I’m looking for technical help or recommendations on: __Door Bushes
I personally, (although I’ve never tried them) tend to think aftermarket door bushes are a bit like snake oil…exactly how much flex are people experiencing in their MX-5s ?
It strikes me that the cars owned by door bush fitters must be like driving a jelly.
Can somebody tell me what the nett gain is by fitting them ?
I’m all for spending my hard earned dough on upgrades that make me feel better about my car but so far, I’m not sold on aftermarket door bushes.
I drove a Saab 900 turbo convertible many many years ago which was never designed from the ground up to be a convertible whereas the MX-5 was born thus. There was a little scuttle flex in the Saab when pushed hard (with 200bhp) and I can maybe see why because it never had a strut brace.
Swapped them over on my NC1 recently, door shuts more firmly and less rattles. Now I am open there being the exact same effect if I was to fit brand standard parts, but these were cheaper so it’s a win.
It’s just as well electrons don’t cost much, you can put this topic in the same general category as those about tyre choice, waving and in some forums RF/PRHT vs Soft Top…
Oh and if education is part of the request it’s Fallacy, my mind boggles what connotations the original spelling raises…
I suppose it’s just as well that opinions don’t cost much either because that’s all I asked for ?
As you will have read, I’m not sold on them so I was hoping for discussion about them and maybe see if I could be convinced they might work.
I’m not entirely convinced it’s on a par with tyre choice to be fair, we both know crud tyres are crud tyres and good tyres are good tyres…don’t we ?
Thanks also for the grammar correction Ian. It could have had a two way meaning, we’ll never know now I guess
By the way, are you of the aftermarket door bush persuasion or not ? Asking for a friend ??
I fitted the same as those green ones above and they’re now in the bin. Both sides had to be tweaked otherwise the doors were hard to open and shut. I really wasn’t overly impressed, so returned to the oe rubber ones.
Now, we’re MX-5 motoring !!! That’s an informative reply and if I’m honest, I always thought they were introduced as a stiffening medium that’s why I couldn’t see the validity of them in that regard.
I’d never considered them as the noise “aid”
I fitted some to my NA and they did make a discernable difference. More so in the reduction in rattling of internal trim and the doors feeling as if they were more secure in the frame than any noticeable difference to the handling.
Not sure if the later model cars are more structurally rigid though, so would not be as much of an effect.
One of those things that will make you feel better if you add them though - as long as they fit well. It is best to leave them slightly loose when fitting them - close the door - let them find the correct placement and then tighten.
Not a lot of NC orientated answers.
If you feel your car has a problem like rattling doors then maybe this can solve it.
If it hasn’t it won’t as that is mainly what they’re for, but their other job is to make sure the door can still be opened in the event of a bad accident.
If anyone tells you they stiffen the chassis just laugh and walk away.
File them in the drawer along with aftermarket strut braces.
Agree, not a lot about NC but Hey…my doors are rattle free
As for the strut brace comment - can you expand on that ?
My car personally doesn’t have an aftermarket brace, it’s the factory option.
Are you suggesting that non OEM ones aren’t worth the metal they’re bent from ?
More of a “look what I’ve got under my bonnet” show item then ??
If you take an oem bush off and slip it into the door cup, you’ll find its a remarkably loose fit, too loose for adjustment to make much difference imho.
A lot of parts on NCs are totally misunderstood as to what they do or how they work.
I’ve never come across an NC with rattling doors yet, but there is still time. I once measured the block, then the keeper and found them to be about the same size, I tried squashing it and it’s solid. That was as far as I got, it wasn’t worth spending any more time on.
If a chassis was so floppy and someone thought it a good idea to make the door stop it the hinges would wear out.
If people on FB want to waste their money and tell everyone their car handles better let them, they’re beyond reason.
Front upper strut brace; the original one is to reduce scuttle shake, end of story. So if you want to do that then fit an OE one or buy one which attaches at the same points.
It does not make the car handle any better. ‘Scuttle shake’; analyse the term, the scuttle is the base of the windscreen which is where it attaches.
There are some aftermarket ones which are laughingly badly designed. They consist of a bent strip of metal which connects only the strut tops together.
If you take a piece of straight 25mm thinwall tube and lean on it what happens to the tube? Well really nothing. Reverse the forces; attach it to your car and pull another car, what happens to the tube? Nothing.
Now take something resembling a leaf spring, i.e. a bent piece of flat bar. What happens in the above compression and tension tests? Yep, it flexes. Try to compress it and it’ll bend more. Put it under tension and it’ll try to straighten itself.
So this thing is not only trying to stop something which doesn’t happen, if it was occurring then it wouldn’t prevent it anyhow!
It’s the same for aftermarket underbody braces too.
The MX5 (NC) chassis is a superb piece of clever modern engineering and every time they bring out another it just gets better.
The software required to design a chassis costs tens of thousands of pounds, they can put a skeleton of a car on the screen and apply forces wherever they like to observe how it reacts. This is not old tech we’re talking about, yet some bloke in his shed thinks strapping a piece of bent, flat bar on will make it better.
