Less than a week old MZ5 Question

[exman]

Well I took delivery of my Whitewater Sport with AT last Tuesday 6/13 and at delivery the brake assembly was rusted 1 almost completely. Where? the metal in between where the wheel is and the actual brake surface. I checked every single MZ5 on there lot and they were spotless.

This is a FRICTIONLESS area! The rust ain't gonna come off! I have beautiful 17" wheels and All I see is rusty hubs! the front driver side is %90 rust and the best one is no more than %60 rust.

The car had to be dealer traded and had 190mi on the odometer. The hubs are nasty like a 5 year old car. Yes they will get this way sometime but it is NEW!

The sales manager saw this as I wanted him to see it. There is talk of grinding down the hub and painting it.

This corrosion on the hubs makes me wonder if it was ever under water? or just on the deck of the cargo ship exposed to the elements at sea? regardless I cannot look into the exhaust but I bet there is more damage there as well.

what do you all think?

 

[wongpres]

This has come up before on various Mazda vehicles, most recently with the RX-8:

RUST ON BRAKE ROTOR HUBS
0003559 Dealer Repair Information
Rust can be seen on the brake rotor hub area when looking between the wheel spokes. The rust is most visible on vehicles equipped with 17" chrome wheels. 1. Remove rust from hub(s) by sanding. 2. Clean/prep hub surface for primer. 3. Mask off brake rotor area. 4. Apply primer around entire hub area. 5. Once primer dries, apply a heat type silver paint to the affected area to repair the vehicle. Note: Replace the rotor(s) only if the affected area cannot be repaired enough to satisfy the customer.


It is rare for such a new vehicle to have it, but the solution is the above. For those living in snowy area it'll inevitably happen in the long-run anyways. Personally, what I did before my car's first winter is I painted that hub area (as well as my calipers) with silver Tremclad Rust paint. No rust at all after two winters.

 

[jandree22]

My wife's car has this... is it just a cosmetic blemish or is it actually a safety/structural integrity concern?

 

[fam]

I have it too. Probably from the winters here.

 

[wongpres]

My wife's car has this... is it just a cosmetic blemish or is it actually a safety/structural integrity concern?

Cosmetic blemish - surface rust to be more precise. No safety/structural concerns at all.

What I posted earler about the fix for the RX-8 was a special service bulletin, not even a TSB. Rest assured that it's 100% cosmetic.

 

[was98strat]

Cosmetic blemish - surface rust to be more precise. No safety/structural concerns at all.

What I posted earler about the fix for the RX-8 was a special service bulletin, not even a TSB. Rest assured that it's 100% cosmetic.

I guess it's more of a matter of principle at this point, the car is Brand New and the hubs are All (except 1) rusty. That's not right on a NEW car regardless of whether it's just cosmetic. It's a NEW car, it's all about cosmetics at this point.

Have the dealership deal with it. After all you didn't just spend 27k to get a rusty new car!

 

[exman]

I guess it's more of a matter of principle at this point, the car is Brand New and the hubs are All (except 1) rusty. That's not right on a NEW car regardless of whether it's just cosmetic. It's a NEW car, it's all about cosmetics at this point.

Have the dealership deal with it. After all you didn't just spend 27k to get a rusty new car!

W3rd!

Anyways I just got off the phone with the mazda service and he said they'd take care of it next Monday morning. (ughdance) a week of more rust but he did say if it is pitted they'd take care of that too (hinted to new parts w/o saying so. I know a friend of his that goes to the same church and every lil bit helps. Hopefully this will be taken care of the first time.

I guess if they do a good job it might wear better than new? but if it looks sh!tty I'll tell them and they can replace the hub rotor assembly. That would be 2 strikes for the same problem a third problem with rusty hubs they can get me a new non rusty Mazda 5 that I paid for. Except this time I want a sunroof! (shocked) teasing.

Funny thing is I sold new hondas for years and never saw that problem anywhere close to as bad as my 5.

 

[exman]

Well I have news!

The dealer rep said they were going to sand off and paint the hubs yesterday as I left the car there but today he calls at 8:24 AM this morning and says they are just going to replace all the hubs(shocked) silly.

hopefully this comes to fruition!

Peace,

EX

 

[exman]

Great news and bad news...

Well they put all new hub rotor assemblies on the vehical because they said they were the rustiest ones they have ever seen! I complained about the car thumping at 47mph give or take a few mph so they also put brand new tires on! old ones had 722 miles! said they had some flat spots. I guess they put the tires on for that reason.

Bad news I still have the thumping (lightly) at 47mph(omg) (ughdance)
engine mounts maybe(peep) ?

anyone know how to check who old the 5 is from manufacturer?

I guess I still have to call them and let them know about the 47mph thumping. Man I just want it to work!

So my Service guy is trying Hard but I want more diagnosis and less part switching from here on out. (notcool)

 

[Wuster]

The manufacture date should be on a sticker in the driver door frame. It will tell you the month and year your 5 is made.

Keep in mind that the 5's are made in Japan, so it takes at least a month to get them loaded on the boat over there, the cruise to America, unloaded here, shipped to the dealership, blah, blah, blah... So since you got your car towards the beginning of June, don't be surprised to see a built date of April or March.

 

[jandree22]

So my Service guy is trying Hard but I want more diagnosis and less part switching from here on out. (notcool)

While I'm not an auto mechanic, my previous job was an IT Technician... basically troubleshooting computer issues. Unfortunately, there's not always a diagnostic do-hickey to plug into whatever you're fixing that tells you what's wrong. A lot of times you have nothing but trial and error. Also, many times the technician thinks "Oh of course, it's problem A or B..." when finally they realize "D'oh! It was problem Y." Believe me, it's frustrating on both ends, but the techs won't be getting mad at you, they'll just get annoyed (with themselves and/or the car) that they can't find the problem. So far your dealership sounds like they've been more than helpful so just be glad about that!

Good luck!

 

[7red7]

As far as your thumping goes I'd try out a couple of things with your dealer to see if any of these may b your problem...

1. Check to ensure proper tire PSI settings in all four tires...My 5 was making some noises too and I found them to be a bit low...Once I upped the PSI to 40 per tire when cold, it's run spotless every since...

2. Even though you have received new tires, they may be out of balance...Not to say the dealership didn't balance the new ones, or the old ones for that matter... However, if they balanced the old ones to spec and then you had a thump, only to install new tires at the same spec as your old ones, the problem may have followed the balance settings into the new tires...

3. Provided your car isn't already pulling left or right (with the exception of the normal torque steer at hard accelerations toward the right) maybe have the dealership check and possibly adjust your rear allignment...Our 5's have a camber setting that will have the tires at a slight angle when looking at the car from the rear quarter panels...If out of camber too much or too little, you may be wearing your tires into getting those flat spots the service tech found due to uneven pavement grip when driving...

Hope this may help you out, and I'm glad to hear they hooked you up on replacing those rusty parts

HAPPY DRIVING!!!

DAN

 

[jmcglynn]

Thumping? In the old days that used to be a sign for bad wheel bearings. Can you isolate whether the thump is coming from the front or back? Right or left?

 

[exman]

Thumping? In the old days that used to be a sign for bad wheel bearings. Can you isolate whether the thump is coming from the front or back? Right or left?

well I'd say front but it is hard to isolate left or right.

It is s shallow thump not very perceivable until 47 then there it goes light thumping feel through pedal and also in the seat of your pants.