New Owners - Check your Tire PSI

I'd run what the manufacture recommends. The reason is that is the best pressure with respect to safety, handling and tread life. In my opinion 39 is too high because for a small amount of fuel savings, you will compromise the other features. This assumes the recommended pressure is 34 psi. Ed
Not necessary true. Mazda and other car manufactures have been recommending a range of tire pressures depending on weight and car speed in other countries. Also different tire brand may need different tire pressure to achieve optimal performance and tire wear. For example, the general consensus here is we want 2~3 more psi than Mazda recommended tire pressure on CX-5 for the best performance on popular General AltiMAX RT43 tire.

Another extreme case is from my 1998 Honda CR-V. Honda recommends 26 psi, but I have to use at least 35 psi for a decent performance and tread wear.

I go with 39 psi cold too for all four 19 tires mainly for even tread wear to maximize the tire life. My experience on one-number-fit-all manufacture recommended tire pressure for US market is its usually a bit too low which wears out the outer sides of tread faster. Tire pressure should be flexible depending on many variables: tire type、brand (design characteristic)、temperature、speed、and load. For those who believe we should follow Mazda recommended tire pressure with 35 psi (36 for gen-1 CX-5) on 19 tires, see the different tire pressure recommendations for CX-5 from UKs 2017 CX-5 Owners Manual with wide range from 36 to 42 psi depending on load. One example even recommends 45 psi on winter tires!

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Purchased mine (2019 GT) about a month ago (mid-September) in SoCal. I just checked the tire pressure (it was about 70F) and it was 50 psi on all four of them. It was manufactured in August so I would assume 50~ is the number they use when they ship the vehicles out of the factory?

I know most dealerships don't even care and it doesn't surprise me at all. I feel stupid forgetting to ask for a completed pre-delivery checklist. I wasn't happy about my purchase experience (Don't get me wrong. I absolutely love the vehicle!) at all to begin with yet another reason not to put my faith in them. I'm getting a copy from them and point out every single item they failed to check. You know what I found ridiculous about them? The sales people I dealt with, not just one, had absolutely no understanding on loan amortization and pushed me to finance it rather than paying cash. Or they did and simply lied. No bueno either way.
 
The sales people I dealt with, not just one, had absolutely no understanding on loan amortization and pushed me to finance it rather than paying cash. Or they did and simply lied. No bueno either way.

Or finance income is a key source of income for dealers and the sales guys are doing what their boss tells them to do.

I heard a story a while ago about luxury car dealers in the DC area having financial troubles not because sales are poor...they are actually quite strong. The "problem" is that there's so much money in that area that people are paying cash for their Lamborghinis rather than financing them.

Regarding your dealership experience in general, it sounds cliche but the stories I hear here and elsewhere indicate that your experience is the rule and not the exception. Kinda sucks when you get better service buying a pair of shoes than you do dropping $30,000 on a car, doesn't it?
 
Regarding your dealership experience in general, it sounds cliche but the stories I hear here and elsewhere indicate that your experience is the rule and not the exception. Kinda sucks when you get better service buying a pair of shoes than you do dropping $30,000 on a car, doesn't it?

I'm thinking that a lot of the issues are related to staff turnover, a focus on sales and results (and not customer service), and lack of/poor training.
Anytime I visit a dealership (Mazda or other), I find I'm always dealing with new people.
The guy I dealt with the last time is no longer there the next time I visit.
The car sales business sees a lot of turnover, and as a result, there's no expertise or consistency.

The other issue is that training takes time and money, and if there continues to be a lot of turnover, dealers will not invest in training.
Just to watch their people leave after having made the investment in training is poor business, so they do the minimum, if any.
The training they do get is generally geared more towards improving selling skills, as opposed to teaching any automotive skills.
I'm continually amazed at how little car sales people actually know or understand about the product they're trying to sell.
They'll give you all the buzzwords that you hear from any sales people, but ask them a technical question, and they don't have a clue.

It's not much better in the service department. Training is learn-as-you-go for the most part.
When you bring in your car for service, the Service Advisor that checks your car in is a glorified salesman.
His job is to get you to agree to do as much unnecessary maintenance as possible. He's not there to help you with your problem.
Besides which, he's not a mechanic, and probably knows diddly squat about how your vehicle actually works, but hey, he's good at selling new wiper blades and a cabin filter.

Dealers are driven by the bottom line. Sales people are driven by commission. Service people are driven by selling add-ons.
Once you buy that vehicle, they don't give a crap about you anymore, unless it's to sell you that transmission flush you don't need.
That's just the nature of the business.
 
I'm thinking that a lot of the issues are related to staff turnover, a focus on sales and results (and not customer service), and lack of/poor training.
Anytime I visit a dealership (Mazda or other), I find I'm always dealing with new people.
The guy I dealt with the last time is no longer there the next time I visit.
The car sales business sees a lot of turnover, and as a result, there's no expertise or consistency.

The other issue is that training takes time and money, and if there continues to be a lot of turnover, dealers will not invest in training.
Just to watch their people leave after having made the investment in training is poor business, so they do the minimum, if any.
The training they do get is generally geared more towards improving selling skills, as opposed to teaching any automotive skills.
I'm continually amazed at how little car sales people actually know or understand about the product they're trying to sell.
They'll give you all the buzzwords that you hear from any sales people, but ask them a technical question, and they don't have a clue.

It's not much better in the service department. Training is learn-as-you-go for the most part.
When you bring in your car for service, the Service Advisor that checks your car in is a glorified salesman.
His job is to get you to agree to do as much unnecessary maintenance as possible. He's not there to help you with your problem.
Besides which, he's not a mechanic, and probably knows diddly squat about how your vehicle actually works, but hey, he's good at selling new wiper blades and a cabin filter.

Dealers are driven by the bottom line. Sales people are driven by commission. Service people are driven by selling add-ons.
Once you buy that vehicle, they don't give a crap about you anymore, unless it's to sell you that transmission flush you don't need.
That's just the nature of the business.

As someone who spent 5 years in that industry, everything you said is true.

I'll also add the finance person makes nothing if you pay cash. Thus the focus on financing.
 
I'm thinking that a lot of the issues are related to staff turnover, a focus on sales and results (and not customer service), and lack of/poor training.
Anytime I visit a dealership (Mazda or other), I find I'm always dealing with new people.
The guy I dealt with the last time is no longer there the next time I visit.
The car sales business sees a lot of turnover, and as a result, there's no expertise or consistency.

We spend way more money on houses and cars than on anything else in our lives, and they seem to be the least professionally staffed industries there are.

I get better service at IHOP.
Makes no sense.
 
As someone who spent 5 years in that industry, everything you said is true.

I'll also add the finance person makes nothing if you pay cash. Thus the focus on financing.

Forgot about that part. They also lose money/commission if you pass on all the high profit add-ons.
I paid cash for my car, and they didn't seem all that happy about it.
I passed on every add-on they threw at me, like vin etching, rustproofing, extended warranties.....blah blah blah.
I bought the car with no extras (except some stuff I got for free).
Funny enough, I have never heard from them again in the two years since, and I have also never gone back voluntarily.
 
I'm thinking that a lot of the issues are related to staff turnover, a focus on sales and results (and not customer service), and lack of/poor training.
Anytime I visit a dealership (Mazda or other), I find I'm always dealing with new people.
The guy I dealt with the last time is no longer there the next time I visit.
The car sales business sees a lot of turnover, and as a result, there's no expertise or consistency.

The other issue is that training takes time and money, and if there continues to be a lot of turnover, dealers will not invest in training.
Just to watch their people leave after having made the investment in training is poor business, so they do the minimum, if any.
The training they do get is generally geared more towards improving selling skills, as opposed to teaching any automotive skills.
I'm continually amazed at how little car sales people actually know or understand about the product they're trying to sell.
They'll give you all the buzzwords that you hear from any sales people, but ask them a technical question, and they don't have a clue.

It's not much better in the service department. Training is learn-as-you-go for the most part.
When you bring in your car for service, the Service Advisor that checks your car in is a glorified salesman.
His job is to get you to agree to do as much unnecessary maintenance as possible. He's not there to help you with your problem.
Besides which, he's not a mechanic, and probably knows diddly squat about how your vehicle actually works, but hey, he's good at selling new wiper blades and a cabin filter.

Dealers are driven by the bottom line. Sales people are driven by commission. Service people are driven by selling add-ons.
Once you buy that vehicle, they don't give a crap about you anymore, unless it's to sell you that transmission flush you don't need.
That's just the nature of the business.

Yup, the industry will definitely chew you up and spit you out without a 2nd thought. Your salesperson probably made $100-$200 and was probably fired or pushed out for not meeting an arbitrary sales volume goal. Management would rather have a fresh, "enthusiastic", body filing the seat than someone with some institutional knowledge under their belt if it will sell them one more car that month
 
My 19 Signature was at 46 PSI all around at delivery in September...

When was yours manufactured and what kind of tires does it have? Mine was manufactured in August, 2019 and I purchased it in mid-September.
It has a set of Toyo A36, whose max. inflation pressure is 51 psi. When I checked it few days ago, it was 50-50.5 psi. My guess is that they filled it up to the maximum 51 psi at the factory and maybe it slightly dropped over the two months period.
 
When was yours manufactured and what kind of tires does it have? Mine was manufactured in August, 2019 and I purchased it in mid-September.
It has a set of Toyo A36, whose max. inflation pressure is 51 psi. When I checked it few days ago, it was 50-50.5 psi. My guess is that they filled it up to the maximum 51 psi at the factory and maybe it slightly dropped over the two months period.

They overinflate the tires before the cars are loaded onto the transport ships and strapped down. It's also to prevent flat spotting on the tires in the event that the car sits on the lot for a while. PDI techs are supposed to adjust the PSI to the recommendation on the sticker in the driver's side door jamb before delivery, but we've found that this is often missed.
 
no excuse for tire psi to not be corrected on inspection by the dealer. Begs the question..was there even an inspection at all?

I highly doubt it. My vehicle was transported from their sister dealership on the day of purchase. The sales guy I've been dealing with blamed them for not completing one before they shipped it out. Like you guys said earlier, nobody gives crap and that's just how the industry operates I guess.

This whole car dealing scheme is such a detriment to the society. Can't wait to just buy straight from the manufacturers and see the immoral bastards excluded from brand new car sales but probably not gonna happen in my lifetime. Hey I'm not that old btw.
 
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