Suspension refresh - best shocks/struts?

[MotorAway]

I'm a newbie and this is my very first post here. My wife has a '10 Mazda5 Sport 5MT, it's our very first Mazda and we love it. We bought it last year with about 95k miles, it currently has 108k. Given the mileage I'm having to a lot of normal 100k+ mile maintenance on it starting with a clutch that was done a few months back. Now it's time for the suspension. I've already bought front swaybar bushings and control arms (clunk in the front end, presumably from bad bushings and the ball joint boots are split so I got complete arms for relative cost and ease of replacement). What is the consensus on shocks and struts? My first instinct was to go with Sachs because they are presumably OEM. But after some searching it seems as the KYBs might be a better choice? I'm hesitant to go with something really cheap like Monroe. This is my wife's car so I'm keeping it stock. Also, should I get strut mounts and bearings or do they tend to last beyond 100k? Anything else I should consider replacing while I'm in there? I checked and both the front and rear swaybar end links seem fine.

 

[Secondtyme]

There are a few threads on this forum regarding this very topic. I will give you the high points of most of them. 1. Don't try to save money reusing the OE mounting hardware for front, or rear suspension parts. 2. The OE rear shocks are widely regarded as being under specced by Mazda, spend a little more and get better than stock replacements (although I have had good service from Monroe OE Spectrum rear shocks) 3. The front struts are where you will be glad you spent money to get quality replacement parts (stay away from E-Bay garbage like Sensen) 4. For their relatively low replacement cost get new endlinks and be certain you have eliminated all sources of clunking. 5. If the health of your shocks and struts are in any doubt make sure you inspect the rubber bushings on ALL suspension parts, front and rear for abnormal wear. The rear shocks weren't the ony components underspecced by Mazda when they built these things, and at 5 years old your van may have hidden issues you want to address before you start trashing tires. HTH and Welcome!

 

[thaxman]

Regarding your clunk, pretty much EVERY SINGLE piece of rubber on these things are "lowest-bidder" items, so be sure to check motor mounts and the swaybar bushings on top of the subframe.

 

[MotorAway]

Thanks for the advice, guys. I went on RockAuto and ordered pretty much everything to do a suspension overhaul on this car including KYB GR2 shocks and struts, Moog strut mounts, bearings and shock mounts, Moog end links for both front and rear and Moog rear swaybar bushings (already have fronts to install). As I mentioned before, I also have new lower control arms with ball joints and bushings to install. Should I do the rear control arm bushings as well? Anything else I forgot? Since this is our family car and my wife's daily driver I'm just trying to tackle these things all at once so I'm not replacing things one at a time as they fail (I already spend enough time wrenching on my old Saabs).

Speaking of motor mounts, I noticed that the right-hand top one is bad so I ordered a replacement insert for it as well.

 

[Secondtyme]

The rear trailing arm bushings are the part that will destroy tires IF it is bad. You should be able to look at them with the car up on ramps or jack stands, there is a plastic shield over the point where the trailing arm is attached to the body but that can be removed easily (3 bolts IIRC) The bushings themselves are kind of a b**** to replace, you'll need a shop press and the ability to remove the arm from the car entirely. I would inspect the rear bushings before investing in replacements as there is a good chance you won't need them. The other part worth replacing, IF your rear trailing arm bushings ARE shot is called the lateral link, they can be forced into premature failure by a bad trailing arm bushing.

 

[thaxman]

Speaking of motor mounts, I noticed that the right-hand top one is bad so I ordered a replacement insert for it as well.

Get used to it. Motor mounts on this thing are a wear item...like wipers. I'd be sure to inspect every 30K MAX.