I have an NC Sport with stock Bilsteins, stock height, and stock 17" alloys
I find the ride twitchy on anything other than a smooth tarmac surface. It likes to tramline on anything it finds on the road. I have had 4wd rally cars in the past that hug the road better, without feeling so hard or tramlining. I did have a Celica years ago, which had 15" alloys as standard, and when I went to 17" alloys it tramlined in quite a similar way to how this mx5 does.
Are mx5’s better on smaller alloys with larger tyres? Does the non sport NC with 16" alloys ride the road better than the sport with 17" alloys? Maybe its because its such a light car that it jumps on any bumps in the road?
If the road surface is good, it handles great. It just doesn’t like anything other than a smooth, even surface.
Any ideas, or indeed feedback from others with the sport?
I have a 2008 Sport with 56K miles and the suspension feels fantastic. Very supple and compliant with no noise or knocks. I’ve recently replaced the brakes and was amazed at how good and super clean everything including the Billies were. Mileage must play a part ?
Mine (Sport, 17" alloys & Bilsteins - all stock) was a little twitchy on irregular surfaces on its factory Bridgestone Potenzas & I did notice a slight tendency to tramline as well.
When the factory tyres came to the end of their life, after trawling this forum for ages looking for recommendations I fitted a set of Michelin Primacy 3s. While the car’s now marginally less grippy on a smooth surface, I find that the ride & handling are both considerably improved on road surfaces which are less than perfect. Also the tramlining’s gone. For me, the improved ride & handling on less than perfect surfaces outweigh the drawback of a small loss of grip on smooth surfaces.
Also - just wondering whether you’ve had a 4 wheel alignment done? I got that sorted shortly after buying my car - & it gave a noticeable improvement to the handling.
I had a stock NC sport on Bilsteins but lowered (lowering springs) yes it was a little twitchy on uneven roads at speed. They say that the 16" wheels/tyres can give a more comfortable ride, you’ve got a deeper tyre wall but overall the wheel will measure that of the 17" wheels.
The best thing you can do whatever the model/wheels size/suspension is get a decent alignment and I mean at an MX-5 specialist. Before doing that you need decent tyres, in my experience I’ve had what I thought decent tyres, they tramlined come and to the conclusion they were getting old and hard, new tyres solved it.
I’ve now got Meister’s fitted, they aren’t set on the firm side more erring on the soft side and it doesn’t skip, jump or tramline just sticks firmly to the road on the Kumho tyres. I had Avons fitted previously but they as said were old and hard but still enough tread left top see me ok but I swapped them.
Hi there, I have never noticed much difference in an NC between Sport and standard suspension (providing everything is set up well), I would say the wheel size makes a much more noticeable difference. I changed my 17s to 16s, and find the 16s much better in all respects, no tramlining and much more comfortable on the knackered British roads. Bit of a faff getting new wheels and tyres, but for me it made all the difference.
Well the tyres are about 7yrs old, and I can’t remember whether they are Bridgestone or Michelin. I am leaning towards it being that the tyres are old and hard. I had a full alignment done back in December, so I don’t think its that.
If they are stock Bridgestones they can go hard after a certain time, four years for me. It did allow a bit of hooning around for free before Nick D changed them for Kumhos which I have had on both Mk3s and love them.
On mine the OE Bridgetones were ditchfinders at only six years old, 5 to 6mm tread and 17,000 mile. They were twitchy and tram-lined, and tickled the DSC light whenever I used the pedals or steering. They were hard like bakelite at 29psi.
After NickD fitted new tyres the car was transformed, planted, a joy to drive, and since then I’ve only noticed the DSC light flicker once when I powered though a patch of diesel in the dark and felt the car shimmy slightly.
I didn’t get printouts but I was there close up when it was being done, as it was a friend that did it. He remarked the the car had obviously been well looked after as it nearly spot on to start with
I think there might be two parts to this. In my experience regarding ride, the standard suspension, being softer damped, absorbs the hight frequency road bumps better. The Bilstein is a firmer damper and so does not absorb these as well. What I have never bothered to find out is if it is the same spring used on both. When people then lower the car with the Mazda or other springs the ride tends to deteriorate on the standard damper cars as the shorted movement and higher sprig rates tend to overwhelm the standard damper and the ride becomes bouncy but works the opposite way with the Bilstein as it is more capable at dealing with the shorter travel, higher rate springs.
Tramlining can be suspension but you can get some quite extreme effects from tyres. Stiffness, tread wear, width can all have an effect.