teamstealth

hey every1,

I've had this problem with my FD since i got it and im finally fed up with it. Anytime i enter a right hand corner at any half-aggressive speed, i get HORRIBLE body roll, and the little base lip grinds against the pavement. Ive tested it many many many times and it will only do it on right hand corners, left hand are no problem. Ive got Tokicos and Eibachs for suspension mods and they did nothing to help....what else could cause that body roll? cracked sway bar? bad bushings/mounts?
plmk
-Zach

Slacker7

iTrader: (2)

Have you tried anti-rollbars? Eibach pro kit is a progressive type spring.... you might want to get linear springs instead.

teamstealth

well im j/ thinking of other cars with the same setup as mine that corner FLAT. So springs/shocks are out of the ? right now because this problem happens going through my neighborhood at 30mph, not on a track taking corners at 70mph, ya kno?

Slacker7

iTrader: (2)

Well.. if that's the case.. can't help you there :p

Err just making sure.. how do you know if the lip is scraping the ground? Have you checked it for scratches?. Maybe your tyres are scraping against the fender.

teamstealth

there are visible marks on the lip, and the fender/tire show no marks, plus just listening, you can tell its coming from the very front of the car. But the only things i can think of that would cause it are these:
Sway bars
bad bushings
cracked a-arm (possibly?)

I'm just looking for some confirmation from others who have had this problem

teamstealth

^bump^ NOBODY has ever experienced front suspension parts failing and causing body roll??

FormerPorscheGuy

How are your bushings?

rynberg

Your front anti-roll bar mounts are likely toast. When I bought my car, the mounts were bent to hell. Happens even with street tires if the car has been cornered hard.

Jack up the car and check the mounts. Replace them with the beefier mounts from Mazdatrix or other vendors.

teamstealth

Rynburg, that would make sense because if only the drivers side was bent then it would corner well to one side and not the other. I'm on vacation right now, i will check them when i jack the car up in a few days to install my diff brace. Would it be wise to get beefier sway bars from say pettit as well if the mounts are bent/damaged? Also, how much of a job is it to replace the bushings in the front suspension?

rynberg

Well, I would only advise getting a bigger anti-roll bar if you need additional roll control over your current set-up. This is very unlikely unless you are regularly tracking the car.

I am concerned though, because even with a bad anti-roll bar mount, it doesn't seem like you would be getting that much body roll...

teamstealth

yeah on a left hand 90degree corner at ~25mph, its not just a split second scrape, its a HARD scrape around the entire turn, where as a right hand corner at the same speed is fine. its to the point that i prefer to push the Ford Explorer around corners

teamstealth

Well, im looking on mazdatrix, and it seems you can buy just new beefier mounts, a beefier sway bar, and/or a sway bar mount brace.....I do plan on doing plenty of SCCA events in the springtime, so what all would u advise buying?

reza

Check your suspension stop bump. This prevents the shock and spring from bottoming out too much.
I had tokico and eibach spring before, and my left front tires would rub the top of fender cover. overtime the bottoming action breaks the stop bumb, thus now it bottoms out much farther thus rubbing the spoiler or the fender cover...

teamstealth

well this was a problem with the stock suspension and springs, and continued after i installed the eibachs/tokicos, so i dont think thats a problem but i'll add it to the "things to check" list

reza

The bump stop gives about 1 to 2 inches clearance.
A lot of people who autocross cuts this off, so that they can get more suspension travel. At the cost of rubbing things left and right....Check it out, its located at the top of suspension piston...If you look at most coil over setup. They comes with about1.5-2 inches of bump stops.
Look at the orange rubber thingie top of suspension near pillow ball uppermounts in this photos.

teamstealth

thanks for the pic! Im 99% positive that that piece is still in place, cuz i never was asked if i wanted it removed. Plus it would have been removed on both sides, making the rubbing equal

reza

on the stock ones, its cannot be removed. It is part of the uppermounts, on aftermarket coilovers, its always a replacable parts, because they break off over time.
Look at the parts diagram. it will show the rubber upper mount...

reza

here it is

teamstealth

k so the list consists of sway bar, sway bar mounts, bump stops, and random suspension bushings.....neone got another place to look?

teamstealth

ok im bumping this up cuz i have another question...assuming my sway bar stuff is fucked, i plan to upgrade it all at once. It seems there are many different options.
Mounts-Racing beat, updated OEM, or widefoot.
Sway Bars- Tripoint, racing beat, sr motorsports
Sway bar braces-Racing beat, sr motorsports


My question is what would be best for me? I do plan on getting into the SCCA in the spring, and the car is a daily driver that will see the track as much as i can afford to put it out there plmk ur opinions on upgrading my setup.

-Zach

adam c

iTrader: (2)

I doubt that you have a bushing problem. If that were the case, you would hear some "metal on metal" noise. You have not mentioned it, so I assume you are not hearing it.

Sounds like you may have a bent sway bar, or bent/unattached mounting bracket.

teamstealth

yeah no metal/metal noise whatsoever, just tons of body roll and scraping. Adam C, do u have any experience/opinions with the parts i mentioned above?

adam c

iTrader: (2)

I have the stock sway bar brackets, and do not plan on replacing them unless they fail.

There are two things you should do before buying a bunch of parts.

1. Get under the car, and find out what the problem is. If you don't know much about suspension, or can't find the problem, have someone else look at it.

2. Read the SCCA rules about modifications. You don't want to spend a bunch of time and money, and then find out later that you have done something that is illegal for the class you want to run in.

I recommend that you find/fix the problem before upgrading anything.

teamstealth

yeah im definitely going to jack the car up on sunday when i get home and check it out before making any purchases, I just like to explore the "what if" scenarios

88IntegraLS

So it leans badly only when taking a corner one direction? My guess is an anti-sway bar mount disconnected from the chassis, which could let the anti-sway bar move downward over the broken mount when cornering one direction, while it would be pressed against the frame in an opposite curve, rendering a sloppy roll only in one direction. It could also be a worn out shock on the particular corner that would be compressed in the turn.