Chaps and lasses (and anyone else who is identified as them - we have to be careful not to upset anyone these time and age 
)…
While I’m waiting for the ohlins shocks 
to turn up I’m thinking i really need to refresh the bushes as well don’t I?..
I don’t really want polyurethane bushes as I don’t really want having to lubricate them every second year, i don’t want the squeaking and since my car is mostly driven on public roads i think the rubber bushings compliance is better suited for me…
So lets say if anyone wants to change/refresh the suspension bushes on their NC where can one find said rubber bushings?
Thanks
Hey mate.
Depending on the age of your 5 you might want to consider changing the whole suspension arm/arms.
As the ball joints are likely to need changing in the next few years anyway.
Note
New arms come with new rubber bushes.
This is what i am looking at doing after the 180kit that im currently saving for.
Yea after asking a few questions here and there I’m being told that replacing rubber bushings needs a press and its a pig job to do (if i can find proper rubber bushings) and even if i do replace them i might end up worse fitment than where i started. So it seems its likely new arms or the polyurethane stuff that i don’t really want using.
This getting expensive 
… who knew cars are money pits
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As we are looking at the same job.
It might be usfull to tell you how im going to do it.
Basically for the next 5 months i am going to buy a pair of the rear arms each month.
Spread the cost.
As to fitting them.
I will probably do it in 2 sections.
First would be the 2 top arms both sides.
Then the 2 bottom and trail arms both sides.
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Rear suspension is multilink btw. Only front is upper and lower swing arms
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Yeah the rear has 5 individual arms.
Roughly 2 on top 2 on the bottom and a trailing arm.
My 2009 MX5 sport failed the MOT last year on front suspension bushes. Trusted garage said we can’t source any rubber bushes but we can get poly ones. So poly ones fitted. Suspension harsher over rough or broken surfaces but corners even sharper than before. Not noticed any squeaking from suspension yet. Paul.
What Thibor is doing sounds like a plan.
I need front lower wishbones and rear front toe arms as they have perished. I’m trying to get a rough price for doing that and installing Meisterr once I make my choice but I’m told the wishbones are a pig of a job and both garages I have spoke to don’t seem to want the work.
I might look to buy second hand wishbones and get them cleaned and bushed expecting to cut the old ones off when it happens.
Well just popped over at Caldwell park to have a chat with Paul Roddison. He said leave the car on standard bushes (unless they have perished) his nd is on standard bushes for reference. He also said with the ohlins i should try the car with stock swing bars first. So… i guess i ain’t fitting anything other than the coilovers when they decide to turn up
My train of thought is… if you really need to change the arms you ought to change everything at once and do an alignment mate.
I would agree based on my experience with the mr2. A decent set of aftermarket coilovers should do the job without having to change bars.
I would only change to poly bushes due to cost but it sounds easier to cut the old arms off and install some new ones instead. Will find out soon I hope.
i think you are right.
i was planing to get it aligned but i was hoping i could change the arms in 2 stages but yeah i think that you are correct about doing them all in one!
I did drop links and D bushes last year on my NC. The D’s were genuine, original Mazda ones. They were cheaper than aftermarket and I didn’t want poly as this is my daily drive, not a track car.
Rick.
Which are the D bushes?
Im very familiar with underside of the car but i dont know the proper names of things.
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They attach the anti roll bars to the chassis.
These slowly perish and are a common cause of suspension squeaks. You tend to notice this when going over speed bumps etc. Pretty easy fix if you can get the car up in the air.
I’d always change them along with the drop links.
Rick.
Ahh, thank you very much.
I just replaced my antiroll bars with 30% stiffer ones.
They came with new D bushes and i changed the drop links at the same time as the old ones were had it.
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I used the MX5 Parts, Poly Bush ones on my NC a couple of years ago as my original ones had perished after 9 years.
Really easy to fit and no squeaks👍.
I will be replacing my stock suspension with Bilstein soon and I too wanted to explore the option of refreshing bushes. My conclusions after some research were:
- Replacing bushes in the arms is a hell of a job as they are vulcanized and you will need poly ones. It’s up to you wether pu is a problem.
- The other option is new arms. Very expensive option.
So I consulted a local MX5 specialist, a guy and his father. They race MX5’s for fun in competitions and they do EVERYTHING to their cars themselves, especially paying attention to allignment etc. He checked my bushes and said they’re still ok. He also told me that replacing the arms costs some time but is not particularly complex IF, a big IF, all the bolts come loose! He has experienced big bolts snapping off due to corrosion. And that’s when things can get really problematic and expensive in terms of labour. So maybe the best option is getting the car on a bridge with a specialist and have them check your bushings. My car has more than 100k miles on it so it’s not like bushes will perrish within 60k miles or so. So maybe my bushes aren’t optimal anymore, but I trust the guy in his opinion that they’re functioning good enough and are not worth the risk of huge labour costs.
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