Checking ND rear suspension bushes

Technical Area Steering & Suspension
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  1. My model of MX-5 is: __2019 ND 2 1.5 SEL Nav+
  2. I’m based near: __Plymouth, Devon.
  3. I’m looking for technical help or recommendations on: __Checking ND rear suspension bushes.

Much has been said about these rear suspension bushes and various ways of rectifying, but I can’t find anything about physically checking for play/wear. I have a slight rattle in the rear going over rough ground, but is it caused by the shocks - that are slightly damp under the spring saddles - or these bushes. I don’t want to replace one (shocks or bushes) and find it’s in the other!

My question is, how do I check for play in the bushes? I assume jacking the car up with suspension hanging down won’t show it? (As this is not the normal operating position). Does the car have to be jacked up on the hub somehow, as tested in an MOT? Do I rock the road wheel at 6 o’clock position or quarter past 9? Which bearing/bush wears the most/quickest, the upper or lower?

Thanks in anticipation, Jeff.

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Which could be drop links.

Worn bushes are typically reported as harsh ride, clunks, bangs and vibration though I haven’t experienced this myself so can’t validate personally.

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I just undid the wishbones on the upright and then checked for play . I then used a bicycle grease gun and injected water proof grease in then bolted the wishbones back on. You can re tighten the wishbone bolts at drop as the bushes are a roller bush unlike a solid rubber bush you tighten with the car weighted on the floor, so easier to do.

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These are the 2 spherical bearings that wear due to faulty seals. Thankfully these are available and easily replaced.

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Thanks guys for your replies, I had already decided to go with 'MechanicalDesigner’s solution and replace all four, if that is the problem, but need to check there is play there first and not other options (shocks, roll bar drop links, etc).

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Worth doing those bushings regardless. Preventative maintenance. Easier to get in and amongst the suspension bits with a pry bar when all is apart to investigate further.

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You can feel play by rocking at 12 & 6 o’clock with the suspension hanging but you have to be quite aggressive with it.

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Sitting in the passenger seat I can hear a metal clunky . Sods law we are in Scotland on our tour. I will get ours swopped out when I get back. Cars an ND1 with 22k on the clock and will be 23k and probably knocking worse next week.

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Calling @MechanicalDesigner . I wonder if anyone knows if Brian is on holiday this week. I’ve been trying to get hold of Performancbushes,com to ensure stock availability before placing an urgent order - MOT failure before the Donington Historic. His kits look perfect, but it’s looking like I might need to order elsewhere and just wing it to get back on the road.

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Hi, stuck in Spain during the blackout, no internet no email, but back home tomorrow. Shipping from Wednesday.
Thank you

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UPDATE on those famous failures. My own experience. LONG POST.

I inherited my Father-in-law’s ND1 which was his third MX5, and like those before it, his daily drive. Unless it was raining steadily, the hood was down regardless of the distance or location. Being hard-of-hearing, he would ask either my wife or I to take a run and listen for noises. Of course, some are accompanied by jolts, shakes, so when he had experienced those, it was always frustrating when they didn’t perform on demand. Fast forward to present day…

…I took the car for its (lapsed) MOT ahead of the annual trip to Donington Historic, but first up were excessive emissions. I can only think that periodic static running, and stale (V-Power) fuel has coated the not fully heated lambda sensor. Hopefully some cleaner and a real good run with high revs will clear that. The worst bit however was the NSR Lower Spherical Bearing Bush (“lateral arm”) moving well under leverage.

Reading the bad news that Mazda simply neglect the issue in favour of selling hub carriers, I did some digging (YouTube strikes again), and found PerformanceBushes.com and the far friendlier fix offered by Brian. Fresh from escaping the blackouts in Europe, Brian despatched a full set of four replacement parts along with the fantastic removal / fitting toolkit. Royal Mail truly “delivered the goods” at just 10:30am the following morning, and I set to action.

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New to working on the Mazda, and there being no jacking guidance in the book, I played it easy and opted not to rush anything. In spite of this justifiable caution, I had all four parts replaced on the two rears within a leisurely 2hrs. That’s on the car and in the driveway. The guidance videos from the PerformanceBushes website were clear, and easy to follow. Straight away, the movement was gone. I’ve arranged a retest for the morning, but my test drive revealed a fantastic transformation.

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The harshness and knocks over rumble strips around our local traffic calming are completely absent. Given that people have reported these failures at as little as 30-35k, I can only say that the car feels “like new”. With almost 95k on the clock, the transformation is amazing. I wholeheartedly recommend the parts and service on offer from Brian.

Now for a road trip.

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Nice write up :+1:

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A good write up and it is an easy job. In my case it was the lower joints that were badly worn and the top ones were ok. However I replaced all four and kept the two top ones.

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