- My model of MX-5 is: NBFL 1.6
- I’m based near: Aldershot
- I’m offering insight on: wheel spacers.
I’ve had my car for 3 months now, after my dad’s 15 years of careful (so he told me 
) ownership. Well, we haven’t got photos of this one at track days….
Initial insights on handling were that it seems fairly good slicing through roundabouts or a set of bends, but where tarmac has been roughly patched it chatters off the tops of the bumps. This is evident at a very low-speed roundabout near me which I ‘test’ most days.
From my biking background it feels like damping is okay but springs too hard…. Or springs are okay and rebound damping is too firm.
A gentle increase in load allows springs to settle slowly, but when a quick load and release is encountered, nothing copes.
I mostly drive alone, and this is my daily driver so I’m fairly careful with it 
So, I fitted the 20mm spacers and it’s… different.
It feels like the suspension has been softened off a notch or two.
My thoughts are that the load point (tyre contact patch) has been moved further from the centre of suspension movement, hence using less shock absorber / spring movement for same wheel movement, which is proving more compliant to road surface.
We have a nice bit of test road nearby but 30 and 40 limits and cameras were imposed a few years back, so testing is limited.
I shall give it a try out one evening when Mr Plod is tucked up in bed and report back.
Meanwhile, any other thoughts on what’s happening?
I understand physics fairly well, but all these extra lumps of metal on cars tend to be beyond me!
I was curious if anybody else noticed changes like this from ‘simply’ fitting some spacers.