mx5cartalk.com

Hi everyone,

I have an NB2, the front driver side is sitting visibly low, by about 15-20mm.

Everything looks OK though. Spring is in one piece etc.
Any ideas what that might be, or what I should be checking?

Done anything lately to the suspension? Stock suspension I am assuming? Wheel/tyre checks out ok? Look at the LR and see if there is anything there jacking that corner up, and the RF down. Hit any big potholes hard recently?

No broken/missing bolts in the suspension arms (including lower shock mount and the LBJ bolt in there), the bushes look ok and the arms themselves not bent? The spring is the next (only?) candidate left on the list. Measure as closely as you can the height (length) of the spring on both sides, maybe it has sagged for some reason. If the springs are the same, the problem is in the suspension itself, recheck all bolts/bushes and the arms etc.

It could be the wheel bearings, but for that degree of drop they would have to have been ground down to dust, and the noise and wobbly steering/vibration would have alerted you ages ago.

Good luck, let us know how you go

Chefie's post in following might help:
https://w.mx5cartalk.com/forum/viewtopi ... =3&t=59880
Other posts on the issue might also be of use:
viewtopic.php?f=30&t=75115&hilit=rear+side+lower
viewtopic.php?f=30&t=75002&hilit=rear+side+lower
viewtopic.php?f=30&t=45747
viewtopic.php?f=30&t=36867
viewtopic.php?f=30&t=36867&start=15

Sirois wrote:Hi everyone,

I have an NB2, the front driver side is sitting visibly low, by about 15-20mm.

Everything looks OK though. Spring is in one piece etc.
Any ideas what that might be, or what I should be checking?

Does it look low in every place you park it, or just one or some places? Most pavement is very wobbly and far from both flat and horizontal. Be careful that this is not the issue. I have spent a lot of time in my life just finding 4 tyre spots on pavement that are horizontal and in the same plane to the nearest mm which normally requires building up one wheel spot at least.

If the car is low in one corner, it must be 'high' (proportionally higher) in the diagonally opposite corner. Check that this is the case before heading to the low corner to look for the problem.

Else, check the spring (broken, possibly sagged but unlikely) and that the damper still has its nitrogen pressurised (if it is that type). Other issues are unlikely to cause such a drop unless significant in nature and they should therefore be obvious as a result.

PS: Check your tyre pressures are all equal too. This gives a reasonable datum from which to measure.

Sirois wrote:...Spring is in one piece etc...

On this point specifically, I broke a spring on the strut of a Datsun Stanza many years ago. It happened as I pulled into the driveway of a shopping centre (Charlestown Square for you Novocastrians reading). I heard the clunk and the car pulled immediately to one side, then stayed that way on the way home.

I was pretty sure I had broken a spring, but for the life of me could not see the break at the shopping centre. Once I got the car home and pulled the wheel off, I still couldn't see the break! I suspected it was broken in the bottom turn and a half which had a plastic tube around the spring wire. Once I had the strut apart, I was proven correct. Corrosion had occurred from water sitting inside the plastic tube, eating through the spring wire surface, starting a crack which then fatigued and broke.

Flat tyre....
My money is on a strut which has given up the ghost.

Good luck finding a strut, Bruce, unless you are talking about the one holding the bonnet open ....

Hopefully the OP will be back soon with an update.

I've been talking in US/European terms about shock absorbers a lot recently. I just started using the term strut.

Are shocks hard to find for these cars?

I haven't had a chance to look under there just yet.
But there isn't any odd noise, or even odd handling.

The car isn't too stable at high speed over bumps, but I assume that is more to do with worn suspension rather than any one specific issue.

In any car I will have a look and if I do find something wrong, I will post back

Sirois wrote:Are shocks hard to find for these cars?

Not particularly, but it can be an expensive exercise.

What do want to replace the shocks with?

Stock - should be a lot of second hand ones, but dubious age/condition (these are 20+ yo cars)? I don't know what the availability is from Mazda, but I assume aftermarket sellers have options.

Coil-overs - this is a real can of worms, everyone has an opinion. What is your priority - price or performance, and if performance, road, road and track, or track?