MAZDA5 front sway bar?

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Nellynell

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Mazda 5
Hey guys!

Noob here, at least for upgrading my 5. its a 2007, and i'm ordering the BC racing coilovers. with that, I also plan to upgrade the sway bars but cannot find the aftermarket upgrade for the front sway bar. DO i need it? Will it make a difference?

I was going to go with Koni Yellows and H&R springs, but i read good things about BC Racing and for the difference in price, i'm going coilovers. I will br driving a lot, and just feel with a lower center of gravity, my ride will behave better.

Looking for input on sway bars and any other suspension upgrades. Also, shoudl i get a SRI or a CAI?

thanks folks. Happy to have become a member of this prestigeous clan!

Zoom-Zoom
 
Most parts from the MazdaSpeed3 will fit the MZ5. The majority of us have upgraded the RSB, not a lot have done the front as well.

As for the intake, you'll lose low end torque with either. If you're not worried about rain get the CAI, otherwise a SRI will work about as well.

Welcome!
 
What is your goal? I would never put coilover on my car since they require frequent maintenance and need to be corner weighted to work effectively.

Most coilover already alter the front and rear balance. I would wait until you get some time with just the coil over before updating other parts. The coilover itself would have some damping adjustment that would alter the way the whole car react. With coilover you usually do not need much swaybar since the spring are already a lot stiffer.

Modified suspension needs tuning to work properly. Just throwing parts might not works well. Stiffer does not always mean better otherwise all race car would not have any suspension and they would just hard mounted the axle straight to the body. You would still limited to your tires. Even with just coil over you would need maximum performance summer tire to get the max out of it.
 
My goal is to have my 5 feel zippy around corners and a comfortable ride. I will be driving a lot so rather than replace my stock suspension stuff every 25k miles, I'd want to lower my enter of gravity and have my ride cruise nicely. Some extra pep would be great too.

I know to stuff isn't suggested, but my 2007 5 sways pretty easily.

Do others suggest I just try the coilovers before stiffening the suspension?

Thanks for the feedback.
 
phunky.buddha would be the expert with BC racing and what swaybar to use. I belief he use OEM MS3 RSB.
 
I would suggest not going with coilovers. Lowering springs (stiffer) and an upgraded rear swaybar should do the trick for you. As someone posted before coilovers need to be set by corner balancing and will change the suspension dynamics in ways that you might not like for a daily driver.
 
You don't HAVE to corner balance coilovers- very few people do unless they're hitting the track, and a set like the BCs really isn't intended to be a serious track application type of coilover system. They're really just meant to give you the height adjustability you need to play with your wheel gap and ground clearance- THAT'S the target audience for these bargain suspension systems. Do you really think that a coilover system that's not corner balanced is going to feel totally screwy compared to just another set of shocks and springs? Nope- because that's all the coilovers are- another set of shocks and springs. They just come assembled as one unit and have some adjustments that a straight spring/shock combo doesn't.

Maintenance of suspension parts has nothing to do with the style that they're built in either- it's all up to how that specific manufacturer builds their parts. Just because something is advertised as a "coilover system" doesn't mean it'll automatically require more maintenance than a set of springs/shocks.

As far as "expert," nah. Just relating my experiences. And yes, I used the Mazdaspeed 3 rear sway bar.
 
I live in Midwest Rustbelt and coilover definitely need more maintenance over here. If you live down south where there are no road salt it would last a lot longer.

You do not need corner balance but essentially its the same as shock and strut option only with height adjustment. With corner balance it would perform much better on race car but a minivan weight distribution change so much anyway depend on load so its kinda pointless.
 
At OP. keep balance in mind and that the suspension setup (parts within) work as good as the weakest link.
Since you are in FL, where weather and roads are pretty good overall, COs should be fine as long as you accept a potenteially stiffer ride and lost of suspension travel compared to a standard spring/shock setup.

FSB depends on how you like to drive. With FL in mind, I would even consider going down to a smalle Mazda3 bar.



Premacy5 said:
I live in Midwest Rustbelt and coilover definitely need more maintenance over here. If you live down south where there are no road salt it would last a lot longer.
Click to expand...
Courious what "maintenace" are you referring to? Or should I be asking what do you define as maintenance?
 
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First, follow phunky's write up. I've been following it to install my very own BC coils this past week. I hope to finish up by the weekend...here's the link to his thread.
http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/show...BR-Type-Coilovers-Mazda-5-(Review-and-Install

BTW, Phunky, i didn't ask for them but mine also came with the camber plates up front. I followed your technique to the letter and it worked like a charm. 2 hours later and i had ONE hole cut. lol I start the other one tomorrow. OP, did yours come with camber plates???

So in addition to the BC coils, i also went with the SPC rear adjustable control arms to deal with the infamous rear camber issues while i had everything apart. Be wary though, the driver side is a b**** to install. If you do decide to do the arms, let me save you 5 hours and a bunch of cursing. Just drop the rear cross member on the driver side to clear the upper bolt to remove the control arm.

As for the sway, i plan on an MS3 rear bar - if i can find one used. Anything else is overkill, IMO. For the front sway, keep the OEM. i suggest you get adjustable end links as lowering the van even an inch will pre-load the sway when you force fit the OEM end links onto the lowered BC coils. In my case, it revealed a clunk on the front that my research indicates is from the bushings on the front sway...the stress from preloading made it manifest itself...i hope. i started the other side without really investigating it. I'm pretty sure new bushings and adjustable links will take care of it.

And finally, coils are a lot of work to install and tune properly but the this talk of all this additional maintenance is a bit exaggerated. They are dampers and springs, just like any other kit. And these are rebuildable. You can't say that about "most" combo kits. Yes, rust is a concern but twice a year i clean and spray the threads - no biggie. The BC's coating looks like it'll outlast the van! And once i set it, i won't likely ever adjust the height again anyway.

And yes, the balance WILL be an issue if you ignore it. I plan to drive it, feel it out, & make adjustments as necessary until i find the right balance. More work...big deal. But more flexibility always comes with the price of actually having to USE that extra flexibility. I for one chose this pain in the ass cuz it will be the only way to get my van EXACTLY how i want it to sit and drive. The take it or leave it of a regular spring/shock combo just won't cut it.

Only half done here but here's a quick preview of my girl and her sister ;) (click image for a couple of extra shots):


I'm also converting the front brakes to MS3 spec....(breakn)
 
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Silentnoise713 said:
Courious what "maintenace" are you referring to? Or should I be asking what do you define as maintenance?
Click to expand...

The most common problem is the spring adjuster collar became frozen. You need to take them apart and lube/put antiseize to prevent this. Some are made with low quality alloy that they are eaten by road salts that are widely used to prevent road icing.

I seen quite a few bargain coilover broke the spindle mount causing the wheel to collapse. Can you imagine what happen if that happen at highway speed.

I seen the seal got blown when used in really cold weather. Some bargain coil over use cheap fluid that thicken quite considerably during cold weather and you end up with blown shock.

Most coilover need to be rebuild a lot more often to maintain performance. Most needing rebuild every 24-36 k miles. They might still work but you would notice performance degrade quite a bit compared to new.

Hope that clears the confusion. I would never consider coil over for daily driver. Your experience might be different if you never encounter harsh winter condition.
 
I hope you're not saying BC is a "bargain" coilover. I did my research and guys are tracking BC's on S2000's and the like and giving them rave reviews. And I'd rank the build quality on these as good or better than anything i've run or installed. And I'm comparing them to Bilstein, KW, Tein, and H&R. Yeah their priced right at $1k but i've seen true bargain crap at $6-700. These BC coils seem top notch. I may change my tune after driving on them but for now, i'm very pleased.

I've run coilovers on 4 different cars in the cold, salty north east winters. A light coat of anti-seize on the collars during initial install completely avoids frozen collars. Clean them a couple of times a year and there's really no issues. And a quick spray with a jet of water every time you clean your wheels also goes a long way.

I've been modding cars for over 20 yrs & I've never seen or heard of a coilover suffering catastrophic failure. i sincerely hope i never do! Blown dampers? s*** happens. But on the contrary, i've seen coilovers survive brutal car accidents first hand on a couple of sad occasions. And I've personally taken nyc pot holes on coils that would've folded a regular strut. I know because I have folded a regular Bilstein yellow on a pothole that didn't even bend my rim. I even had an H&R cup kit where the BOTH struts bent inward over the course of less than 6 months. BUT in the end, anything can fail. I wouldn't say coils are more prone to failure though. I have found them to be stronger in my experiences...
 
BC's are a low-midrange coilover. Just because guys track them and give good reviews doesn't mean it is high end. Certainly a step up from the bottom of the barrel raceland type stuff. FM tuned v-maxx coilovers are super cheap (600-700) but tons of miata folks are happy with them. Quality, well tuned systems usually start at around $2k (AST, Ohlins, etc). BC dampers use a universal cartridge just like most other inexpensive systems, and similar to megan racing systems. Damping and spring rates are not going to be balanced, but work fairly well for most people in the market for a mid-range setup.


And as far as coilover failures go...the strut housing of a tanabe sustec pro coilover sheared apart on the track in my WRX. I'd say that's pretty catastrophic.
 
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eyeballs said:
BC's are a low-midrange coilover. Just because guys track them and give good reviews doesn't mean it is high end. Certainly a step up from the bottom of the barrel raceland type stuff. FM tuned v-maxx coilovers are super cheap (600-700) but tons of miata folks are happy with them. Quality, well tuned systems usually start at around $2k (AST, Ohlins, etc). BC dampers use a universal cartridge just like most other inexpensive systems, and similar to megan racing systems. Damping and spring rates are not going to be balanced, but work fairly well for most people in the market for a mid-range setup.


And as far as coilover failures go...the strut housing of a tanabe sustec pro coilover sheared apart on the track in my WRX. I'd say that's pretty catastrophic.
Click to expand...

Agreed. Never would I call BC "high-end". Nor would i say that about an H&R setup. But BC is definitely a step above Vmaxx and Raceland junk.

Ouch on the sheared coil. Track days vs. DD though. but i hear you. My only point really was that coils aren't more prone to failure than a cup kit. And i prob never heard of failures like that cuz i'm not a track day guy so i hang with guys like me that stance with coilovers, not look for lateral G's (2thumbs) I do my track days on two wheels where i run into true high end parts like Ohlins all the time. Which also fail btw. But i would still run'em ;)
 
I would not bother with adjustable end link. The preload are only necessary only if you going to corner weight the car. The mounting point on the coilover should be close enough if you set the height about the same anyway.

BC are considered the better quality economy coil over. I just don't have enough experience with it on cars that use it and getting used all year round in the rust belt. I have quite a few friends that have them but they do not use that car in the winter.
 
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