Yep – plan is to do UCAs, LCAs, lateral arms, and RTABs all at the same time.
IamFODI's 2012 Mazda5 6MT: Intro, plans, questions and build
- Thread starter IamFODI
- Start date
- :
- 2008 Mazda5 GT
I guess my dyslexia is kicking in b/c I just did brakes. Now this got me thinking if mine is different b/c I'm aftermarket pins (previously bought new set with boots) or if b/c these are MS3 calipers? hmmm.
Hunter FTW. Did you provide these alignment values to the shop to set or did they set it for you? The alignment number look good for DDer. Looks almost, exactly like my previous setup except I opted to toe in rear every-so-slightly for more stability (not stock setup so rear was well planted and rotates).Got an alignment today. Printout attached. Pretty okay with the results for now. Everything up front is new – struts, control arms, and tie rods – but everything out back is original AFAIK.
At some point I'll replace the rear LCAs, UCAs, and lateral arms, plus the rear trailing arm bushings. Anyone think I should get camber correction arms while I'm at it? I'd rather stick with OE-style to keep it simple, but I'm open to opinions.
Had this done at a Subaru dealership and got a '22 Outback as a loaner. Wife said she felt like a soccer mom in the Outback whereas she doesn't in the 5. Another win for the 5 – and for my taste in life partners.
In other news, looks like I've lost a bit of coolant. Can't see any steam from the tailpipes. Can't smell coolant. Oil on the dipstick and under the cap looks as it should. Could the heater core have developed an air bubble from years of non-use in TX or something, and I just flushed it out when I used the heat recently? Hoping it's either that or an external leak...
I would say you don't need adjustable arms. Here's a good ref for LCA/busing/adjust arm.
My "follow-along" Mazda5 Suspension upgrade
So the sway bar end links are junk. One trailing arm bushing, I was able to push out with my hand. The other one I'll need to work out. The upper arms' and camber arms' bushings seem to be in OK shape? The lower arms also seem to be in OK shape. Not sure what else I should replace. Part of...
Any significant other that drives stick is a keeper!
If coolant is low, there's a leak. If there's air in the heating core then there's likely a leak letting air in. Run coolant dye. It's the only way to find minor leaks.
I see your $25 funnel kit and raise you https://www.dollartree.com/funnels-3pc-sets/131122 (all you need is the big one, small one is great for filling trans fluid via cup, middle one can be used for filling motor oil) and some old rag towels
Once warm, don't forget to squeeze the upper hose to apply pressure to force out air.Is there an issue with the rear springs?
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Finally, some real tires!
The wheels are the lightest 16" option that was on TireRack with close to the stock width and offset. 16x7, +50, 16.6 lbs each. Not feeling the look, but... also not caring enough to change them. As I said at the outset, I'm not one to spend money or effort making the car look pretty.
Haven't had the chance to do more than a school run with them, but I already feel a ton safer. Even in their first miles, still covered in the factory mold lubricant, they grip like shy toddlers compared to the previous ones.
The wheels are the lightest 16" option that was on TireRack with close to the stock width and offset. 16x7, +50, 16.6 lbs each. Not feeling the look, but... also not caring enough to change them. As I said at the outset, I'm not one to spend money or effort making the car look pretty.
Haven't had the chance to do more than a school run with them, but I already feel a ton safer. Even in their first miles, still covered in the factory mold lubricant, they grip like shy toddlers compared to the previous ones.
Heh, I had actually asked them to set the FRONT toe as close to zero as possible while keeping it positive. Seems they thought "front" meant "rear" there. Hopefully my next alignment will correct that.
Good to know. Thanks.
Roger that.
Ride quality continue to surprise.
On the plus side, the car is no longer worryingly crashy over big bumps. And to the extent that I'm less-than-fully satisfied with the ride quality, I'm coming to think it's largely because bumps are so audible (big boomy cabin, little sound deadening).
On the other hand, I'm noticing a weird undamped vibration over some bumps. It's like what happens in big trucks and buses, which jiggle a bit with every impact – except it only happens over some bumps. Can't tell if it was always there and I'm just now noticing it, or if it has developed recently.
Either way, one way in which this car has underperformed has been ride quality vs. what I expected with Koni Special Actives. Maybe I expected too much...
On the plus side, the car is no longer worryingly crashy over big bumps. And to the extent that I'm less-than-fully satisfied with the ride quality, I'm coming to think it's largely because bumps are so audible (big boomy cabin, little sound deadening).
On the other hand, I'm noticing a weird undamped vibration over some bumps. It's like what happens in big trucks and buses, which jiggle a bit with every impact – except it only happens over some bumps. Can't tell if it was always there and I'm just now noticing it, or if it has developed recently.
Either way, one way in which this car has underperformed has been ride quality vs. what I expected with Koni Special Actives. Maybe I expected too much...
Sorry, my bad!
First gen had a problem with the rear springs. Second gen is ok.
No need to do anything, unless you want to consider some serious towing, see threads about rear suspension air bags.
Does it sound like some hollow sound, like an empty plastic box or something rumbling somewhere? And only happens when you go over the bumps?
I had a such experience with my first gen mz5. I even replaced the shocks and struts assemblies, thinking this is related to failure of that part at the top of the strut tower. And the sound is still here intermittently.
Please share any information you figure out about this!
This isn't just a noise. It can be clearly felt.
At least in the dry, the Michelin Pilot All Season 4 is turning out to be an excellent match for this car in my use. I can drive as enthusiastically as I want to on public roads and still have a ton of margin for error. I had hoped for a bit more of a sporty feel than I got, but my expectations on that point are probably unfair. What's important is that the grip is there in spades. That's a great thing because I like how deep into summer and early in spring I can run this tire (will switch to winter tires only in the coldest months), and I'm glad I don't have to accept subpar levels of summer grip for that privilege.
Almost hoping it rains soon so I can try it on a wet road. That's where I expect the biggest margin over the tires the car came with.
Almost hoping it rains soon so I can try it on a wet road. That's where I expect the biggest margin over the tires the car came with.
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- 2008 Mazda5 GT
I can assume you did your tire research but why opt for AS 4 series instead of summer when you are planning on dedicated winter tires? Seems like you are trading-off for something that you'll never benefit and expecting an AS to perform like a summer series. But it sounds like anything will exceed the whatchamacallit that came with that car so you can't go wrong!
Great question. And yes, there was a lot of mulling.
I use the summer/winter tire combo on the M3. The problem with it is that there are these awkward times every year, mostly late fall and early spring, when it gets too cold for summer tires but not wintery enough for winter tires – but only sometimes, and often not for long. During those times, I have to check weather forecasts constantly to try to time the switchover. And no matter when I make the switch, the temp soon swings back out of the appropriate range, leaving me driving on the wrong tires until it swings back days or weeks later.
On the M3, it's 100% worth all that trouble to run summer tires. They have advantages the car can fully exploit, last longer on the rear axle, and can withstand track use (I run the Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S).
It's different for the Mazda5. No track use in the cards, and its soft springs and bushings would smother a lot of the extra feedback and feel of a summer tire. So, there's less of a case for the advantages of a summer tire – and that means there's more of a case for an all-season tire that could run deeper into fall and earlier in spring to cover those awkward months with borderline and inconsistent temps. As long as I could find an all-season tire that was good enough in summer, it'd be well worth it.
10+ years ago, I don't think the available options would have cleared that bar to my satisfaction. So, back then, I might still have gone with the summer/winter tire combo for the 5.
More recent Michelin Pilot Sport all-season tires changed the game. Their summer performance rivals that of previous-gen Pilot Sport summer tires, and their winter performance has improved to the point that they are legit options for light winters.
For reference, the Pilot Sport All Season 4 is an OE tire option for the C8 Corvette. It allows the car to handle the occasional surprise snow day while still being good enough for sporty driving – even on a car like that.
Also, there's a Mazda5 near me that runs Pilot Sport All Season 4s year-round. The owners of that car love it.
So, again, not the best call for the M3 – but seems like a slam-dunk for the 5.
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Apparently it's harder to get wheelspin or engage ABS with brand new Michelin Pilot Sport All Season 4s on a wet road than it was with the Linglongs even in the best conditions.
Holy moly am I glad to have real tires. And now I'm having nightmares about all the other cars I see that run tires as crappy as those Linglongs. So horrifying that tires like that are even a thing.
Holy moly am I glad to have real tires. And now I'm having nightmares about all the other cars I see that run tires as crappy as those Linglongs. So horrifying that tires like that are even a thing.
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- 2008 Mazda5 GT
Gotcha, you are looking to run AS longer into the season to cover the recommend 45-degree switchover temp.
Nice change today: Completed the rear suspension refresh!
- UCAs (Lemförder)
- Lateral links (TRW)
- LCAs (Mazda)
- RTABs (Delphi)
Plus fresh eccentric bolt hardware and LCA bumpers (both Mazda).
While we were in there, we discovered a wheel bearing on its way out. No play yet, but it felt bad when rotated. Replacing it at this point was trivial, whereas doing it later would have involved repeating a lot of the work we had done on one side. So, I didn't want to put everything back together without replacing the wheel bearing. Sadly, this meant I was stuck with whatever inventory the parts stores near me had in stock, the least-bad option of which was... Moog.
Significantly improved ride quality now, though! Far, far less undamped jiggling. It's still not quite where I'd like it to be, but it's good enough that I'm no longer interested in trying to improve it.
- UCAs (Lemförder)
- Lateral links (TRW)
- LCAs (Mazda)
- RTABs (Delphi)
Plus fresh eccentric bolt hardware and LCA bumpers (both Mazda).
While we were in there, we discovered a wheel bearing on its way out. No play yet, but it felt bad when rotated. Replacing it at this point was trivial, whereas doing it later would have involved repeating a lot of the work we had done on one side. So, I didn't want to put everything back together without replacing the wheel bearing. Sadly, this meant I was stuck with whatever inventory the parts stores near me had in stock, the least-bad option of which was... Moog.
Significantly improved ride quality now, though! Far, far less undamped jiggling. It's still not quite where I'd like it to be, but it's good enough that I'm no longer interested in trying to improve it.
Either this car likes cold weather better than warm weather, or it's running better the more I drive it.
Aside from I think two "in a pinch" fill-ups, all fuel has been from Top Tier Gas stations. All has been 87 octane. Since I took delivery, the only engine-related maintenance I've done has been to change the oil, oil and air filters, and spark plugs. IIRC none of that made an immediate difference. But the engine is running tangibly smoother on average than it did when I first got it. There used to be a noticeable vibration throughout the car at idle; that's drastically reduced. Most of the time, engine vibration is almost imperceptible, which as I understand is how these vehicles are supposed to be.
Likely unrelated: Pretty sure we found the coolant leak. There's a crappy hose clamp at the upper radiator hose. Tightening it made the leak go away entirely for a while. It recently started dripping again though, so we'll have to revisit it. Hopefully the bad clamp is the whole story and there's not a crack somewhere.
Oil consumption (maybe a combo of consumption and leakage) is something like 1 qt in 5k miles. Hoping that'll improve a bit when I get the VCG done, which will hopefully be soon. Either way, it seems likely I won't have to top off at all between oil changes, which would be nice!
Aside from I think two "in a pinch" fill-ups, all fuel has been from Top Tier Gas stations. All has been 87 octane. Since I took delivery, the only engine-related maintenance I've done has been to change the oil, oil and air filters, and spark plugs. IIRC none of that made an immediate difference. But the engine is running tangibly smoother on average than it did when I first got it. There used to be a noticeable vibration throughout the car at idle; that's drastically reduced. Most of the time, engine vibration is almost imperceptible, which as I understand is how these vehicles are supposed to be.
Likely unrelated: Pretty sure we found the coolant leak. There's a crappy hose clamp at the upper radiator hose. Tightening it made the leak go away entirely for a while. It recently started dripping again though, so we'll have to revisit it. Hopefully the bad clamp is the whole story and there's not a crack somewhere.
Oil consumption (maybe a combo of consumption and leakage) is something like 1 qt in 5k miles. Hoping that'll improve a bit when I get the VCG done, which will hopefully be soon. Either way, it seems likely I won't have to top off at all between oil changes, which would be nice!
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Just got the car back from the shop. Took care of the liftgate damper recall. Also wanted them to replace the valve cover gasket, check the valve clearances while in there, and adjust if necessary. They said the clearances were all 0.010" on the intake side and 0.013" on the exhaust, which they said was in spec. This post suggests those numbers are right on the edge, so I hope I didn't make a mistake by letting them button everything up without adjusting anything.
Weirdly, the battery apparently picked today as its last day. On the bright side, I got to confirm that this beast fits (barely):
Weirdly, the battery apparently picked today as its last day. On the bright side, I got to confirm that this beast fits (barely):
Yep. Just left it off for the pic.
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- 2008 Mazda5 GT
Nice find. I like that the terminals are not reversed, like the 34 Interstate I'm using. Not sure how I missed 48 but I wonder if Costco didn't have them on the self at the time.
(update: 34 @$100 vs 48 AGM @$180; 34 also has higher CCA, RC, smaller/lighter)
Let's not gloss over top shelf stuff.
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Started getting some awful noises that seemed clutch-related recently:
In this video you almost need headphones to hear them, and they used to go away when everything was warm. But they got much worse recently. In the past few days they have worsened every time I drove the car, to the point where they were audible at all temps. Sounded pretty nasty today. When noises worsen as quickly as these did, I figure that's a sure sign something needs attention.
So, the car is now at a dealership I like for a clutch kit and possibly some other bits and bobs. I delivered the car to them with a bunch of OE parts I haven't yet installed, so maybe it'll come back to me with some of that done as well. Also asked them not to be shy with the "while we're in there" upsell suggestions; I told them I'd consider any ideas they had. We'll see...
In this video you almost need headphones to hear them, and they used to go away when everything was warm. But they got much worse recently. In the past few days they have worsened every time I drove the car, to the point where they were audible at all temps. Sounded pretty nasty today. When noises worsen as quickly as these did, I figure that's a sure sign something needs attention.
So, the car is now at a dealership I like for a clutch kit and possibly some other bits and bobs. I delivered the car to them with a bunch of OE parts I haven't yet installed, so maybe it'll come back to me with some of that done as well. Also asked them not to be shy with the "while we're in there" upsell suggestions; I told them I'd consider any ideas they had. We'll see...
