2017 CX-9 Signature, Vibration on Highway when 65 mph+

Has anyone found the issue on this thread for those that posted in the past with the same issue? I have to wonder if its the tires or just this car. Dealer called me to tell me that they checked the tire pressures and other areas of the car and found nothing out of the ordinary. On the way home the driver mirror is a blur to try to use it, driver visor shaking and cell phone in windshield mount vibrating. I realize that cars will have some vibrations but this certainly doesn't seem normal to me. I sat in the passenger seat last weekend and could't really feel the same thing. Interesting that no one seems to want to check the tires for balance, sigh.

I did my survey, lets see if I hear from corporate at all. If this can't go away, not sure this car will be hanging around long term. Not happy about spending this much as the car is really nice looking and love the inside, frustrating for sure.
 
Mazda USA telephone 800-222-5500. When the clueless customer service rep reads to you from the owner's manual then says to take it to a dealership, patiently explain that the dealership has failed, and that you want to escalate the problem to someone at Mazda USA headquarters. Smother the rep with kindness so he really wants to help you. Let us know how it turns out.

Take a cell phone video of the parts shaking. Show the car speed and the condition of the road. There is a reason for the vibration, and the tech can find it if they look hard enough. Be sure the work order is written to show your problem..."severe vibration above 65 mph"...or whatever the problem is. Do not let the service writer just guess at a fix and put that on the work order. If the guess is wrong, you've wasted your time and still have the problem. If the service writer isn't cooperative, ask to speak with his boss, the service manager. Unless the problem is caused by something you did or normal wear & tear, it is a warranty item with no charge to you, certainly not a $130 diagnostic fee.

My CX-9 is baby butt smooth on the OEM Falken tires.
 
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Ended up calling Mazda customer care. Took it back to the local dealer who then road force checked all the tires. One was out of balance, drove the car home and noticed no change. I guess for now I am giving up as the shaking isn't horrible and guess the visor and side view mirror are meant to have a mild shake to both of them at 70 mph. Going to run for a while and see what happens over time as I don't have the time to keep trying to figure this out. Debated just swapping rims/tires but that would be frustrating if its the same after.

Other than this mild annoyance car has been great.
 
Maybe take it to a tire shop? I would imagine they would be able to provide expert advice on your tire balancing situation since they do this for a living
 
Sounds like Mazda has an issue with their OEM tires, and maybe rims.
Almost all car manufacturers install cheap tires on their new cars. It's more economical that way.
When you sell hundreds of thousands of cars, tire costs are a huge expense. The cheaper the better....for them.

I'd be curious to see just how old these tires that are on the new CX-9's really are.
They could have been lying around in a warehouse for years before they were installed.
The tires should have a date stamp, or a best-before-date stamp on them. Maybe some of you can check?
I suspect all these vibration issues can be narrowed down to garbage OEM tires.

In my case, I have the 19" Dunlops on my 2017 Mazda 6, and they transmit every tiny little nuance in the road. They are horrible. Cheap crap.
 
Sounds like Mazda has an issue with their OEM tires, and maybe rims.
Almost all car manufacturers install cheap tires on their new cars. It's more economical that way.
When you sell hundreds of thousands of cars, tire costs are a huge expense. The cheaper the better....for them.

I'd be curious to see just how old these tires that are on the new CX-9's really are.
They could have been lying around in a warehouse for years before they were installed.
The tires should have a date stamp, or a best-before-date stamp on them. Maybe some of you can check?
I suspect all these vibration issues can be narrowed down to garbage OEM tires.

In my case, I have the 19" Dunlops on my 2017 Mazda 6, and they transmit every tiny little nuance in the road. They are horrible. Cheap crap.

I highly doubt that Mazda (or any car company) would sell cars with expired tires. Used dealerships, sure. But buying brand new from a dealer? Doubt it.

I'll check mine tomorrow.
 
Look at the string of letters & numbers in the DOT code. The date of manufacture is the last four digits of the DOT code. The first two digits are the week of manufacture, and the last two digits are the year. Our tires were not " lying around in a warehouse for years;" The Falken Ziex CT50 A/S is not an old design. I think it was designed for our CX-9s, perhaps to get Sumitomo (Falken) started as an OE tire source. I'm happy with the ones on our car. They are OE for Chrysler Pacifica as well as CX-9.

Here is some good information about OE tires from a retired tire manufacturing engineer:
http://www.barrystiretech.com/oetires.html
 
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I took mine back to the local dealer after calling Mazda Customer Care to get the local dealer to road force the tires. They stated one was out of balance slightly and they adjusted it. It was the front driver side which would make sense. I can't say I feel any difference and the more I drive the care the more I wondered if this very mild vibration was normal. I went back to the dealer I bought the car from and drove a GT and a Sport back to back. Have to see the GT with the non Falkens belt about the same, didn't have a long test loop to drive it on. However, driving the sport with 18" rims made me realize while the 20's give you a more sporty feel, I actually like the 18s better for my driving tastes, 90% highway. I ordered my 18" set up tonight from tirerack.com and then will need to decide what to do with the 20's with the Falkens that have 2200 miles on them. Two wheels have two small nicks, guessing from a rock or something, so have to see what folks are selling them for on here for those that want to upgrade or just stack them up in my garage for a while.

I do like the visual look of the 20's better than the 18's, however my driving preference out weighs my preference for looks.
 
FYI. Some MY2018 Mazda CX-9s with 20" wheels/tires have Bridgestone Ecopia H/L 422 Plus tires. I have seen both the Falkens and Bridgestones on MY2018 vehicles.
 
Yup, same behavior. Went from 20" to 18"s and like my new set up, a little smoother but same issue. If i get the car above 75mph it becomes more noticable. Getting to 80 or 85 it really started vibrating. Will be taking videos of my phone(mounted to windshield) vibrating and also the mirror to post to youtube. On the phone now to take this to another dealer and opening a different ticket with Mazda to look into the issue. Something in the drivetrain has to be out of spec, CV joint or something. I found quite a few folks in this thread talking about it but have yet to see anyone post that they fixed it.... I will update as this progresses. Love the car otherwise so not giving up yet.
 
My car with Falken 20" runs smooth at all speeds.

caw...can you make a video that shows the shake and the speed? Show this to the service advisor. Ask if they can spin the wheel on the car, not just on the balancing machine. If they can't spin it on the car, ask for them to take it to a shop that can do it (or they can authorize you to take it there at their expense). It isn't tire balance or road force or a bad wheel, then it has to be in the car. They can find it if they keep looking. They won't keep looking unless you make them do so. Can you get case opened with Mazda North America, 800-222-5500?
 
Has anyone gotten this resolved? My 19 Gt with Falkens has vibration around 70mph. 1tire replaced & Tires have been road force balanced 3 times by two different shops( dealer/ direct tire) and they are within spec. Dealer cant find any other issues with car. Anyone gotten dealer to replace tires with different brand/non OEM?
 
I'm interested for a fix too! Had alignment, and all 4 tires replaced, and still have vibration on highway.
 
Aviboy. Saw you had this issue a while back. What was the fix?

I traded my 16 for a 17. The dealer gave me a deal i couldnt say no to. This was about a year ago.

I do not know if the 16 I had issues with was ever fixed. To be honest, I never asked. After everything I went through, they suspected the rear diff could be the issue. I had the tires and driveshaft replaced and didnt solve the issue.

My 17 has been fine. Perfectly happy on my end
 
Has anyone gotten this resolved? My 19 Gt with Falkens has vibration around 70mph. 1tire replaced & Tires have been road force balanced 3 times by two different shops( dealer/ direct tire) and they are within spec. Dealer cant find any other issues with car. Anyone gotten dealer to replace tires with different brand/non OEM?

Same here. 2019 GT bought it last week. Vibrates around 70 MPH. Dealer balanced the wheels but no difference. Please keep me posted.
 
To help others out here. I bought a 2019 CX 9 GT couple of weeks ago. It was vibrating, almost like pulsating driving at certain speed. It was most noticeable around 60 miles an hour. I took it to the dealership I bought, they checked the tire pressure. That didn't help at all. Second time I took it back they balanced all 4 wheels, but that also didn't help. I got some information from a user here, and I took the car back to the dealership again and took one of them to a drive with me. I threatened them with a lawsuit if they didn't fix it. The person who drove with me also agreed that there was certainly a lot of shaking, more than normal. The dealership was adamant that it was tires, bald spots due to the heavy car sitting on a lot somewhere. They asked me to drive around for around a 1000 miles, I had already driven the car around 350 miles at that time. I didn't take that for an answer, I told them, I am not willing to drive around with my toddler son's head bobbing around in the back seat. So, they replaced all the Falken tires and wheels with another brand new CX9 from the lot that had Bridgestone. I was excited, took it for a drive with the same guy, it seems better but no where satisfactory.
Took it back to the dealership again, and this time they basically said they had done everything and not much they can do unless I drive around 1k miles and then they can work through the warranty to replace tires perhaps. I didn't take that for an answer. I told them it is very unlikely that every new car would do that. If it really is the tires, then install some old tires there and prove it to me that the problem is indeed with the tires. Then the maintenance director (that's how he introduced him) got frustrated and said that even though it is difficult he will try to replace the tires with brand new tires that were not previously mounted on wheels, and gave me a loner.
After replacing all 4 sets with brand new tires and wheel alignment, I drove the car day before yesterday for around 350 miles. I tell you guys, the problem is fixed. The car is as smooth as it is intended to be (I think). Since it is a brand new car, once broken-in, I expect it to be only better with time. I do think though, it never will be as smooth as a premium SUVs like Lexus, and BMW. But I am very happy. I really appreciate how the dealership handled the situation, I am very grateful to the people I worked with there.
Ultimately, it was indeed the tires. I think Mazda need work on more quality control, not only when it leaves the factory but also when it is at the dealership and ready to be sold.

Best of Luck to you all here, I hope your problem also get resolved.
 
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