2017 CX-5 Spare Tire Mod for U.S.

I found a full size spare on ebay from a cx7 for about $75. It fits perfectly without any mods.
Did you get a 225/65 R17 full size tire for spare or T155/90 D18 "full size" temporary tire for spare?
 
Ha thanks for the info! These 2 eBay examples seem to be from the same seller, both of the T155/90 D18 spares are from 2008 CX-7's which means they're at least 10 years old and it's way over the safety range of 6 years now set by tire manufactures. Nevertheless I'll send them a message getting more details on shipping cost and exact location as those salvage yards in Fort Worth can be more than 80 miles away from Plano. I definitely would prefer I can see the tire condition in person, and pick it up by myself to save the shipping cost.
 
Ha thanks for the info! These 2 eBay examples seem to be from the same seller, both of the T155/90 D18 spares are from 2008 CX-7's which means they're at least 10 years old and it's way over the safety range of 6 years now set by tire manufactures. Nevertheless I'll send them a message getting more details on shipping cost and exact location as those salvage yards in Fort Worth can be more than 80 miles away from Plano. I definitely would prefer I can see the tire condition in person, and pick it up by myself to save the shipping cost.

Eh 10 year old tire is a 10 year old tire.

I think I'll be going the mod route.
 
This thread should be made a Sticky. Hard to find unless somebody comments every couple of months.

Edit to add: I pulled the spare from my new car and checked the pressure; that's a step almost no dealer will perform. It was at 55 psi instead of 60 as designated. These spares all got their last fill in Japan. It's sketchy enough if you have to use one so take the time to make sure yours is good to go.

Until you do the upgrade described here, never ever use that spare on the front! You. Will. Die.

Take the time to swap a good rear to the front, then put the pretend tire on the back. You only have one jack, so set the car down on the front that you removed. Yeah, it's gonna suck...probably in miserable conditions too, good luck.
 
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I finally got this done with the 17" tire and the full height Kumho. I wound up buying a brand new 17x5.5" Mazda spare wheel and the new tire from Simple Tire.

But first I tried buying a used Mazda CX-7 wheel from Ebay. They are listed as 17" but twice I was sent instead an 18" wheel. On one of them, they didn't want it back so its taking up space in my garage. Its an intact spare wheel assembly from a CX-7 which is the right size to bolt right onto my 18 CX-5. I probably would have just kept and used it, but I already had a new 17" tire that I needed something to mount it to.

I don't know how old the CX-7 donor was but the wheel is in good shape. I have it posted on Craigslist in the Portland Oregon area. If somebody is interested, I could post it here in the for sale.

Also have the new, undersized original spare if somebody is interested.
 
Bumping this to thank the OP and other folks here for the info in this thread...I just wish I had acted on it before getting a flat and needing the spare. The substitution of the 145/90/16 by Mazda NA seems like grounds for a class action suit--it clearly does not belong on CX-5s with OEM 19 inch wheels. I was fairly close to home and kept speed under 30mph, so hopefully no damage was done. To add insult to injury, I was at 6/32 on the stock Toyos, so I ate the cost of a full set of new General RT43s ahead of schedule.

After that experience, I got moving and was able to pick up a minty spare out of a 2010 CX-7 for $85 shipped...the T155/90D18 Dunlop on it was indeed at 10 years, so I bit the bullet on a new one. Around $250 total after installation. The CX-7 wheel was marked with the part number @yrwei52 found. Bolts right up, and fit in the spare tire well perfectly using the original hold down bolt and no need to trim the foam blocks.

Med Center currently has the wheel at $216.60, so you can get this done with all new parts for under $400. If your driving takes you far from home, I'd consider it. Thanks again to @bigtex for getting this info out there.
 
I'd also like to thank the OP or I would have been similarly blindsided when I had a leak in my sidewall.

Update on my extra spare situation: I sold it on Craigslist cheap. The crazy thing is, the guy who bought it had a BMW and was planning to use just the tire and get a different wheel. It's the wheel that was still useful. The tire was already 5-10 years old :(

I'd met him for the exchange and had already pretty much completed the transaction when I learned his plans. Was still tempted to talk him out of it, but at some point ... he's a grown man.
 
Went scrounging at the junkyard today hoping to find a first gen CX-7 or 9 with the right size spare but no luck. I guess that's a good thing that there were NO Mazdas to be found. Now if I wanted something from a Dodge/Chrysler suv there were dozens of those to look at. I did manage to find three Hyundai Santa Fe vehicles, two were missing the spares but the third, an '06, was still intact with it's T165/90R17 spare. I was hoping to avoid a tire that old but figured if the price was right I could at least use the rim. Turns out the yard only wanted $20 for it so I brought it home. It's actually a nice looking wheel, hopefully something I'll never use but I do like the style, and being an alloy it only weighs four pounds more than the smaller oem spare. It actually pains me to have to replace the tire though, it's never been run, sidewalls look like new, and had 55psi when I got it. Oh well, what's another hundred at this point?







The original Mazda securing bolt was a little too short and the other supplied bolt was too long so a trip to the hardware store got me the needed coupling nut and M8 1.25 pitch bolt. I cut enough threads off the shorter oem bolt to allow the coupling nut to bottom out, assembled with red thread locker, and ended up with a 6.5" bolt which works well for that size spare and Bose combo.



Dr. Electron was spot-on with his measure of reducing the foam blocks by 3/4". It was easy to accurately cut them to the proper size by first marking the blocks with a Sharpie and then making the cuts with an electric carving knife. I want to thank Dr. E and minnesotaart for doing the research on viable options to finding an oem Mazda wheel.
 
Hi all,
I was inspired to join because I recently had the "pleasure" of hitting a chunk of buckled pavement that destroyed my "19 CX-5 Reserve front left rim/tire.
I pulled over onto a triangle patch of asphalt sandwiched between an off ramp and the regular flow of highway traffic; I just wanted to get out of there fast.
To my amazement, and that of a Wisconsin State Trooper, I(we) could not understand why the spare would not fit on the front. Yes we both know where the spare SHOULD be mounted, but again...get the heck out of there. In this situation all logic went out the window so duh swapping tires should have been a thought.
I was 4-5 miles from home 1 mile from a dealership. Come on man.
Had it towed to the dealership and guess what, they spent 20 minutes trying to figure out why the spare wouldn't fit on the front. Diagnoses: brake caliper most be too big for the spare. How about the entirely wrong spare in the first place.
Anyway, thanks to all of you who took the time here to help all Mazda owners who should be replacing their unusable spare tires.
As a side note I filed a complaint with NHTSA, only time will tell.

Edit: I found an unused 18" spare (still has the little nubbies on the tread) from a '15 CX-9 for $93 delivered.
Perfect fit on the FRONT; same clearance as the alloy wheel from the twin piston caliper and a diameter
difference of one tenth of an inch. Problem solved.
There are more spares out there; I used partshotlines.com.
 
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Wow! That's a different issue than what this post was originally about. It was noticed that the diameter of the spare was way smaller than the other tires, so that's why some of use got a bigger one. But this is the first time anybody has said it just couldn't even be mounted! Scary!
 
Has anyone ever heard of this before on ANY car?
 
From my 2017 Owner's Manual:

"Do not install the temporary spare tire on the front wheels (driving wheels): Driving with the temporary spare tire on one of the front driving wheels is dangerous. Handling will be affected. You could lose control of the vehicle, especially on ice or snow bound roads, and have an accident. Move a regular tire to the front wheel and install the temporary spare tire to the rear."

Odd that it doesn't say the spare won't even fit on the front, so don't even try!
 
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Hi all,
I was inspired to join because I recently had the "pleasure" of hitting a chunk of buckled pavement that destroyed my "19 CX-5 Reserve front left rim/tire.
I pulled over onto a triangle patch of asphalt sandwiched between an off ramp and the regular flow of highway traffic; I just wanted to get out of there fast.
To my amazement, and that of a Wisconsin State Trooper, I(we) could not understand why the spare would not fit on the front. Yes we both know where the spare SHOULD be mounted, but again...get the heck out of there. In this situation all logic went out the window so duh swapping tires should have been a thought.
I was 4-5 miles from home 1 mile from a dealership. Come on man.
Had it towed to the dealership and guess what, they spent 20 minutes trying to figure out why the spare wouldn't fit on the front. Diagnoses: brake caliper most be too big for the spare. How about the entirely wrong spare in the first place.
Anyway, thanks to all of you who took the time here to help all Mazda owners who should be replacing their unusable spare tires.
As a side nte I filed a complaint with NHTSA, only time will tell.
(oops) (peep)

Apparently this's an oversight by Mazda who forgot to use bigger spare wheel to accommodate bigger dual-piston front calipers on 2.5T.

Or may be Mazda is trying to save money not to use different spare wheel even though they fully aware the already-too-small spare tire won't fit the front?

Glad you reported this issue to NHTSA.
 
Mazda will call it a "Safety feature", preventing the user from mistakenly installing the compact spare on the front wheels.
If Mazda claims this's a "safety feature", should I file a complaint with NHTSA, because I can fit my already-too-small spare tire at front?
 
From my 2017 Owner's Manual:

"Do not install the temporary spare tire on the front wheels (driving wheels): Driving with the temporary spare tire on one of the front driving wheels is dangerous. Handling will be affected. You could lose control of the vehicle, especially on ice or snow bound roads, and have an accident. Move a regular tire to the front wheel and install the temporary spare tire to the rear."

Odd that it doesn't say the spare won't even fit on the front, so don't even try!
Don't worry, your smaller-diameter spare tire will fit the front. Just remember don't drive too long especially if your CX-5 is an AWD.

Only the 2019 GTR and Sig with 2.5T have this issue as they have bigger dual-piston front calipers.
 
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