Mazda 5 Road Noise

[mangelwurzel]

Hi There,

Have bought my first Mazda - a 2006 Mazda 5 Furano. We really like the car, but the road noise (if that's what it is) from the rear is really bad. At first I thought it was a wheel bearing, but it doesn't seem bad enough.

Is this normal for a Mazda 5 to have quite bad road noise from the rear?

 

[thaxman]

What tires are on it? To be noted: the glass in this car is REALLY thin and road noise penetrates the glass quite easily compared to a lot of the cars we Americans are used to. Not sure how that compares across the pond, though. I also have found that road noise seems to be exponentially louder when my shocks and struts were/are failing.

 

[mangelwurzel]

Cheers. Not sure about glass thickness differences, but the noise is definitely coming from the rear of the car. Its had one new shock recently. The tyres are a bit old and I don't think they are the best quality so they probably don't help. Thinking about new tyres soon, which may be winter ones which will probably not be the quietest.

 

[lakersfan1]

The sound deadening is a little on the light side in the 5. That said, the most important thing to road noise is the tires in this car. When I bought mine it was loud on the highway. Ditched the Bridgestones the previous owner put on even though they probably had 20,000 miles left and put Continental DWS on. Much better road noise since the tire swap.

 

[mazdadude]

Run your hand over the surface of the tread. On the rear tires make sure to check the sidewall that is facing the center of the car. This area wears the quickest on the rear.

Try rubbing your hand lightly in the direction of the tires rotation, across the tread clockwise, then try it counter clockwise. If your tire is "cupping", one direction will be super smooth, and the other direction will be rough...

This car is hard on tires, but that is the compromise of having a vehicle that is tuned for handling versus tire-wear.