2016 CX-5 rotors rusted, brakes gone at 24,645 miles = $900

Mumucat

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Is it normal to need 4 new rotors and pads on a CX-5 every 25,000 miles?

Someone over on Reddit pointed me here. I read the thread about the EPB issues. I've called the dealer and they didn't think it applied and that it's just what happens if you drive in Chicago.

My Mazda CX-5 has about 24,000 miles on it. Light usage, around ~40 miles every other day; mostly highway. I live in Chicago and the car spends its time outside often. Its salty here. I took the car to my dealer and they diagnosed 4 new pads + rotors. Cost breakdown for this is around $449 per set. They said I needed both replaced already at just under 25,000 miles. Ive had other cars in Chicago a CRV, a Pathfinder and they didnt have brake problems like this. In fact, I dont think I ever changed rotors in 70,000 miles on the Nissan.

So here's my question: Is there something else I should be doing for maintenance to keep rust away? I really do love my Mazda. But I might need to part ways with it if this is the sort of maintenance required for the CX-5 in Chicago.

I did call Mazda USA and they didnt offer any guidance or suggestions except that my call was recorded and they mine the data to make their service better.

Also, is there a logical reason my back brakes would go out faster than the front? At 21,165 miles on 9/16/2018 the brakes all checked 50% or greater. Now today, on 4/17/2019, at 24,645 miles both of the back brakes are in the red. The fronts were a bit better. The back driver side was making a loud grinding noise

https://imgur.com/OgHJWc1
 
Rust is normal on the inner and outer areas of the rotors, and on the rotor surfaces after rain etc.

Have you ever had the brakes serviced?

If you have rust on the rotor faces that's remaining even after driving your calipers and pads are not moving freely or seized. Proper functioning brakes keep rotor faces clean of rust through use.

If they're not worn down / end of life I wouldn't be replacing them, I'd be getting them serviced. It is important to have them maintained / lubed / serviced regularly. I have mine done yearly. The need for maintenance is not a warranty issue. But a bad caliper could be if you have proof that you've serviced them.

I'd suggest you get a second opinion and have those measurements double checked. It shows them as in the read, but doesn't list a value. Wonder if they were eye-balled or actually measured.

If the back brakes are making a grinding sound either the caliper or parking brake is sticking, or something is lodged between pad and rotor. If it's sticking it's causing premature wear the longer you drive it like that.
 
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My rear pads were done around 54k miles, fronts were still good at 73k-ish (can't remember exactly when I did this service), but were replaced due to uneven wear along with lubricating the caliper pins and turning the rotors.

Seems for most posting here, the rears definitely go faster than the fronts.
 
Is it normal to need 4 new rotors and pads on a CX-5 every 25,000 miles?

Someone over on Reddit pointed me here. I read the thread about the EPB issues. I've called the dealer and they didn't think it applied and that it's just what happens if you drive in Chicago.

My Mazda CX-5 has about 24,000 miles on it. Light usage, around ~40 miles every other day; mostly highway. I live in Chicago and the car spends its time outside often. It*s salty here. I took the car to my dealer and they diagnosed 4 new pads + rotors. Cost breakdown for this is around $449 per set. They said I needed both replaced already at just under 25,000 miles. I*ve had other cars in Chicago * a CRV, a Pathfinder * and they didn*t have brake problems like this. In fact, I don*t think I ever changed rotors in 70,000 miles on the Nissan.

So here's my question: Is there something else I should be doing for maintenance to keep rust away? I really do love my Mazda. But I might need to part ways with it if this is the sort of maintenance required for the CX-5 in Chicago.

I did call Mazda USA and they didn*t offer any guidance or suggestions except that my call was recorded and they mine the data to make their service better.

Also, is there a logical reason my back brakes would go out faster than the front? At 21,165 miles on 9/16/2018 the brakes all checked 50% or greater. Now today, on 4/17/2019, at 24,645 miles both of the back brakes are in the red. The fronts were a bit better. The back driver side was making a loud grinding noise

https://imgur.com/OgHJWc1

I live a little over an hour west of Chicago so I feel your pain.

Here's a tip. Before parking your car after driving on the lovely salt coated roads of Illinois, heat the brakes up. I know this isn't always an easy thing to do, or to remember. Make two or three controlled but hard stops before parking. This way you get the brakes hot and evaporate the salt water that coats the brake components.
 
Dig into the posts about the EPB issues here on this forum. Print out the attached documents to these posts and bring them to your dealer, although seeing the stupid excuse he gave you about this happening in Chicago doesn't make me think he'd be convinced so easily. They are a definite problem if your vehicle is in the VIN range. I'm noticing the front brakes are wearing way faster on this vehicle than they did on my 2014 CX5 and my driving habits are the same and I'm at 30k, the brakes on my other CX5 lasted past 60k miles. I figure I have about maybe another 10k miles left on my front pads.
 
Thanks for this. I*ve contacted the dealer about the TSB and they at first said they couldn*t find it. Then he said it didn*t apply to CX-5 (only the cx-9). And only then after I insisted he said it wasn*t the problem on my car. They*re insisting that it*s because I live in a cold salty place (Chicago) and the SUV spends too much time outside. I bought a SUV so I could drive in snow. It*s disappointing that I*ve possibly chosen the wrong car.

https://i.imgur.com/qK77tAl.jpg

Base on that receipt, it does look like they changed the calipers too. One of the TSB*s mentioned caliper issues. It feels like the dealer doesn*t want to say there was an issue because I may have a claim of some sort. I*m out of warranty based on time (it*s been more that 36 months, yet only 24,000 miles) so probably there*s no claim I can make.

At this point I*m just wondering if this is going to be a routine service ( $900 or so, every 3 years) that a CX-5 in Chicago that spends a lot of time outside is going to require. There been nothing stated that identified any problem or defect so I can only conclude it*s normal?

P.s. dealer said I should go to the highway when it*s not crowded and occasionally stop quickly to remove the rust. Seriously. While I can understand it may help, why doesn*t my other cars require this sort of thing? Why do the back brakes wear out before the front? (Lots of questions)
 
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My rear brakes are also wearing more than my fronts. I just had my second service done on my '17 at 48k KMs (probably pretty close to your mileage). The fronts were borderline green / yellow and the rears were in the yellow. I'd have to dig up the numbers.

The interesting thing to note is that I live in Ontario, similar road / weather to you in Chicago. I'm a commuter so do get occasional heavy braking at time to heat them up. But I also use ACC and brake hold quite a bit.

I think the rear biased wear is just the calibration of the car. Rears don't have as much heat control (non vented rotors). May also be smaller pads (I don't know). While uncommon to see this I did have another vehicle that wore the same (rear biased), it was my '04 Volvo V40. Went thru 2 sets of rear pads to 1 set of fronts.
 
It is interesting that the rears wear out faster than the fronts. First car I have heard that does this. If you have a thermal temperature gun, take a temperature reading of all four of your disks after a drive to see if they have similar temperatures. What might happen is the pins get salt and corrosion and don't move freely and the pads drag on the rotors.

Example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g99MRwTcndc
 
I was a brake test and development engineer for 17 years (retired from that now).

In short, no, there is nothing you can do to stop the corrosion when your car is doing such low mileage and you won*t be any better off with another car. Brake discs are made from plain old cast iron and if you leave a piece of cast iron out in the weather, even overnight condensation will cause it to go rusty. Any ferrous material will do the same - a railroad track will turn from shiny to rusty in several hours. Friction materials enjoy heat to keep the mating surfaces clean and your very low mileage isn*t generating much. Also, when the discs get rusty they can be quite abrasive and contribute to the wear problem. Don*t read too much into dealer life predictions, brakes are a money spinner for them and they rarely take a wheel off to measure the wear and trying to assess it with the wheel on is very unreliable. The cost seems excessive so I would compare the cost done by a reputable local garage. You can barter and you can play one against the other. Make sure that whoever does it fits discs that have some form of paint protection.

Modern alloy wheels offer little protection unlike the older steel wheel with plastic trims.
 
My former Jeep Wrangler went through rear pads much faster than fronts as well.


It is interesting that the rears wear out faster than the fronts. First car I have heard that does this. If you have a thermal temperature gun, take a temperature reading of all four of your disks after a drive to see if they have similar temperatures. What might happen is the pins get salt and corrosion and don't move freely and the pads drag on the rotors.

Example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g99MRwTcndc
 
Just an FYI, you got charged $2.85 to refill your windshield washer fluid. You could tell them next time to not do it and instead spend the $ on a better oil filter since they gave you the Made In Mexico value line filter (PE01-14-302A-MV).
 
Does anyone have the datasheet for Castrol GTX Magnatec? I found that Castrol Edge has a viscosity index of 161 and Castrol Edge Extended Performance has a viscosity index of 170. I am curious what the VI of GTX Magnatec is.
 
I have 2 CX-5s. Both are in Chicago. 5 and 6 years old. 61K each.

Brakes were fine at 40K. Changed pads anyway. Will do my brakes at 80K.

Brakes at dealer, ah? Well, that seems to explain the costs.

Good luck
 
Modern alloy wheels offer little protection unlike the older steel wheel with plastic trims.

Yes, but the steel wheels would rust and look horrible behind the hub caps. Aluminum corrodes but doesn't look nearly as bad ad rusted "steelies". When I wash my car, the rotor faces flash-rust within minutes. Fortunately, after braking a couple of times, the rust is no longer visible.
 
Yes, but the steel wheels would rust and look horrible behind the hub caps. Aluminum corrodes but doesn't look nearly as bad ad rusted "steelies". When I wash my car, the rotor faces flash-rust within minutes. Fortunately, after braking a couple of times, the rust is no longer visible.

I wasn*t suggesting steel wheels are better, only that they offer a bit more protection to the brake. Agreed about the rust after washing and they also do in damp weather.
 
I believe that the rear brakes come into use quicker than the front ones to prevent the front end from diving while braking. Could be why we need rear brakes serviced quicker that the front ones. I had my rear pads replaced at 45955 miles. I now have 58,000 on it with front brakes still original. As far as expense goes, i had my rear pads replaced, a four wheel alignment because of new tires, all wipers replaced, and a new battery installed. Parts & labor came to $481.81, which seems reasonable to me. This was at a very good, and large independent garage. Wonder what that would have cost at a dealer.
 
I would never pay more than about $200 for a complete 4 wheel brake job, mainly because that's what the parts cost from RockAuto and I'm not about to let some grease monkey do something as simple as a brake job that I can do myself in a couple hours.
 
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