2 front wheels balanced, probably would of been perfect if the rear wheels were re-balanced too.

If you want you can go to Ajax Mazda. Service is not great but still OK.

 

[stillageek]

Hmm its also odd that they charge you for balancing. I had mine balanced 3 times...all free of charge.

 

[HaGiBiZ]

If you want you can go to Ajax Mazda. Service is not great but still OK.

I'm bringing mine to Scarborough Mazda since it's closer to my work.

TJ, have you been there?

 

[prulex]

Had an '06 Mazda 5 with the same problem. Went so far as to replace the tires on my own dime with Kumho ASX that were road force balanced...to no avail. I brought it to the dealer for this problem 3 times. They checked everything (axles, rims, tires) and eventually replaced the engine mounts as per a TSB that was out. This did not help. I had no choice but to file the paperwork to Lemon Law the car. I couldn't see paying for a brand new car that, in my opinion, noticeably shook at most speeds. I was called by Mazda North America to set up an appointment with a regional service rep from Atlanta, who test drove my car. Their position was that the vibration was normal and within spec. Long story short, I had enough and traded it in for a new Subaru Outback...which by the way drives smooth as butter. So, I feel your pain and hope that with some combination of tire balancing and other tweaks the dealer agrees to perform, the vibration becomes less noticeable.

 

[jeebusm3]

Had an '06 Mazda 5 with the same problem. Went so far as to replace the tires on my own dime with Kumho ASX that were road force balanced...to no avail. I brought it to the dealer for this problem 3 times. They checked everything (axles, rims, tires) and eventually replaced the engine mounts as per a TSB that was out. This did not help. I had no choice but to file the paperwork to Lemon Law the car. I couldn't see paying for a brand new car that, in my opinion, noticeably shook at most speeds. I was called by Mazda North America to set up an appointment with a regional service rep from Atlanta, who test drove my car. Their position was that the vibration was normal and within spec. Long story short, I had enough and traded it in for a new Subaru Outback...which by the way drives smooth as butter. So, I feel your pain and hope that with some combination of tire balancing and other tweaks the dealer agrees to perform, the vibration becomes less noticeable.

sucks when a car has one problem that makes you just get rid of it like that. We did the same thing with our Mazda3 for a WRX STi, but for different problems. I bought the Mazda5 hoping all of the quirks would have been worked out of the platform by now and I wish I could say that they were....but they aren't. We love this 5 so much that we will likely deal with the vibration annoyance, though I do find that it makes me often drive faster in certain scenarios because adding 5MPH to my cruise speed eliminates the vibration.

I had a Mazda6 loaner while the 5 was out and although I disliked the smoked-in smell and the basic trim level, I enjoyed that it didn't suffer from any vibration at cruising speeds.

If only Honda made something like the Mazda5 in the US. If a Honda Fit and a Honda Element could make a car-baby, it would be perfect. I owned both cars and absolutely loved the quality but disliked the small size of the Fit and the gas mileage and lack of seats in the Element.

 

[*HaWn gUrL*]

So I had that vibration problem with my 07 5. The service department changed everything except the engine and the problem was still there. I had aftermarket rims that they put on and they said it was that. So they put on stock rims and it got worse. Anyways.....car was in the shop for over 2 months they did not want to work with us so i wrote mazda a stink letter and all of a sudden the dealers wanted to help us. So instead of filing a claim they switched it out for a 08 5. Put all my goodies from my other car to the new vehicle. But one problem.......my 08 5 has a vibration in the steering wheel. I refuse to go through this same problem again. This vibration will find itself at a HONDA dealership real soon......