..I am turning deaf from all the racket comming inside the cockpit and from the suspension! I cant go over railways at 20mph without the whole car making a racket! There are some stone roads and man I fear those! What can I do to make the ride smoother? I want to feel as if I am driving a relativly new car. Not speaking of reliability, just comfort.

Other than that, I love the car.

 

You want a soft suspension? Sell your FD and buy something else. There is no way you can get a "soft" suspension without compromising performance. You can get a softer suspension by going with the suspension from the 94/95 PEP/base model.

 

I live in Greece and by no means do we have good roads
Finally after much effort I have made my FD relatively smooth
Steps
1. Koni Adjustables + stock springs
2. Fixed all bushings
3. Opened up dash, sprayed with wet silicone and made sure it was well put back toguther
4. Sprayed all other plastic links with silikone spray
5. New tyres - humongous difference !

I did not believe the FD could be livable untill I entered a friends which was so much better than mine !

 

there is no reason for the fd to be particularly noisey. there are problems w your chassis.

if you go to the suspension site and search under bushings you will find lots of posts on the subject. hint: search for howard coleman's

you give very little info as to "noisey" we all need more to help.

the FIRST item is tire pressure. set your tire pressure at 30 front and 27-28 rear when the tires are stone cold. if you find you have 40 psi or thereabouts cold that is your problem.

after tire pressure there are a number of bushings that are spherical (called pillowball by mazda) that are maintainence items because the fd has a racecar suspension and it wears. the key is that only a few of them need replacement generally. there are a ton of posts on the subject and the bushings are easy to replace and not overly expensive.

if you can posts further info the forum can be of more help.

good luck,

howard coleman

 

Tires matter a lot. I went with P-Zero Neros because of a fairly soft sidewall and light weight. Far more comfortable than the Pilots I replaced.

 

A cracked PPF would make tons of noise too.

 

Does anyone have that squeaky hatch problem?

 

Yes, I decreased it by putting spacers on the rubber mounts that the hatch sits on, you can also tighten the latch to get rid of the squeeking..I think Rob robinette's site has that info..

 

30 Psi? Talking stock rims with stock rated tire size right? My S02's call for 44psi (IIRC) on the tire..are you suggesting to go that far from suggested? I know that in colder weather do to expansion with the heat that finally comes during driving it's good to be "under" but 14psi under......just wondering.

Higher in the spring/summer? 35-38?

 

Howard is the man, he knows more about suspension than probably anybody I have ever seen. follow his instructions you can't go wrong. I have and would do it again. good ****, Howard.

 

i have some of these noise issues as well, is it generally pretty easy to replace the pillowball bushings? I know I have some kind of joint or bushing that is wearing.

 

Its easier to buy a set of suspension arms with good bushings rather than installing the pillows. Sadly, my suspension noise was not from my pillow ***** but the shocks so I have a set of upper rear suspension arms with good pillow bushings. Anyone interested? $100 for both! (Thats how much I bought them for)

 

It is a common misconception that the "max pressure" listed on a tire is the correct pressure to run them at. THIS IS NOT TRUE! That pressure is the "don't go higher than this or your tire might pop" (and we, the maker of the tire, won't be responsible for it) pressure. The right pressure has nothing to do with the max pressure.

-Max

 

Every time I drive the FD I am reminded that this is a car with a 'sporting heritage' and thus not ever intended to be the quietest ride out there...lol!

By comparison, my Volvo is just whisper quiet, it damps out road roughness with aplomb yet is still very sporty to drive. My Suburban is vastly quieter than the FD but not anything like the the Volvo...and my Mazda pickup is somewhere in between the Suburban and the FD in overall quietness and ride quality.

I will say that the FD is surprisingly quiet on the highway, a smooth road is your FD's (and your ***'s) best friend. Wind noise is negligible so on a good road the FD is pretty damned cool. On a bad road....ack! Between the suspension and other road noise and the kidney-destroying ride, you will wonder what the hell you were thinking.

I am reminded of the CAR&DRIVER test drive when they first came out. Of course, they had an R1 model, but the text went something like this:
"We decided to wring this car out, take it on a really long drive and stay in it until our bodies couldn't take it anymore. Of course, when this happened at .7 miles we started to be concerned...."

 

His tire pressure recommendations are correct...

https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generation-specific-1993-2002-16/manual-says-inflate-32psi-but-when-377727/

 

Hey, thanks for the replies guys.

I have some broken plastic parts that I am replacing, plus the coins I keep on the container ont he driver's side make noise, but what really bothers me is the suspension noise.

I am going to do all the of the above and I will see how it goes. My sister got scared the other day when we drove over some railways, LOL.

 

Hey I installed Tanabe sustec pro coil-overs in my 95 R2 and some cheap Fuzion ZR rated tires. Because of the suspension the ride is now comfortable and handling improved as well. Definitely worth the money. Many FDs suffer from broken suspension components.
FDs make a bunch of noises but most of them can be eliminated easily.

 

That thread was awesome...

 

It was the only thing that came to mind immediately.

But it did answer his question didn't it?

 

Sure did. The MAX PSI number on the sidewall is NOT the recommended operating pressure.