2021.5 CX-9 Vibration at Highway Speeds

I know vibration issues have been posted before, but I have not seen a resolution.

I just picked up a brand new 2021.5 CX9 GS-L three days ago. Noticed on my first highway drive that the car and steering wheel vibrate between 100-120 KM/H

I have owned a 17' CX5 and a 19' CX9 previously with no vibrating issues at all.

Brought back to the dealer after driving a total of 200KM and they were able to replicate the issue. They did the following in their investigation:
- Check alignment
- Check wheel balance of stock Falkens
- Check driveshaft
- Check suspension
- Change wheels and tires completely off another brand new CX9 (Bridgestone Tires)

None of the above were able to solve the vibration.

In my non-professional opinion, I believe that the problem derives from the transmission/AWD differentials. I will suggest this to the dealer when I drop off the car tomorrow or day after and take one of their loaners.

They have escalated the problem with Mazda Canada and have opened a ticket. The shop manager claims he has never seen this issue before - also promises they will fix the issue in a week....


Has anyone successfully solved the vibrating issue? It is not normal - my past 2 Mazdas did not have this issue.
 
Does only the steering wheel shimmy at highway speeds(ocillate back and forth) or do you feel a vibration in the seat of your pants? If in your pants then vibration coming from rear of car. They need to check the play in all steering components as well as drive the vehicle up on the lift and see. There could be a bad wheel bearing slightly off round or unbalanced driveshaft. Causing vibration throughout the body.
 
Also, I don't know if you have a lemon law where you are but I'd find out quick and follow the guidelines in case it cannot be fixed properly. It would require a few attempts at repair within a certain time frame, and/or days out of service.
 
It's the tires. I have the same issue with my 2021.5 CX-9 Kuro since new. Also noticed the vibrations on the first highway drive, in the steering wheel, and seats to a lesser degree. Currently at 1200 km. The car drives extremely well except in the 100-120 km/h range. Unfortunately, both OEM tire choices are preety poor for this car. I have the Bridgestone Ecopias. One look at Tire Rack reviews will show that Falkens and Ecopias are dead last in their respective category. Thinking back to my test drives on the 2021 Kuro and GT trims (with Ecopias), both test cars had vibrations to a certain degree on the highway. I believe the issue is more prevalent on this car with 20" rims and that some individuals may not be susceptible to vibrations as much. I certainly will not be able to accept the highway driving as is, until the problem is completely fixed. My dealer mentioned that this was the first time they have run into this problem on a CX-9 as well.

The first dealer visit was at 500 km. They acknowledged the vibrations and performed conventional balancing of all 4 tires, and found that the front two tires were out of balance from factory. The ride felt slightly better for the remainder of that day. Next day, same problem. It seems that tires are flat spotting when the car is sitting overnight. Second dealer visit was at 1000 km (yes I drove a lot in the first week of ownership). The dealer performed an alignment (slight correction to front left), took all 4 tires off the rims, rotated tires 180 degrees on each rim, and performed conventional balancing. They confirmed that the vibrations were less noticeable, but not completely gone. They will proceed to perform road force balancing at another dealer early next week, since they don't have the machine in-house. I drove the car on the highway this afternoon, and the vibrations were almost unnoticeable. Eager to see what the situation will be like tomorrow. If the road force balancing doesn't work, the dealer will request a new set of tires and rims from Mazda Canada. I'm not pleased with these problems on a new vehicle, but the dealer has been very supportive and they confirmed that they will solve the issue.

In another CX-9 vibration thread on the forum, one of the users was able to solve the issue permanently by switching to Michelin Premier LTX tires. I will report my findings early next week.
 
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Does only the steering wheel shimmy at highway speeds(ocillate back and forth) or do you feel a vibration in the seat of your pants? If in your pants then vibration coming from rear of car. They need to check the play in all steering components as well as drive the vehicle up on the lift and see. There could be a bad wheel bearing slightly off round or unbalanced driveshaft. Causing vibration throughout the body.

The vibration is coming both from steering wheel and the seat. I can feel it from my feet on the floor which my wife also feels from the passenger seat.

I like to drive with the sun visors down all the time - those continuously shake.
 
It's the tires. I have the same issue with my 2021.5 CX-9 Kuro since new. Also noticed the vibrations on the first highway drive, in the steering wheel, and seats to a lesser degree. Currently at 1200 km. The car drives extremely well except in the 100-120 km/h range. Unfortunately, both OEM tire choices are preety poor for this car. I have the Bridgestone Ecopias. One look at Tire Rack reviews will show that Falkens and Ecopias are dead last in their respective category. Thinking back to my test drives on the 2021 Kuro and GT trims (with Ecopias), both test cars had vibrations to a certain degree on the highway. I believe the issue is more prevalent on this car with 20" rims and that some individuals may not be susceptible to vibrations as much. I certainly will not be able to accept the highway driving as is, until the problem is completely fixed. My dealer mentioned that this was the first time they have run into this problem on a CX-9 as well.

The first dealer visit was at 500 km. They acknowledged the vibrations and performed conventional balancing of all 4 tires, and found that the front two tires were out of balance from factory. The ride felt slightly better for the remainder of that day. Next day, same problem. It seems that tires are flat spotting when the car is sitting overnight. Second dealer visit was at 1000 km (yes I drove a lot in the first week of ownership). The dealer performed an alignment (slight correction to front left), took all 4 tires off the rims, rotated tires 180 degrees on each rim, and performed conventional balancing. They confirmed that the vibrations were less noticeable, but not completely gone. They will proceed to perform road force balancing at another dealer early next week, since they don't have the machine in-house. I drove the car on the highway this afternoon, and the vibrations were almost unnoticeable. Eager to see what the situation will be like tomorrow. If the road force balancing doesn't work, the dealer will request a new set of tires and rims from Mazda Canada. I'm not pleased with these problems on a new vehicle, but the dealer has been very supportive and they confirmed that they will solve the issue.

In another CX-9 vibration thread on the forum, one of the users was able to solve the issue permanently by switching to Michelin Premier LTX tires. I will report my findings early next week.

Keep us posted on what happens with your case - I found a lot of vibration threads, none of them solved.

In my case, I really don't see how it would be the tires. I've had falkens on all my past 5 vehicles and love the tires. This includes my 19' CX9 I just gave back. I also must have very bad luck if they took tires and rims off a different CX9 with "no issues", install on my car, only to produce the same vibrations
 
I didn’t see anyone talking about tire pressures. I have a 2021 CX-9 GT with the 20 inch wheels and Ecopia tires. When I first drove it home from the dealership late last year, for the first few days I did notice some vibration but attributed it to the low profile, large wheels. When I did get around to checking the tire pressures, they were a few pounds low. I typically keep mine 3 or 4 pounds above factory for slightly better fuel economy and load handling. After I adjusted the tire pressures (essentially increasing them 8 or 9 pounds), any vibrations that I had noticed the first week we’re no longer there. Coincidence? Maybe… Perhaps try this and see if it changes anything. Though, the fact that you swapped rims with another vehicle that did not have a vibration and it’s still persisted… I don’t know. That definitely sounds like drive train.
 
The vibration you describe usually comes from tires or wheels. Not alignment. Sometimes the driveshaft. Swapping the wheels & tires should have changed things. They didn't, so you're back to mechanical parts. It would be interesting if the shop has a way to put the car with the running engine up on a lift. Put it into gear, give it a little gas, and see where the shaking originates.

Tires can be out of balance, out of round (egg shaped), or have soft sidewalls in one section and stiff sidewalls in another section of the tire (road force variation). The wheels can be bent or eccentric. The driveshaft can be unbalanced. Road force correction uses a machine that finds the high & low spots on a wheel's rim (slight eccentricity is expected), finds the stiff and soft sections on the tire casing, and matches the stiff section with the low part of the wheel rim. Then conventional dynamic balancing is done. The dismount & rotate 180° is a way to approximate this.

Here is something more about wheels & tires: https://www.tires-easy.com/blog/what-are-the-red-and-yellow-dots-on-my-tires/

While the Canadian provinces do not have Lemon Laws like the states have, they do have an arbitration process: https://www.canadadrives.ca/blog/car-guide/lemon-laws-for-defective-cars
 
I know vibration issues have been posted before, but I have not seen a resolution.

I just picked up a brand new 2021.5 CX9 GS-L three days ago. Noticed on my first highway drive that the car and steering wheel vibrate between 100-120 KM/H

I have owned a 17' CX5 and a 19' CX9 previously with no vibrating issues at all.

Brought back to the dealer after driving a total of 200KM and they were able to replicate the issue. They did the following in their investigation:
- Check alignment
- Check wheel balance of stock Falkens
- Check driveshaft
- Check suspension
- Change wheels and tires completely off another brand new CX9 (Bridgestone Tires)

None of the above were able to solve the vibration.

In my non-professional opinion, I believe that the problem derives from the transmission/AWD differentials. I will suggest this to the dealer when I drop off the car tomorrow or day after and take one of their loaners.

They have escalated the problem with Mazda Canada and have opened a ticket. The shop manager claims he has never seen this issue before - also promises they will fix the issue in a week....


Has anyone successfully solved the vibrating issue? It is not normal - my past 2 Mazdas did not have this issue.
I noticed this same vibrating issues on my 18 cx-9 GT. I do about 98% highway so it's super annoying! The dealer tried balancing twice but the problem still persists. I also noticed it gets really really bad on mornings with a touch of dew on the grass... Takes about 5 mins on the highway to completely go away, I'm thinking either a low spot on the tire from sitting all night and or moisture building up somewhere and the centrifugal forces of the highway run spinning it off. It gets better a bit after 5 mins on the highway but still enough to visibly vibrate the front seats, my phone on a magnetic attachment and the driver side front mirror.

I spent out of pocket to do a road force balancing and that def helped. I'm thinking it's the tires...

My winters are on steel rims and Goodyear x-ice (much better quality tire) and I don't notice this problem during winter months.
 
Curious if you ever solve it, I had a CX9 and gave up chasing it, I threw on 18's with different tires and it was still there. Mine was minor, but like you said the sunvisors shook, irritating for sure. Good luck.
 
I'm speculating that it's the tire-- I could be wrong, I hope it's not the car itself!
I'm driving with Costco premium gas and notice it to be a lot smoother with the road force balancing.
 
Curious if you ever solve it, I had a CX9 and gave up chasing it, I threw on 18's with different tires and it was still there. Mine was minor, but like you said the sunvisors shook, irritating for sure. Good luck.
I would hate to have a car with any vibrations - I am driving from Toronto to Montreal this weekend (6 hours each way) no way I will survive with constant vibes lol.

My buddy had a similar issue in his BMW X3 - turned out to be a problem with the differential/transfer case. They replaced a whole bunch of transmission related parts to rectify the issue. I mentioned this to the dealership when I dropped off the car so I hope they look into that as well.

The problem is, A LOT of us are having vibration issues with our CX5's and CX9's. Mazda is doing their best to cover their asses. They can't admit there is a common issue as the recall may cost them Billions!
 
UPDATE:

The dealership was advised by Mazda to replace the driveshaft(s) and see if that fixes the issue. These guys have no clue! Hope it works!

Now just have to wait for the parts to be delivered and installed 👎
 
Youri, that M-Tip leaves out a lot. The big thing is that they only mention balancing. The Hunter GSP9700 is a fine balancer as well as a road force correction machine. If the tires are merely balanced, and nothing more, the vibration, if caused by road force variation in one or more tires, will still be there. Tires with unacceptable road force variation can be perfectly balanced and drive like they are way out of balance. Ditto for tires with unacceptable eccentricity which the GSP9700 also indentifies and may be correctable by moving the tire high spot to the wheel low spot.
 
Youri, that M-Tip leaves out a lot. The big thing is that they only mention balancing. The Hunter GSP9700 is a fine balancer as well as a road force correction machine. If the tires are merely balanced, and nothing more, the vibration, if caused by road force variation in one or more tires, will still be there. Tires with unacceptable road force variation can be perfectly balanced and drive like they are way out of balance. Ditto for tires with unacceptable eccentricity which the GSP9700 also indentifies and may be correctable by moving the tire high spot to the wheel low spot.
You are right, I assume it means they need to do a road force test, but it is not explicitly mentionnes and the same machine could be used for just standard balancing.
 
Latest update. Dropped the car off this morning and got a rental for the day from my dealer. They took my car to a local Honda dealer for road force balancing. My service manager drove it back to the Mazda dealership for a test drive and said most of the vibration was eliminated.

I drove the car on the highway twice this afternoon and if I can put a number on the improvement, I'd say it's in the realm of 50-60%. Better but not eliminated. I'll track this in the next couple of days and see how the car behaves. I got a confirmation that pre-adjustment values on some tires were in the 45 lb! range on the road force balancer. Post-adjustment values were apparently not provided by the Honda dealer, but the confirmation is that they are in an acceptable range for a tire of this size. I'll play with the tire pressures to see if that makes further difference, and decide if I can live with this. My gut is telling me I still can't accept this as is.

@cr8trface, are you willing to proceed with the driveshaft replacement? I bet that the second set of tires that was tested on your car was as bad as the original.
 
I know vibration issues have been posted before, but I have not seen a resolution.

I just picked up a brand new 2021.5 CX9 GS-L three days ago. Noticed on my first highway drive that the car and steering wheel vibrate between 100-120 KM/H

I have owned a 17' CX5 and a 19' CX9 previously with no vibrating issues at all.

Brought back to the dealer after driving a total of 200KM and they were able to replicate the issue. They did the following in their investigation:
- Check alignment
- Check wheel balance of stock Falkens
- Check driveshaft
- Check suspension
- Change wheels and tires completely off another brand new CX9 (Bridgestone Tires)

None of the above were able to solve the vibration.

In my non-professional opinion, I believe that the problem derives from the transmission/AWD differentials. I will suggest this to the dealer when I drop off the car tomorrow or day after and take one of their loaners.

They have escalated the problem with Mazda Canada and have opened a ticket. The shop manager claims he has never seen this issue before - also promises they will fix the issue in a week....


Has anyone successfully solved the vibrating issue? It is not normal - my past 2 Mazdas did not have this issue.
I had a similar problem with one of the shock absorbers after it lost all fluid. It was fine driving at low speeds but it was more obvious when I hit a bump on the road. At highway speeds between 80-100km/h, vibrations were annoying until higher speed reached.
 
UPDATE:

I swear these dealers never call back to keep the customer in the loop.

I drove to the dealership today as I forgot an item in my car I needed. They claim to have pinpointed the source of the vibrations - the rear driveshafts (I'm guessing the CV joints to each rear wheel)

Need 3 days to get the parts in and fix.

Anyway, I'm taking the car back tonight with the vibrations, can't stand the Mazda 3, it is depressing me each time I have to drive it. No where near par with the CX9 :p
 
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