Prospective CX-9 Buyer

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P22Tyler

Hi everyone,

Hopefully this is the right place to post this. Long time admirer of the CX-9 here. Currently I have a Kia Stinger GT2 and my wife drives a 2016 Mitsubishi Outlander GT. I HATE her car, it's cheaply made, incredibly uncomfortable and just not a very good car. I found a 2016 CX-9 Signature for sale near by that I'd really like to replace her car with. The dealer wants just over $24k for it which seems like a great deal but it's got 98k miles on it, from my research that doesn't seem like a deal breaker for the the CX-9 provided it was taken care of and according to the CarFax it was.

One odd thing that had me concerned though, according to an inspection done on the vehicle both right side tires need to be replaced while the left sides are perfect. There are obviously a number of reasons that this could be, maybe the previous owner hit a pothole and had to replace the left sides and cheaped out on the right side, but I'm wondering if this is a possible issue with the CX-9 if the alignment is off. The inspection said that the alignment was good so that's why this is more puzzling.

Anyways, I thought I would ask some actual CX-9 owners if they had any ideas on why this might be. I'm hoping to join the club soon, I'm going to look at the vehicle in an hour or so!
 
I can't really think of any reason only one side would wear so differently if the alignment checks out. Are the tires on the right side wearing evenly, or do they have signs of abnormal wear (camber/toe wear, signs of under/overinflation)? If the tires on the right are wearing evenly, I would guess that the previous owner just replaced the left side tires for whatever reason. Maybe they went into the curb and damaged the left side tires, and chose to only replace those ones instead of replacing all four.
 
Perhaps the previous owner waited a really long time and then rotated the tires in either a clockwise or counterclockwise direction a couple times instead of front to back or criss cross. That would explain 2 worn front tires ending up on one side of the car
 
It is possible that there's a busted shock on the left side. That would definitely cause the left side tires to wear far more than the rights, especially if he was good about doing rotations.

Look for any kind of moisture, grease, grime, whatever, on all of the shocks. If one of them is wet, there's your culprit.
 
sm1ke said:
I can't really think of any reason only one side would wear so differently if the alignment checks out. Are the tires on the right side wearing evenly, or do they have signs of abnormal wear (camber/toe wear, signs of under/overinflation)? If the tires on the right are wearing evenly, I would guess that the previous owner just replaced the left side tires for whatever reason. Maybe they went into the curb and damaged the left side tires, and chose to only replace those ones instead of replacing all four.
Click to expand...
So it ended up having two Michelins (old tires) and two Coopers (new) and it looks like they've been rotated since the inspection because the Michelins were both on the back now. They appear worn evenly but they definitely need to be replaced. I can only imagine they somehow damaged them and chose to just replace two tires at the time.
 
Thanks for the input guys. It was a little bit more rough than I was hoping, a couple deep gouges in the paint, clear coat coming off on the hood, motors in the seats screamed when you moved them, wheels were curbed and had some other damage on them. So I'll probably pass on that one.

I did find another 16 same color, trim and everything with about 78k miles on it for $26k but every single safety system in it apart from the blind spot monitoring was malfunctioning, and the check engine light was on. The salesman said that the car had been sitting for a while and needed to be jump started which was believable because it was tucked behind some trucks with snow on the windshield when I pulled up. Is it common in the CX-9 for the systems to go haywire like that if the car sits with a dead battery for a while? Again, I appreciate the info.
 
P22Tyler said:
Thanks for the input guys. It was a little bit more rough than I was hoping, a couple deep gouges in the paint, clear coat coming off on the hood, motors in the seats screamed when you moved them, wheels were curbed and had some other damage on them. So I'll probably pass on that one.

I did find another 16 same color, trim and everything with about 78k miles on it for $26k but every single safety system in it apart from the blind spot monitoring was malfunctioning, and the check engine light was on. The salesman said that the car had been sitting for a while and needed to be jump started which was believable because it was tucked behind some trucks with snow on the windshield when I pulled up. Is it common in the CX-9 for the systems to go haywire like that if the car sits with a dead battery for a while? Again, I appreciate the info.
Click to expand...
My advice, stay away from any vehicle with issues like this from the get go unless the selling dealer is willing to put in a new battery and test or resolve all the computer issues BEFORE you purchase AND give you some sort of warranty. Don't be foolish, that is still a lot of money for a vehicle that is 6 years old with almost 80k miles and no factory warranty left. There are others out there. The CX-9 is not that hot of a seller compared to the CX-5
 
If the stealership can't be assed to keep the batteries charged up in the cars on their lot, what kind of cars do you think they're selling?

Oof. Avoid places like that.
 
Ya, I'd say keep shopping. Try to find a lower mileage unit if you can, even if it means a little more money.
Now, Changing subjects for a second, I'm curious what you think of the Stinger. What year is yours.
I have seriously contemplated trading in my 2017 6 GT for a Stinger. The only thing I've read on line about them is that they don't age well. (most Kia's don't). Any feedback? Thx.
 
Buzzman12 said:
Ya, I'd say keep shopping. Try to find a lower mileage unit if you can, even if it means a little more money.
Now, Changing subjects for a second, I'm curious what you think of the Stinger. What year is yours.
I have seriously contemplated trading in my 2017 6 GT for a Stinger. The only thing I've read on line about them is that they don't age well. (most Kia's don't). Any feedback? Thx.
Click to expand...
I've got a 2018 GT2 and I LOVE it. I'm the type of person that would buy a new car every year because I get bored quickly but I've had my Stinger for going on 3 years now. It's fun, comfortable and loaded with tech. I've had no issues with mine at all, but full disclosure I do only have 16k miles on it. I haven't heard many people complain about issues with it over time on the forum though and it's really active.

I felt the same way about Kia too until I drove the Stinger, they've come a long way. I'd probably only consider the Stinger or the Telluride, I'm not really a Kia fan now by any means but they've certainly improved a lot. And the warranty doesn't hurt. If you're really curious check out the forum, everyone there is super helpful and can answer any questions you have.
 
Tchman2016 said:
My advice, stay away from any vehicle with issues like this from the get go unless the selling dealer is willing to put in a new battery and test or resolve all the computer issues BEFORE you purchase AND give you some sort of warranty. Don't be foolish, that is still a lot of money for a vehicle that is 6 years old with almost 80k miles and no factory warranty left. There are others out there. The CX-9 is not that hot of a seller compared to the CX-5
Click to expand...
Yeah no worries, I made plenty of dumb mistakes when I was a kid and learned the hard way how to buy a car. I get the sense that this is a good car based on my inspection of it and the CarFax history, this dealer just specializes in trucks and hadn't gotten the CX-9 through their service yet since it's a new trade in. But they had no issue with me getting it looked at by my own mechanic if I was concerned which shady dealers usually don't want, they even recommended it, and there just so happens to be a Mazda dealer that shares the same lot as them. I'm definitely going to do my due diligence on it and I may pass after the issues.
 
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