Mike's 2018 CX-9 Signature

[Glaucus]

Did you ever check to see what the rear diff goes for on the used market? I imagine there's a few of those available in the wreckers. I presume that's a CX-9 specific part?

I didn't try to source the rear diff myself. Since I had planned to have a shop do the removal and replacement, I got quotes from them to compare against the quote from Mazda. You and I are local to each other so you might be familiar with the shops I contacted. One was Seven Oaks Transmission, and the other was GW Transmission. Both shops quoted me at $2700-2800 all-in before taxes, and that was with them sourcing the used diff for me. When speaking to the tech at Seven Oaks, he mentioned that typically there aren't many used diffs available, and at the time of inquiry there only seemed to be one used unit available. I did also contact Trans-Tech Industries, but they don't source used components and mostly do rebuilds. They told me that the CX-9 rear diff is "nonrebuildable", which I take to mean as it's not worth the cost compared to buying new.

Ok, good to know.

 

[sm1ke]

Front passenger side LCA bushings are shot. The front passenger strut has also started leaking and making noise. I guess the suspension had finally had enough after 3 years on Corksport springs and the multitude of pothole hits over the last 2 years.

Cost to source locally was ridiculous, so I ordered replacements from Rock Auto. Got two FCS struts and a Beck/Arnley LCA, which arrived earlier this week. I know these struts aren't great, I just need them to last while I rebuild my repair fund lol.

I also picked up a set of lightly used Continental CrossContact LX Sport tires in 275/40/22. Decided to go with this size at first because of the availability, but also because they will give me a bit more sidewall which should help a bit with ride comfort.

The original tires on my summer set are Nexen Roadian HP in 285/35/22. They've been on the car for a little over half the year, every year, since 2019. The remaining tread is still pretty good, but two of the tires have developed slow leaks due to random nails and screws and repairs. They weren't loud on the highway, at least to my ears, but I'm hoping these Continental tires are even better.

Hoping to replace the struts and LCA in the next week or so.

 

[Glaucus]

Do you think Beck/Arnley is a good option? I typically prefer MOOG but I didn't find an LCA made by them for this car. I suspect my LCA was going on my 2017. That or an outer tie rod.

However, some guy tried to cross all 4 lanes of Corydon without looking and smacked my car last month. It's now sitting at MPI lot. I'm fighting with them on the value of the car.

 

[sm1ke]

Do you think Beck/Arnley is a good option? I typically prefer MOOG but I didn't find an LCA made by them for this car. I suspect my LCA was going on my 2017. That or an outer tie rod.

However, some guy tried to cross all 4 lanes of Corydon without looking and smacked my car last month. It's now sitting at MPI lot. I'm fighting with them on the value of the car.

Initially I thought it was my balljoint going bad. I jacked the car up and pushed/pulled the wheel at 12 and 6 to check for play, and there was a tiny bit. When I tried to move the whole wheel by pushing/pulling at 9 and 3, I noticed that the movement was happening at the LCA's bushings.

From the quick research I did, Beck/Arnley seemed to be the best option available, aside from OEM. Crown Mazda quoted over $400 for the LCA. The Dorman brand was the other aftermarket alternative available on Rock Auto, but it was more expensive and didn't review well online. Beck/Arnley seemed to get better reviews overall, and was cheaper, so I went with them.

There is another option local to us from a shop called Axle Auto Parts. They can bring in fairly cheap parts of decent quality and you may also be able to negotiate pricing a little bit, but in this case the LCA was more expensive that the Dorman and I would have had to wait a few weeks for stock to arrive.

Damn, sorry to hear about your CX-9! Hopefully they can offer you a fair payout. My colleague just had to deal with MPI over his son's writeoff a few weeks ago and they gave him a great payout. Hopefully you can get the same (or better).

 

[Silly Wabbit]

Please document the process and take plenty of pictures when you do the replacement! What's your initial impression of the parts quality?