2017~2025 CX-5 Original Front Brakes, Outside Pads No Wear, Inside Finished?

[Davidiot]

I first noticed a cyclic rubbing/dragging sound seemingly coming from one or the other of my front wheels while driving with the radio off one day. The rub seemed to be consistent with each revolution of a wheel (the frequency of the rubbing sound quickly increasing with the vehicle’s speed). This was soon followed by some aggressive steering-wheel shaking during braking, making the culprit much more certain. Only 24,000 miles since I bought my CX-5 brand-new, I wasn’t expecting to need brakes yet, much less new rotors .

Since the first 6,000 miles, though, my car’s really only seen town miles, almost exclusively stop & go, so I had to consider that perhaps this mileage could be normal, given my circumstances? Not sure how I managed to warp (at least one of the) rotors without ever hearing any warning sounds from brake wear indicators; but might that be because Mazda doesn’t install them?

I went ahead and bought new front rotors and a set of brake pads for all 4 wheels, and borrowed a pair of jack stands and a couple of torque wrenches so I could get started on doing the work myself. Having only two jack stands and the scissor jack from my trunk, I haven’t been able to take a look at the rear brakes yet; but I did pull off the fronts earlier today.

I am in SHOCK at what I found. Wtf, Mazda?

The inside pads on both the front left and front right wheels are worn down completely; while the outside pads are still almost as fat as the brand new replacements I just bought. How could this have happened with factory-installed brakes? What other parts am I now looking at having to replace to make sure the same thing doesn’t happen again to my new rotors and pads?

 

[HyFlyer]

... I am in SHOCK at what I found. Wtf, Mazda? ...

I don't have time to type much at the moment, but to be honest, this isn't a "WTF Mazda" problem rather it's a lack of brake maintenance in a highly corrosive environment. If you do your own maintenance, I can tell you what to do in the future to prevent that from happening. If you're paying someone to do your maintenance, however, you should find a new shop! (Unless you turned down suggested brake maintenance)

 

[leeharvey418]

You know in the manual when it says to lubricate your caliper pins? This is why it says that.

 

[stickerbush]

Wow that sure is a lot of corrosion for a 5yr old car, you must be driving roads that are salted in the winter. The uneven wear is likely due to lack of lubrication on the caliper pins, at this point they may be corroded too. Depending on the extent of the corrosion you will need new calipers or best case, a thorough cleaning and lubrication of the pins.

 

[sm1ke]

Wow, this is certainly the worst case of uneven pad wear I've seen. I had a 2018 CX-9 with a small amount of uneven pad wear on one side, and indeed, it was due to a lack of remaining lube on the slide pin on that side, which resulted in some corrosion starting to form on the pin itself.

In your case, if the pins have corroded, I would replace them or at least grind the corrosion off, then make sure they are lubricated before you reinstall them. Also double check the slide pin rubber boots to make sure they aren't damaged - replace them if they are. Hopefully that resolves the issue.

 

[N7turbo]

That is really bad.

Not sure if it's relevant, but my 2023 had one of the rear pad retaining clips installed incorrectly. Wouldn't have noticed if I didn't do my pad swap.

 

[RedBaron]

Interesting... there's a TSB out for the CX-50's for this same type of issue (though the cause may be different)...

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2025/MC-11014796-0001.pdf