Right, I picked up my new MK3 about two hours ago. Having asked for it to have eibach springs fitted before delivery, and having read up all about twisted bush syndrome, I thought I’d have a good check before I drove away. As far as I could tell, the bushes looked good and the car looked about right (certainly a lot lower than the other Mk3s about). So I drove away a happy man.
Further obsessive checking since I got home reveals that there are in fact quite a few bushes associated with the front suspension. Some of which may or may not be twisted. Also, it sits at about 350mm. Photos below.
So my questions are:
1. It seems that the upper wishbone bushes are twisted, but the lower ones not. Is this correct based upon my photos, and if so, how could this be?
2. Is the ride height too high? It looks okay, but measures more than I expected.
3. (slightly off topic). Why are the insides of my rear wheel arches carpeted?
And thoughts on the above much appreciated.
Cheers,
James.
(soon to be author of a book - working title “Twisted Bushes or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Driving MX5s”)
Yes, the top ones do look twisted, It is worth slackening the bolts off and letting them settle in the correct position. Cann’t help with the sequence on a Mk3, but a am sure there is somebody on the forum who can help
Technically, I’ve no idea. Although it looks about right to me from the pics, and “may” settle a little bit more given time. Check this one for comparison on level ground after a run, although haven’t checked the bushes yet…
Thanks folks. Having read all the replies, looked at hundreds of eibach-ed photos this evening, and done some more measurements, I reckon it should be sitting about 10 - 15mm lower. I was going to do the hour and a half drive to WIM anyway in the next week or two anyway, so I’ll get it sorted then. I don’t reckon I’ll ruin the car in the 400-odd miles I’ll do in that time.
I still don’t quite understand how the upper bushes could be twisted, but the lower ones not. I understood that the problem was due to bolt tightening on the ground or not, which says to me it should be the same for both upper and lower bushes.
(Actually, all of this is insignifiant compared to the worry I went through when seeing my oil pressure gauge moving about all over the place in the mk3…)
The inside of the rear wheel arches appear to have been carpeted. I can’t quite work out what it’s supposed to be, but it ain’t plastic, and it’s nicer than the interior carpeting of my VW Polo. Going to be a pain to clean I suspect.
When Tony’s got it up in the air, ask him if he’s seen it before, can’t hurt I guess. Excessive lowering=carpet burns then. Ouch!
I get over standard speed humps ok with standard 30mm Eibachs in place, now whatever standard speed humps exactly are is another debate… Going the whole hog and parting with the wrong end of 900 notes, you could go a 60/50mm front/rear drop (adjustable thank you) by going down the H&R route. eek
Please let us know how you get on anyway, especially on the carpet front, intriguing… [:)]
Two reasons, it reduces NVH (Noise, Vibration and Harshness) and it also acts a form of spray surpression (stops waterspray exiting the wheelarch improving visibility for other road uses in very wet conditions)
I have the answer. An excellent trip up to WIM this afternoon sorted the car completely. It was even worth the 3 hour drive home stuck on the M25.
Turns out the bushes were twisted on the front suspension. Also, twisted bushes on the rear suspension. Geometry was way out. And one of the rear springs wasn’t seated properly in its cup.
Tony and his team sorted all this out, and I got some nerdy photos of the underneath of my car, so I’m a happy man. Will take some photos once the car’s cleaned and it’s sunny again to get a proper before and after comparison.
(Time to start drafting my letter of complaint to Mazda…)
Go for it..... Yours was one of the worst cases
I've seen where "collectively" the workmanship was diabolical!
As a companion to a complaint wim would be seen as
an "interested party" so our opinion holds little impact as a voice,
nevertheless here are the facts.
1: You paid for a -30mm lowering front and
rear.
2: You had 20mm front, 15mm rear
3: The front upper wishbone bushings were twisted
90 degrees
4: The rear upper trailing arm bushings were
twisted (an invisible amount)
5: The OSR coil was not seated in the damper
receptacle, raising the body by one helix (actual values unknown)
6: The chassis positions (before) our de-tensioning
of the defects was diabolical and after was even worse.
If you an offishial report will help, let me
know.
Thanks Tony. My initial anger with Mazda last night has died down a touch today having been out driving the car as it should be experienced. I will still write to Mazda. I don’t really expect financial compensation (I would have taken it to WIM anyway to get the geo spot on), but what I want is confidence to get even the most basic service done by Mazda dealers. So some acknowlegement of their mistakes, and perhaps a willingness to listen and do things differently in future would make me happy. (I guess the more worrying thing is how many people there are out their driving their lowered MK3’s with no idea how bad or even dangerous the car is).
Anyway, I’ll shut up on this subject now. Before and after photo below. Note that both these photos are both with the eibachs fitted. The “before” is with the twisted bushes, and the “after” is once it was fixed. Try not to be distracted by the change in indicator repeater lights (my second upgrade [:D]). Of course what the photos don’t show is the difference in handling which was a revelation.
I’ve finally closed this one down with the Mazda dealer that sold me the car and fitted the eibachs, so I thought I’d report the conclusion.
1. The dealer states that they only have kit to adjust tracking, not camber or castor. They claim that camber and castor adjustments are not necessary when lowering a car. And after “many years” in the business they have never encountered needing to do such adjustments when lowering a car. They also claim that instructions to do so are not in the Mazda manuals.
2. The dealer states that the instructions do not state that the suspension bolts/nuts must be tighten when the car has its weight on the suspension. They questioned how it was even possible to tighten the bolts/nuts unless the car was on a ramp with the wheels off the ground (which is a fair point I guess if you’ve never seen the sort of ramps that they have at WIM for example). Again, the answer was that in many years of working on Mazdas, Fords, Kias etc., suspension bolts/nuts are always tightened with the wheels off the ground.
3. The poorly seated spring was a mistake, for which they apologised.
4. The incorrect tyre pressures were a mistake, for which they apologised. (They actually offered to correct these in an earlier conversation which made me smile. Now, I realise my degree in engineering was some 10 years ago, and largely academic, but I am hands-on enough to let 6psi out of a tyre).
Overall, I’m relatively content with the result. They have apologised for the things that were actually wrong by their standards (springs and tyres), and sympathised for the things that I think are wrong (the alignment and bushes), but stand by the fact that they were just following the Mazda instructions. I wasn’t after any financial compensation - I would have taken the car to WIM to get the alignment finely tuned regardless.
The one thing that still makes me laugh is that my insurance company would only insure me for a lowered suspension set up if it was installed by a main dealer. This is despite the fact that the main dealer does not have the equipment or instructions to do the job properly (and, I would argue, safely).
