mark.r.cullen

Haha. Yep! Im in a lose lose situation. If it comes back the noise will bug me again. If it never ever returns itll bug me, as I dont think I will ever be able to figure out what it was. Happy days!

Hm. Weird. Something I've done seems like it may have fixed it. I didn't hear it on the drive to work this morning again, and it's been making this noise since the day I picked the car up from new, coming up 2 years ago. If it's not the brake parts that I removed then I'm not sure what I've managed to do to sort it, as I haven't touched any suspension parts at all. I guess it doesn't take long for the suspension to settle down again after the car has been in the air for about 8 hours (I work slow.....)? I only raised the front too.... I've yet to paint the rear brake parts....! I'm still fully expecting that noise to return, whatever it is - I'm having a hard time believing it's just fixed itself permanently. I'll keep an ear out over the coming few weeks. I'm sure it'll return.... :-)

Do you think its possible that it was the pads moving about that was causing the dull thudding / knocking noise that I was hearing? It seems crazy that it could cause such a noise to me, but I dont know much about brake noises at all. At the moment I am fully expecting the noise to return on my next drive... I trust nothing :-) but I really hope thats all it was after all this time! Ill update this thread again either way, incase anyone else out there has the same issue.

It does indeed! I probably wasnt clear in the above post. Too early in the morning. The dull thudding seems to have been something to do with the front brakes I think. Ill keep an ear out later but on the couple of drives so far it seems to have disappeared. I.... 1. Took off the front calipers, carriers, discs and pads. 2. Painted caliper, carrier and dust shields. 3. Greased slide pins, back of pads and pad 'ears' (seems to have removed the different very metallic clink when reversing direction and braking) 4. Reinstalled discs, carriers, pads and calipers. Hopefully im not typing too soon, but something in the above also seems to have got rid of the muted dull thudding I was hearing aswell.....

Wow. It's been over a year already....! I thought I would follow up on this. I've had the car in the air and nothing seemed to be amiss as far as I could see. I started to blame the tyres (standard Bridgestone Potenza jobbies). Along with the dull knocking over small bumps, I also had a very metallic clunk when reversing direction and braking which I wanted to look at. I thought maybe it was just the brake pads shifting around. I had the front calipers off over the weekend to paint them, and when putting stuff back together I noticed a metallic clink from the slide pins if I wobbled them. I did also grease the "ears" and backs of the pads. I put a blob of brake grease in there and they no longer made the forward/reverse braking noise. Touch wood.... I've only been for a couple of drives so far, but I have also noticed that the dull knocking over bumps that I was describing here has also disappeared.....! I'll keep an ear on it and see if that's really the case as it always sounded like it was coming from the rear to me, not the front, and it seems crazy that the brakes could make that kind of dull knocking noise that I was hearing.

Thank you Tony :-) I'll try that once we're settled in the house and can either buy or borrow some ramps ( I spied some at my parents... ;-) ) I still intend on visiting you guys one of these days, probably for a spring upgrade (maybe dampers or a full set of coilovers, depending on finance situation) and an alignment, but obviously a house is quite the financial commitment so it might not be for a good while :-(

A mere 4,000 miles on the car and this "normal" noise is still there, as a "normal" noise should be. I haven't been back to the dealer or anything as they said it's normal and were unwilling to help any further, well, without me paying for insurance for one of their lot MX5's for a day, so I could test around my area on rubbish road. I just bought a house so I was really hoping to get a couple of ramps and prod about underneath myself at some point. Quick question. Do the drop links on the rear here look okay? This is at rest, not with the car in the air. It's the same on both sides.

Same franchise, so probably not! In other news I found reference to "Bilstein Syndrome" on some google searches, where someone described a "pattering" noise over rough road. I wonder if that's what I'm hearing and it's actually completely normal like they said...

Ah thanks. I'll try adjusting those when I get back to the uk and see if it makes any difference. I'm not a massive fan of the dealer so far. They're just close and convenient heh. I'll try Wright's in Norwich next time it annoys me and see if they're any better!

Well they had it for a day yesterday. I got a Mazda 2 loaner. Horrid thing :-) Apparently 4 different people test drove it and claimed no problem. The 5 is just noisy like that. He babbled on about it being a small sports car and the anti rollbars are under a lot of stress because of something something?? The guy said the technician "retorqued everything". I'm still not sure to be honest so I said I wasn't particularly happy, to which all he could reply was "yeah". I said I'd give it some more time and maybe see if I can test drive another 5 to put my mind at ease. They're fine with that, but I would have to pay for a days insurance. It gets better. Upon leaving their forecourt I heard something drop and a metallic kind of scrape. I didn't think much of it until I got home and pulled up my driveway... And heard something scraping. I got out and looked underneath and the oil filter access panel was hanging down touching the floor. I was fuming now. I called them up and they didn't seem particularly interested in helping. They said there was no reason for them to have undone it, and claimed I must have hit a speed bump too quick or something. There were no speed bumps on the way home. At first they said call Mazda roadside assistance, but then advised over the phone that I should just be able to push it back up myself, which I did... Though I shouldn't have had to really. This kind of stuff always happens to me :-) the dealer is Wright's of Beccles. I'll perhaps try and find another 5 local to me on friendly forums and see if anyone can help, maybe even just to take me for a quick drive over similar roads so I can see if its normal for myself. I did notice the other day that my bonnet seems a bit loose. I can jiggle it about with the palms of my hands. I'm not sure its anything to do with it or not though, as this noise sounds like from the rear not front. Is it easy to adjust? Cheers Mark

I just found it odd that it happened when the either end of the car went over the bump. Well, its been there since day 1 on my car, but I don't remember hearing it on any of the 3 mx5s I drove previous to buying mine. But then there's the rose tinted glasses effect and all that.... :-) I will report back what the guy says on Thursday. Cheers, Mark

Its booked in for a further test drive with a different chap on Thursday. The younger chap told me he heard it, but on the phone apparently he claimed all he heard was normal road noise. I went over a sharp bump today at the entrance to a car park ... And heard the same noise I've been when the front AND rear wheels went over it! Muted sort of knocking noise. I'm not sure if it is normal or not... I find it hard to believe it is actually suspension related now as it happens with the front and rear wheels...

Heh, yeah, and it always seems to happen to me...! :-) I'll post back if they ever figure out what it is. In the mean time I'll just try and drive top down as much as possible with the radio as loud as possible and enjoy :-) I think next year I may try and find time to pop down to WIM for a wheel alignment, and maybe Eibach fitting, depending on available funds at the time etc (saving for a mortgage and all that!).

Well, it only knocks whilst driving yeah. It is audible with the top down as well as up. Its hard to tell where it is coming from. Sometimes sounds like from front, sometimes mid, sometimes rear.. Mostly mid / rear though maybe.

It does seem that way. I think they just wanted to close up and go home.... As soon as I left, they locked up and disappeared too. If they're no help I'll name and shame them and perhaps try the other local dealers (same group) and see if they're any more use I guess. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt yet though. Patience of a saint... Fortunately for them....