Mazda5 BC Racing BR Type Coilovers - Review and Install
- Thread starter phunky.buddha
- Start date
its a Sport Wagon. lol
The salesman at Mazda would not stop saying that every single time I said van.
I stand corrected 
A guy in my area has a murdered out 2011, also on your same coilovers, and some 949 6UL's. Props to both of your for doing what makes Mazdas so damned appealing. BTW, I also call my 2 a sexy man hatch with barely enough room for my masculinity, but we both know how that goes....
A guy in my area has a murdered out 2011, also on your same coilovers, and some 949 6UL's. Props to both of your for doing what makes Mazdas so damned appealing. BTW, I also call my 2 a sexy man hatch with barely enough room for my masculinity, but we both know how that goes....phunky.buddha
Booga Booga?
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- DFW TX
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- No mo MZ5 want MX5
Nice! Fortunately I didn't buy mine at a Mazda dealership- picked it up cheap at a BMW joint. They just wanted it gone since it didn't match their "used portfolio." He might not have liked me sliding it around a cloverleaf @ 90 on the test drive either. Fun times.
I stand corrected
If he's on 6ULs that must mean he's running 17x9 or higher?! Can you get pics?
phunky.buddha
Booga Booga?
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- DFW TX
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Sweeeeeet. Keep that camera handy
phunky.buddha
Booga Booga?
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- DFW TX
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Thanks!
Trolling the net for info on performing my first strut removal, I came across this...
Might help save a little stress & frustration.
This particular image is on a Volvo C30, but I came across the "scissor jack trick" on a Mazda3 forum soI assume it's the same idea.
Might help save a little stress & frustration.
This particular image is on a Volvo C30, but I came across the "scissor jack trick" on a Mazda3 forum soI assume it's the same idea.
phunky.buddha
Booga Booga?
- :
- DFW TX
- :
- No mo MZ5 want MX5
Trolling the net for info on performing my first strut removal, I came across this...
Might help save a little stress & frustration.
This particular image is on a Volvo C30, but I came across the "scissor jack trick" on a Mazda3 forum soI assume it's the same idea.
I actually tried that- the surfaces are so angled that it's really difficult to get the scissor jack to stay in place. When you are able to get the stupid thing to grip enough to apply force to the strut and knuckle, is starts to bend so much at the joints that you think it's going to jump out and say hello to your eyeballs. Shoving wood pieces in there to flatten out the surface to make it more jack friendly doesn't really help here either.
phunky.buddha
Booga Booga?
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- DFW TX
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- No mo MZ5 want MX5
From PM just now:
I'm glad it'll come in handy for your install. I hope. I'm also going to add this reply into the install thread so everyone has it...
1. Just pause every few minutes when you see it starting to get thin/dry and add more on the teeth. One way to tell is the cutting getting louder/rougher as the oil wears down. You're not going to be able to hold it for more than a few minutes at a time anyway, so even just reapplying oil when your arm gets tired will probably work fine too.
2. I think the Yellowspeeds come with a bearing between the spring and perch to reduce the pop/twang noise, and the BCs have a plastic insulator in the same place that seems like it's supposed to serve the same purpose. Depending on which type of coilover set you bought, you may have something similar. I rarely notice any noise on my setup, so it doesn't really bother me- and my wife doesn't really notice either. When I do hear it, it's very faint. I actually believe that the plastic spacer is probably broken/cracked after a hard pothole hit a few months ago, because when I do hear it- it's only on the right side of the car (where I hit the pothole). If you think a noise like that might bother you, find some kind of insulator or bearing to throw in there- otherwise I wouldn't worry about it.
Hope that helps!
the_saint said:
I'm glad it'll come in handy for your install. I hope. I'm also going to add this reply into the install thread so everyone has it...
1. Just pause every few minutes when you see it starting to get thin/dry and add more on the teeth. One way to tell is the cutting getting louder/rougher as the oil wears down. You're not going to be able to hold it for more than a few minutes at a time anyway, so even just reapplying oil when your arm gets tired will probably work fine too.
2. I think the Yellowspeeds come with a bearing between the spring and perch to reduce the pop/twang noise, and the BCs have a plastic insulator in the same place that seems like it's supposed to serve the same purpose. Depending on which type of coilover set you bought, you may have something similar. I rarely notice any noise on my setup, so it doesn't really bother me- and my wife doesn't really notice either. When I do hear it, it's very faint. I actually believe that the plastic spacer is probably broken/cracked after a hard pothole hit a few months ago, because when I do hear it- it's only on the right side of the car (where I hit the pothole). If you think a noise like that might bother you, find some kind of insulator or bearing to throw in there- otherwise I wouldn't worry about it.
Hope that helps!
Finally tackled this yesterday...man that was a chore! Followed this write up pretty much word for word. I actually copied it to a word doc and printed it (lol2)
Thanks phunky.
One item of note that we ran into, make sure to pull the lower strut mount bolt all the way out. The locating tab on the strut actually loops around this bolt. I'm assuming this is a failsafe so the strut cannot come loose even if the bolt is not sufficiently tightened. At any rate, we didn't pull the bolt all the way out and ended up fighting the first strut all the way out. After we figured this out the other strut came out much easier. Also, FWIW, we had major success using the scissor jack trick.
Thanks phunky.
One item of note that we ran into, make sure to pull the lower strut mount bolt all the way out. The locating tab on the strut actually loops around this bolt. I'm assuming this is a failsafe so the strut cannot come loose even if the bolt is not sufficiently tightened. At any rate, we didn't pull the bolt all the way out and ended up fighting the first strut all the way out. After we figured this out the other strut came out much easier. Also, FWIW, we had major success using the scissor jack trick.
phunky.buddha
Booga Booga?
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- DFW TX
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- No mo MZ5 want MX5
Welcome. I assumed it was understood that all bolts came all the way out... the bolts are hanging in on the pictures for illustration purposes.
I'm glad the scissor jack trick worked for you- definitely did not for me!
phunky.buddha
Booga Booga?
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- DFW TX
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Thanks! And nope, it can go a LOT lower. I was only trying to get an even gap all around- I don't like to slam my cars. Without taking the wheels off and measuring the perches (just going by my pictures and what I estimate motion ratios to be), I'm going to guess that you'd be able to drop at least another 1.5-2 inches all around. You'd definitely be able to tuck a decent bit of tire at all 4 corners.
http://www.ohdamn.co/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/IMG_8356.jpg
in that picture the front could have gone 2in lower
the tire size was 215/45/17
phunky.buddha
Booga Booga?
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granTORRESmo
Member
Hey guys! Does anybody know if this coilover fit the new gen Mazda 5? A 2012 Mazda 5? Btw, this is some Awesome install! Quality install!
phunky.buddha
Booga Booga?
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- DFW TX
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No idea. And thanks!
