Which rear toe links ?
 

Since M2 is out of business, which rear toe links would you suggest ? What is the aprox. cost for a pair ?

Mine are worn out pretty bad (noticed it today when I wanted to have the pillow ball bushings replaced).

Thanks !

Rotaryextreme seems to be the most well made. Cost is around $250. Check out www.rotaryextreme.com

toe links........

toe links are generally the last bushings to fail since they carry no vehicle weight.

the most important question to consider is if it is your toe link bushings that are bad or your lower longitudinal and latitudinal link pillowballs that are causing the slop/noise etc...

the latter is more likely though, of course, toe links eventually fail.

the oem toe link is fundamentally similar to aftermarket toe links since it is just an adj length bar with spherical (mazda calls them pillowball) bearings at each end. aftermarket toe links offer no performance advantage over oem assuming the oem part is o k.

the link is very easy to remove and it is a simple job to replace the 4 pillowball bushings/bearings. each costs approx $50.

the Rotary Exteme toe link is very well engineered and built and at around $250 is competitive w replacing the oem bushings.

take your pick,

howard coleman

Well, I'm getting my car back later today with the new pillow ball bushings pressed in so I will see how it goes. Definately I could feel the bushing in the right rear toe-link have some free play while mechinc tilted the wheel. Maybe new bushings will eliminate it. I'll report back.

Ok... got the car back. Its much much better now. Almost like new. The response is now more direct and it grips better in the rear now I think. How it handles at the limit I will see at the track.

There is still some clonk in the right rear where the toe-link is busted.

the oem/mazda toe link bushings are made out of rubber surround, this introduce play and usually toe-out under load. The older this toe link, the more play/slop it has.

The aftermarket ones, like rotary extereme ones uses metal on metal bushings which has no play at all.

The rubber in the stock rear toe links is just fine

I'm back to running stock toe links and I spend every other weekend 9 months out of the year with the car on R compound tires.

I can tell the difference in a 1/4 turn on my Konis, I can tell the difference in 1 pound of tire pressure, I can tell the difference in a 1/16" adjustment of toe on the front or rear, I can tell the difference in .25* of camber change, I can tell the difference in the tires warming through a run and I can tell a difference when I don't wet the intake box down at the beginning of a run.

I can't tell a difference between a stock rear toe link and an aftermarket toe link if neither is worn out.

Is there a price difference in stock and RE ones ?
Do any of them last longer ?

The stock toe links do seem to go bad at about the same rate as the pillow balls, in my experience. Most cars that have old ones probably need new ones. The "uncovered" aftermarket toe links seem to go bad faster than the stock parts, but RotaryExtreme's offering with its covers might last longer (I haven't tried them, but the covers seem like a very good idea). My uncovered aftermarket toe links went bad failrly quickly, and I replaced the rod ends with $20 QA-1 XML10 and XMR10 rod ends from Jeg's after a lengthy search for a good deal on such standard parts. I think the QA-1s are an outstanding deal when compared on price and load capacity with others in the market. I haven't had any trouble with them, but I do expect that they will wear out eventually.

From Damon's report, I believe that you won't be able to tell the difference in driving between stock and aftermarket toe links. You will notice the difference between worn stock links and new aftermarket links, though (until the aftermarket links go bad :)). The aftermarket links may also reduce wheel hop for the drag racers, since it removes some play from the suspension. However, that is just speculation -- I don't know for sure.

-Max

I dont care about drag racing, Rex was made for the twisties :p:

My stock toe-links have about 85k miles on them, so no wonder they need replacement (although only the right one, but still).

Is M2 really out of business? Wouldn't surprise me.