Brake/Caliper Corrosion on 2016 CX-5

[gazelle]

I had all brake pads and rotors replaced at 20k miles on CX5 '16 due to weird sound coming from brakes, rusty kind of sound

Now it has 32k miles, and imagine my surprise - the dealer recommends to replace rear pads and rotors again for exact same reason

They say I don't drive it "enough"

I drive 6-7k miles a year for over 20 years and never had issues with any other car

I don't think they will do a recall but it doesn't look like its a very good car for 6k/year driving

 

[yrwei52]

I had all brake pads and rotors replaced at 20k miles on CX5 '16 due to weird sound coming from brakes, rusty kind of sound

Now it has 32k miles, and imagine my surprise - the dealer recommends to replace rear pads and rotors again for exact same reason

They say I don't drive it "enough"

I drive 6-7k miles a year for over 20 years and never had issues with any other car

I don't think they will do a recall but it doesn't look like its a very good car for 6k/year driving

There’s no way that your rust problem on brakes is because you don't drive your CX-5 enough! The rust issue on brakes and under-carriage on CX-5 has been reported too many times here, especially in snow belt area. That’s why those Canadian CX-5 owners recommend rust-proofing the CX-5 when new.

 

[Jmaz]

It's normal to get scraping sounds after disc brakes sit for a while.Moisture in the air causes surface rust on the rotors which is scraped off when the brakes are applied the first few times.This is normal and does not mean you need new brakes.Rotors are basically raw cast iron which will form rust in a matter of hours on a rainy day.
Of course the dealer " recommends" new brakes.

 

[gazelle]

especially in snow belt area

I'm in NYC where it snows probably one week a year and I don't drive in snow / ice

Of course the dealer " recommends" new brakes.

Any other way to tell the wear other than visual? Some cars have sensors, some would make pitching noise...

 

[gazelle]

found it

 

[gazelle]

anyone tried dyi approach? like https://www.familyhandyman.com/project/how-to-remove-rust-from-brake-rotors/

 

[Buzzman12]

I had all brake pads and rotors replaced at 20k miles on CX5 '16 due to weird sound coming from brakes, rusty kind of sound

Now it has 32k miles, and imagine my surprise - the dealer recommends to replace rear pads and rotors again for exact same reason

They say I don't drive it "enough"

I drive 6-7k miles a year for over 20 years and never had issues with any other car

I don't think they will do a recall but it doesn't look like its a very good car for 6k/year driving

Well, I keep whining about the poor brake quality that Mazda's apparently have, and not everyone has agreed with me.
Fair enough, but this revived thread just reaffirms my personal beliefs.
Same with dealer reactions. I got the same BS responses: Don't drive it enough. You live in a road salt city (even though I don't drive it in the slush).....blah blah blah. Any excuse to not take any responsibility or action.
I'll try and post some pics of my rear brakes soon. It's not just the rotors either. The calipers and brackets are rusted badly as well.
Same as gazelle said too: never happened like this on any of my previous cars.

 

[yrwei52]

⋯
Any other way to tell the wear other than visual? Some cars have sensors, some would make pitching noise...

If you have a 2016 CX-5, your problem with worn out rear disk pads could be EPB dragging issue from inferior rear disk brake calipers based on this TSB:

TSB R052/16C: Noise from REAR BRAKE/Trace of Rear Brake Dragging

 

[yrwei52]

⋯
I'll try and post some pics of my rear brakes soon. It's not just the rotors either. The calipers and brackets are rusted badly as well.
Same as gazelle said too: never happened like this on any of my previous cars.

Yes I’m with you. I’ve seen many pictures posted here with rust issues on brakes including the calipers. Like I said earlier I’m not surprised about rust issues on our CX-5 as I’ve seen enough “comparison” pictures from different cars driving in the same environment. I’m just glad I live in Texas and my CX-5 doesn’t see too much snow and salt in recent winters.

Just joined the club and question on rust

Rustproofing & Undercoating...is it necessary?

A recent rust complaint on rear suspension area and brake calipers:

I was very surprised at the amount of rust in some areas but the dealership mechanic assured me it is normal. ⋯
Photo of the rust I was talking about:

View attachment 227093

This CX-5 should be from Illinois:

Just spent 3 hours under my 3 year old CX-5. Did AT, Engine and 2x TC oil changes.

Rust level in various spots on 36 month car was tad too much. Mark this post, but in 4 season weather I don't see this version last 10 years.

If this is CA/FL type of no salt climate - all should be fine, but winter states beware.

This CX-5 is from Toronto area in Canada:

View attachment 216610
View attachment 216611
View attachment 216612
View attachment 216613

Here is the underside of my car after 4 winters.

Here is comparison pictures between his CX-5 and Toyota Matrix from Southern New Hampshire:

Rust like that after a few years even with heavy use of salt I believe is unacceptable with today's coatings and materials to look worse than a car that is 13 years old is not acceptable. How can Mazda get away with this? I love how this car drives and looks but also want one that will last. Also very happy with fuel economy so far getting around 30.5MPG on my 100 mile round trip commute.

2005 toyota matrix/pontiac vibe - 225K miles driving 100 miles a day

View attachment 216618

2014 CX-5 (seen 2 winters) -28K miles

View attachment 216616
View attachment 216617

 

[gazelle]

If you have a 2016 CX-5, your problem with worn out rear disk pads could be EPB dragging issue from inferior rear disk brake calipers based on this TSB:

TSB R052/16C: Noise from REAR BRAKE/Trace of Rear Brake Dragging

That's the only explanation for rear pads replacement after 10k, and VIN matches... thanks!

 

[MyFirstMazda]

I don't think the dealer means that the rotors rusted too bad. I think the dealer means were the calipers touch the pads, and the ears of the pads and maybe the pins don't move freely. Still, 12K sounds low mileage for brakes rust or no rust. Maybe it is the brake dragging issue. I would think that your dealer would be on top of that if it was the TSB.

 

[MyFirstMazda]

I'm in NYC where it snows probably one week a year and I don't drive in snow / ice



Any other way to tell the wear other than visual? Some cars have sensors, some would make pitching noise...

I hope you didn't jinx it lol. I'm in NJ. Some years we get a lot of snow. And if we get 1/4 inch of snow the salt trucks dump a ton of salt on the roads. The roads become white with salt.

 

[MyFirstMazda]

Those rust pictures are incredible. I would think the car should have a recall for rusting like that. Do any of you guys have very rusty undercarriages after two or three years?

 

[cz5gt]

previous year, un treated.
North east US.

I dont honestly believe Mazdas have good rust resistance even today. yeah may be better than 10 years ago but not the best.

 

[MyFirstMazda]

previous year, un treated.
North east US.

I dont honestly believe Mazdas have good rust resistance even today. yeah may be better than 10 years ago but not the best.

How old is your car? It looks like it is 20 years old under there. Maybe the wetness makes it look worse than it is, it looks a bit slimy idk.

 

[MyFirstMazda]

One of these might help to wash salt from underneath:

 

[Buzzman12]

I don't honestly believe Mazdas have good rust resistance even today. Yeah may be better than 10 years ago but not the best.

When I was shopping 3 years ago for a new car, I obviously checked out Mazda, and found a lot of horror stories about their past rust issues.
Around here, any older Mazda 3's, and even worse, Protege's, are severely rusted out.
Before buying my 6, I was assured by many sources that Mazda had changed their materials and designs to mitigate any rust issues. Newer Mazda's are not supposed to be as rust prone as older models.
Seeing everything that's posted on this site, plus searching the internet, plus my own experience with premature brake rusting, I'm not so sure.
I'll be putting my winter tires and rims on the car sometime in the next week (we had snow this morning), and I'll have a good look underneath to see how good/bad it is.
Hopefully I can post some pictures.

 

[gazelle]

Out of curiosity I looked through car paperwork and found these interesting artifacts:

Figure 1. Inspection at 26903 miles that says all brake pads are green (over 5mm)


Figure 2. Inspection at 32970 miles that says that front pads are green, and rear pads are red (below 3mm)


Basically in 6k miles front pads stayed in excellent shape while rear pads went down by over at least 2mm

I could dodge the fact that my car needs pads replacement every 6k miles and trade it in, if it wasn't for the third artifact:

Figure 3. Customer asks to check brakes due to noise and instead of a fix following R052/16C covered by warranty gets humiliated for driving not enough


There is also an artifact showing that at 20k they replaced all rotors and pads.

I will self inspect the pads next w/e to exclude any possibility of misjudgement, but if pads are really worn out - do I have a case for Mazda to at least execute R052/16C free of charge?

 

[yrwei52]

Out of curiosity I looked through car paperwork and found these interesting artifacts:

Figure 1. Inspection at 26903 miles that says all brake pads are green (over 5mm)
View attachment 228693

Figure 2. Inspection at 32970 miles that says that front pads are green, and rear pads are red (below 3mm)
View attachment 228694

Basically in 6k miles front pads stayed in excellent shape while rear pads went down by over at least 2mm

I could dodge the fact that my car needs pads replacement every 6k miles and trade it in, if it wasn't for the third artifact:

Figure 3. Customer asks to check brakes due to noise and instead of a fix following R052/16C covered by warranty gets humiliated for driving not enough
View attachment 228697

There is also an artifact showing that at 20k they replaced all rotors and pads.

I will self inspect the pads next w/e to exclude any possibility of misjudgement, but if pads are really worn out - do I have a case for Mazda to at least execute R052/16C free of charge?

I believe you do have a case here at least on rear brakes for needing new brakes TWICE in 33K miles even though the front brakes were also in suspicion of some sort of problems that you needed new brakes at 20K miles. You can show the dealer the TSB, but really you should contact Mazda North American Operations and file a complaint about the dealer failed to fix at least the rear brake problem at the first place based on the TSB while you were still having the new car warranty.

 

[gazelle]

nice video, looks like it's a widely spread issue