Shocks/struts wearing out prematurely?

[mazdaftw]

Hi everyone,

Been noticing my 2018 CX-5 with 55k miles having an intermittent thunking noise when driving and groaning noise when backing up. Took it a couple of shops and they said everything is fine and wasn't able to reproduce the issue, Finally a third shop test drove it and informed me one of the front struts and rear shock is weakening. Is this normal for the struts/hocks to be replaced this early? Kinda bummed out to find out the cost to replace the front and rear. Thanks for any helpful insight

 

[yrwei52]

Hi everyone,

Been noticing my 2018 CX-5 with 55k miles having an intermittent thunking noise when driving and groaning noise when backing up. Took it a couple of shops and they said everything is fine and wasn't able to reproduce the issue, Finally a third shop test drove it and informed me one of the front struts and rear shock is weakening. Is this normal for the struts/hocks to be replaced this early? Kinda bummed out to find out the cost to replace the front and rear. Thanks for any helpful insight

Your 2018 CX-5 is having intermittent thunking noise when driving forward, and groaning noise when backing up? I simply believe your third shop is wrong saying you need a new set of front struts and rear shocks at 55K miles unless they can show you the oil leak marks on these struts and shocks.

Try another shop or your Mazda dealer for a 4th opinion of your problem.

My guess is you have broken engine mounts or transmission mounts. Or loose or broken anti-sway bar links at front or rear.

 

[mazdaftw]

Thank you yrwei, it's frustrating to say the least. I'll get another opinion from another dealership.

 

[CX5Nut]

There is an issue with 2018 CX5 coming out of the factory with defective rear shocks that fail prematurely (but not the front) Our rear shocks needed to be replaced at ~32K miles.

 

[CX5Nut]

Here was my original post. And it was at 28K miles not 32K:

Blown rear shocks on a 2018 CX5 with only 28K miles!

Today I had an oil change at my local shop and they found that one of the rear shocks was leaking oil! Our 2018 CXR 5 has only 28K miles and is out of warrantee as of this past summer. Has anyone heard of shocks failing so soon? Any suggestions or ideas?

mazdas247.com

 

[paris1]

Here was my original post. And it was at 28K miles not 32K:

Blown rear shocks on a 2018 CX5 with only 28K miles!

Today I had an oil change at my local shop and they found that one of the rear shocks was leaking oil! Our 2018 CXR 5 has only 28K miles and is out of warrantee as of this past summer. Has anyone heard of shocks failing so soon? Any suggestions or ideas?

mazdas247.com

A little "weeping" is not cause for alarm. Just how bad is it?

 

[yrwei52]

A little "weeping" is not cause for alarm. Just how bad is it?

From the post #32 in the same thread: “Service writer at Mavis said the OEM shocks were shot (now at 32K miles)...leaking and soft.”

Update: Wanted to add an update here too in case anyone is in this same situation and comes across this thread.

I checked with someone who is a professional mechanic and not looking to sell anything. He suggested that the shocks should be replaced since weeping is a sign of failure, no matter what the Mazda TSB states.

Recently got new tires and did not want failing shocks to cause odd wear. I checked about the issue with camber that was mentioned above (had slightly more wear on the inside of the old tires) but it seems camber cannot be adjusted on the rear of our CX5s. Anyone hear that too?

Anyway, had the rears replaced yesterday....price was all over the place....Private shop $515, Meineke $444, and Mavis $270. Went with Mavis (Monroe shocks...hope that was not a mistake!)

Service writer at Mavis said the OEM shocks were shot (now at 32K miles)...leaking and soft. Why Mazda would use inferior shocks in our CX5s is beyond me.

CX5 seems to ride better, and the rear is up a little higher. With the new tires and rear shocks, it feels and sounds like a new car! All the road noise from the Toyo OEM tires is gone!

 

[mazdaftw]

Thanks guys, What's the cheapest way to skip out on the diagnosis fee? I've already had an oil change a week ago. Should I bring the printed TSB withe me when I go?

 

[yrwei52]

Thanks guys, What's the cheapest way to skip out on the diagnosis fee? I've already had an oil change a week ago. Should I bring the printed TSB withe me when I go?

Each dealer is different and some greedy dealers charge “diagnose fee” just to inspect the problem. Finding a good dealer is essential especially if your vehicle is under warranty.

Your 2018 CX-5 with 55k miles has only powertrain warranty left. Your problem shouldn’t relate to anything under such warranty, other than engine mounts or transmission mounts. At this point nobody seems to be able to find your problem, hence a Mazda dealer may be the best place to fix yours as they have the most info including all TSBs for your CX-5. You can keep trying some good shops you haven’t visited and hope they can find the culprit of your problem, or pay diagnose fee to a Mazda dealer and let them figure out the issue. Since your symptom is intermittent, it could be difficult to duplicate the problem by them with the limit time the tech has.

The other way is you simply live with this intermittent thunking and groaning noise until the symptom is getting more frequently so that the tech can easily duplicate the problem.

Bring the TSB you think related to your problem to a dealer is fine although they have such info in their system already. But I personally don’t think there’s any known TSBs related to your problem, including the failing rear shock TSB.

 

[madar]

You might want to try buying a can of silicone spray and soaking anything rubber on the suspension just to see what happens.

 

[TouringFan]

Clunking is not typically a symptom of failed shocks/struts unless the failure is catastrophic with broken parts that are easy to diagnose. The top mounts have rubber inserts and these can fail and cause clunking and groaning but groaning only happens while while turning with the front struts because they have a bearing that rotates when the wheels turn.

Agree with @yrwei52 "My guess is you have broken engine mounts or transmission mounts. Or loose or broken anti-sway bar links at front or rear." Loose or broken anti-sway bar links are the most common and easiest to fix cause of clunking noises.

It is extremely difficult to diagnose failed shocks or struts while still installed unless the oil seals are blown and the leaking oil is obvious. If the shop that told you that you need new shocks/struts can't show you obvious signs of large oil leaks on those parts, I would not trust them. This is a job that is very profitable for the shop. I was a professional mechanic for 10 years while going to college. Shops love brake jobs and suspension jobs because they are quick, easy, and profitable with newer cars that are not rusted.

If your CX-5 is bouncing a lot more than it did when new as you drive on rough roads, then maybe your shocks/struts are shot. The hydraulic parts of shocks/struts are what dampens out the bouncing after hitting bumps and potholes. It is not uncommon for shocks and struts on Japanese vehicles to be worn out between 50-75K miles. With most Japanese cars, they are designed for a soft compliant ride when new to help sell the car but not designed for long life. Most folks don't detect it because the hydraulic parts wear out slowly and gradually over time.

My last point. There are almost no shops left that will actually perform an extended test drive to diagnose problems. If they can't diagnose a problem quickly, they either bulls*** you or they tell you they could not find a problem and return the car to you. They are not making money while diagnosing and customer service does not extend much beyond how their service writers act towards you. Like it or not, it is on the owner to become more knowledgeable about their vehicle and be able to diagnose some things because if the shop thinks they can get away with selling you expensive repairs you don't need, they will do it. I just experienced this with my local Toyota dealer with my Tundra. I took it in for oil change and front end alignment. Their service writer came to me after about an hour and said I needed a new steering rack because the bolts attaching the tie rods to the rack were rusted too badly to do an alignment. The assholes assumed because I am a senior citizen that does not look like someone that works with his hands, that they could put one over on me. I informed the idiot that I was a pro mechanic and knew they were lying. I took the Tundra home, soaked the rusted threads with PB Blaster and had the truck aligned the next day at a Mavis shop. The Toyota dealer wanted $3500 to replace my steering rack. I gave them a bad review on the Better Business Bureau site and the head of their service department called me a few days later apologizing repeatedly and saying his mechanic did not do his job properly. Having worked in the industry, I know that service managers and mechanics at dealerships and large chains get paid bonuses based on the number of jobs they sell - particularly if they are big ticket jobs like they tried to screw me with. The BBB office deleted my comment after the dealer called me despite the fact that they did nothing to correct the problem.

 

[yrwei52]

Clunking is not typically a symptom of failed shocks/struts unless the failure is catastrophic with broken parts that are easy to diagnose. The top mounts have rubber inserts and these can fail and cause clunking and groaning but groaning only happens while while turning with the front struts because they have a bearing that rotates when the wheels turn.

Agree with @yrwei52 "My guess is you have broken engine mounts or transmission mounts. Or loose or broken anti-sway bar links at front or rear." Loose or broken anti-sway bar links are the most common and easiest to fix cause of clunking noises.

Although it’s long, but I really enjoy reading your post. Incidentally your diagnoses of OP’s problem are inline with several TSBs related to similar problems.

It is extremely difficult to diagnose failed shocks or struts while still installed unless the oil seals are blown and the leaking oil is obvious. If the shop that told you that you need new shocks/struts can't show you obvious signs of large oil leaks on those parts, I would not trust them. This is a job that is very profitable for the shop. I was a professional mechanic for 10 years while going to college. Shops love brake jobs and suspension jobs because they are quick, easy, and profitable with newer cars that are not rusted. If your CX-5 is bouncing a lot more than it did when new as you drive on rough roads, then maybe your shocks/struts are shot. The hydraulic parts of shocks/struts are what dampens out the bouncing after hitting bumps and potholes.

Yes, agreed.

It is not uncommon for shocks and struts on Japanese vehicles to be worn out between 50-75K miles. With most Japanese cars, they are designed for a soft compliant ride when new to help sell the car but not designed for long life. Most folks don't detect it because the hydraulic parts wear out slowly and gradually over time.

Not sure on Mazda’s as my 2016 CX-5 has only 51K miles, but I really have good experience on front struts and real shocks from my 1998 Honda CR-V EX AWD. I replaced them in 2018 at 182K miles and the original front struts and real shocks were still almost as tight as the new OEM struts and shocks for replacement! Since I’ve seen several TSBs for CX-5 from Mazda related to failing rear shocks and front struts, I’m not sure if those on my CX-5 would last as long as those on my CR-V.

My last point. There are almost no shops left that will actually perform an extended test drive to diagnose problems. If they can't diagnose a problem quickly, they either bulls*** you or they tell you they could not find a problem and return the car to you. They are not making money while diagnosing and customer service does not extend much beyond how their service writers act towards you. Like it or not, it is on the owner to become more knowledgeable about their vehicle and be able to diagnose some things because if the shop thinks they can get away with selling you expensive repairs you don't need, they will do it.

Couldn’t agree with you more! Yes car owners need to become more knowledgeable about their vehicles or they will get ripped off easily by car dealers or shops.

I just experienced this with my local Toyota dealer with my Tundra. I took it in for oil change and front end alignment. Their service writer came to me after about an hour and said I needed a new steering rack because the bolts attaching the tie rods to the rack were rusted too badly to do an alignment. The assholes assumed because I am a senior citizen that does not look like someone that works with his hands, that they could put one over on me. I informed the idiot that I was a pro mechanic and knew they were lying. I took the Tundra home, soaked the rusted threads with PB Blaster and had the truck aligned the next day at a Mavis shop. The Toyota dealer wanted $3500 to replace my steering rack. I gave them a bad review on the Better Business Bureau site and the head of their service department called me a few days later apologizing repeatedly and saying his mechanic did not do his job properly. Having worked in the industry, I know that service managers and mechanics at dealerships and large chains get paid bonuses based on the number of jobs they sell - particularly if they are big ticket jobs like they tried to screw me with.

I’ve heard so many stories that car dealers are trying to rip the customers off! My own recent bad experiences were all related to Toyota dealers. One Toyota dealer did the oil change by Toyota’s free 2-year new car maintenance program but failed to tighten up the drain plug on my 2018 Yaris iA (a Mazda2 in disguise) which almost ruined the engine due to 2 quarts of oil leaking out while I drove the Yaris from San Jose to LA. Another Toyota dealer in Oakland wanted to charge 2 times more than initial quote on the phone when my daughter took her 2022 Corolla Hatchback in to replace the broken rear fixed quarter window on the rear door due to a break-in. That piece of glass has $50 MSRP, and the service writer wanted $500+ to replace it on site. I called the dealer for my daughter and they eventually lowered the price to initial quote, which is still outrageous to me. The last incident was my daughter took her Corolla to another Toyota dealer in Berkeley for the first free new-car maintenance at 5K miles (tire rotation only) as a maintenance warning was on. They weren’t supposed to change the oil until 12 months or 10,000 miles and she has the car for only 8 months at the time. My daughter had emphasized that and the service writer acknowledged it too. But they changed the oil anyway to perform both 6-month and 12-month maintenance at 8th month time. Changing oil 4 months or 5K miles earlier isn’t a big deal, but that means the Corolla’s factory free 2-year maintenance essentially got cut short by 4 months.

The BBB office deleted my comment after the dealer called me despite the fact that they did nothing to correct the problem.

This’s unbelievable that the BBB would delete your complaint without consulting your opinion. Unfortunately this’s a society we currently live in, and many times there’s no justice anymore.

 

[PTSanchez]

This’s unbelievable that the BBB would delete your complaint without consulting your opinion. Unfortunately this’s a society we currently live in, and many times there’s no justice anymore.

Re BBB: Not surprised at all to hear of this "disconnect", as they are a sad joke in practice - just a private 501(c)(6) nonprofit organization, but easily "bought".

The BAR however - is just the opposite: a strict CA state agency.
They operate fast, follow-up & are brutal toward violators - I have retrieved very quick results on 2 occasions for some poor work performed by 2 different inept hacks.