Minus said:
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...
