2006 Mazda MX-5 NC 2.0 Sport
Discussion
Accelebrate said:
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.
That's what I've done with mine, except... now that I think of it, when I adjusted the suspension (when it was very high after I bought it) I only undid the top two like you've done, but when replacing the shock on one side I let all three sit correctly before tightening, obviously as they were already undone. That's the side that's sitting lower, so I'm wondering if the other side (that I only undid the two) is sitting higher due to not relieving the lower bush.Edited by Accelebrate on Wednesday 14th October 13:02
I'll have to re-do all three again when I get the new strut, just to be sure. The alignment was recently done, so I'll see how it drives afterwards and will consider taking it for another.
Evoluzione said:
The only way you can mess up the geometry is by moving the setting disks so before you loosen anything off put a paint mark or even better dot punch on both sides.
P.S. told you to replace both dampers
Good to know. I won't be touching the eccentric bolts so alignment in theory should be alright.P.S. told you to replace both dampers
Ah, but the other side was only 11 months old, relatively new. It's only down to a manufacturing fault that I'm now changing both, otherwise I'd never have swapped out an 11 month old shock for a new one. That's madness...
geraintthomas said:
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.gazzarose said:
With our local lock downs I don't know if youll be able to go there, but you could try Avia Autos in Bridgend. I had my stock Nc alignment checked there when I was getting some weird scrubbingThe guy who used to own it used to race Mx5s I think, and now his daughter Hayley runs it and she's a proper petrol head. They have alot of nice stuff go there. That's where I'll be going when I put coilovers on.
I went there once. They charged me an extortionate amount of money (£100 per hour labour) to change four shock absorbers on my older Celica. When I asked why, they said "We decided to have two mechanics work on it". They seemed lovely before taking my money though, but no I won't be going back.True about the lockdown, it wouldn't be anytime soon. Bridgend is out of bounds too I think? Not part of Vale of Glamorgan unless I'm mistaken.
BricktopST205 said:
Have you checked to see if the spring is seated correctly in the damper. That could cause one to sit higher than the other?
Haven't touched the spring on that side, but I'll be sure to check when I change the shock. Cheers for the heads up, wasn't aware that could affect it.Success!
Changed the shock absorber on the N/S/F, it was a doddle just like the other side. I lowered the jack with all of the suspension bolts loose and drove the car forward and back a few feet, and it settled perfectly level. That's when I started to tighten the bolts, and did a bit of a booboo.
As this is the sport model, it has the strut brace. The strut brace fastens onto two extra bolts on each strut tower, and as I was rushing I didn't use my torque wrench like I usually do. So guess what I did. Yup, sheered the bolt.
Thankfully it's repairable, just have to remove the remains and put another bolt in from underneath, although that may have to include taking out the strut again as it might be under the top mount (though I've not checked this). It's still bolted up with the other bolt, doesn't make any knocking or rattling noises, so for now I'll leave it.
Took the car for a drive to pick my girlfriend up from work, and the ride has improved even more so. It's quite alarming, I thought the ride was good when I fixed the suspension height, but it's clear the front shocks weren't good since I purchased it from how different it is today. There's no nervousness, which I put down to the characteristics of a small car with narrow tyres. I was fine with it before, found it quite playful, but it's very sure footed with a lot less rebound from the front, naturally as the front shocks are now working as they should. It's a joy to drive.
Shame we're in the fire breaker lockdown and I can't do much driving.
Changed the shock absorber on the N/S/F, it was a doddle just like the other side. I lowered the jack with all of the suspension bolts loose and drove the car forward and back a few feet, and it settled perfectly level. That's when I started to tighten the bolts, and did a bit of a booboo.
As this is the sport model, it has the strut brace. The strut brace fastens onto two extra bolts on each strut tower, and as I was rushing I didn't use my torque wrench like I usually do. So guess what I did. Yup, sheered the bolt.
Thankfully it's repairable, just have to remove the remains and put another bolt in from underneath, although that may have to include taking out the strut again as it might be under the top mount (though I've not checked this). It's still bolted up with the other bolt, doesn't make any knocking or rattling noises, so for now I'll leave it.
Took the car for a drive to pick my girlfriend up from work, and the ride has improved even more so. It's quite alarming, I thought the ride was good when I fixed the suspension height, but it's clear the front shocks weren't good since I purchased it from how different it is today. There's no nervousness, which I put down to the characteristics of a small car with narrow tyres. I was fine with it before, found it quite playful, but it's very sure footed with a lot less rebound from the front, naturally as the front shocks are now working as they should. It's a joy to drive.
Shame we're in the fire breaker lockdown and I can't do much driving.
Glad you’ve got it sorted 
The strut bar mounts to a couple of horseshoe shaped brackets that sit on top of the strut towers. From memory the brackets are held on just by the nuts that attach to the top mounts on the struts. I think I might have a spare pair of brackets somewhere, if I can find them you’re welcome to them.
The strut bar mounts to a couple of horseshoe shaped brackets that sit on top of the strut towers. From memory the brackets are held on just by the nuts that attach to the top mounts on the struts. I think I might have a spare pair of brackets somewhere, if I can find them you’re welcome to them.
Accelebrate said:
Glad you’ve got it sorted
The strut bar mounts to a couple of horseshoe shaped brackets that sit on top of the strut towers. From memory the brackets are held on just by the nuts that attach to the top mounts on the struts. I think I might have a spare pair of brackets somewhere, if I can find them you’re welcome to them.
Ah of course! I forgot they're attached to that little piece. That's not so bad, at least I don't have to take the suspension back out to fix it. That would be very kind of you, let me know how much you'd like (for postage and for a couple of beers) and I'd take them of your hands.The strut bar mounts to a couple of horseshoe shaped brackets that sit on top of the strut towers. From memory the brackets are held on just by the nuts that attach to the top mounts on the struts. I think I might have a spare pair of brackets somewhere, if I can find them you’re welcome to them.
Just arrived at work. The car is sitting lovely, and genuinely is the most fun I've ever had driving to work.
Always glad to an update in here and I'm glad to see you're fixing the suspension issue. Maybe not the right time to ask but are you considering lowering it? Any other performance or enhancements planned? Loved your boxster thread.
Can echo your thoughts about Avia Autos, I was charged an eye watering amout for some relatively simple work.
A&A autos in Cardiff have always been good for me for normal alignment stuff as you say.
Looking forward to seeing what happens with this.
Can echo your thoughts about Avia Autos, I was charged an eye watering amout for some relatively simple work.
A&A autos in Cardiff have always been good for me for normal alignment stuff as you say.
Looking forward to seeing what happens with this.
Bowen86 said:
Always glad to an update in here and I'm glad to see you're fixing the suspension issue. Maybe not the right time to ask but are you considering lowering it? Any other performance or enhancements planned? Loved your boxster thread.
Can echo your thoughts about Avia Autos, I was charged an eye watering amout for some relatively simple work.
A&A autos in Cardiff have always been good for me for normal alignment stuff as you say.
Looking forward to seeing what happens with this.
I'm absolutely going to lower it, you're right there. I'm very much looking forward to doing it, but I want to get the wheels to go with it too so that it's a nice big change. The wheels will be MSW85 alloys in 17". I'm tempted by RPF1's, but everyone has them. I'm a fan of a multi-spoke alloy, I think it looks a little more purposeful.Can echo your thoughts about Avia Autos, I was charged an eye watering amout for some relatively simple work.
A&A autos in Cardiff have always been good for me for normal alignment stuff as you say.
Looking forward to seeing what happens with this.
Glad someone else agrees with Avia though, it's not just me. A&A have been brilliant, I've not asked them to do anything out of the standard spec but I'd imagine they would, customer service is great.
geraintthomas said:
The wheels will be MSW85 alloys in 17". I'm tempted by RPF1's, but everyone in America has them. I'm a fan of a multi-spoke alloy, I think it looks a little more purposeful.
EFA 
They're not very popular over here. Very, very light though and I do think The wheel for the car. I have some new gold ones for sale, but I think i'll eventually end up painting them silver and putting them on something.Thanks to the generosity of Accelebrate, I've now got a new strut plate... thing. No idea what they're called.
Out with the old
In with the new
All fixed.
Thanks again!
The only thing that's left to fix on this car is the passenger seat belt retention. I've deep cleaned both and while it fixed the drivers seat belt, it didn't do much for the passenger side. I'll see if I can get to the assembly to clean it by hand.
Shame it's sat on the drive during lockdown.
Out with the old
In with the new
All fixed.
Thanks again!
The only thing that's left to fix on this car is the passenger seat belt retention. I've deep cleaned both and while it fixed the drivers seat belt, it didn't do much for the passenger side. I'll see if I can get to the assembly to clean it by hand.
Shame it's sat on the drive during lockdown.
On the way to work, the trip computer ticked over 1,000 miles since owning the car. So I thought it would be good to air my thoughts on the car after 1,000 miles of ownership.
My previous favourite car was the 2003 Toyota Celica T-Sport that I owned. I had lowered the car, fitted 4-pot brakes, and installed a few bits and bobs to subtly modernise the car. I loved it and regretted selling it, and through the 5 years of Porsche ownership I still missed it. There was a point where I went looking online at them, and even tried to contact the previous owner. The reliability, simplicity of the mechanics, ease of maintenance, how light and fun it was to drive, were all things I didn't have with the Porsche, and after 5 years I knew they were the things I valued most in a 'fun' car.
The MX-5 is just that, and for once since owning the Celica, this is now my favourite car I've owned. It's also my favourite car that I've driven for driving enthusiasm.
I'll start with the sound. The response and sound of the 4-pot engine is better than I thought it would have been. I was worried it would sound like I was wringing the neck of a Fiesta if I were to push this, but it was more grunt than I expected of a 4-cylinder. Alright it doesn't sound as tasteful as a 500 Abarth (probably the best 4-cylinder engine I've heard), and if there were anything I could do to get it sounding like that I would, but it's certainly not disappointing standard. I'll most likely fit an induction kit sooner or later, just to get that lovely growl with full throttle, but no difference in day-to-day driving. I probably won't be fitting an aftermarket exhaust for sound purposes; there's not much power gains in that alone, and sound wise, I'm not trying to make the car into something it's not. It's a small MX-5, not an S2000.
Handling wise, there's so much confidence in driving it. I was a bit terrified of the Boxster, it was a 3.2 flat-6 with no traction control and no LSD, so good luck in taking a hair pin enthusiastically. With the 5, it's got both. I've taken it out a few times with the traction control turned off to feel the rear move around mid corner, and am totally shocked with how predictable it is. Of course, this is mostly to do with the fact the car isn't that powerful, but that's the beauty of it. It's not enough to catch you off-guard, but it's enough to make you giggle when exploiting the RWD nature of the car.
I've not had an issue with the brakes yet, which I'm surprised with. The celica was notorious for feeling like you've stood on a soggy chip, but these are quite firm so far. There's room for a bit more bite though, something which EBC green's or EBC yellows would certainly give. I don't think that the calipers would ever need upgrading on track use, they're doing a fantastic job.
The transmission is a joy to use, and one of the better ones I've used through the years as standard. It's not as snickety as my Celica with its brass bearings, but that was something I did myself and possibly something I could do to this. That said, it's not needed at all. I find myself changing gear more than I should already. This, along with the driving position, makes a drive very engaging.
Maintenance wise, this car is a doddle. If there was anyone who wanted to have a fun, rear wheel drive sports car that's cheap to own and easy to work on, I genuinely can't think of another car that matches this. I've re-built a caliper (first time I did so) and have done the odd few jobs here and there so far, and every one of them has been easy. Changing shock absorbers was a matter of about 6 bolts, with no problems getting out of the wheel arch. It's dead easy, and has the reliability to match. That's what I love about the car more than anything, being mechanically minded I'm very much for owning a car that's dead easy to work on and super reliable.
Things I don't like? There's not many. The drivers window could be automatic each way, rather than just down (yes I'm scraping the barrel here). It would be nice if the interior light came on when taking the key out of the ignition, rather than waiting until you open the door. A wiper adjustment stalk would be great rather than just 'off, inter, slow, fast', but I do realise you can fit one off an RX-8. You know, I've just sat here and have blurted all of the above in minutes, but I'm sitting struggling to think of things I don't like about the car. I'm not a fan of the pre-facelift rear lights, but those can be changed and aren't integral to the car.
In all, there's so much to commend with this that I should have gone straight to an MX-5 after the Celica. The Porsche has been fun, undoubtedly, but most of all it's really enabled me to appreciate a car like this. I can see why people own one after another.
My previous favourite car was the 2003 Toyota Celica T-Sport that I owned. I had lowered the car, fitted 4-pot brakes, and installed a few bits and bobs to subtly modernise the car. I loved it and regretted selling it, and through the 5 years of Porsche ownership I still missed it. There was a point where I went looking online at them, and even tried to contact the previous owner. The reliability, simplicity of the mechanics, ease of maintenance, how light and fun it was to drive, were all things I didn't have with the Porsche, and after 5 years I knew they were the things I valued most in a 'fun' car.
The MX-5 is just that, and for once since owning the Celica, this is now my favourite car I've owned. It's also my favourite car that I've driven for driving enthusiasm.
I'll start with the sound. The response and sound of the 4-pot engine is better than I thought it would have been. I was worried it would sound like I was wringing the neck of a Fiesta if I were to push this, but it was more grunt than I expected of a 4-cylinder. Alright it doesn't sound as tasteful as a 500 Abarth (probably the best 4-cylinder engine I've heard), and if there were anything I could do to get it sounding like that I would, but it's certainly not disappointing standard. I'll most likely fit an induction kit sooner or later, just to get that lovely growl with full throttle, but no difference in day-to-day driving. I probably won't be fitting an aftermarket exhaust for sound purposes; there's not much power gains in that alone, and sound wise, I'm not trying to make the car into something it's not. It's a small MX-5, not an S2000.
Handling wise, there's so much confidence in driving it. I was a bit terrified of the Boxster, it was a 3.2 flat-6 with no traction control and no LSD, so good luck in taking a hair pin enthusiastically. With the 5, it's got both. I've taken it out a few times with the traction control turned off to feel the rear move around mid corner, and am totally shocked with how predictable it is. Of course, this is mostly to do with the fact the car isn't that powerful, but that's the beauty of it. It's not enough to catch you off-guard, but it's enough to make you giggle when exploiting the RWD nature of the car.
I've not had an issue with the brakes yet, which I'm surprised with. The celica was notorious for feeling like you've stood on a soggy chip, but these are quite firm so far. There's room for a bit more bite though, something which EBC green's or EBC yellows would certainly give. I don't think that the calipers would ever need upgrading on track use, they're doing a fantastic job.
The transmission is a joy to use, and one of the better ones I've used through the years as standard. It's not as snickety as my Celica with its brass bearings, but that was something I did myself and possibly something I could do to this. That said, it's not needed at all. I find myself changing gear more than I should already. This, along with the driving position, makes a drive very engaging.
Maintenance wise, this car is a doddle. If there was anyone who wanted to have a fun, rear wheel drive sports car that's cheap to own and easy to work on, I genuinely can't think of another car that matches this. I've re-built a caliper (first time I did so) and have done the odd few jobs here and there so far, and every one of them has been easy. Changing shock absorbers was a matter of about 6 bolts, with no problems getting out of the wheel arch. It's dead easy, and has the reliability to match. That's what I love about the car more than anything, being mechanically minded I'm very much for owning a car that's dead easy to work on and super reliable.
Things I don't like? There's not many. The drivers window could be automatic each way, rather than just down (yes I'm scraping the barrel here). It would be nice if the interior light came on when taking the key out of the ignition, rather than waiting until you open the door. A wiper adjustment stalk would be great rather than just 'off, inter, slow, fast', but I do realise you can fit one off an RX-8. You know, I've just sat here and have blurted all of the above in minutes, but I'm sitting struggling to think of things I don't like about the car. I'm not a fan of the pre-facelift rear lights, but those can be changed and aren't integral to the car.
In all, there's so much to commend with this that I should have gone straight to an MX-5 after the Celica. The Porsche has been fun, undoubtedly, but most of all it's really enabled me to appreciate a car like this. I can see why people own one after another.
I've got some parking sensors that I've used on a few of my previous cars. They've been fantastic and haven't let me down at all on my previous Boxster, so I've purchased the same ones for the MX-5.
That's a BMW 3 series gong. The speaker that comes with the kit is a tiny piezo speaker (like you'd get inside an old computer), and sounds awful. I've used this before by simply cutting the old speaker and wiring this up instead.
Power and negative go on two certain terminals (can't remember which ones, I'll have to look at it again), then a second negative (jumped from the original) goes to one other pin to get different tones. There's a certain tone used for BMW parking sensors that works perfectly. I'll run wires from the rear of the car where the control box is to the the dashboard and will tuck this up behind it, so that the sounds comes from inside the cabin and in front of the driver, as it should.
I've got a thermostat to replace on the Focus, but this will be the next job.
That's a BMW 3 series gong. The speaker that comes with the kit is a tiny piezo speaker (like you'd get inside an old computer), and sounds awful. I've used this before by simply cutting the old speaker and wiring this up instead.
Power and negative go on two certain terminals (can't remember which ones, I'll have to look at it again), then a second negative (jumped from the original) goes to one other pin to get different tones. There's a certain tone used for BMW parking sensors that works perfectly. I'll run wires from the rear of the car where the control box is to the the dashboard and will tuck this up behind it, so that the sounds comes from inside the cabin and in front of the driver, as it should.
I've got a thermostat to replace on the Focus, but this will be the next job.
When I bought my first NC I was struck by how useable it was. When you get in and drive everything falls to hand and is in the right place. It just feels right straight from the off, there is rarely that thought of 'That's in the wrong place', 'That doesn't feel right' or 'How do I do that, where is that switch?' etc.
It does have it's quirks, but they aren't annoying and easily dealt with if you don't like them.
It does have it's quirks, but they aren't annoying and easily dealt with if you don't like them.
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