I’ve posted on here a few times regarding the lack of road holding on my MX5 NC3. 2.0L Sport. So far I have replaced the Gaz coilovers which were on the car when I bought her. I have fitted the standard bilsteens which help with the ride quality and road holding. However it was still pretty bad so I replaced the standard springs with Eibach 30mm lowering springs… I have also had a full geometry done twice. At this point my Santa Fe jeep would still be better on twisty roads. I have just about given up folks and will shortly consider selling the car. Has anyone got any idea why this car skates like a pebble on a pond surface iwhen I encounter a rough road surface or loose stones.The front also goes light and wallows about under acceleration. I have no confidence in this car at over 50 mph… Any advice gladly accepted…
Have you got all four good quality and matching tyres.
Are your tyres directional and fitted correctly. (not that they need to be directional).
Are they relatively new tyres.
Are they set at 29lbs.
I have just had new Falken tyres fitted last month, the old ones were nine years old approaching their wear lines, the improvement in grip is like chalk and cheese.
+1 on this advice from Dave. I came from a well sorted mk1 into my mk3 and thought I’d made a big mistake! The car was awful in terms of road holding. I’d had new wheels and tyres fitted from almost day one of ownership and the tyre fitters had put 36 plus psi in them. Despite my best efforts to get them to put 29psi in. Schoolboy error I know but didn’t check them when fitted. Car was all over the place! Checked and setting them correctly after a couple of weeks of horrendous driving and, total transformation into a very enjoyable drive
Hi, when I got my NC 3.5 2 litre roadster, there was an unmatched rear tyre with wear on the other three and the handling was not great. Very twitchy on and off the gas. Bought a new set of tyres and with new rubber and the suspension set up the handling has been transformed making the car apleasuer to drive.
Matched, decent tyres at the right pressure make the world of difference*. I’ve read that failing bushes on the rear can cause skittishness and a tendency for the back end to wander. You don’t specify geo specs, so we can’t comment on whether it’s a suitable geometry.
*Anecdote: Some vibration at speed and ‘unhappy’ handling with mine recently(ish). Checked tyre pressures… 29, 29, 29… 24. The 5 Psi made a world of difference. Back up to 29 and we’re flying again.
On an aside, do you still have the Gaz coilovers lying around? If so, feel free to drop me a PM at your leisure.
Firstly thank you all for your advice and recommendations. I have read them all and they make good sense. However, the issues my car had were beyond tyre problems that some had mentioned. Notice i used past tense…lol… The good news is that my local mechanical guru seems to have got things sorted. Two rear bushins were replaced not sure where exactly. Also, we sent the car to a different company to get a computer alignment. Cost around £100. The cambers etc were adjusted to exact factory specs. They also changed out two drop links at the rear although the originals looked ok and had no movement. Not sure why they decided to do that. I think on test driving they felt the back end of the car was a bit loose. Apologies for my lack of mechanical knowledge. I have been advised to change the front tyres which are Aptany…The rear are Nankang Ultra Sport NS-11… To be honest I will change all four at the same time next week. I just need to decide between Uniroyal Rain Sport 3, Kumho PS71 or Toyo … From what I can gather the Uniroyal are not very good wearing but all three get excellent reviews. Probably going to go for the Kumho’s… as they seem to be the go to tyre for the Mx5. Any advice on this would be welcome.
So, to sum up, the car was returned to me tonight and its transformed. It handles great in the cormers and on the rough stuff. I can only imagine that when I get the tyres fitted it will get even better.
I’ve read before that the sport shocks when combined with lowering springs can spend a lot of time on the bump stops when in compression.
Tyres, geometry and above all not preloading thebushes by tightening suspension bolts while the suspension is atfull droop seem to be a recurring theme.
I can confirm about the lowering springs and Bilsteins on the sport. It was a cheaper way of getting the car lower, the way it should look, well in my eyes and many others.
Yes it did hit the bump stops a few times and tended to on undulating roads but it suited my needs that way at the time.
Now I’m on MeisterR’s and it’s like driving another car, of course you need decent tyres whatever the set up, Kumho for me.
Hi Folks, Thanks a gain… I have reviewed the Kumho, Toyo and Uniroyal… Will decide shortly… The car looks much better now with the slightly lower springs. It came to me originally with GAZ adjustable coilovers… I quickly removed them and bought the standard bilsteens… and then stuck Eibach lowering springs on the Bilsteen shocks. The GAZ where rock solid and made the car unusable on a normal road regardless of how we adjusted them. I also removed 25mm spacers etc … At some stage the car must have been modified… no idea why… probably for a track event or summit. I also removed the K&N type air filter are replaced with standard filter box housing. The exhaust pipes have Cobalt written on them so probably not standard either… Apparently the wheel arches have also been ‘rolled’ in order to use the coilovers at a really low position.
Anyway… thanks for your assistance… I tried to upload a picture but the interface doesn’t seem to have the capability… I also tried to add a URL link to my google pictures but that failed… So ‘SACKED’ as my teenage son would say…LOL. You’ll have to imagine how it looks until this forum updates their technology… Cheers …
I’ve heard a lot about bushes potentially contributing to handling issues (skittishness at the rear etc) but most broils down to tyres, pressures and geo. FWIW I’ve got Kuhmo PS71’s all round and it handles well.
Also, the forum is fine for photos once you get used to it. I use Postimages.org as per the uploading images guidelines I put together. Below is a link where I have explained every step in, hopefully, more than enough detail! If you’re having issues thereafter drop me a message on that thread and I’ll get back to you. It might seem like a lot of faff but it allows you to share pictures as hyperlinks/embeds while also having a backup for all of your images, for free! Can’t ask for much more than that!
Uploading images guide.Click on this and it’ll take you straight there in a new tab. I’ve even gone to the liberty of updating info where necessary and fixing a couple of broken picture links, just for you!
Hmm! suspension eh!. shockers and the settings have a lot to do with it. I am also about to query the roll bars that I bought, these are alloy and claim to be 35% stiffer!!
My calcs tell me the opposite. after all the alloy has a much lower shear modulus than steel, so although slightly bigger in diameter they will lift the opposite wheel in cornering with less force. The suspension then becomes more independent and therefore more even footed.
I may be wrong on these calcs so interesting to see what anyone else thinks. but if correct my car used to skip about on one particular high speed bend and with the softer dampers and alloy roll bars now goes round with ease and comfort…
I have konis on the front, adjusted 1 turn off soft and am about to fit the same on the rear.
Everyone said that these bars give better performance but it may not be that they are stiffer, it may be they less stiff and the independence of the suspension is the gain.
