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Hi Guys, 2 questions on what products to buy (locally and easily sourced)....

1. the brake pad clips are worn and makin a clunking noise...so im just gonna get new pads all round.
do all pads come with the clips?
which pads to get for spirited street use? and can i just order them from autobarn/repco and the alike?
Note: i hate brake dust!

2. replacing gearbox/diff fluid. which fully synthetic fluid to get for both? i think ive got motul in there now.


Cheers,
Sam

I think only OEM pads come with the clips, shims and M springs.

I dont think you can buy them seperatly, because you have a 2002 NB8B with the 270mm rotors on the front...

thanks wun!
how about gearbox/diff fluids?

You dont get clips with the "genuine" pads anymore from Mazda Aus because they are now a "Mazda approved part" and not the OEM ones from Japan. Last time I looked MX5partsUK still sell the light blue OEM pads including clips if you want to stay with genuine parts. You can aso buy them from the US a bit cheaper but the pads are a different colour so I'm not sure how compatable they are with AUS delivered cars.

Gearbox and diff is personal preference I think.

Depends how much you want to spend. If you don't mind spending a little bit then Motul Gear 300 at around $35 a litre is very good. I used to run this in my old car and it changed the way my gearbox felt completely (stopped 5th to 4th crunching).
In the 5 I recently put Redline Lightweight Shockproof which everyone raves about. Feels good so far, can't say too much yet because I didn't really have any problems with the gearbox before hand. You can pick this up for about $130-150 for 3.78 litres (enough for gearbox and diff).

isnt Redline Lightweight Shockproof only for the gearbox?

and what is capacity of the gearbox and diff?

according to redline site:

**Manual Gearbox MTL (* Light Shockproof) @ 2 Litres = 3 US Quarts.
**Rear Diff 75W90 @ 1 Litres = 2 US Quarts

Just a quick question.

What is this clunking sound?
Because I'm getting a clunking sound from the rear, but usually happens when I hit bumps in the road, or go over speed humps etc.

And are the brake pad clips/shims necessary?

This applies to NB8B's but the other models are similar:-

The clunking sound from the brakes is the brake pad backing plate rattling around in the caliper bracket. It's not usually an up and down movement but a front to back movement. The anti-rattle clips are supposed to hold the pads in place to stop them rattling yet still allow some movement so the pads can move on and off the rotor when everything heats up. But over time they loose their spring and permanently deform leaving to much clearance and allowing the pad to jiggle around, or get brittle and bits break off. The noise is usually worse over short sharp bumps like cats eyes on the road markings and usually worse from the back than the front. It's possible to bend the clips to close up the gaps but this is only a tempory solution as the clip material has softened and the pads moving around over bumps eventually rebends the clip back to its normal deformed rattly shape.

The front calipers might function fine without the clips though they will be noisey and eventually wear into the caliper brackets as the bracket surface the pad sits on isn't hardened. By inspection I think there is a chance the rear pads may fall out off the caliper bracket if the clips aren't installed as there is a lot of free play around the pad locating lugs on the bracket without the clips, though I've never removed the clips to see what would happen.

Garry's comments always seem useful. The oil question always promotes lots of views. If you ring a tech line such as Castrol the suggestion might even be too mundane and spending more is a preferred option for some. I often wonder how anyone for road use actually proves one oil is any better than another? Plenty get high mileages from components without doing anything more than following service intervals. There a lots of threads on sites here US and UK.

nice explanation garry...
ive bought some redline lightweight shockproof for the gearbox and 75w90 for the diff...

lets see what this does for the notchy nb8b box...

I've got very possibly a similar problem (see here). What sound does yours make when it clunks? Is it kinda like a cross between a creak and a clunk?

wun911 wrote:I think only OEM pads come with the clips, shims and M springs.

I dont think you can buy them seperatly, because you have a 2002 NB8B with the 270mm rotors on the front...

pretty sure oem pads don't come with it anymore

isnt Redline Lightweight Shockproof only for the gearbox?

In the 5 I recently put Redline Lightweight Shockproof which everyone raves about

Be careful because Lightweight shockproof is for the DIFF not the gearbox, its not good with synchros, its too slippery, use redline MT90 for the GB. Look at the Redline website (the international one). Unfort ppl don't know this when they rave. I still have gear engagement issues with shockproof and it feels exactly like the website says would happen, sychro's slip. Putting in some mt90 soon.

Mt90 http://www.redlineoil.com/products_gear ... tegoryID=7
Shockproof http://www.redlineoil.com/products_gear ... tegoryID=6

Thanks Garry for the explanation

Ive got an NB8A, and marcusus it's definately a clunk clunk sound, it sounds like the exhaust hangers are hitting something, or similar to that.

Sasso wrote:

isnt Redline Lightweight Shockproof only for the gearbox?

In the 5 I recently put Redline Lightweight Shockproof which everyone raves about

Be careful because Lightweight shockproof is for the DIFF not the gearbox, its not good with synchros, its too slippery, use redline MT90 for the GB. Look at the Redline website (the international one). Unfort ppl don't know this when they rave. I still have gear engagement issues with shockproof and it feels exactly like the website says would happen, sychro's slip. Putting in some mt90 soon.

Mt90 http://www.redlineoil.com/products_gear ... tegoryID=7
Shockproof http://www.redlineoil.com/products_gear ... tegoryID=6

hmm interesting. the .au redline site says to use the lightweight shockproof for the mx5.
but there international redline site says the lightweight shockproof is not for synchro based boxes...

too late now anyway, ive already bought the lightweight stuff...will chuck it in and see what happens...