Back on the road again - Passed MOT. Questions.

[Merlot]

Took my Merlot in for it's MOT bright and early at 8am this morning. She passed, with only 3 advisories:

1/ Offside washer poor - due to a split T-piece. Nice and easy to fix.
2/ Front brake pads close to limit - easy.
3/ Both rear ARB bushes deteriorated but not resulting in excessive movement -?

Interestingly enough, the sticky front plate didn't even get an advisory this year (it did last year) and neither did the 'slight' corrosion to the rear spring and chassis rails as they did last year.

So.

A/ Which brake pads? I can get gen Mazda ones for about £25 or EBC Ultimax for £18. The car is driven enthusiastically but is an everyday car and doesn't do track work. It has Mazda stock discs/pads at the moment and I'm tempted to stay with that setup.

B/ Rear ARB Bushes - talk to me. Can I get upgraded bushes? Is it an easy job?


TIA.

[maser_spyder]

Merlot said:

Took my Merlot in for it's MOT bright and early at 8am this morning. She passed, with only 3 advisories:

1/ Offside washer poor - due to a split T-piece. Nice and easy to fix.
2/ Front brake pads close to limit - easy.
3/ Both rear ARB bushes deteriorated but not resulting in excessive movement -?

Interestingly enough, the sticky front plate didn't even get an advisory this year (it did last year) and neither did the 'slight' corrosion to the rear spring and chassis rails as they did last year.

So.

A/ Which brake pads? I can get gen Mazda ones for about £25 or EBC Ultimax for £18. The car is driven enthusiastically but is an everyday car and doesn't do track work. It has Mazda stock discs/pads at the moment and I'm tempted to stay with that setup.

B/ Rear ARB Bushes - talk to me. Can I get upgraded bushes? Is it an easy job?


TIA.

Can't help with brake pads, I use standard for Mrs Masers car, and EBS for my track one, but neither are used as yours!

Rear ARB bushes - You can get an uprated poly set for about £30 (for both sides), the roll bars are relatively easy to get off.

Easiest way is to give them to somebody with a drift that can push the old ones out and squeeze the new ones in, but you can do them yourself with a bit of swearing and cursing, it's not that difficult.

Rear is easier than front because you get a bit more access around them.

Be warned though, if you do this yourself, there's a good chance you'll see the state of the rear wishbone bushes and think , I'll do them too....

That becomes a full set of front and rear, which turns a small job in to a much larger one....


BTW - Strangely, you can actually buy a new ARB drop link for about £20, which is cheaper and easier than messing about changing the bushes only. That means two bolts to undo, old one out, new one in, and tighten the bolts. Should take around 10-15 minutes per side.


To change them;

1) Jack up the car.

2) Insert axle stand so you can get your jack out.

3) Remove wheel.

4) Undo nuts from the ARB.

5) Use jack to gently lift the bottom wishbone, making removing the roll bar bolts a little easier.

6) Take out the arm.

7) Refit as reverse of the above.

It's a haynes 2 spanner job at most.

If I sound like I know what I'm doing, then I'm flying under false colours. If you'd asked me last week, I wouldn't have a clue, but I've just replaced my shocks for coilovers this week, it's been an education....

HTH.

[MX-5 Lazza]

Stick with stock Mazda pads & bushes. If you don't do track driving there is little point in fitting uprated bushes, especially if you have stock suspension bushes. Mazda pads are good - I use them 99% of the time.

[Merlot]

Gents; thanks!

Maser - Good tip, will probably replace the drop links instead for the sake of a few quid.

Lazza - Cheers, will stick with stock pads.

Now waiting for the insurance docs to come through before I can tax the '5.