2022 CX-5 Turbo Brake Judder

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New York
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2022 CX-5 Turbo
Hi all,

Bought a new '22 Turbo in May and I've had brake judder issues since the day I picked the car up. At first, the salesman told me to wait since the brakes needed to be broken in, waited 1K miles and it never went away. It's not consistent, there are some days I don't feel it at all and some days it's really bad, but it always is most noticeable between 45mph and 65mph. The car's now been to the dealer for service four times, see below:

1st time: Dealer claims they didn't feel anything until I showed them a video of the steering wheel shaking, then they agreed to cut the front rotors. Got the car back, steering wheel doesn't shake as much, but the car still juddered on braking.

2nd time: Again the dealer claims they didn't find a problem, after pushing back, they "found" it and cut the rear rotors. Got the car back, issue was still there.

3rd time: Bring the car in, tech looks at the front rotors and claims "the first tech did a bad job" cutting them, so they cut the front rotors again. Huge shock, same issue persisted.

4th time: Dealer claims they can't replicate the issue and the service manager's now telling me to pound sand. Also claiming that brakes aren't covered under warranty, even though this has been an issue since day 1, and the car only has about 3K miles and has been through 4 service visits.

Anyone else have a similar issue with their car, or any advice on what to do? I'm at my wits' end, no idea what to do from here. Do I contact Mazda corporate and ask for help? Any other ideas? Thanks
 
Definitely contact Mazda Corporate to assist. Let them know that the dealership has turned/serviced the front rotors twice and the rear rotors once on three separate occasions, and that they turned you away on the fourth visit. You may be able to request that they (Mazda) reach out to a different dealership nearby to assist.

IMO, if turning the rotors doesn't solve the issue, and there are no other immediate solutions, replacing the rotors under warranty should have been the next step. Pads and caliper hardware could have been inspected as well.
 
Definitely contact Mazda Corporate to assist. Let them know that the dealership has turned/serviced the front rotors twice and the rear rotors once on three separate occasions, and that they turned you away on the fourth visit. You may be able to request that they (Mazda) reach out to a different dealership nearby to assist.

IMO, if turning the rotors doesn't solve the issue, and there are no other immediate solutions, replacing the rotors under warranty should have been the next step. Pads and caliper hardware could have been inspected as well.
After you try the above, if they still haven't resolved the issue, then
pay your local mechanic to locate the problem then take it back and get it fixed under warranty. Although some will argue why should I pay a mechanic?
If you want it fixed, and they keep saying their is no problem, then the only way to prove it is with another expertise evaluation.
I had my local mechanic look at my vehicle before the bumper to bumper expired so be could point out things.

Also, when at 45 to 65 mph, does the problem happens during acceleration or only during braking?
 
Why is everyone certain it's the rotors??
When a rotor is machined the cutter will surface most all out of round conditions. So this also leads me to wonder how the other inspection said that the rotors were turned badly?
About the only way the rotors could have been turned badly is if the bearing on the lathe were worn. But that is also not the case because of the claimed inspection and conclusion that first machining was done badly?

I would be looking at the ABS or traction control at this point because of the speeds it was most noticeable.
 
Why is everyone certain it's the rotors??
When a rotor is machined the cutter will surface most all out of round conditions. So this also leads me to wonder how the other inspection said that the rotors were turned badly?
About the only way the rotors could have been turned badly is if the bearing on the lathe were worn. But that is also not the case because of the claimed inspection and conclusion that first machining was done badly?

I would be looking at the ABS or traction control at this point because of the speeds it was most noticeable.
It's hard to arm-chair diagnose.
Does it occur only during braking or while accelerating and/or coasting? Does it occur while turning/on straight stretches? You mentioned it is intermittent.
Does it happen during deceleration without brake pedal depressed?

It could be anything...
Could be a sensors, calipers, steering, suspension, tires, etc.
Paying a local wrench to diagnose and locate the problem is well worth it.
 
Yes it is "hard to arm-chair diagnose" Jack Rabbit, and did you read the first response in detail?
I did and that's why I posted ruling for the most part the rotors.
I considered the speeds the OP said the "BRAKING" judder occurred most predominately which lead me to what my thoughts were.
I would have recommended to take it to a different Mazda dealer before the expense of an independent service shop for a number of reasons.
 
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Yes it is "hard to arm-chair diagnose" Jack Rabbit, and did you read the first response in detail?
I did and that's why I posted ruling for the most part the rotors.
I considered the speeds the OP said the "BRAKING" judder occurred most predominately which lead me to what my thoughts were.
I would have recommended to take it to a different Mazda dealer before the expense of an independent service shop for a number of reasons.
My post was for the OP to provide more information and not meant to offend.

As for local mechanics, a good trustworthy local who is paid $60 to $100 to diagnose is well worth it to me considering that he has far less ulterior motives for refusing warranty work, padding the Bill ot trying to make customer think the problem is one that is not warranty covered and needs paid out of pocket repairs. OP specifically stated the dealer told him the problem is not warranty covered which is the prelude to them trying to do influence him into customer pay repairs/maintenance on his next return visit.
 
I'm surprised they could cut the same rotor twice. While it isn't the end of its life, I'd imagine it'll be close.
I'll also play this guessing game. Maybe faulty/sticky piston? Brake pads?
 
I greatly appreciate all of the responses. Sounds like I should definitely reach out to corporate. If they're unwilling/unable to help, I do have a local indy mechanic that I trust, so bringing it to them for a diagnosis isn't a bad idea to get the issue resolved, as much as I hate spending money on a new car.

I had a similar concern regarding the rotor thickness, I actually asked a friend to borrow a digital micrometer so I could pull a wheel and double-check myself. In fact, if I'm reading the Mazda brake judder TSB correctly, it appears that the discard thickness for the rotors is even larger if using an on-car lathe, which they are. Don't see why the type of lathe would affect this, but it seems to.

As far as further details on the issue, I haven't noticed anything when accelerating. There's possibly a very slight vibration when coasting/cruising, but it's also entirely possible that it's normal and I'm hyper focused on it because of the braking issue. The only time I'd call the vibration clearly noticeable is when actively braking. I can feel a vibration in the steering wheel and the pedal, as well as through the vehicle directly(felt it in the passenger seat when I asked a friend to drive). I can also feel it below 45mph, but it's not as noticeable, and I wouldn't be surprised if someone who wasn't used to the car stopped feeling it below that speed.

Can't explain why it's intermittent sadly, it doesn't seem to have any relationship with the temperature of the car/brakes either. Sometimes I feel it directly from a cold start, other times I can drive 50 miles to work without issue, then notice it on the way home.
 
I greatly appreciate all of the responses. Sounds like I should definitely reach out to corporate. If they're unwilling/unable to help, I do have a local indy mechanic that I trust, so bringing it to them for a diagnosis isn't a bad idea to get the issue resolved, as much as I hate spending money on a new car.

I had a similar concern regarding the rotor thickness, I actually asked a friend to borrow a digital micrometer so I could pull a wheel and double-check myself. In fact, if I'm reading the Mazda brake judder TSB correctly, it appears that the discard thickness for the rotors is even larger if using an on-car lathe, which they are. Don't see why the type of lathe would affect this, but it seems to.

As far as further details on the issue, I haven't noticed anything when accelerating. There's possibly a very slight vibration when coasting/cruising, but it's also entirely possible that it's normal and I'm hyper focused on it because of the braking issue. The only time I'd call the vibration clearly noticeable is when actively braking. I can feel a vibration in the steering wheel and the pedal, as well as through the vehicle directly(felt it in the passenger seat when I asked a friend to drive). I can also feel it below 45mph, but it's not as noticeable, and I wouldn't be surprised if someone who wasn't used to the car stopped feeling it below that speed.

Can't explain why it's intermittent sadly, it doesn't seem to have any relationship with the temperature of the car/brakes either. Sometimes I feel it directly from a cold start, other times I can drive 50 miles to work without issue, then notice it on the way home.
If the rotors have been turned and it's mostly occuring during braking, sometimes while coasting and intermittent, it sounds like a faulty caliper or calipers. But again it could be anything. Hopefully your local mechanic will find the problem. Maybe take all the ideas posted by everyone above(all good ideas) and see what he says. Good luck.
 
I greatly appreciate all of the responses. Sounds like I should definitely reach out to corporate.
Just may rethink going outside Mazda. See your info page 3 of 4 on the TSB customer notice.
IMHO it is still better to take it to another Mazda dealer.
Note that not all Mazda dealers have trained Mazda technicians, in the case of a reoccurring issue you can ask the service manager if they employ a Mazda Trained technician or a certified ASE Technician. Both are experienced and specifically trained in brake service management and procedures.
 
Hard to diagnose OP's issue remotely, but I had a similar issue w/ my '16 Mazda6.
It only juddered when I applied brake on highway speed. The faster the speed, the worse juddering. At lower speeds, it was not that bad.
Since my Mazda6 was my commute car before COVID, I rarely got to drive that fast on commute routes.
When I had a long trip from SF to San Diego, it was pretty bad on highway 5.

So, I came back and determined to have it fixed.
Long story short, it was fixed by a four wheel alignment.
Just FYI.
 
So, quick update. I took one of the dealer techs out for a test drive and got him to admit that the issue is definitely still present. They're "probably" going to replace the rear rotors to see if that fixes it, but can't do it until the service manager approves it and they don't have the parts in stock(??? find this a bit hard to believe). <Hopefully> this fixes it, but I'm not holding my breath considering that turning the rear rotors didn't fix it the first time.

Going to be up to 6 dealer service visits in the first 6 months of ownership, woohoo.

Long story short, it was fixed by a four wheel alignment.
Interesting tip, thanks. That sounds a lot like my issue, except for the fact that it seems to subside significantly above 70mph. Definitely worth a mention to the dealer
 
After all of this, I'm wondering if this problem isn't partially suspension or steering related.
 
So, late update. The dealer finally agreed to replace the rotors(they did all 4 at the same time), and so far, the problem seems to be resolved. They mentioned that the rotors looked overheated, a bit strange if that's the case because the problem was definitely present when I first picked up the car with only ~40 miles on the odo. Not sure what could have caused the rotors to overheat in such a short period of time.
 
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