Hey Scotty,
I have a 2018 Mazda CX-9 2.5l AWD. The brake pads were about shot at 60,000 miles so I ordered new pads and rotors from Autozone (Duralast Gold). I replaced them myself, as I have done dozens of time in my life, and all went well. The OEM rotors weren’t warped and appeared to have plenty of life so I saved them. After 2-3,000 miles the vehicle developed a strong vibration while driving and the steering wheel would oscillate when braking. I took the car to one dealer and they said nothing was wrong with it. I got a second opinion at another dealer and they said the rotors are out of spec and the wheels were improperly balanced. I paid to have the wheels rebalanced and put the OEM rotors back on. All was well again. After about 6,000 miles the exact same issue has returned. The brake components aren’t cheap, and I feel like the dealers don’t know what’s wrong and I don’t have a mechanic around me that I trust does honest work. I’m mechanically inclined and have tools so I can work on the car myself, but I don’t know how to troubleshoot this. Any advice or should I try the stealership again?
were the lug nuts torqued to spec in a criss cross applesauce pattern?
Yes, I used a torque wrench to tighten them to factory spec every time I touched them.
Fair enough. No need to downvote me for something you didn’t mention.
I misunderstood the voting system here - I thought that was “marking it as a correct answer” because it said you had edited my post and it was set to private. It seemed to me like you had marked that as the correct answer, when it is not. The information might be helpful for someone who hasn’t worked on cars before, but I’ve been doing maintenance and modifications to cars for 20 years and this one has me baffled.
I didn't mark anything. The question is still open.
I probably edited your post title a bit.
Your post isn't private though.
Have someone sit in the back seat and see where the noise or vibration is coming from. Generally vibrations in the steering wheel suggest front end but could be else where. Once you pinpoint the source start wiggling things in that area. Typically though new brakes should not be fixing the problem if it comes back. Could be a wheel hub and the new brake pads are holding it stable but with time loosen up. See Scotty's video on wheel bearings and hubs.
When brakes are applied, you can feel it through all the seats, in the brake pedal (pulsing) and in the steering wheel (oscillating).
I agree, it’s odd that swapping rotors fixed it but only for a short period. I don’t think it’s a wheel bearing since I don’t have any of the other symptoms of them going out, and because it only happens under breaking. If it were a wheel bearing I would expect it to have a direct correlation to wheel speed and also while not braking.
Any other suggestions or thoughts?