Thump

[Chris_uk]

Well it seems my 4 yr old mazda 2 sport (UK) is having a horrible thump from the rear RH wheel area, after inspecting it i came across a very loos heatsheild so assumed it was this and got it tightened back up, nope still loud thump, seems to be on normal road usage and not just bumps, dips in the road even cause it, after checking the shock absorbver it seems to be stained of fluid around the top where as the other side is not, could it be leaking fluid and thus not working properly? im getting it checked out after the christmas weekend so hopefully will be sorted soon. Any ideas or help will be great

Chris

 

[Slow Paul]

Sounds like a strut to me. I'm not a certified tech or anything, but I've wrenched on cars for a LONG time. Remember, it's best to replace struts/shocks in pairs. Let us know how this turns out.

 

[Chris_uk]

yea well i think i read about somehwere that the 1st models that came to the UK had issues with rear wheel bearings and rear shock absorbers/struts, i am right in saying the srtut is the shocker on the back? sits between the wheel and the car lol, just double checking incase im saying this all wrong haha and yea well garage on wednesday as soon as they open so i will be getthing the other side looked at aswell and willlet you know

 

[XCLR8TN]

Yea that long cylinder running vertically in between the wheel and spring and attached to the tab on the torsion beam by one bolt on the bottom is the shock. Sounds like its blown and needs replaced (like someone said, replace both rears at the same time).

 

[CorkSport]

It sounds like the shock has died if it is leaking oil.

The rear shocks are super easy to change out, as in 30 minutes with hand tools to change out both of them. You don't even have to pull the rear wheels to do it.

-Derrick

 

[Racebrewer]

Might as well start upgrading........<LOL>

Or, if all the early rear shocks went bad will Mazda warranty them?

John

 

[Chris_uk]

i bought this one used, our warranty is 3 years with a new car, or x amount of miles depending on your contract agreement, and mazda will happily say sorry its taken this long so there's no proof your actual part is shitly built lol, was bad enough trying to get a noisy rear window replaced on my old mazda 2 three door 1.3 and that was a year old and bought from new, as for the shocker, yea im hardly driving around atm only when i have to, which is on christmas day, 120 mile round trip to the mothers haha ill post a picture of each shocker so you guys can see for yourselves

Rear Right (broken i think)

Rear Left (seems ok)

 

[DrWebster]

Yeah, looks like that right rear shock is leaking fluid, which means it's done. Thankfully, like Derrick said, the rear shocks are ridiculously easy to swap out on our cars, and are fairly inexpensive too. You can still drive the car temporarily with the shock in that condition, as all of the weight of the car rests on the springs, but the rear end will bounce around since the shock can't control the rebound of the spring.

 

[XCLR8TN]

Just wondering, do you have to pull plastic pieces from the inside to get to the bolts(nuts?) holding the rear shock in? I've only taken out the bottom bolt to install the lowering springs...

 

[Chris_uk]

I'm not to sure, i don't think so, as derrick said only takes 30 mins to replace both with normal hand tools so i reckon the bolt/nut holding the top to the chassis is acessable from under the car, after this replacement i to am getting lowering springs, apex 40mm

 

[Joker2]

If the lowering springs are close to the OEMs rate-wise, you can use either OEM dampers/shocks or Bilstiens. If the rate is different by more than 50-75 lbs/in, then revalved or matched dampers are required. The dampers should be matched to the springs in rebound rate as well as to the jounce (bump/compression/whatever).

 

[DrWebster]

I'm pretty sure you need to remove the cargo area trim pieces to access the bolts...the 2 uses bolts to hold the rear shocks in where the bolts point upwards, and are retained by washers and nuts on the top side of the wheel well.

 

[CorkSport]

Just wondering, do you have to pull plastic pieces from the inside to get to the bolts(nuts?) holding the rear shock in? I've only taken out the bottom bolt to install the lowering springs...

You do not have to pull panels. The nuts are captured in the body so you have to pull two bolts from the underside (wheel well) at the tops and they are loose from the body. The one large bolt on the bottom at the beam and they are out. It is the easiest rear suspension to pull shocks ever.

-Derrick

 

[Chris_uk]

Ok so went to local garage this morning, well couple of them lol, one quote was for the part and fiting and then VAT which is 20% ontop of the total, that was 125 which is bit high i thought, anyway, found a place local that can order me in the shocker so now im only going to be paying around 50 for the part, and 25 for the garage to fit it i got them to check the rear left shocker and they confirmed it has been recently replaced, garage i bought the car from said they had replaced some bits that were on their way out when it got its yearly MOT test earlier this year so they stupidly only replaced the worn one instead of the pair, cheapos lol

Chris