I know that most of the legend of the RX-7, comes from its superb handling ability, but mine feels like i'm driving a minivan. Its a damn shame. I was hoping you guys could help me diagnosis it to get my priorities straight. When ever i turn, either going 70km/h, or going 5km/h my front tire squeal like crazy, and i get tonnes of body roll. I know my rear shock are in pretty rough shapeand leaking oil, and i think my front struts are not bad. My tires are all seasons, and still have pretty good tread, 2 years old. I got into a small accident a while back with a curb, and bent my control arm, and had it replaced. Could i have bent some other suspension related part? I also am looking in putting in a strut tower brace from CP Racing. I'm not sure what i should do first, and what will make the biggest difference cause i'm on a budget. Thanks for the help guys. I need to feel what my RX-7 was made to do.

~Matt

 

sounds like allignment, maybe idler arms. take it to a suspension shop and ask when you get it aligned. also the back shocks are huge in the rx-7. what gives it it's supiror handeling is the perfect 50 - 50 weight distribution. so that means that the weight tranfer is increadable on the this car. so if you take a turn at 40 mph you figure that there is weight tranfered to the point furthest from the center point of the turn. meaning that if you go right, the left side center will experience the weight of the car. the weight front to back will be distributed evenly between the front and rear. if you have bad shocks in the back, your back will sink bad causing a transfer to the rear of the car, so taht means the front where the turning is happening will get less weight. so now you have most the weightin the rear left coner meaning it will put less weight in the front right and if it's enought of a weight transfer then the tire might not be touching the ground enough, causing it to squeal.

so there are a couple reasons it could be bad. but befoer you start adding upgrades, you should fix what you have, the upgrade could make the problem worse. rememebr that the upgrades are made to work with working stock equipment.

thats my advice.

 

Ok...

It's time for suspension, 101.

Body Roll: caused by soft springs and weak anti-roll bars (go figure). The cure is found by increasing the spring rate of the springs and getting fatter anti-roll bars. Racing Beat offers a streetable spring that tightens up the rates by 20% over new stock. I say new stock, because if your seven has the original springs, they are probably pretty saggy. Racing Beat also offers anti-roll bars, as does Eibach, Tokico, Suspension Techniques, etc,etc,etc.

Tire Squeal: Caused by the shitty *** tires you have on your car. All Seasons=Teh Suck!!11!! You will get NO traction with All Seasons, so unless you're willing to go to a dedicated summer tire, or a racing composition tire, be prepared to deal with the lack of traction. Sumitomo makes a very good summer tire for the 13 size call the HTR 200. They're also really cheap.

When was the last time you had your alignment checked? Excessively bad alignment can cause tire squeal at low speeds because of poor tire contact.

Just a few things to think about...

 

stock 1st gens don't handle too well.

front stock alignment setting is 1 degree POSITIVE camber and it'll push like a pig with lots of squeal. Take it to alignment ship and have it adjusted to 1 degree NEGATIVE camber and as much positive caster you can get and it'll feel lots better.

as for body roll, that's what a thicker front sway bar is for. remove the rear bar, it causes rear suspension to bind and induce oversteer. eibach pro kit is a good set of springs that'll help reduce lean too.

 

I'm not quite sure what Teh Suck!!11!! means, but based on the fact that you think all seasons provide no traction, I'm guessing you're saying they're bad.

Well, that's dead wrong. All seasons have a purpose and they serve it well. His problem isn't the tires. If you read the post, he says it happens at any speed. That means no matter how slow he's going, the body is pitching forward. That's a worn-out suspension problem, stickier tires will make it pitch more. Stickier tires will make the car very hard to handle because the body will still pitch forward and the car will continue to try to turn making it very unstable. The tires need to match the rest of the suspension.

They may be a weak point, but they're probably not the cause of his problem, and I can guarantee you that you will get some traction with all season tires.

 

I need all seasons, cause i'm up in canada, and winters aren't too fun on summers.

I'm interested in this negative camber setup, and swaybar removal, I also just ordered some KYB shocks for the back.

 

edit: tried to post this earlier, forum was being a bugger

For the shocks, a good brand of aftermarket shocks/struts is KYB. They're an improvement over stock, and won't break the wallet. I picked up all four KYB GR-2 Gas Shocks/Struts for a measily little $267CDN, through the local Derand motorsports... Look for any local performance places, most of them can get you KYBs on special order. Bringing them in from the states is a little more expensive. After exhange, tax, and handling, it's about $310CDN plus shipping... so look for them locally if you can.

Start with the alignment and the shocks/struts. If you're on a budget you'll notice the most difference there. Then if you're still unsatisfied, get a set of RB springs, they've got great reviews for performance vs. streetability and the price is pretty damn good. I can order in a set of RB springs from the states for cheaper than I can pick up a set of Eibachs locally! Tires are very important, and depending on the condition of your stock springs (probably crappy) you may want to change tires before or after considering the RB springs.. it's up to you. Just be aware that you'll have crap grip if you have crap tires.

From there, new swaybars with polyurethane bushings would be the next step, but chances are by the time you even consider the springs above, you've got the handling down to "within a budget, good enough" zone. I haven't gotten to that point yet, and this is where it gets expensive, and not necessarily needed.

Have fun!

Jon

 

if you guys are worried about handleing then everyone should get a nice set of rims with lower profile tires on them. i just had to take mine off cuz the tires were getting too worn and put the original rims back on and wow do they suck. there is so much tire roll that it doesnt even feel like my car anymore. but i also have tokico shocks with eibach springs that helps out a little but with my other rims on everything is nice and crisp. i have all stock anitroll, and sway bars too.

 

Which does little for a stock wornout suspension. Sticky low profile tires do have a great advantage over the stock 13x5.5's, but only if you have the suspension to take advantage of the extra grip.

The only other thing that comes to mind is the control arm mount and/or tension rod. It sounds like your way out of alignment.
Make sure your anti-swaybar isn't bent or a mount broken.
Replace the idler arm bushing. A shot bushing can cause squeeling because the tires aren't turning the same amount.

A strut bar isn't going to do much for ya at this point. You really need to replace all the bushings. The 20 year old stockers are shot to hell and back by now. The stock shocks/struts/springs are probably shot also.
What is your budget?

 

RX-7's do have some of the best handeling you'll get in a car. The fact that a 16-year-old (at least) suspension is shot, is just a normal thing. Things get old and break. I just hope this unfortunate turn of events hasn't ruined your appreciation of the seven.

 

guys please rememebr that aftermarket parts are made to work with properly working equipment. so he should fix first anf then upgrade otherwise the aftermarket stuff coudl strain the stock stuf bad

 

A good start at the aligment sop would be to get them to rotate the strut so that the arrow points back and towards the engine. This should give you max negative camber without slotting. All of 1 degree.

 

I would agree - Fix the stock worn out parts then move on to mods.

An alignment shop can NOT set your car up with negative camber. In fact the only way they can adjust your camber is what little amount you MAY see by changing the caster setting using the tension rod.

Go to the auto parts store or mazdatrix or Victoria british and replace the Idler arm bushing, Pitman arm bushings, Inner and outer left and right tie rods. Then get some poly type bushings for the tension rods. Then take it to a quality alignment shop and have them put it back to stock settings. Have them adjust the steering box as well.

From there you can decide if you need springs, bars, tires, wheels or all of the above. Oh.. and I second removing the rear sway bar.

-billy

 

any bent or damaged suspension part will greatly effect the handling!

only after you have sorted out the handling, then you worry about tyres! you will probably find that if you bent the control arm, it would have bent other components as well, not to mention putting your alingment, toe in, and camber settings.

but tyres squeeling at all speeds, sounds like the Toe in might need to be adjusted!!

 

btw on the rear I would keep the old bushings as long as they are in one peice

 

I had an alignment done right after i installed the new control arm, and that happened last winter, So i wouldn't think that its too bad by now?

 

Alignment probably isn't your problem. Everything I've seen from 1st Gen's tells me the spring are almost always shot. Most "lowering" kits will actually raise up a car because of the saggy springs. I'm telling you, replace those springs and at least 90% of the problems will go away. I run all seasons on my car, 185/60/14, and I have over 250hp/torque and I have little problems with my tires. I say springs first, maybe shocks second. Sounds just like a case of worn out stuff. Pretty common.

 

I'm sorry, what? Care to explain why an aligment shop cannot set negative camber? The stock struts are adjustable from 1* positive to 1* negative camber as well as caster by rotating them into the one of four possible locations.

I'm not sure what you mean.

 

If you really have excess body roll, then you have weak springs, probably caused by riding on dead shocks too long (dead shocks don't protect the springs from high frequency vibrations that weaken them with time).

For tires I like Pirellis: they stick good on wet pavement, don;t squeal excessively. Tho they don't last forever.

B

 

Actually, FBs handle very well, and I should know. My theory is that this is a well-balanced car that uses all four tires to get around a curve. It isn't jerky, and it doesn't give a lot of feedback; it just goes around well. So, it's kinda boring compared to a lop-sided front-wheel-drive car that requires lots and lots of input to get around a simple curve.

I think there is something mechanically wrong with an FB that sqeels and low speeds - bent shock towers, maybe?

Just my $0.02 worth.

 

ok, more info on my problem, It squeals the most going slowly making slightly hard right turns only, the sound only comes from the front driver side tire. hmm, the same side as when i hit the curb