If you go back in time, early days 2017, I have made couple of posts regarding my convo with a JP engineer who worked in a senior position in Mazda. Yes - I can speak fluent Japanese and yes I have been to his place, his family mine here in US, etc. as we have a common friend / family. I don't EVER trouble him and which he appreciates. He is long left Mazda. His technical area of expertise is either in engine or suspension. To a large extent he does know sound, as he dabbles in it.
Frankly - I believe this thread should be a sticky. Here's why - perhaps?
We got talking and 1 thing led to another. 1 thing that has been bothering me for 2 months is how come - I have only 75,000 miles 9 yr old SUV never went off-track, I am not a crazy driver with sharp turns, blah-blah ended up completely shod to hell the front suspension, sway links, control arm bushings, etc.
Over a 18 yr old - up high in Poconos we talked. LOL. 1 by 1 by 1. Finally the jigsaw connected. Picture formed. I won't go into technical details as most went over my head but meticulously he explained.
Tires - he said. Surprisingly in US he said almost everyone relies on basic tire mounting and spin balancing done by shops with off and on infrequent alignment. He started explaining how for a tire which is 3 to 6 month old its so important to have them force balanced and not spin balanced. He said - in most places we don't ever do this frequent balancing and when we do its almost always force balance. A pet peeve he said - engineers have been demanding including this in manual but marketing/sales are absolutely against it, since force balancing is 4 times more expensive. He said EVERY new Mazda tires are force balanced from factory. However, if they are installed in US then he said : no idea.
He went on to explain how rim loads effect suspension which then transmits to other parts of suspension. He gave an example - balanced tires and you drive but at certain particular speed usually +60 mph you detect vibrations. Off and on or always. If you go back and ask - possibility is your mechanic will says tires are balanced its your rotor. But he explained that's usually and almost always not the case. There are loads in the tires which need to be correctly distributed. The sweet spot of CX5 KE (no idea what that means) is he said 14 lbs and for KF is 12 lbs. Over time and now since tires default to 5 yrs duration in general that effect on your underlying suspension is significant. He said as and and when we replace tires other than rotation, air pressure at least once after driving for few get it force balanced. Then afterwards its fine to do regular balance. He said next force balance may never again be required or required if the vibrations return. In a nutshell - he said you'll help your suspension a long way.
There's 1 example he gave I will try to replicate here (since its the only one I understood .. whiskey helped.. LOL)
Suspension "Battery" Analogy: Think of your suspension as a battery. Every time an unbalanced tire rotates, it sends a tiny "shock" into your bushings and links. A standard spin balance (like at Costco) might stop the steering wheel from shaking, but if the Road Force (the "hard spot" in the tire) is high, that shock is still hitting your suspension 800+ times per mile. Over 30,000 miles, you've essentially "drained" the life out of those rubber parts.
Frankly - I believe this thread should be a sticky. Here's why - perhaps?
We got talking and 1 thing led to another. 1 thing that has been bothering me for 2 months is how come - I have only 75,000 miles 9 yr old SUV never went off-track, I am not a crazy driver with sharp turns, blah-blah ended up completely shod to hell the front suspension, sway links, control arm bushings, etc.
Over a 18 yr old - up high in Poconos we talked. LOL. 1 by 1 by 1. Finally the jigsaw connected. Picture formed. I won't go into technical details as most went over my head but meticulously he explained.
Tires - he said. Surprisingly in US he said almost everyone relies on basic tire mounting and spin balancing done by shops with off and on infrequent alignment. He started explaining how for a tire which is 3 to 6 month old its so important to have them force balanced and not spin balanced. He said - in most places we don't ever do this frequent balancing and when we do its almost always force balance. A pet peeve he said - engineers have been demanding including this in manual but marketing/sales are absolutely against it, since force balancing is 4 times more expensive. He said EVERY new Mazda tires are force balanced from factory. However, if they are installed in US then he said : no idea.
He went on to explain how rim loads effect suspension which then transmits to other parts of suspension. He gave an example - balanced tires and you drive but at certain particular speed usually +60 mph you detect vibrations. Off and on or always. If you go back and ask - possibility is your mechanic will says tires are balanced its your rotor. But he explained that's usually and almost always not the case. There are loads in the tires which need to be correctly distributed. The sweet spot of CX5 KE (no idea what that means) is he said 14 lbs and for KF is 12 lbs. Over time and now since tires default to 5 yrs duration in general that effect on your underlying suspension is significant. He said as and and when we replace tires other than rotation, air pressure at least once after driving for few get it force balanced. Then afterwards its fine to do regular balance. He said next force balance may never again be required or required if the vibrations return. In a nutshell - he said you'll help your suspension a long way.
There's 1 example he gave I will try to replicate here (since its the only one I understood .. whiskey helped.. LOL)
Suspension "Battery" Analogy: Think of your suspension as a battery. Every time an unbalanced tire rotates, it sends a tiny "shock" into your bushings and links. A standard spin balance (like at Costco) might stop the steering wheel from shaking, but if the Road Force (the "hard spot" in the tire) is high, that shock is still hitting your suspension 800+ times per mile. Over 30,000 miles, you've essentially "drained" the life out of those rubber parts.
