[Guest]

Greetings all This is my first post, so be nice! ;-)

I have a '95 MX-6 LS V-6 5sp with 82K miles on it that I bought new. At around 18K miles, I had a set of Eibach lowering springs installed. The Eibachs improved the cornering quite a bit, with only some compromise in the ride - although freeway heaves at over 55 mph would and still do lift the car into the air and *whomp* it down on the bump stops, nearly giving my passengers concussions at high speeds. The suspension is otherwise completely stock, although I now am running on my second set of tires (Michelin XGT-V4s). The problem is that I can't stand the ride in the car anymore! There isn't the slightest pretense of rubber bushings anywhere, and the car has lost every bit of its road isolation and smoothness. The road noise seems quite excessive now - and it honestly rides like the shocks were made of concrete. I've had the wheel bearings and CV-joints checked out by two Mazda dealers and an independent garage, and all told me the wheel bearings were fine. Can anyone suggest what might be wrong? I'm strongly considering selling my MX-6, but like it so much I wish there were a way to get the ride compliance and isolation back to what it once was. I've thought about new struts, but think that may actually make the problem worse. Any suggestions out there?

 

[bigjeff]

Yeah, you should try driving in my car with the coil overs all the way down giving it about 3/4 inch of travel. When I put the coil overs on my car, it had about 90,000 miles on it and the stock struts were absolutely spanked. I mean they blew right through the travel like nothing. I replaced them with Tokico Illumina 5 way adjustable struts and it was a big improvement. You might want to check them out, seeing that you are getting up to where my mileage was. I know some people might disagree with me on this, but maybe you could cut more off your bump stops to give the car more suspension travel. With my coilovers all the way down, I had no travel whatsoever, so I cut the bump stops down to about 1/2 inch. Our cars have a good deal of room in the wheel well and I have not hit the tire on anything in there. I've put about 20,000 miles on my car like this and it's been okay. Also, my car does seem to rattle and make more noise now. Most likely due to the harsh hits from the stiffer ride. I was actually considering getting some of that sound absorbant material from Crutchfield and putting it under my carpets to kill some of the road noise. Oh well, don't sell the 6, it's a sweet car and I think you could remedy that with Tokicos. Good luck.

 

[Greg S]

At 82K miles most likely your strut shot. Bst bet would be to look in to some new struts. Like bigjeff said the Tokico's Illuminas are great, but if you don't want to spend that sort of money then look at the regular blue Tokicos or KYBs.

 

[Guest]

I just replaced my suspension a while ago with Intrax riding on KYB OEM replacements, and I have to say that I'm quite satisfied. It bottoms out fairly easily, but that's mainly because I forgot to get the bump stops cut, it should be fine after I get thyem cut. Although the car bounces a little on undulations one-after-the-other, overall it's very controlled. Of course it would be better with Tokicos, but the KYBs only cost $62, so it's fine if you're on a budget.

 

[JPMX6GT]

Like it was mentioned before, if you're riding on the stock struts after 80 something K miles, then they are most definitely shot. If you have th emoney, I would go head and get Tokico Illuminas to go with your Eibachs. I had this combination before I got the ground control and I loved it. at one point I had the Tokicos set to 5 all around just to see how smooth th eride was and ohhh my god... it was soo smoothe, similar to a luxury car. Definitely recomend it. Then I had them set to 3 in the front and 2 in the rear. I'm sure that if you get better struts (especially the Tokico) you'll fall right back in love with your car and not even think about selling her.

 

[Guest]

Thank you to everyone

Your comments were very much appreciated. I have this funny feeling my wheel bearings are also starting to go, which might be compounding the problem. Anyone have that experience?

 

[Guest]

Like it was mentioned before, if you're riding on the stock struts after 80 something K miles, then they are most definitely shot. If you have th emoney, I would go head and get Tokico Illuminas to go with your Eibachs. I had this combination before I got the ground control and I loved it. at one point I had the Tokicos set to 5 all around just to see how smooth th eride was and ohhh my god... it was soo smoothe, similar to a luxury car. Definitely recomend it. Then I had them set to 3 in the front and 2 in the rear. I'm sure that if you get better struts (especially the Tokico) you'll fall right back in love with your car and not even think about selling her.

Jorge, how much (approx) were the Eibachs and Tokico Illuminas? When set to 3(front) and 2 (rear) did the car corner noticeably better? I'm considering this combo... Thanks!

 

[JPMX6GT]

Jorge, how much (approx) were the Eibachs and Tokico Illuminas? When set to 3(front) and 2 (rear) did the car corner noticeably better? I'm considering this combo... Thanks!

-I got the Eibachs for $200 and the Illuminas for $115 each from a local shop.

-Since the rear of the MX6 - PGT are extremely loose, by making the rear stiffer than the front helped a lot when turning or maneuvering hard. The addition of a rear strut bar helped out a lot as well. I'm planning on getting a sway bar whenever someone produces one that works flawlessly with our cars.