Installed the Toe Eliminator bushings a few days ago, and DAMN! Almost feels like a solid axle back there!! Turn in is much sharper, and the car just handles more predictably than before. Also, my nasty vibration is not as bad. This is the first mod Ive done to the suspension, and its a good place to start. The entire job took about 2.5 hours. I used different sized pipes and a big *** hammer and they were out of the hubs in 5 minutes!! An impact gun REALLY helped. For $40, definatley worth it.

 

Cool! I have been thinking about those. Sounds like it really helps the predictability of the car. I think I will have to them. Where did you get yours? Racing Beat? I think they are only $65 right?

 

can anyone shed some light on the cars behaviour for your average mountain rd drive, with the rear steer eliminated? the sort of drive where mid corner braking / lift-off / other nasty moves are occasionally necessary? I'm all for a bit of oversteer, but some of the things I've read suggest the rear steer was incorporated to remove some wild oversteer tendencies...

Charlie

 

Charlie,

In one word, Predictable.. You tune out oversteer with shock/spring choices, swaybars, etc. But if the car *feels* like it's starting to oversteer, and it really isnt', that's spooky. Putting in the eliminators makes it predictable.

PaulC

 

Here are my thaughts on the DTSS.

I agree that it can be kinda scary to feel the back end move out but not hear any tire squealing but I started to think about the benifits of removing it. If you remove the DTSS the guys who have been driving cars without would probably like it better to eliminate it because once the back end starts to move they know what to do to correct it and it is hard to tell if the tires are slipping with DTSS enabled. And here is where it gets tricky, yes disabling it will allow you to predict the car's movements a little better but now the tires are slipping and are experiencing Kinetic friction which is significantly less than Static friction. If you keep the DTSS exiting the same turn, instead of mashing the gas and getting wheel spin since the tires aren't sliding you can accelerate and exit the turn smoother.

Just my $0.02

 

is it better to have them or take them out

 

Whether or not it is better to have them or not is subjective. I put the eliminators in mine and I absolutely love the car now. I do alot of autocross and road course events so I prefer a more predictible car. Mazda put them there for your average driver who needs a little help in extreme situations. I think the car handles much better with dtss dissabled but that is just my opinion.

Fred

 

Paul

I could not have said it better. The toe eliminator makes the car PREDICTABLE.

 

For TII owners, I vote to leave it in. Unless you are drifting, you probably don't want the rear end to step out very often. This can be scary at high speed. If you drive much over 100, it's very nice to have. It also makes the car easier to parallel park. It would seem to make the car faster in the AutoX though because lap times are determined more by driver confidence than absolute mechanical superiority.

 

I bought mine a month ago and haven't put them in yet, I've been concentrating on getting this J-Spec motor running perfect. Getting better, but not quite there.....

 

I vote "two thumbs up" for the eliminator bushings.

 

Two things to add:
1.) How does DTSS make parallel parking easier.....you would have to be flying into that spot to load the suspension enough to activate DTSS (it doesn't work like 4 wheel steering on some cars).

2.) DTSS MIGHT be OK when the bushings are in good shape but after 230K miles (my car), I think the bushings are shot and not working correctly anyway. So...replacing them not only eliminates the original DTSS but also makes the car better because the bushings were worn out and not functioning correctly.

I'm in the process of rebuilding my front suspension. New polyurethane control arm bushings, PU swaybar and endlink bushings, new ball joints, tie rods and tie rod ends. The rear suspension will be next. I'm going to drop the subframe and replace all the soft parts I can find. The toe eliminator bushings are going to be part of the rear rebuild for sure.

Todd