New Product Release! 2014 MAZDA CX-5 2WD Rear Sway Bar

[JBR]

The modification he is making to the existing set we sent him is dangerous and not recommended what so ever. This is why I was unwilling to make the modification for him. Camber arms are nothing to play games with, neither are the lives of the passengers in the vehicle they are attached to.

 

[paris1]

Well said jbarone. There's some borderline craziness going on here around this topic.

 

[mazstyle]

Noted , and thanks for the advice .

The modification he is making to the existing set we sent him is dangerous and not recommended what so ever. This is why I was unwilling to make the modification for him. Camber ares are nothing to play games with, neither are the lives of the passengers in the vehicle they are attached to.

 

[tibimakai]

It's not possible to design a sturdier one then? The arm itself, is a tube material or it's a rod? Can't be increased the diameter of the arm itself and increase the diameter of the threads?

 

[mazstyle]

Anything is possible if there is motivation, sadly there may not be enough financial incentive for tuners to bother making cool parts for a small market

I can understand the rationale .

It's not possible to design a sturdier one then? The arm itself, is a tube material or it's a rod? Can't be increased the diameter of the arm itself and increase the diameter of the threads?

 

[cjas22]

Yeah I'm not willing to modify a camber arm. As for financial incentive..if there is enough willingness to make lowering springs wouldn't there be enough to make camber arms as well?..just a thought.

Jbarone, how about a bolt, is that any easier?..are their other bolts out their that may fit our Cx-5 and provide some offset to the negative camber?

 

[paris1]

As for financial incentive..if there is enough willingness to make lowering springs wouldn't there be enough to make camber arms as well?

This is why I believe it is somewhat negligent of Corksport to be selling springs with a 3.5" drop and not provide a way to adjust camber, at least in the rear. H&R took a more responsible approach to this market by not selling anything greater than a 1.75" rear drop which creates a less drastic camber change. Even then, they do advertise that the sport springs they sell may necessitate modifications to the suspension (which they provide in the front, but not the rear).

 

[Chris_Top_Her]

Anything is possible if there is motivation, sadly there may not be enough financial incentive for tuners to bother making cool parts for a small market

I can understand the rationale .

Hey I'm trying to populate this thread I'm making http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/show...rmarket-Parts-Reference&p=6300229#post6300229 if you could chime in, I remember reading you had some autoexe parts?

 

[mazstyle]

Had my adjustable camber arms modded , should fit this weekend, sorry no pics as JBR wont want you to mod your arms

 

[SayNoToPistons]

Why not any pics? As if there would be pending lawsuits?

 

[V8toilet]

Corksport isn't negligent for not producing a camber arm and to say so is ridiculous. The market for the CX5 is tiny and the market for someone who wants to make an SUV into a sports car is even smaller (really think about that). Members should be grateful that Corksport even takes the risk of manufacturing the springs for the CX5. It wouldn't surprise me if for every 10 customers that buys lowering springs for an SUV that only 1 would go the extra mile and purchase a camber adjustment arm. If I was a business owner I wouldn't even want to deal with the liability of this for so little to no reward especially when so many people in this day just can't take responsibility for their own actions. If the customer didn't do their do diligence in researching this before they modified their own SUV than it's their own fault for not doing their homework. (2cents)

 

[mazstyle]

Amen... totally agree V8toilet, there seem to be some CS haters on the forum, I keep reading the negative unbalanced opinions about them by the same forum members.

I'm just grateful that people bother making bits for the CX-5, im a shopaholic and have had to reach far and wide to get parts and ship them across the world, I put my money where my mouth is and support the vendors.

Lets hope we see some more modded CX-5's and less keyboard racers.

Corksport isn't negligent for not producing a camber arm and to say so is ridiculous. The market for the CX5 is tiny and the market for someone who wants to make an SUV into a sports car is even smaller (really think about that). Members should be grateful that Corksport even takes the risk of manufacturing the springs for the CX5. It wouldn't surprise me if for every 10 customers that buys lowering springs for an SUV that only 1 would go the extra mile and purchase a camber adjustment arm. If I was a business owner I wouldn't even want to deal with the liability of this for so little to no reward especially when so many people in this day just can't take responsibility for their own actions. If the customer didn't do their do diligence in researching this before they modified their own SUV than it's their own fault for not doing their homework. (2cents)

 

[mazdaspeedmyk]

JBR's RSBs are, by far, the best I've experienced. The JBR 125 Tru-Torsion is my 5th RSB for my Mazdas. I've had the Corksport Ver1 for my old MZ3 SA. My MS3 had CS Ver1 and Ver2, and finally the JBR 250 Tru-Torsion Bars. The JBR 125 Tru-Torsion Bar for the CX5 was an immediately noticeable improvement in the cornering. Body roll is significantly decreased. So much so, that my wife commented on it. I have it set to the stiffest setting, cause everyone likes it when it's stiff.

Here's a pic of the difference between the CX5 OEM RSB and a the JRB RSB:

This was a medium difficulty install, since you have to remove the rear spring and shock, and lower the sub frame. Also, there is little room to use power tools to remove the sway bar bushing nuts. It took me forever to get them off with a ratcheting box end wrench. The install can be done with one person, but a friend is good to have around to help out.


Some install tips:

A ratcheting box end wrench is your best friend. The space is tight to remove the sway bar bushing nuts and the ratcheting action was a life saver, instead of having to pull off the wrench and only being able to move it a fraction of a turn at a time.

Since my 14mm ratcheting box wrench wasn't clearly labeled, I kept fumbling with it as I was trying to take off and put on bolts. The big thing that helped me was, placing some painter's tape on it that said "ON". This saved me so much time trying to figure it out every time.

I had a pain of a time removing the top driver's side nut of the sway bar bushing. Eventually, I sprayed some PB Blaster on it and that helped it to come out.

The instructions say the nut on the lower shock mount is 17mm, but for the 2015s it's a 19mm.

A 2x4 is handy to have. I used it to separate the lower the rear control arm and to help get the shock off its' bolt. I also used some PB Blaster on the shock bolt to help slide it off.

I didn't feel comfortable loosening the subframe bolts without support, so I placed the jack at the subframe lift point to hold it.

As you're putting everything back together the instruction say to secure the end links to the lower control arms. This made it difficult to get the spring back in. I left the end link on the passenger's side unattached to the lower control arm until after I had the spring and shock reassembled.

JRB instructions don't list the torque specs, so I grabbed them out of the shop manual:

Buy the bar. You know you want to. SPEND!!!

http://www.jamesbaroneracing.com/shop/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=46_224_275

EDIT:
The JBR instructions don't mention which hole is the stiffer of the two. But from their other RSB instructions, I'm assuming the hole on the inside is the stiffest setting.

 

[Chris_Top_Her]

hmm, I didn't remove the shock when I did it... in fact after dealing with bent brackets a few timesI just simply lowered the rear subframe, and remove a tire.. once the subframe is lowered I can hand remove the spring and have plenty of working room. I don't like unbolting the control arm b/c it can be a pain to get it to line back up and bolt. but then again I have awd and can use the diff as a jack point. When I replace my brackets I may be trying the stiffer hole myself (after I clear up a question with C/S). Were you able to fit both links into the stiffer setting? Or did you end up with one up and one down?

 

[mazdaspeedmyk]

I had no issues with the endlinks. Everything went where it was supposed to go.

 

[Chris_Top_Her]

I had no issues with the endlinks. Everything went where it was supposed to go.

lol not the only one on at 0100.. I'll have to try it next time I'm at the shop

 

[mazdaspeedmyk]

lol not the only one on at 0100.. I'll have to try it next time I'm at the shop

Hahaha. Yeah, but it's only past Midnight here in California.

 

[paris1]

So mazdaspeedmyk, let me ask you a question. I'm sure you would agree that when an OEM like Mazda develops suspension components for a vehicle like the CX-5, they strive for some sort of balance between roll stiffness, understeer, oversteer, etc. Presumably, there is a relationship between the front and rear A/R bars that helps to create the driving dynamics they're after. So I get that you and others here may not care for that OE ride/handling compromise and strive to improve it with aftermarket replacement parts. What I don't get is why you would go to what appears to be a monstrously stiffer rear sway bar and do nothing on the front end to create a different balance than the car originally had. Seems to me, all you're doing by dramatically increasing the rear roll stiffness is decreasing the car's understeer tendency to the point where it will probably be inclined towards oversteer. Is that your goal? Please enlighten me.

 

[JBR]

They strive for comfort vs performance. The CX-5, 3 and 6 all suffer from serious understeer. Adding the stiff rear bar gets the vehicle much closer to neutral. the frint bar we're currently manufacturing makes them almost perfect.

 

[paris1]

They strive for comfort vs performance. The CX-5, 3 and 6 all suffer from serious understeer. Adding the stiff rear bar gets the vehicle much closer to neutral. the frint bar we're currently manufacturing makes them almost perfect.

So I would assume the front bar (which currently is not listed on your web site?) is somewhat stiffer than the OE part?