New 2018 CX-5 Vibration at Highway Speeds

[walt]

There is a comment for a fix on Reddit. It goes like this. The cars were strapped down so tight during the overseas transport that the control arms were bent on three of his CX5 suspension. And the wheel bearings, 2, were damaged under the pressure. Replacing these parts fixed his issue of high speed vibration. My son had a Z240 that developed a vibration that was hard to isolate. Turned out that a piece of rock hit his front right tire that fell off a dump truck. No flat tire but it
apparently dented the race in the bearing. Changed it and it fixed it.

 

[cz5gt]

highly unlikely you can break a wheel bearing by strapping the car tires.

 

[walt]

highly unlikely you can break a wheel bearing by strapping the car tires.

I agree but here is his story told a bit more precise than me. And there seem to be no other answers for this common problem other than trade the car off for someone else to deal with it.

"Speed was around 55-60 mph, if i was lower or higher the noise went away, mine was 2021
I diagnosed the bearing by going to many dealerships and local body shops, ultimately it took a dealership tech crashing my car and breaking their garage door for them to actually fix the issue for me ( long story but it was a scratch on my car but the tech felt bad and actually did some due diligence ) , how they diagnosed was just Simple drive around at 55-60 mph , i went on the drive with them and pointed out the exact sound and mentioned that it goes away at lower/higher speeds
They found that the front control arms were bent and 3 wheel bearings needed to be replaced"

 

[Drocca92]

I agree but here is his story told a bit more precise than me. And there seem to be no other answers for this common problem other than trade the car off for someone else to deal with it.

"Speed was around 55-60 mph, if i was lower or higher the noise went away, mine was 2021
I diagnosed the bearing by going to many dealerships and local body shops, ultimately it took a dealership tech crashing my car and breaking their garage door for them to actually fix the issue for me ( long story but it was a scratch on my car but the tech felt bad and actually did some due diligence ) , how they diagnosed was just Simple drive around at 55-60 mph , i went on the drive with them and pointed out the exact sound and mentioned that it goes away at lower/higher speeds
They found that the front control arms were bent and 3 wheel bearings needed to be replaced"

Strapping down, any idea how they do that? Where do they hook to, the control arms themselves or sling web strap over the tires. Either way they are sailing half the globe but that does seem like an excessive amount of force?

 

[Moonlighter]

I am having trouble buying the argument that being tied down during sea shipping damaged the control arms. And an even harder time believing wheel bearings were damaged from that…..

You think that those DoDo shipping companies haven’t got this down pat? They put zillions of cars on these ships.

The Mazdas have the tie-down points front and rear and they will be inserted ready so the loading and securing process is smooth and fast when the card are loaded.

I have watched Toyotas being loaded at Nagoya port in Japan and the process runs fast and like a well oiled machine. As you’d expect from the Japanese.

What I CAN believe is that when the cars are being delivered from the port to the importer and from the holding yards to dealers on trucks, some cowboys might not tie down correctly or get over enthusiastic, and possibly cause some suspension damage either when loading, unloading or during transit. The chances of that causing suspension damage seem far more likely than during transport on the car carrier ship.

Would not a wheel alignment check done by a competent technician surely pick up a bent control arm??

 

[walt]

Another possibility is the transport trucks we see with cars on them.
Not sure if Mazda uses them but they have to get to the dealer somehow after ships. Trains only go so far. I could see the trucks tying
down to whatever is easiest. And bouncing on an already too tight point. The control arms are stamped steel. The rear would be especially fragile given the length. I'm gonna lift mine this week end
and take a look.

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[Drocca92]

Another possibility is the transport trucks we see with cars on them.
Not sure if Mazda uses them but they have to get to the dealer somehow after ships. Trains only go so far. I could see the trucks tying
down to whatever is easiest. And bouncing on an already too tight point. The control arms are stamped steel. The rear would be especially fragile given the length. I'm gonna lift mine this week end
and take a look.

Reddit - The heart of the internet

www.reddit.com

That is a valid point. The Mazda dealer had one of these car carrier/ transport trucks unloading while I was there. Are the stamped steel control arms inferior to the molded aluminum? I suppose the steel will bend where the aluminum will break before bending?

 

[N7turbo]

Aluminum will definitely bend.

 

[bmninada]

one of the 3 engine mounts may be slightly not torqued to specs.

 

[walt]

one of the 3 engine mounts may be slightly not torqued to specs.

Possible. However mine vibrates even at 75 when I pop it into neutral.
When I get time gonna verify all the body panels under the car are secure and not fluttering. I had a GM pick up that had a fender molding cause a vibration at high speed. A very young tech finally figured it out.

 

[bmninada]

Possible. However mine vibrates at 75 when I pop it into neutral.
When I get time gonna verify all the body panels under the car are secure and not fluttering. I had a GM pick up that had a fender molding cause a vibration at high speed. A very young tech finally figured it out.

There's a thread EXACTLY on that. Cruising speed and then when releasing gas and the car moves to neutral the vibration happens. It seems the mating of engine and transmission had a slightly loose bolt which starts to cause the problem. I am not saying that's indeed your case but checking the bolts with a torque wrench spec'ed to the correct Mazda settings doesn't hurt and hardly takes any time. Just to scratch off a possibility.