New CX 5 Grand Touring Owner with a wheel/tire ???/slightly rough choppy ride

M

moontom

Member
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Mazda CX 5
hi there....
I'm new here, just took delivery of a 2016 GT (dark blue/parchment) and here's my ??:

My wife has rods in her spine and is sensitive to rough/bouncy handling. when I drove home from dealer, I didn't notice the rough ride, but she did! this is primarily my daily driver but also our "date" car, so I want to make her happy if I can.

1. I gather it's possible to do a -minus 1 inch in wheel size -- will that result in any appreciable "smoothing out" of the ride? (is it worth the cost/trouble?)
2. is it a problem to swap wheel sizes in these new cars w/ the sensors and stability control systems, etc?
3. should I just look at more of a "touring" tire? they came with Toyo A23, which I understand are good basic OEM tires.
4. one reason she was uncomfortable at first: the dealer had the tires over-inflated. Mazda says 36 but it seems like 34 smoothed the pothole-bobblehead reaction a bit. is this dangerous, running 2 lbs under the recommended pressure?

thanks in advance for any/all insight! I really love the car otherwise....
TM
 
1) It's not only possible to do a -1, it's possible to go all the way to a -3 wheel fitment. If I were you, I'd probably go with a 17" (-2) fitment, but 16" is an option, too. This would be by far your best option for smoothing out the ride.
2) You will need to reprogram the TPMS to accomodate the new tire size, but that's a very simple procedure on the CX-5. There are no sensors in the wheels to worry about, and as long as you're running four of the same tire, the stability control system will never know the difference.
3) Tire labeling is almost purely a marketing tool - sure some tires are built in a way that gives a smoother ride, and some tires are branded as 'touring' tires, but there's no real correlation between those two things.
4) I'm pretty sure your placard pressure (open the driver's door and look at the sticker next to your left hip) isn't 36 psi. In any case, never set your pressure lower than what's on the door jamb sticker. Regardless, you're not going to see nearly the improvement in ride that you'd get by going with a smaller wheel and tire package, just by adjusting your inflation pressure.
 
leeharvey418 said:
2) You will need to reprogram the TPMS to accomodate the new tire size, but that's a very simple procedure on the CX-5. There are no sensors in the wheels to worry about, and as long as you're running four of the same tire, the stability control system will never know the difference.

4) I'm pretty sure your placard pressure (open the driver's door and look at the sticker next to your left hip) isn't 36 psi. In any case, never set your pressure lower than what's on the door jamb sticker. Regardless, you're not going to see nearly the improvement in ride that you'd get by going with a smaller wheel and tire package, just by adjusting your inflation pressure.
Click to expand...

2) I switch between my original 19" wheel/tires and my 17" winter wheel/tires twice a year and I have never had to reprogram the TPMS.

4) The tire pressure placard for the GT indeed shows 36 PSI as the normal pressure.

With regard to the OP's original question, you can switch to 17" wheels and tires for a smoother ride. In fact, there are probably folks on here who are willing to trade wheels with you (your 19's for their 17's) especially since the 2016 19's have the newer look. For tires, your tire dealer should be able to recommend a good 17" tire that is quiet and comfortable. The correct 17" size is 225/65.
 
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Thanks for these insights!
I stayed up reading everything I could on minus-sizing the wheels -- it does seem the way to go. I'm not a car guy and so it makes me a bit nervous -- especially since the dealer was telling me it couldn't be done.

Wanted to add that I'm very happy to have found this forum -- you have a great information sharing atmosphere here! I hope to someday be able to contribute to it.
Thanks again....
 
moontom said:
Thanks for these insights!
I stayed up reading everything I could on minus-sizing the wheels -- it does seem the way to go. I'm not a car guy and so it makes me a bit nervous -- especially since the dealer was telling me it couldn't be done.

Wanted to add that I'm very happy to have found this forum -- you have a great information sharing atmosphere here! I hope to someday be able to contribute to it.
Thanks again....
Click to expand...

Your dealer was telling you that a smaller wheel can't be put on the car? I would not trust that dealer much considering the non GT models all have 17" wheels which would be -2 from the 19's you're running now. If you feel like it, ask the dealer if they would be willing to swap wheels with a set of the 17" wheels (tires and rims) from one of the lower models. They might do it since most people want the bigger wheels for looks and what not.

When looking at tire sizes and weather to go -1 or -2 the big thing to remember is overall tire diameter. That needs to remain pretty much unchanged. The 19" wheels with 225/55R19 tires have the same outside diameter as the 17" wheels with the 225/65R17 tires. If you don't know, the first number in the tire tread width in mm, so 225mm tread width. The second number is the side wall height as a ratio to the tread width, so the 55 on the 19" rims is 55 percent of the 225mm thread width. The 65 on the 17" is 65% of the 225 there for it has a taller side wall. When you look at the wheels you basically have two circles to think about, on inside of the other. The outer circle, your tire diameter, should not change other wise your speed will be off. The inner circle, the actual rim diameter can go up or down as you like, with in limits. the smallest rim you could put on would be a 16" rim, -3, any smaller and you run the risk of the rim hitting the brake calipers. 16" will give you the largest sidewalls with a tire size of 225/70R16.

Of course you can change the tread width if you'd like and in turn that will change the appropriate side wall ratio as well.

If you look at aftermarket wheels and tires, one other minor thing to consider is load rating. The load rating or service discription, is the amount of weight that a tire can handle. the higher the number the more weight the tire can carry. Generally speaking, the higher the load rating the stiffer the side wall. So you could have a 225/55R19 with Load rating of 99 feel the same as the 225/65R17 that has load rating of 106. It's not always the case but most of the time the tire manufactures achieve higher load rating with thicker and or stiffer rubber. What ever you do, DO NOT GO LOWER then recommended load rating for the CX-5 which I believe is 99. Good luck
 
I'm not at all surprised that you've never had to reprogram your TPMS for alternate tires, since the ABS sensor can't 'see' anything besides expected revs per mile. Regardless, it's always better to sell the worst case scenario, and in this case, the worst case scenario is pretty benign.

And I am a little surprised that Mazda is recommending 36 psi, but only a little. Being that I'm not given to try to second guess an OEM (actually I am, but only when I can do it to their face) I'll trust their 36 psi figure and say that I stand by my previous assertion that you should never go below the OEM's placard pressure for the same size tire.
 
The reprogram the TPMS is easy on my 2014. Adjust tire pressure. Turn ignition key to on, press & hold TPMS button for 2 seconds or until it clicks twice.
 
Tom, put an ad in your local Craigslist - or even better, if you can get friendly with someone from the dealership (not the person who said the swap wasn't possible) see if they can point you to another CX-5 customer who'd like to trade. In general the 19s are more desirable and more expensive, so it should be an easy trade.

The dealer person may also be able to get you a different sticker for the doorjamb.

For reference, we run 17" snow tires during the winter, and yes, the ride is a little bit smoother than the 19s - not a ton, but noticeable.



Flymo
 
Sorry for your wife's discomfort. I have a chronic back problem so I understand. Under inflating the tire a bit may cause the tire to ware unevenly, and cost a bit in gas mileage, but if it helps I would do it. To add to what others have said, 17 in wheels, are no problem. In fact if the dealer had any sense he would be delighted to be able to tell another buyer that he had someone who would trade the fancy wheels for 17S it could close a sale for him.

On a practical note, I have a 14 CX-5 that came with 19in wheels. I bought 4 used 17 in wheels that were OEM on a 2004 Mazda6 I mounted 225/65R17 on them and ran them all winter, No problem, no resetting anything. Just bolt them on and go.

If you want to try this for cheap I would pick up some used Mazda wheels and put some decent tires on them and see what happens. Even better, go test drive a new CX-5 with the 17 in wheels.
 
Thanks BXPretzel for the trade offer....and thanks all for the insights! really helpful.

I've decided to hang on to the 19s, as many reviews state that there isn't a tremendous ride diff between the two trim levels. I purchased a set of generic 17 wheels via Tire Rack -- will try those with good tires, Goodyear Assurance comfort touring or similar, and go from there.

thanks again
TM
 
You might consider Continental "True Contact" they are smooth riding for the 17" wheels. I have 17" and you will need to maintain 34 psi in them instead of 36 psi.
 
hi and thanks again for the help! tremendous!

so today I purchased basic 17" wheels and Goodyear Assurance comfortech touring tires for the CX 5. wow big difference!

I've decided to sell the OEM 19" wheels w/ the Toyo A23s. they've had about 300 miles on them.
here's a link to craiglist listing -- would like to avoid shipping if possible.

http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/pts/4997791614.html.
I'll post this in the marketplace as well. (apologies if this slight crosspost violates forum rules...)

thank you again.
TM
 
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moontom said:
hi and thanks again for the help! tremendous!

so today I purchased basic 17" wheels and Goodyear Assurance comfortech touring tires for the CX 5. wow big difference!

I've decided to sell the OEM 19" wheels w/ the Toyo A23s. they've had about 300 miles on them.
here's a link to craiglist listing -- would like to avoid shipping if possible.

http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/pts/4997791614.html.
I'll post this in the marketplace as well. (apologies if this slight crosspost violates forum rules...)

thank you again.
TM
Click to expand...

Hi, I don't see your post in the Marketplace and your Craigslist link is now unavailable. Did you already sell them? I'm interested :)
 
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