New Shock time?

Silvia · Postby **Silvia** » Sat Mar 03, 2012 7:53 am

On broken road surfaces the front of my NB 2002 (16" 205/45 tyres) can be thrown off line sometimes and as it has 85,000km up , could it be approaching time for new shocks? Can they be tested?
If so, for spirited road-only use, are the replacement ones (KYB etc.?) ok?
Is there a brand and model that can be fitted by local mechanic, give good life, and be reasonable price ?

sailaholic · Postby **sailaholic** » Sat Mar 03, 2012 8:58 am

First things first, have you had a proper wheel alignment by a specialist. I've heard good thing about palmwoods steering and suspension. (think that is their name). i wouldn't trust the local tire shop to do it.

Yes they can be tested by places like autoleaders. But i found what they considered margin to be completely rooted.

You could get them properly shock dynoed but it would be a waste of money.

Best option is buy a set of bilstien shocks from shox.com and get your local SPECIALIST to fit and do an alignment.

Shox apparently has them to your door in about a week.

If you want to do some research. Look up fat cat motorsport and check out the technical and faq section. Particularly his shock comparisons.

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Silvia · Postby **Silvia** » Sat Mar 03, 2012 10:04 am

thank you....sent an email form to shox.com for Bilstein prices with freight to Oz.
Tyre wear is very even and so I'd go for shocks as a solution to the front ride issue.
Can I go to a suspension specialist and ask them to fit my own shocks ( and do alignment )? What would be reasonable price for this here?

Magpie · Postby **Magpie** » Sat Mar 03, 2012 2:02 pm

I having a set of BC Racing ER's fitted to my NA by MX5 Plus as well as other things at the moment (I supplied the shocks) . MX5 Plus is sending the car out for a wheel alignment on Monday (specs form this forum are being used). I'm more than happy to write a review of the setup as well as the wheel alignment details (hopefully I will have a report on the before and after). At the moment (next week) I'll be doing the Mt Cotton skid pan on the Sat and then the Brisbane MX5 club run up to Malaney etc on the Sunday so it should be a good test.

sailaholic · Postby **sailaholic** » Sat Mar 03, 2012 8:42 pm

The mx5 will react to poor alignment much earlier then other cars. I know my mums impressa will chew tires and still drive fine.

But, if your happy to do shocks it will definitely be an improvement and you can get the wheel alignment done at the same time.

Yah shops should be fine installing them, they know how things are.

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JBT · Postby **JBT** » Sat Mar 03, 2012 9:19 pm

High tyre pressures can cause an MX-5 to become quite skittish. :wink:

Silvia · Postby **Silvia** » Sat Mar 03, 2012 10:49 pm

I'm running 34lb after advice was the 26lb I used before was too soft and not good for the wet.

Charlie Brown · Postby **Charlie Brown** » Sun Mar 04, 2012 6:57 am

Drop your pressures to 29 - 30psi. You've gone from one extreme in pressure to the other.

Next and this is the first thing you should do before considering shocks, get a precision wheel alignment. I cant stress how important this is on an MX5.

Silvia · Postby **Silvia** » Sun Mar 04, 2012 8:30 am

Are there alignment settings here somewhere?
(I've searched 'alignment' and 'wheel alignment')

JBT · Postby **JBT** » Sun Mar 04, 2012 11:05 am

In the Tech Guides: http://mx5cartalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=76&t=15398

Silvia · Postby **Silvia** » Sun Mar 04, 2012 1:15 pm

Great stuff ,JBT, that's excellent! thanks...

When forumers berate newbies by saying "use the bloody search facility!" it's worth noting that I tried to without any luck at all.....

sailaholic · Postby **sailaholic** » Sun Mar 04, 2012 2:11 pm

I agree it can be dodgy but using Google to search the site has never failed me.

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hks_kansei · Postby **hks_kansei** » Mon Mar 05, 2012 9:01 am

Silvia wrote:When forumers berate newbies by saying "use the bloody search facility!" it's worth noting that I tried to without any luck at all.....

Here is the main difference. You've actually made the effort, then asked.

Anyway, I would go with the others and suggest an alignment first.
My shocks have done 115,000km and still feel fine.

However, before I got a proper alignment the car was rather skittish as you described. (I think because MX5's tend to toe-out as the suspension compresses.)

The KYB shocks (Assuming you mean the OEM replacement version, not the adjustable ones) will feel the same as a new set of shocks from Mazda.

Silvia · Postby **Silvia** » Mon Mar 05, 2012 9:43 am

Thanks hks , the shocks SHOULD be ok at 85k km "easy" use I'm relieved to hear and your comment about suspension settling and changing settings (over the 10 yr. period since new) makes sense...
Here on sunshine Coast I don't know if we have a really good alignment place but I'll look around.
2 questions...How do I know a good aligner?
The settings talk above has several different opinions, how do I know what's right? Or do I leave it to the alignment guy?
....and how much should the alignment cost roughly?

Oh, do you have a record of the settings that improved your ride ?
What I've come up with..
FRONT; Caster 5Deg. (max)
Camber -1 deg.
Toe out 1.5mm per side
REAR; Camber -1 deg
Toe in 1 to 1.5 deg per side?

Any opinions on this please for sporty road only use.........?

hks_kansei · Postby **hks_kansei** » Mon Mar 05, 2012 10:10 am

I think my settings were:
Max caster
1.5 deg negative camber front
1.8 deg neg camber rear
and I think I have 1-1.5mm toe in all around.

Bear in mind, my car is lowered, but those should work well at normal height as well (I'm not lowered that much)

Regardless, the alignment should generally be done every 12 months or so, remember, all the suspension is located by rubber bushes and bolts, so it does vibrate about and shift slightly

I think my last alignment cost about $80 ?
The MX5 needs a 4 wheel alignment, so it costs a little more (most of the $20 alignment specials quoted by shops are for just a front alignment)

There's no sure way to tell a good alignment shop from a bad one unfortunately. But ask on here for some local recommendations.

Final point, when deciding on settings take into account yuor driving style. If you just drive around town and go to the shops, there's no point in having an agressive twitchy alignment.
Conversely, if you like to have fun on twisty roads, a doughy comfortable alignment will be awful.

The settings I put up are a middle ground between the two, leaning more towards comfort slightly.
It's nice to drive (doesn't dart about) and corners quite evenly (neither front nor back want to step out)
Even so, do a little reading and maybe ask around, I may have forgotten or got one of my setting wrong up there.