2008 Mazda5, banging/rattling noise in front suspension

i have the same problem on my mazda3 and i have 150k on it, milage means nothing .its more than likely the links make sure they are well tightened and if they are i would go to a mechanic to get it diagnosed and that way you know for sure what it is.
 
tech_az said:
I'm hearing noise from both front and back.

I doubt it's the motor mounts because I've had the car checked out by the dealer and 2 mechanics to date and they all seem to point to various parts in the suspension system.

was98strat: you are only 1 of 2 people who i've seen report minimal or expected suspension related issues with the 5. From the posts I've read so far in this forum and another: http://townhall-talk.edmunds.com/direct/view/.f0fe2da, it seems the suspension problems are common and re-occurring. Granted the posters did fail to mention if they had all of the TSB repairs carried out... that is replace every single part specified in the TSB including servicing the Arc-Welding Bead on the rear Crossmember. So i guess there is a remote chance the problem is fixable. The last poster on the edmunds forum reported having fixed the issue by installing 2012 Mazda 5 bushings and greasing "upper rubber seat for the spring"...maybe this is the fix, i don't know.

I don't know if the TSB repairs were ever carried out on my 5 and there is no way for me to find out. I totally agree with your statement "Driving around Toronto is a true test of the quality of a cars suspension". The car is close to 100k so maybe it is time to replace some of the suspension parts but I'm just worried about the frequency I'll have to change them. My other car (99 Nissan Altima) is around 260k and I've changed the struts and shocks only once and stabilizer links a couple of times.
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Any Mazda dealer who wants your business, should be able to show you if the TSB has been performed on your vehicle with VIN#.

If you are hearing/feeling a clunk/thunk from front, I would do front swaybar bushings. ~$25 parts.

One quick visual inspection you can do from under the hood, is to inspect the swaybar where the swaybar clamps are and where the swaybar enters the bushings.

A quick visual inspection with a flashlight from above is all you need: Position yourself at the firewall to look between the motor and firewall area. You will be looking down low at the subframe area behind the engine. Look for the round tube swaybar that runs from right to left. You want to look at the area where the bar enters the bushing. If the bushing is worn, the bar will then be allowed to shift left and right, which will cause the dirty/dusty sway bar to have a band of CLEAN SHINY BLACK area on either side of the bushing/clamp.
 
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Too funny tech_az. That's my post over at Edmunds. I guess I should be more specific when posting. My 5 was used when I bought it and it was also lowered with H&R springs. When I did the 2012 rear sway bar bushing conversion and greased up the top rubber mounts for the rear springs I also raised it up with OEM springs. No TSBs had ever been done to front or rear at least through warranty at a Mazda dealer. I checked with my buddy who works for a Mazda dealer and he ran my VIN. Anyway, the noise is not completely gone but I hardly experience it now. Only when it rains or it's cold outside or it's loaded with all 6 passengers will I hear a tiny bit of squeak but nothing compared to how it used to squeak. So long story short. I really don't know which sort of fixed it. The 2012 bushings, lining the top rubber seat or simply raising it back up to stock. Maybe all helped but I'm happy for now.
 
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Thanks for the info Davicho.

I had the dealership check my VIN for TSB related repairs and they didn't find anything.

I'm thinking of getting 2012 Mazda 5 Bushings and Sway Bars installed for the front and rear. I know i'll need the 2012 bushing braces (shackles) but just not sure if i'll need anything else.
 
Tech, I bought the 2012 bushings and U-braces for the rear sway bar only. Again, I had to bore out the center of the bushing a little bit with a dremell so that I can install them on my 2006 sway bar. If you get the 2012 sway bar also then it should be just as easy as bolting up. BTW the bigger 2012 U-braces for the rear sway bar bushings bolt right up to the subframe (meaning the distance between the bolt holes line right up to the threaded hole in the subframe).
 
tech_az said:
Thanks for the info Davicho.

I had the dealership check my VIN for TSB related repairs and they didn't find anything.

I'm thinking of getting 2012 Mazdaspeed3 Bushings and Sway Bars installed for the front and rear. I know i'll need the 2012 bushing braces (shackles) but just not sure if i'll need anything else.
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Fixed it for you ;). We have a member here (phunky.buddha) who installed the 2nd gen MS3 rear sway bar (not sure about the front) and promised to post a how-to guide sometime.
Go for the 2nd gen MS3 sway bars if they come with the new bushings (I believe slight difference in collars that hold the brackets in place). You can easily find used ones since MS3 owners like to upgrade as well. Otherwise, stick with the 1gen MS3 bars and get aftermarket bushings. This is one area where the old OEM part (not sure about the new bushings) is faulty no matter how you try to fix it b/c I believe it is fundamentally flawed (made too cheap like every other component in this car).
 
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Hi All,
New to the forum and having all the same issues with my 2006 Mazda 5 GT. I have 150K on it, and i hear the noises, sounds like coming from the front end, with a little bit of shake coming through the steering wheel. Local Mazda dealer says struts and leaking, front stabilizer bushings are bad, trailing arm bushing have separated. They want close to $2K for the work done, including alignment. I have not checked into the parts cost yet, but is this something a backyard mechanic can do? Looking quickly at the rear end, it looks quite easy to swap out the bushings that bolt to the frame, is there anything else I should look at while under there? There is not a lot of bounce in the car, so I am hesitant to swap shocks out at first. I have read online that the front end is a little tricky space wise, but can be done in the driveway. If anyone could help out I would appreciate it.
Thanks
Paul
 
tech_az said:
I've had my 07 Mazda 5 for a few months now. It's at 94000 KM. I have the clunk/squeak noise as well. My cars VIN is within range of the TSB (Noise from front or rear suspension when passing over a bump or driving on uneven road). As per recommendations by my mechanic, back in January this year, i replaced 2 rear sway bar bushings and 2 rear sway bar end links. I also replaced both front strut assembly (Strut, mount and spring - Monroe sena-trac).. cuzz they were leaking. Noise was still there so I took it to the stealership a week ago. They said the front struts are leaking again and they suggested replacing a whole lot of stuff:
-front struts
-rear shocks
-front and rear control arms
-front and rear end links

The front struts are still under warranty but this is still gonna cost me a pretty penny obviously. From reading what others have wrote on this suspension problem, it seems I'll probably have to change everything again after 6 months or a year. Guess the 07 Mazda 5 suspension just sucks!
Click to expand...

Yes same problem here.. 2007 Mazda5 Touring with 52k miles and front end squeaks every time I go over the speed bump, drive on the rough road or reverse out of the driveway. I took it to local Firestone, they looked at it and they said right front strut is leaking so they want me to replace both front shocks/struts and whatnot for $900.. I haven't done it yet but eventually I guess it needs to be replaced since it is annoying to drive with the squeaky noise.. It sounds like this is just the beginning of the problem as the car gets older and older.. Sigh..
 
Update of my 2006 5 with 150K's. Dealer wanted Approx $2k, for 2 struts and front and rear bushings. On my dealer report, they said the rear bushings were separated. On the weekend I decided to do the work myself, starting at the rear and moving forward. Did the rear bushings and shocks in about 2 hours. The rear bushings did not look any different from the new ones, except the new ones had the knurled part inside. So dealer was incorrect on that one. Swapped out the rear shocks, since they were cheap and original. No leaks, old shocks still looked and felt ok. Dealer didn't say they were bad, so I may have invested some $ for the future. I am happy though. Took the car for a spin, still alot of noise up front. Looked at swapping the front bushings, but when I looked at them, they looked in good shape, didn't look like there was any movement. Decided against that work for now. Took out the struts, and after 1.5 hours of trying to get the nut off to separate the springs from the shock, I got them swapped. The driver side was ok, the passenger side was completely shot (original strut) Did both in about 5 hours, in my driveway. Took it for a spin, and the car drove like it was new. No noise, felt all the ripples in the road again just like the day I bought it. So, the verdict is, the local dealer is mostly full of crap. Took me 8-9 hours to swap taxes. I still need an alignment ($90 +tax) although the car drives straight, I will still get it done. I will never go to the dealer again.
I wanted to take pic's of the strut work, but once I got into it I forgot all about it. All in all, a good productive weekend wrenching in the sun!
 
you can do the struts yourself, maybe 5 hours of labor and $300 in parts. Squeaking probably is bushings though, that job is something I am not looking forward to touching. Parts are about $20 for OE.
 
Unless you have some bolts that don't like to be removed, the bushings will be 10x easier that the front struts. Just drive it up on ramps and slide yourself underneath.
 
flcruising said:
Unless you have some bolts that don't like to be removed, the bushings will be 10x easier that the front struts. Just drive it up on ramps and slide yourself underneath.
Click to expand...
Did you remove any of the power steering parts? Or just the caps that hold on the bushings? Maybe my angle was not good, or my fingers are big sausages but I couldn't see an easy way to do the fronts. Now I am curious, and will have another look.
 
Negative, just the bushing brackets were removed. The TSB calls for removing 4 or 5 bolts to remove a sub-frame crossbrace, but once you visually locate the bolts from above (under the hood) they are easy to access. I had to use an extra long racket for leverage on at least 1 bolt as it was semi-seized from road salt. Reassemble with anti-seize.
 
Thanks for the reply, I will give it another shot this weekend. Just curious, how much road salt do you see in Florida? I know the last few winters have been cooler down there....but I didn't think that cold. :)
 
Davicho said:
Tech, I bought the 2012 bushings and U-braces for the rear sway bar only. Again, I had to bore out the center of the bushing a little bit with a dremell so that I can install them on my 2006 sway bar. If you get the 2012 sway bar also then it should be just as easy as bolting up. BTW the bigger 2012 U-braces for the rear sway bar bushings bolt right up to the subframe (meaning the distance between the bolt holes line right up to the threaded hole in the subframe).
Click to expand...

Paranoia and knowing the TSB related repairs were not done got the best of me so I had my mechanic replace a whole bunch of parts last week:
- rear Shocks (KYB Excel G)
- rear Shock Coil Springs (Mazda)
- rear Coil Spring seat rubber (Mazda)
- rear Upper Control Arms (Beck/Arnley)
- rear Lateral Links (Beck/Arnley)
- rear Trailing Arm Bushings (Moog)
- rear End Links (Beck/Arnley)
- rear Sway Bar Bushings (Energy Suspension-red polyurethane)

My mechanic thought I was over-doing it but in the end, he did find the old shocks, springs, end links and bushings were pretty bad.

I'm not done yet! I'll be getting the following front suspension parts replaced in the next couple of weeks:
- front Control Arms (Beck/Arnley)
- front End Links (Beck/Arnley)
- front Sway Bar Bushings (Energy Suspension-red polyurethane)
- Front Struts (Monroe Sensi-trac) *if my mechanic finds the existing Monroe's to be leaking like the dealer claimed (which were installed by another mechanic back in January this year)

Before deciding on changing out all of these parts, I was thinking of getting various poly bushings but I couldn't find any for the 5, other than the stabilizer bar bushings. Does anyone know if these Mazdaspeed 3 bushings would fit the 5?
 
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Tech, it's funny that you post this. I decided to replace the 2012 rear sway bar bushings with Prothane 19mm poly bushings and I also replaced the rear links with a set of aftermarket links. The rear suspension feels so much better and best of all no noise.
 
Davicho said:
Tech, it's funny that you post this. I decided to replace the 2012 rear sway bar bushings with Prothane 19mm poly bushings and I also replaced the rear links with a set of aftermarket links. The rear suspension feels so much better and best of all no noise.
Click to expand...

I wish I could say the same thing about the rear suspension on my 5.

First off, the front suspension parts were replaced last week (minus the struts as they were not leaking thankfully). I was at the shop while my mechanic was replacing the control arms and boy was it a PITA. It seemed a couple of the new control arm bolt holes were slightly off. At one point he tried to take off the front right wheel hub, to help get access to lining up the new arm, but couldn't because it was seized. He even tried heating it up with a torch for 5 mins. Anyhow, the 5 is still at the shop and when, I last spoke with my mechanic, he said the clunk noise from the front was gone but not from the rear. He said he was going to try Moog bushings and end-links because he thinks the Beck/Arnley links are crap and the ES bushings were the wrong size as they were loose. I ordered the ES 23 mm universal poly bushings for both front and back (part number 9.5127) but didn't have the stock sway bars changed. The stock brackets were used for the front bushings and ES provided ones for the back.

FYI: The arch-welding bead in the crossmember spring pocket was not grinded as per the TSB because the spring seat and spring did not look out of place.
 
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Davicho said:
Tech, it's funny that you post this. I decided to replace the 2012 rear sway bar bushings with Prothane 19mm poly bushings and I also replaced the rear links with a set of aftermarket links. The rear suspension feels so much better and best of all no noise.
Click to expand...

Hey Davicho, you put the 19mm bushings (Prothane 12-1105) with 2012 brackets on the stock sway bar correct?

Do you have a link to the aftermarket links?

I just spoke with my mechanic and he said the Moog bushings were loose as well. He hasn't mentioned anything about the ES bushings in the front... I hope he dosn't find them to be loose as well.

Guess I should've clarified with lakersfan1 in this post what sway bar he used before going with the 23mm ES bushings for the rear...my bad.
 
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tech_az said:
Hey Davicho, you put the 19mm bushings (Prothane 12-1105) with 2012 brackets on the stock sway bar correct?

Do you have a link to the aftermarket links?

I just spoke with my mechanic and he said the Moog bushings were loose as well. He hasn't mentioned anything about the ES bushings in the front... I hope he dosn't find them to be loose as well.

Guess I should've clarified with lakersfan1 in this post what sway bar he used before going with the 23mm ES bushings for the rear...my bad.
Click to expand...

Tech here are the links to what I used.

Bushings:
https://www.ebay.com (commissions earned)

Rear sway bar links:
https://www.ebay.com (commissions earned)

Also you'll need the 2012 rear sway bar bushing U-clamps. Part# BBM428155
And yes all these components are on the OEM rear sway bar.
 
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