attention mazda 3 owners!!!

[tony_talabis]

Sir,

Have you noticed oil leaking from the front damper(s)? 4 of my co-employees have already changed their shocks since it failed. Sad part about it is that Mazda Philippines won't change the parts under warranty since suspension parts are not included. Kawawa talaga mga pinoy. Cars have been running under 50,000 kilometers and shocks have already been replaced. someone from Mazda quezon avenue quipped "pinapalitan talaga shocks pagdating ng 50,000kms". What a stupid and irresponsible statement. I have owned a lancer, sentra, corolla and again a lancer but I never had to replace the shocks and most ran 150,000 and more. Yung corolla ko nga was even standing on lowering springs but the shocks never failed.

If you notice some shimmy at 130 kph, do check the front suspension and chances are oil is leaking from the damper(s) if the wheels are balanced.

[niky]

It would depend on the usage... I replaced my stock shocks by 60,000kms, din, but my driving route is so bad, I bust stabilizer links and bushings every few months (this happens on all my cars).

I have a cousin who had to replace his Corolla's shocks by 50k kms, also. And one who replaced his Mazda3 front shocks, too... but he says it was due to a pothole. Hell, half our test units (various brands) have some sort of suspension problem or another if they're over 15,000 kms old, except for the off-roaders (pick-ups, SUVs).

Asked around, apparently, yeah, Mazda3 front shocks do wear down more quickly than most, depending on use, given the weight of the car and our terrible roads (Civic din daw...).. and no, shocks aren't covered by warranty by most manufacturers past 20,000 kilometers (or even past 5,000 kilometers), because our roads are so bad that they're considered a "wear" item.

[tony_talabis]

Niki,

The first instance of suspension failure happened to my boss's unit (mazda 3). This car goes through tarlac, pangasinan, la union and baguio. Odometer reading at the time was around 40k only. Mazda Pasong Tamo replaced the shocks via warranty. Happened again to one of my officemates. This time they didn't honor the claim. Just goes to say that there is probable cause for them to replace it. Just wondering why they didn't honor the next one. Well, bushings usually get busted early on but this won't cause much of a shimmy like that of a shock absorber failure.
By the way, Honda Pampanga honored the warranty claim of my boss for all the shocks on his Civic Dimension LXi 2001 model when the odometer hit 80k. Now that's what i call commitment to service!

[niky]

That's rare commitment indeed. Most casas won't cover shocks past 20k. Good for them!