Mazda rear shocks

[Nliiitend1]

I was thinking about unbolting my shocks this weekend just for s**** n giggles (I'm curious as to the shape mine are in), and I was going to take some measurements/pictures during that process.

I'll post up what I find out, especially if it's any different than what's already been reported.

 

[cymx5]

If you know the stock spring rates and the corner weights, you can get an estimate of the spring travel. My bumpstops were destroyed when I replaced my shocks around 33xxx miles. That was before the car had been driven during the winter, where the bumpstops would be most brittle.

 

[ohioan]

For that matter, how the hell do rear shocks affect your gas mileage by 4 mpg?

I keep asking myself the same thing... Don't know if since one was shot and put no backpressure and the other I couldn't push down at all had anything to do with it? Or is a trip to niagra just so much more flat then to maryland? (maybe that's the big factor)

I will repost my comment from youtube here for all to see: You an are idiot to believe ANY factory shocks or struts will last more than 20-30k miles. 55,000miles is a great life for factory shocks. Quite your bitching. You were lucky they lasted that long.

...see comment below. I'm not the only "idiot". This is the FIRST car that I've owned that I NEEDED RIGHT NOW to replace the shocks before 85000 miles.

I think that the MS3 shocks are simply inferior from both a performance and a durability standpoint. None of my other vehicles have required shock replacement before 90,000 miles at the earliest. The silver lining is that now I don't need an excuse to fit Bilstein HDs.

And I think like this too. Anything that gives me a reason to upgrade, I'm all for it

 

[Nliiitend1]

If you know the stock spring rates and the corner weights, you can get an estimate of the spring travel. My bumpstops were destroyed when I replaced my shocks around 33xxx miles. That was before the car had been driven during the winter, where the bumpstops would be most brittle.

Who said anything about "spring travel?" (dunno)

 

[MSMS3]

I will repost my comment from youtube here for all to see: You an are idiot to believe ANY factory shocks or struts will last more than 20-30k miles. 55,000miles is a great life for factory shocks. Quite your bitching. You were lucky they lasted that long.

+1. I've had expensive Koni, Bilstein and aftermarket special purpose Monroe shocks fail in less than 20,000 miles on other vehicles.

You really can't assume that the factory shocks are POS based on one account, or that getting 90,000 miles on some other brand, on perhaps another vehicle under different driving conditions, is typical.

I'm at 29,000 miles now on stock shocks and have replaced the stock tires at 27,000. Rebound, compression and extension all seems pretty normal on the shocks at the time of the tire change, although I've not removed them to check more carefully. Maybe they are about due for replacement. I don't know. Too many variables to generalize.

Can you improve handling with better shocks? Yes. Does this mean the stock ones are POS? NO.

 

[cymx5]

Who said anything about "spring travel?" (dunno)

There has been discussion for a page and a half in regards to bumpstops. (eekfu) It is impossible to have a discussion on the gap between the bumpstop and shock body without discussing spring travel...nevermind...it is possible, but it is ignorant to do.

 

[Nliiitend1]

There has been discussion for a page and a half in regards to bumpstops. (eekfu) It is impossible to have a discussion on the gap between the bumpstop and shock body without discussing spring travel...nevermind...it is possible, but it is ignorant to do.

Uh, unless your springs completely compress to the point of all of the coils touching (which I think you'd have a VERY VERY VERY difficult time doing under any semblence of normal use), "spring travel" is completely irrelevant.

Explain to me why you would need to calculate "spring travel" to figure out how much "slack" there is before the bumpstop is engaged, or why it would even matter...I'm all ears.

 

[cymx5]

I am merely talking about the static load on the spring with the weight of the car on it. The vehicle is supported by the spring. The load (vehicle weight) on the spring determines how far the spring travels. Well, the top shock mount rests on the spring, and when the spring compresses, the shock compresses, and the bumpstop gets closer to the top of the shock body. Remove the spring from the equation and you have vehicle sitting on top of a compressed shock and bumpstop. It's not rocket science. I don't think I've really enlightened anyone in the process of describing this either.

Recapping to my first post on spring travel. If you know the load on the spring and the spring rate, you can calculate the spring travel and estimate the gap you'll have between your bumpstop and shock body under static load.

 

[Nliiitend1]

I am merely talking about the static load on the spring with the weight of the car on it. The vehicle is supported by the spring. The load (vehicle weight) on the spring determines how far the spring travels. Well, the top shock mount rests on the spring, and when the spring compresses, the shock compresses, and the bumpstop gets closer to the top of the shock body. Remove the spring from the equation and you have vehicle sitting on top of a compressed shock and bumpstop. It's not rocket science. I don't think I've really enlightened anyone in the process of describing this either.

First of all, your description only applies to the front of the MS3, not the rear.

Second of all, it's apparent that I misunderstood what you meant by "spring travel" in your original reply...

That being said, I'm still having a hard time understanding why the "spring travel" you're speaking of here has any relevance to the discussion about the amount of free suspension travel available before engaging the bump stops. Finding out and/or measuring accurate corner weights is probably more difficult for most people to do than a direct actual measurement...

I'm really not trying to be a dick here (regardless of whether or not you are). I'm just trying to understand the relevance of your comment (which as you've alluded to, shouldn't be news to anyone) to the discussion at hand.

 

[Nliiitend1]

Recapping to my first post on spring travel. If you know the load on the spring and the spring rate, you can calculate the spring travel and estimate the gap you'll have between your bumpstop and shock body under static load.

Are you sure that's all you need??

If so, can you give me an example equation using some made-up numbers?

Forgive me if I'm being dense, but don't you also need at least the uncompressed spring length as well?

Also, why would we want to estimate such a value when we can directly measure it??

 

[cymx5]

Nliiitend1, I agree the front and back would be somewhat different. You are right in that I mean no I will in my post (disregard my comment that Design just posted we all can be inappropriate at times). If I have time tonight, I will try to put a visual together with some practical numbers.

 

[Design]

Edited my post to accomodate your adjustments.