Hello all. I wanted to see if anyone else is having issues with their Mazda 3 5-door GT and tire/wheel/suspension vibration. The problem with my car is this, when I drive at certain speeds, I get a shimmy or vibration that I feel in my steering wheel, seat, armrest etc. For example, when I hit speeds of about 55 up to about 65, the car will start vibrating or shaking. If I let off on the accelerator and the speed drops below 55, the shimmy or shake goes away. If I get the car up to a higher speed (over 65) then the problem takes on a more of a vibrational character as opposed to a shimmy or shake (which obviously corresponds to the increase in rate of wheel rotation). I'm not a noob when it comes to cars and have had many vehicles in all my years of driving (I'm 41). With that said, I suspected it was a balancing issue. So, after only having the car for 3 days, it went back to the dealership to have it's wheels rebalanced. Upon getting it back, we noticed on the way home that the problem was even worse. Another call to the dealership and it went back 2 days later, this time to rebalance the rear tires (they claimed that they only balanced the front tires the last time). As my luck would have it, I again noticed on my way home from the dealership that the problem was still there. I even took the car to my local EuroTire tire center that I've been using for years and they confirmed that the balancing was off on all 4 tires to varying degrees. Additionally, they showed me that 2 of the tires had a pronounced hop. Yet another call to the dealership and the car went back a 3rd time the following week to supposedly get 4 new tires installed. This time around, they had the car for 2 days (can you believe it took them 2 days to replace all 4 tires and road-test the vehicle?). They even took the car to a sister BMW dealership that had a road-force wheel balancing machine to balance the wheels. So, I picked up the car and this time, due to traffic almost all the way home, I couldn't get the car up to highway speeds. Getting close to my exit, the traffic let up enough that I was able to detect that the problem still existed. By this point I'm livid that the dealership can't seem to correct what seems like a simple balancing/tire issue. Another irate phone call later and the car went back another time so the service manager could take a ride with me and experience the problem himself. Sure enough, the problem exhibited itself and when we got back, the service manager and I took out a comparably equipped vehicle. To my surprise, the 2nd vehicle had the same problem, but even worse. He told me that they had to get corporate involved and a week later, my wife took the car back to go for a ride with the district service manager and the dealer's service manager. They took a ride on the roads that I usually travel on and both service guys experienced the problem. Afterwards, they took out yet another comparable vehicle and like the one I went out in a week earlier, it had the problem worse than either mine or the 2nd vehicle. Sorry for the rant, but it's been one hell of a nightmare-ish new car buying experience. Any feedback anyone might have is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Rob

 

for someone who is supposed to be experienced in knowing what cars to stay away from you sure did make a very common mistake which was buying a new year 1st gen (this applies to all cars), a little research on the forums (not just this one) would have told you that the newer the years get past the 06 the more problems they had though they were minor. im sorry to say that this is too be expected, i wish you the best of luck getting things resolved, ive beaten the crap outta my car and the only thing that had to be replaced was the battery and oil. now what i can do for you is to check and see if there are any more tsb's for the 2010 (wont be able to do that until friday or monday) as far as i know the only tsb out is for the wiring harness being too short.

 

The ironic thing is, I usually do research on major purchases beforehand but for whatever reason, I didn't do enough in this case. The other side to that coin is if you look hard enough, you can find reports of problems with anything. The thing is, I never expected to buy a new car that can't drive properly at highway speeds. I would expect more technical or electronic glitches in the 1st year of a new/redesigned model, but we're talking about the tires/wheels/suspension here. You'd expect the manufacturer to at least have gotten that part right, no matter how new the model. In any case, I appreciate your feedback and any info on other potential TSB's.

 

Rob, from reading this and your other posts it sounds like you and I have the same car and same equipment. I have not experienced anything like what you have here. I don't do a lot of highway driving, but have had the car up to near 80 a couple of times and not noticed any shakes, shimmy, or vibrations like you have (just the road noise which is the topic of the other post). I do get up to 50-60mph most every day and no problems either.

So, if they've balanced the tires several times, and two other brand new cars exhibit a similar problem, I'm thinking it has got to be something besides tire balance. Since the car is FWD that eliminates driveshaft (to the rear wheel) issues. But maybe it is drivetrain related somehow. I don't think you mentioned whether your car is manual or automatic (mine is automatic).

Have they checked the alignment (all four wheels). Perhaps an issue, maybe not but it's worth having them check.

Yes please keep us posted on how this goes.............

 

I hear what you're saying about getting a first year car, however I'm not sure I think that the '10 updates make it the same as buying a completely new model. I really liked my '07, it was leased so when it expired I felt comfortable going to the '10 as I felt like I was going with something I knew. I did test drive a '10, not for a really long test but it appeared to drive and handle the same as the '07 but had a lot more features.

At the time, there were a few reviews of '10's out there but as pointed out you can always find a few reviewers who say something totally sux when everyone else says it's great (that is not limited to car reviews either). So after doing all the research, many times you can be left scratching your head and just have to go with your own observations. No offense to anyone here, but this is 3 Mazdas for me in 3 years, there won't be a 4th-- not that they are bad cars, more that I'm ready for something else especially now.

 

the thing is between the 07 and older there was nothing different other than the front bumper, the unibody was exactly the same so new problems shouldnt have occurred.

The '10 was completely new all the way around therefore making the possibilities for ride quality (among other things) to have new problems, the problem is that they tried to fix something that wasent broke and just dug themselves a hole.

Yes your right to realize that all cars will eventually have problems its just that expecting for something that just came out or something that has gone a major change and its still being tested NOT to have problems off the bat.

By the looks of things i wont be able to access alldata until tuesday due to road conditions.

 

First of all, I wanted to say thanks for the feedback both you and Tracker have provided. This issue has been quite a pain in the you-know-where and is arguably the worst new car buying experience I've had. The things that distresses me the most is the fact that the dealer can't seem to correct the problem. I don't remember if I mentioned this, but my Mazda 3 is my 1st Mazda. At this point, however, I've lost all confidence in the dealership and my confidence in the vehicle isn't much better.

Anyway, to answer your question, my vehicle is an automatic like yours. It occurred to me that it may be something other than the tires as well, but I don't think it's an alignment issue. The car actually tracks straight. It can't be something that happened to my particular vehicle on it's way over from Japan because at least 2 other cars that we know of have the same issue. It can't really be a manufacturing defect in the 17" wheels because I think we'd hear a lot more in the way of complaints about it on forums like this one. That leaves things like the wheel bearings, the drive axles, the suspension and the tires (what else could it be really). My gut tells me that even though the dealer claims they replaced the tires on their 3rd attempt to correct the problem, I don't think they did. The problem was too similar before and after their alleged repair. Something the service manager said to me makes me think they didn't because he complained that all expenses incurred by them up to that point were on them because they couldn't submit any warranty claims to Mazda for the 1st 30 days after selling the car to me. I think they just kept rebalancing the tires and dragging their feet until the 1st 30 days was up. This, of course, is pure speculation and I have no evidence to support my gut feeling. It wasn't until the regional service manager approved further repairs that they ordered a completely different make and model of tires.

We'll see this coming week if the new tires solve the problem, but I'm skeptical. Though the problem is fairly consistent, it seems a bit variable as well. There have been times when I was driving along at 65 MPH and had the visors down and the vibration was so bad, that you could actually see the visors shaking. Other times, it has been more subtle but still there. Additionally, the more I drive the car, the more I'm noticing additional handling quirks. I've since started noticing a shakiness around 15 or so MPH that I previously had attributed to bumpy or uneven road surfaces. But when I took a closer look at the road, it was relatively smooth. I'm no stranger to sport suspensions either as on of my recent vehicles was an '02 BMW 330xi which I ordered with the sport package. That car had a firm ride, but nothing like that shakiness of this car. I realize it apples and oranges to compare the 2 cars, but it's just another frame of reference. BTW, you mentioned it could be a drivetrain issue. Well, one thing that does effect the problem is when the front wheels are under torque. I can cause the problem to go away if I accelerate or coast a bit, but this is little more than changing the rotational speed of the tires and thus effecting the resonant frequency where the problem occurs. At least that's what I'm assuming anyway.

I'll keep you guys posted.

Rob

 

if your lucky (or unlucky) it might eligible for a lemon car. what i dont get (kinda) is even though the suspension is the same, i guess they changed the spring rate to compensate for the horrible areo and weight, its just a guess, either way even if the car had no problems i wouldnt get it, just ****** the block.

 

Rob, do all these things still occur after the car is well warmed up and has been driven for a while. I know this is far fetched but could the tires be flat spotted because of cold? Not sure where you live...........or if your car is outside. My '07 used to do that kind of stuff but it sat outside and it would subside once the tires warmed up-- and I live in the south so its not that much of an issue here. Its just very very odd that two brand new identical cars are behaving the same along with yours.

 

Tracker - believe me, I really wanted to love this car, but things have gotten of to such a bad start, I just don't see how I can do business with my dealership. The lemon law thing would be welcomed at this point. It would be great to get a full refund (not sure if I'd be eligible for that or just an identical new car).

Mark - I'm in NJ and the weird part is, the problem seems to occur regardless of whether it's 18 or 49 out (those are the extremes I've experienced with the car so far). The flat-spot due to cold idea was the very first thing that came to mind. I didn't mention this yet, but my car exhibited this problem during our test drive. Maybe I was naive, but I chalked up the test drive anomaly to a flat spot due to cold (it was 20 when I test drove the car), figuring it would go away after it was driven enough and had a chance to even itself out. I gave the car the benefit of the doubt because I never expected this problem to turn into such an ordeal (again, my fault). I guess I'll know better for next time. I do have a garage, but it's currently full of stuff from a bathroom renovation. As soon as the garage is cleaned out, the car is going in there. I too am baffled that the alleged brand-new tires behaved the same as mine. That is why I suspect that they didn't really change them when they said they did. Again, I have no way to prove this however. The only (and obvious) other explanation is that the problem is being cause by something other than the tires.

One other thing that comes to mind is that my tires are filled with nitrogen, not conventional air. I've done some research and noticed that it doesn't have the pressure variations like air and is less effected by temperature change. When the dealer gets the new set of tires and installs them, we're thinking of asking for regular air as opposed to nitrogen (if for no other reason then to eliminate a possible variable). Do you guys have nitrogen in your tires or is it just something my dealer is doing? Supposedly, according to the regional service manager, they're doing the nitrogen thing because it helped decrease the amount of false low pressure warnings from the TPMS that they were getting. I have another friend who has complained of this problem already.