Suspension woes

[Riknos]

So my rear suspension seems to be riding on the bump stops constantly. All I can hear whilst driving down the road is the nuts on the top mounts banging up and down. Will replacing the bump stops end this? Or is it that the struts / springs are knackered?

Also, I noticed the other day the top of my passenger front suspension looks like this:



I tried beating it with a socket set to get it to sit in the middle but it wont budge. How's best to sort this out? Will I need to remove the struts?

[Richyvrlimited]

That's completely buggered.

Looks like the main top nut you can see in the picture hasn't been torqued down properly, the shock shaft has elongated the topmount hole (it should only be a 'D' shaped shaft that just fits the shock shaft).

Check everything else, but if the rear is knocking too I suspect they'll all have issues of some sort.

Likely the shocks are buggered from rubbing on the topmount, so yes you are going to have to remove the shocks to replace them, and you'll need at least 1 replacement topmount.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but that's really shocking, and I wouldn't recommend driving the car anymore until it's sorted.

[MX-5 Lazza]

Richyvrlimited said:

...that's really shocking...

Pun intended?

Seriously though, that looks pretty bad and i agree that you shouldn't be driving that car. Apart from anything else if the top of the suspension is moving around like that then the alignment could be absolutely anything and it's also possible that it could just pull straight through the shock top. Shouldn't there be some sort of washer between the shock-top and nut too?

Looks like the shocks were replaced by someone who didn't know what they were doing.

[Little Bob]

Perfect excuse to get those new coilovers you've always promised yourself...

But seriously, that needs sorting asap - I would be crapping myself everytime I went round a corner driving on that.

[Richyvrlimited]

MX-5 Lazza said:

Pun intended?

Seriously though, that looks pretty bad and i agree that you shouldn't be driving that car. Apart from anything else if the top of the suspension is moving around like that then the alignment could be absolutely anything and it's also possible that it could just pull straight through the shock top. Shouldn't there be some sort of washer between the shock-top and nut too?

Looks like the shocks were replaced by someone who didn't know what they were doing.

The alignment won't change as it's double wishbone suspension not McPhersion strut so the top of the shock has no bearing on which way the wheels are pointing.

Still wouldn't drive on it mind. I've seen similar before and half the shock shaft had worn through.

Pun was intended :P

[Riknos]

Interesting responses, cheers guys. Didn't realise it was as bad as it was!

MX-5 Lazza said:

Shouldn't there be some sort of washer between the shock-top and nut too?

This was my thinking too, and I purchased some washers but there wasn't enough room to get a washer on.

MX-5 Lazza said:

Looks like the shocks were replaced by someone who didn't know what they were doing.

Looking through the history with the car, the suspension was added in Japan before it was imported in 2003...

[MX-5 Lazza]

Richyvrlimited said:

The alignment won't change as it's double wishbone suspension not McPhersion strut so the top of the shock has no bearing on which way the wheels are pointing.

DOH! *think before posting*

[snotrag]

OT - - if you find yourself after a set of top-mounts I've got a full set from a Mk1 in my spares bin if you need some...