2006 Mazda MX-5 NC 2.0 Sport

[geraintthomas]

Hope everyone is staying safe. Apologies for the lack of updates, I've just been enjoying the car and have had some exciting news lately... myself and Maddie are engaged as of Friday evening! We've had an amazing weekend, just a shame we couldn't see family (local lockdown in Vale of Glamorgan).

Yesterday was a chilled one for us. I noticed the MX-5 leaning on one side so I popped out to take a look. Initially I thought a spring had snapped, but it turns out I had pushed the hub into the wheel arch a little too much before tightening the suspension bolts when replacing the front right shock absorber, so it was sitting a little too low. A quick adjustment and all is well.

However, when I jacked the side of the new shock absorber to adjust it, I heard a hissing from the other side. You're not going to believe this...





Yes, the front LEFT shock absorber is now leaking too! I cannot believe my luck. The front right was just replaced for the same reason, and now this one?

All four shocks were new as of 12 months ago by the previous owner and undertaken by a garage in Weston. They were kind enough to supply a new shock absorber last month when the front right went as it was just inside warranty, but as they're now out of warranty, I'll have to source this one myself. Luckily I've found them for £67 on ebay brand new, so it's coming Wednesday.

Now there's only two things I can think of that's caused these shocks to fail. The first is a bad batch of shocks, to which hopefully the rears won't go as they're a different type (same brand though). The second thing is that the garage didn't tighten the suspension bolts under load when they were originally replaced with the previous owner, so for about a year up until my ownership the car was sitting far too high. Could this have been an issue for the shocks operating out of the designed range, and has caused a premature failure of both fronts?

Either way, the spare is on its way and it'll be fixed by this weekend. How very, very weird...

[shalmaneser]

Assuming the welding on the bottom of the shock is the same as the previous one you replaced it is 100% a manufacturing issue. I'd be tempted to email Sachs about it to get a replacement but if it's £70 for a new one it's probably just easier to suck it up and buy one instead of entering into an extended email exchange on the subject.

[geraintthomas]

shalmaneser said:

Assuming the welding on the bottom of the shock is the same as the previous one you replaced it is 100% a manufacturing issue. I'd be tempted to email Sachs about it to get a replacement but if it's £70 for a new one it's probably just easier to suck it up and buy one instead of entering into an extended email exchange on the subject.

My thoughts exactly. I'd have to get into an email trial with them, then they may pass responsibility to the garage, then they'd do the same etc. For £70 it isn't worth it as I can get it fixed by the weekend.

[Podie]

Congrats on getting engaged...

Unlucky on the damper though!

[TheJimi]

geraintthomas said:

shalmaneser said:

Assuming the welding on the bottom of the shock is the same as the previous one you replaced it is 100% a manufacturing issue. I'd be tempted to email Sachs about it to get a replacement but if it's £70 for a new one it's probably just easier to suck it up and buy one instead of entering into an extended email exchange on the subject.

My thoughts exactly. I'd have to get into an email trial with them, then they may pass responsibility to the garage, then they'd do the same etc. For £70 it isn't worth it as I can get it fixed by the weekend.

I'd say the opposite. For all it takes to write an email, it would be worth contacting them - you've put more time and effort telling us about it than you so far have done in telling Sachs

[geraintthomas]

TheJimi said:

I'd say the opposite. For all it takes to write an email, it would be worth contacting them - you've put more time and effort telling us about it than you so far have done in telling Sachs

Very good point! I have already ordered the part though unfortunately. I'd just think that they may want to inspect the part and so on. You're probably right, but for the sake of £67 and 2-3 days delivery I'd rather get it done.

I'll certainly be letting Sachs now though. Probably a wordy email on how I don't trust them as a brand, etc etc. Who knows what'll come of it.

[geraintthomas]

One thing I've noticed is that the car is leaning towards one side.



The lower side is the shock absorber I've replaced. The higher side is the shock that's failed. I've loosened both sides of the suspension and adjusted it accordingly, but it's still sitting at this angle.

Would a bad shock cause this to sit higher? Or, could have I adjusted the new side wrong somehow?

[snotrag]

Its very difficult to judge ride height on a gravel driveway - you may think its 'flat' but it might nott be flat enough. Try find a really, really flat bit of tarmac carpark and re-judge it. Where my car lives it always looks like its broken, its barely on a slope though.

Twisted/stressed bushes are the usual cause of that, however it seems you have dealt with that.

My advice would be, get the second failed damper installed, then get it to a proper wheel alignment place and get it setup properly, everything loosened off whilst on a known flat surface with wheel turn plates, and then tightened up properly.

Remember that uneveness in the rear will cause the front to move too (cross-weighting).

Stick with it - itll be worth it when its sorted.

( remember what I said about just buying coilovers in the first place? )

geraintthomas said:

Would a bad shock cause this to sit higher? Or, could have I adjusted the new side wrong somehow?

A failed shock would 'support' the car less, so its a bit unusual.

[geraintthomas]

snotrag said:

Its very difficult to judge ride height on a gravel driveway - you may think its 'flat' but it might nott be flat enough. Try find a really, really flat bit of tarmac carpark and re-judge it. Where my car lives it always looks like its broken, its barely on a slope though.

Twisted/stressed bushes are the usual cause of that, however it seems you have dealt with that.

My advice would be, get the second failed damper installed, then get it to a proper wheel alignment place and get it setup properly, everything loosened off whilst on a known flat surface with wheel turn plates, and then tightened up properly.

Remember that uneveness in the rear will cause the front to move too (cross-weighting).

Stick with it - itll be worth it when its sorted.

( remember what I said about just buying coilovers in the first place? )

geraintthomas said:

Would a bad shock cause this to sit higher? Or, could have I adjusted the new side wrong somehow?

A failed shock would 'support' the car less, so its a bit unusual.

That's what I thought about the shock. It's very strange, and I very much doubt the new one has failed too.

I've checked it on tarmac and it's the same, leaning to one side. It's since I've replace that shock absorber on that side. The way I adjust the suspension bolts to stop the twisted bushes is to jack the car up, take the wheel off, loosen the suspension bolts, jack the hub up until the car is lifted off the original jack, then tighten the bolts. I could have done it differently on one side than the other.

Can you access these bolts without taking the wheels off? Would be so much easier to loosen them off, let the car sit, then tighten them back up.

I'll leave it until I get the new shock for the other side. The only other thing I'm thinking is that the new shock is of a different spec to the old shock, but they're identical model numbers. Very odd.

[chrismox]

rfn said:

snotrag said:

Make sure you get 215\45\17 not the standard 205 wide!

Out of interest, why?

I’d be interested in knowing this, too.

[snotrag]

chrismox said:

I’d be interested in knowing this, too.

They bring the rolling radius up a tiny amount which makes the speed accurate, they fit the standard wheels and wheelarches better than the original size, and crucially, are a much more common size which means that premium tyres are a lot more affordable. Its quite popular and often done, so not a step into the unknown.

[geraintthomas]

snotrag said:

They bring the rolling radius up a tiny amount which makes the speed accurate, they fit the standard wheels and wheelarches better than the original size, and crucially, are a much more common size which means that premium tyres are a lot more affordable. Its quite popular and often done, so not a step into the unknown.

Some lovely information, thanks for the write up.

So I loosened off the wishbone bolts and drove the car forward and back a few feet before tightening them back up. It's better, but still a tiny bit high on the bad shock corner. I'll re-adjust everything when I change the shock. Reading up online shows a lot of people who state that there's a tolerance and that it's normal. It's nothing I've noticed before though.

[shalmaneser]

geraintthomas said:

snotrag said:

They bring the rolling radius up a tiny amount which makes the speed accurate, they fit the standard wheels and wheelarches better than the original size, and crucially, are a much more common size which means that premium tyres are a lot more affordable. Its quite popular and often done, so not a step into the unknown.

Some lovely information, thanks for the write up.

So I loosened off the wishbone bolts and drove the car forward and back a few feet before tightening them back up. It's better, but still a tiny bit high on the bad shock corner. I'll re-adjust everything when I change the shock. Reading up online shows a lot of people who state that there's a tolerance and that it's normal. It's nothing I've noticed before though.

Did you loosen the top and bottom wishbone bolts?

[geraintthomas]

shalmaneser said:

Did you loosen the top and bottom wishbone bolts?

Ah. I thought the bottom was the eccentric bolt for the alignment?

[snotrag]

All the wishbones need to be loosened.

This is why you need to fit the new shock, then take it for a wheel alignment and have them do it properly on a flat surface instead of piece-mealing it on your driveway.

[geraintthomas]

snotrag said:

All the wishbones need to be loosened.

This is why you need to fit the new shock, then take it for a wheel alignment and have them do it properly on a flat surface instead of piece-mealing it on your driveway.

Certainly shall. I'm tempted to take it to wheels in motion, though they're quite far from me.

[snotrag]

Where abouts are you? More than likely another specialist closer (although WIM are good, I went there once!)

[shalmaneser]

geraintthomas said:

shalmaneser said:

Did you loosen the top and bottom wishbone bolts?

Ah. I thought the bottom was the eccentric bolt for the alignment?

It is for the alignment but it also clamps the bush. Every bolt is in the suspension that clamps a bush will need to be done up with the suspension at ride height.

[geraintthomas]

snotrag said:

Where abouts are you? More than likely another specialist closer (although WIM are good, I went there once!)

Cardiff area. A&A Tyres are there with a Hunter machine, but I've not known them to 'specialise' in setups, only to correct it to what the machine tells them to do. I could be wrong though.

[Accelebrate]

When I've changed mine I've only had to undo the upper wishbone to fit the new strut, I've then left them loose and tightened the two upper bolts on each side with the car on the ground (can be accessed with the wheels locked one way and then the other). I've done it twice now and it wasn't too far out when taken for an alignment a few days later.

Edited by Accelebrate on Wednesday 14th October 13:02