My suspension woes (formerly: Tokico's... which way do they go?)
 

Ok, I'm putting on the new Tokico HP's and I'm a bit confused. When I took the stock rear ones off, the bottom part where the bolt goes in looks the same on both sides. On the Tokico's, they're different (reference picture 1). Did I put it on right, or should I reverse it (reference picture 2)?

Picture 1:

http://www.rotarycarclub.com/attachm...1&d=1207445436


Picture 2:

http://www.rotarycarclub.com/attachm...1&d=1207445436

Correct pic #2... IIRC the other way brings them too close to the rest of the suspension.

Mmmk, that's the way I put them on.

In other news, does this seem to be sitting a bit high? This is on stock springs (22 years old).

http://www.rotarycarclub.com/attachm...1&d=1207499738

Yeah, #2 is correct, the other way can cause rubbing in some oddball situations and possibly lead to shock body failure.

On the ride height, I am looking at my rear right now and it seems to be sitting 1 - 2 inches higher than mine. Did you remove any weight from the back? Is it on a level surface?

Drive it around and see if the suspension loosens up a little bit and take another pic.

Good choice on struts by the way, I used those in my CRX when I was auto-xing and they performed well.

Edit: I think I also spot a loose ground wire in the second pic, you may want to get that bolted up somewhere. I remember reading somewhere that improper grounding on the rear of the vehicle can cause a slight electric charge to build and will accelerate the rust in the back. I'll see if I can verify that somewhere, but in the meantime, it never hurts to have all the grounds bolted up.

The ground is pretty level. It doesn't have speakers or the sound deadening tar in the back, but that's gotta be <30 pounds. When I get the fronts on I'll give it a quick ride around and see how it goes.

Also, that's not a wire hanging by the exhaust, it's a thread of some sort. :dunno:

Btw, the rears are about 100 times harder than the fronts to get the spring and shit in right. Lame...

Did you unload the car after you changed the shocks? They need to settle for a bit ya know!

Ok, completely hypothetical situation here. Say some blithering idiot, not me of course, was changing struts and put the front left spring on the front right strut. Would that cause an issue? :D

Shouldnt.. The springs (theoretically) should be identical.

Well I switched them anyways. God I should of put on new springs too. I'm dreading doing this again... :squint:

It would only be an issue if you put a front spring on the back, but with a stock suspension, it's impossible because the springs are different.

Impossible? You don't know me very well... ;)

Ok, they're on. I think I may have done the impossible, actually fixed something on my car. We'll see...

Oh, and when I pushed the clutch in as I was about to go take a test drive, my back end dropped an inch or two. Now it looks like it should. Not sure why it did that, but oh well. :dunno:

Transmission preload. You dropped the car back down and the tires couldn't turn because the tranny was engaged. Pushing the clutch in let the tires rotate a little bit and let the car settle lol. I wish I had thought of that seeing as I have done it about 1000 times.

Yup, I totally failed. The left front spring pops when the wheel turns. I also burst the left front bushing under the strut (I guess on the A arm). It busted and started oozing. So......... I guess I'm going to DGRR in the Mazda 6.

Would a busted bushing cause the car to feel like something is grinding and make a grinding type noise when turning left?

Anyone know where I can get a/some bushing(s) by Thursday?

Video of the spring popping. When it pops it does it so I can see it, although you can't tell in the video. It's also louder than it seems in the video. I suppose I'll try reseating the spring. I did buy new upper strut mounts. That one that went on that one didn't have a movable bearing, but the other one did even though they had the same part number. Could that be an issue?

http://media.putfile.com/Feh-14

Here's some pictures of the bushing(?) in question. I wiped a fair amount of grease off of the backside of it. :ugh2:

http://www.rotarycarclub.com/attachm...1&d=1207534700

http://www.rotarycarclub.com/attachm...1&d=1207534700

And here's a picture of the new/old upper strut mounts.

http://www.rotarycarclub.com/attachm...1&d=1207534862

Is that the lower ball joint?

http://mazdatrix.com/pictures/h-susp/balljnt2.jpg

I hope not... it's like $70.

And if so, will this work: http://www.energysuspensionparts.com...tBall&cat=1230
?

All that is is a grease boot. It keeps grease in the ball joint to keep it lubricated, and also keeps dirt and grime out. It is ok to drive it with it busted, but the boot or the whole ball joint needs to be replace eventually.

Are you hearing the poping noise with the new strut mounts installed?

Yes.

Hmmm, if that's not the problem, I'm not sure what's making a rubbing noise/feeling when I turn left.

Hi speed? Or just cruising?

As for the spring popping, I have a theory. I assume the bearing in the upper strut mount lets the strut piston(?) rotate when the wheels turn. If there is no bearing, then the strut piston(?) can't rotate, thus something has to give, and it happens to be the spring. Am I totally off or is that a possibility?

I still don't know why 2 identical part numbers were different. :squint:

Any speed.

Yeah, The upper seat is supposed to rotate with the strut when you turn the wheel and keep the spring seated. I have no idea why theres no bearing in the other.

odd. And there's no way that center piece can rotate in the new upper mount? Because it needs to.........amazing how simple stuff always turns into rocket surgery lol

Hmmm, still not sure on the rubbing though. I didn't see anything shiny like it was getting rubbed. Since apparently the ball joint thingy is not the problem, my only guess can be the mount somehow causing it. :dunno:

Any ideas?

Nope, no way. I didn't even think about it when I put it in. I just kind of smiled and nodded. Advance Auto is getting a word or two. Hopefully I can get home on Thursday (an hour away) and work on it and get it ready for DGRR. We'll see...

Probably the mount causing the noise. I'm going t ocall carquest and see if I can get a P/N for you.

EDIT:

P/N 142645 @ carquest.........upper strut mount is listed with bearing. Give a local place a call and see if they can get one in and open the box for you. That one should have a bearing.

That'd be good. I can get someone to get the boxes they came in (threw away at parents but they're easy to get) and check the part number. The only different was one had a 6 at the end, and one had a 7. But that was in the area where it would what number made they were. So it appears they were made right after each other. So odd... Fucking Monroe.

Edit: That number seems familiar. I'm taking the old one off the car and taking it back. If they don't like it, too damn bad. :squint:

yeah. i'd bring in the OEM one with you and show them how much it ISN'T going to work. They should take it back.

Heh, I think I chucked those too, time to go trash can diving. I just put in a new trash bag and nothing else will be in it. All good. :icon_tup: Fun stuff.

I just realized I took a picture of the fucked up one.

http://www.rotarycarclub.com/attachm...1&d=1207534862

Just ordered a new lower ball joint (~$17) and 2 new upper strut mounts. I figure I have a better chance of getting the right one if I order two of them. I'll just take the one that works and return the other one they just ordered for me. :D

Quick update. The ball joint came in and looks fine. The 2 strut mounts also came in. 1 had a bearing and 1 didn't. I promptly returned the useless one and I'm glad I ordered two in case this happened.

good one!

Yes, I have an idea! You MAY be correct, as a really good company called Stance, had this "popping" issue with some of their coilovers, and it was the top mounts binding. They repalced them for people free of charge, and all the issues went away!

So, it MAY just be the top mounts...

To replace the ball joint I just take out 2 bolts, correct?

Hopefully. I'm still not sure how it would cause a rubbing noise, but oh well. It's the only theory I've got.

:icon_tup:

Andddddddddddddddd, down for the count.

At least the front left (only one I've looked at) caliper is boned. I think the rotor is boned also. When I spin the rotor while on the hub and I look at it from the top down, it seems to wiggle. So either the hub is fucked up or the rotor is warped. And, when I spin the hub I get a nasty grinding type noise.

The lower pivot ball and some other pivoty type thing near it both have busted boots.

Looks like I'm bringing the 6...

And, time to make a shopping list. Fuck it, I'm redoing my whole suspension/steering system.

On the plus side my new strut mount went on without a hitch. :D

Dude, so any updates? You got pics of all the progress you've made to your car?

Not a whole lot of pics since most of it wasn't very cosmetic (except the powder blue struts). However, it's all back together and rides very smooth. I can't remember what I posted in this thread but I ended up:

Energy suspension (just on the front, back will probably be next summer)
New rotors (front)
New calipers and pads (front)
New struts (all)
New strut mounts (front)

It had been down a while for repairs when I was finally able to drive it. When I first got in my car everything just felt right. The seat, shifter, pedals, etc. all felt like it was in the right place. Now, that's not saying anything bad about my Mazda 6 since it's a great car... but it sure isn't my 7. Upon driving, the first real corner I went around was a sweeping 45 deg left-hander that literally gave me goose bumps.

Unfortunately it's been sitting for about 2 months now because I have no heat and my Mazda 6 is my daily. I recently got all the A/C and heat components under the dash from a parts car (thanks Kevin) so hopefully I'll get it fixed soon. Also unfortunately, the car is about an hour away at my parents since I live at an apartment complex so there's no point in having it here since I can't work on it.

Here's a pic from another thread of my cleaned up A-arm with new bushings.

http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_foru...5&d=1214543837

Below are two more. One is why the rotors (and calipers) had to go. The second is just showing the old rotor/caliper still attached. I might take some pics next time I'm around the car but there's not much to see.

P.S. My current super secret (now not so secret) project is LED tail lights. Not sure how well it will come out... but I'm bored and it's winter. :) If I go through with them there will definitely be pics of them and if they don't suck a write up. I have a few concerns such as the heavily diffused plastic and shape of the lights, but we'll see...