The Culprit Of The Clunk!

[kep0ne]

hey..my clunks gone!!!....was the thought i had a few weeks ago. it had gotten really bad, then POOF. it was gone.

present day, brake pad change.

what the ****? what the hell happened? NO WONDER THE CLUNK IS GONE. the endlink mount for the swaybar broke. looking at the design, its pretty ******* flimsy. a metal endlink with some type of GLUE holding the bolt that connects to the strut. pretty ******* weak if you ask me.

ill post pictures after i install my digicam

 

[saided18]

:wtf:

 

[low_psi]

i dunno man. most proteges i've seen on the road have the separated strut links. the day mine happens, i'll be taking it to the dealer to b****. none of the protege enthusists i've talked to have had this happen yet, so it might just happen over time...

 

[kep0ne]

yeah, but those are proteges w/o the beefed up swaybar. the added load is too much, and the endlink slips.

here's a picture of what racingbeat intended to use for an endlink.

compared to the one the MP3 is equipped with, the racing beat prototype is much beefier and looks like it could withstand the abuse from the sway bar load.

some glue holding the bolt in isnt going to cut it.

ill be visiting a dealership soon to have it replaced.

 

[Newf]

I've had the endlink replaced twice. Neither time were they broken, we were just seeing if they made a difference and they didn't. If your Clunk, or bushings were bad for some time, it is believed by various people I have talked to that the strain of the sway bar, and movement of it caused by bad bushings could possible exert extra force on the end links over time. MAybe this is what happened to you. Your endlink were the victim of your bushings?

Just a thought.

 

[Grimace]

<Sigh>
I wish we could've just got the sway bar setup that Racing Beat intended us to have. Or at the very least, I wish Racing Beat would sell us the equivalent as an aftermarket piece. I'm willing to pay to fix the mistake that Mazda made in cheaping out on the suspension sway components.

 

[Newf]

Your wish you come true yet.

Be patient little one, and you shall see the light

 

[Kooldino]

I wish i knew exactly how our suspension worked so I could join in the b1tching. LOL.

 

[SomaMP3]

Yeah, i've had my end links replaced twice as well.....i can't believe that mazda would even think that something that flimsy would actually support the abuse taken by the sway bar....did you guys also notice that there is a different bushings set up in the racing beat picture

 

[Kooldino]

So are you saying that we don't have "A"???

 

[1sty]

So is that the Prototype MP3 from Racing beat in those Pics and Mazda half assed the production cars?

 

[Minus]

guys i have owned my mp3 since she rolled off the lot and i have never once heard a clunking... maybe if you guys would wquit smoking crack you wouldnt hear it anymore lol

 

[SomaMP3]

exactly....just check out their website....it says that it didn't make it into the production cars http://www.racingbeat.com/FRprotege.htm:(

 

[SomaMP3]

whoops... gotta fix the link...

http://www.racingbeat.com/FRprotege.htm

 

[SomaMP3]

Just click on the picture that i posted from the website...i hope that makes sense...for some reason, i couldn't get the right link to work...its under the project mp3....

 

[1sty]

Well the likely hood of Mazda ever doing anything for the clunk is very unlikely but maybe we could convinve Racing Beat to make a suspension kit for the Protege to upgrade the back to there original design. If it could work on all proteges I figure they would stand to make a substantial amount of money so they may be willing.

 

[Grimace]

guys i have owned my mp3 since she rolled off the lot and i have never once heard a clunking... maybe if you guys would wquit smoking crack you wouldnt hear it anymore lol

Yeah, but you're in Alabama. Its warmer there.
I've been following the problem (not to the same extent as Newf, of course) but it seems to affect those in colder climates (i.e. with real winters) more than you southern folks.
I'm pretty sure what happens is:
-weather cools down
-something, either the bushings or the sway bar or something in the sway bar system, shrinks in the cold weather and tolerances become sloppy. Premature wear results with the loose tolerances (more rubbing, more movement, etc.) OR rubber hardens in the cold weather, becomes less pliable, more easily damaged, and premature wear results
-finally, when as bushing wears down much more quickly in the cold weather, the clunking begins. Naturally, the clunking sound remains when the weather warms up because by then, the damage is done. For our friend who started this thread, extended use of the car with the bushings really worn out will cause undue stresses on the sway bar which will cause the end links to break. "Mechanical-engineeringly" speaking, even a small change in tolerances caused by worn out bushings could easily cause enough stress on the endlinks to break them (especially the flimsy ones Mazda chose to put on) under cyclic loading (caused by driving around).
Solution (if my theory is correct): Urethane bushings that can take weather extremes better and are longer lasting under ALL circumstances then cheap rubber bushings. If you really want to do it right, better endlinks too.
Just one sec [takes hit from bong]...
Now where was I... oh yeah... cool.... wow... the colours...

 

[Grimace]

Your wish you come true yet.

Be patient little one, and you shall see the light

That's pretty criptic. You know something I don't know, my bushings insider?

 

[SomaMP3]

yeah, did you guys not how strong the racing beat end links looked compared to the crappy mazda ones, which i might add, are on the base proteges

 

[andr3w]

Grimace, nice write up. My new MSP got the clunk too after about 1000 miles. It is not noticeable everyday, generally happens when cold AND wet. My guess is that over time it will get worse.