DaveyR Posted April 13, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 13, 2013 Indeed! Only remaining noise is the light tapping from the rear right over bumps that Joe noticed on the test drive, but that is a lot quieter and only over rough ground, so not exactly critical. Will probably wait until it's due a service and have it looked into then My mechanic liked the coilovers by the way! He phoned me up when it was up on the ramps and said (imagine high pitched "oooh look at youuuu" type of voice) "I see we've got ourselves some nice shiny coilovers have we" He said he wouldn't have known had it not been up in the air as when he drove it the ride was so good and not too firm like coilovers often are. So thumbs up from my mechanic too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted April 13, 2013 Report Share Posted April 13, 2013 Great when someone likes your modification isn't it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Funky Posted April 14, 2013 Report Share Posted April 14, 2013 The MX5 had developed an irritating and fairly audible click/tap from the right front when applying the brakes, particularly noticeable when moving along at lower speeds, slowing down at junctions, roundabouts, in traffic etc. I took it into my friendly mechanic and it turns out the new front pads he fitted recently at my request (Pagid items) were able to move just enough on the caliper slider that they were obviously moving around on application of the brakes. Nothing dangerous and would have been fine to carry on, but to be honest the noise would have driven me mad. New Mazda genuine front pads and fitting kit (clips/springs to hold the pads in place) were fitted and now the car is noise free again. So just a word of caution to any other MX5 mk3 owners really, although the Mazda items are considerably more expensive, which is why I thought i'd try aftermarket options, they are potentially worth the extra money. I went for EBC greenstuff pads. Similar price to Mazda, good quality and for me give a bit more bite. Also very quiet with less dust. The disc looks cleaner now to Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Posted April 14, 2013 Report Share Posted April 14, 2013 I have some blackhole for sale Car looks shiny, love black, still miss my Mondeo, looked great after a clean. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveyR Posted May 27, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 27, 2013 So, summer tyres back on the car finally. Pirelli P Zero Nero's all round as I still had 2 with decent tread left from last year and didn't want to mis-match my tyres front and rear. Feels great not having spongy winter tyre sidewalls, even more instant response to every input on the steering wheel and no time needed to settle once pitched into a corner. I do have one question for Tony/Joe though, the car now feels a touch nervous at speed i.e. dual carriageway/motorway. Not unstable per, it still stays true going in a straight line, but when cornering or changing lane it does react in a slightly hyperactive manner. Might this just be due to the fact that my car has the "evolution" set-up on the geo, and now that I don't have the soft sidewalls of the winter tyres to dull my inputs the car feels rather more alert? These tyres don't half hunt camber and changes in the road surface either, especially when braking! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Funky Posted May 28, 2013 Report Share Posted May 28, 2013 So, summer tyres back on the car finally. Pirelli P Zero Nero's all round as I still had 2 with decent tread left from last year and didn't want to mis-match my tyres front and rear. Feels great not having spongy winter tyre sidewalls, even more instant response to every input on the steering wheel and no time needed to settle once pitched into a corner. I do have one question for Tony/Joe though, the car now feels a touch nervous at speed i.e. dual carriageway/motorway. Not unstable per, it still stays true going in a straight line, but when cornering or changing lane it does react in a slightly hyperactive manner. Might this just be due to the fact that my car has the "evolution" set-up on the geo, and now that I don't have the soft sidewalls of the winter tyres to dull my inputs the car feels rather more alert? These tyres don't half hunt camber and changes in the road surface either, especially when braking! Hmmm strange. I don't get any of those symptoms, not since on the BCs anyway. I have Toyo T1Rs i think. Although I did talk about some of this with Tony before he did geo so don't know if he set up any different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveyR Posted May 29, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 29, 2013 Hey Funky, after another couple of days driving I think it's more likely I have a tyre issue. As you say, on the winter tyres the car was impeccably behaved, so I wouldn't have expected too much of a change on the summer tyres, just a little added sharpness. Over the last couple of days I have encountered some quite alarming moments of understeer. 3 times now I've been going round a corner, not at enthusiastic pace at all, normal traffic pace, well below what I know the normal limits of grip of this car to be, to suddenly be treated to abrupt, juddering understeer. The front axle has the tyres that came off last year and the rear the brand new tyres. I think the fronts were on the rear previously, so I am guessing there are one or two possibilities. One is that the wear pattern on the tyres having been on a different axle is causing bizarre behaviour. The tyres don't seem perished in any way, so i'd be surprised if there was anything wrong with the tyres as it were. Additionally, when I took the tyres to be fitted, a young mechanic reversed another customers car right into the front drivers side of my car (this wasn't WIM I hasten to add) whilst my car was stationary! So it needs a new bumper, fixings, arch liner etc. It wasn't a large impact and the contact was ahead of the wheel, plus nothing looks out of place, so I don't think that is related (happy to be corrected though). So, potentially looking at forking out another few hundred for a new set of tyres for the front as well. With that and the car needing to go in for the repair work to the bumper etc i'm feeling on a bit of a car downer right now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted May 29, 2013 Report Share Posted May 29, 2013 Demand a geo, no ifs no buts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveyR Posted May 29, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 29, 2013 Well, i've spoken to them on the phone as we have an estimate back for the bodywork side of things. They will be providing me with a courtesy car whilst mine goes in for a whole new bumper+backing etc. I've requested a geo, which they have said they are happy to do. I doubt however they have the level of equipment/knowledge that you do, so when I take the car in I'll take my last geo readout and ascertain whether they are able to measure everything required to rule out any damage on that front, and if not then I'll request they pay for a geo check-up at WIM. They are being very good about the situation, they held their hands up straight away and didn't hesitate to offer to pay for all necessary repairs (which of course they should, but at least they didn't dispute anything and have been very pleasant to deal with!) Bet you guys wouldn't have reversed another car into mine though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted May 30, 2013 Report Share Posted May 30, 2013 Fundamental law..... Mirror, manoeuvre. Point to note about the geo.... "BE SURE TO GET A PRINTOUT!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveyR Posted May 31, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 31, 2013 I will do Tony, and if they can't provide the necessary measurements and a printout it will be coming your way, paid for by them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted May 31, 2013 Report Share Posted May 31, 2013 If needs be fine and i assume they would be paying anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveyR Posted June 5, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 5, 2013 As a continuation of teaching myself to do basic car maintenance, last night I changed the gearbox and differential oil on the MX5. They are meant to be changed every couple of years on an alternating cycle, so one of the two is definitely due about now anyway, but it couldn't hurt to put in some nice fully synthetic gear oils to replace what was possibly slightly cheaper semi-synth stuff used by Mazda last time round, so in went some Mobil fully synthetic 75W-90 all-round. Slightly messy job, but it went quite smoothly considering i've never attempted anything like this before. Still, regardless of my care and attention when jacking/placing axle stands, it's still intimidating lying under a ton of car.....! Impressed at the difference in noise from the diff, much quieter straight away, a lot of the mechanical noise and whine at low speeds has vanished. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted June 5, 2013 Report Share Posted June 5, 2013 Well done attempting this yourself, like most things you learn along the way... One concern shouldn't the diff be level when setting the oil level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveyR Posted June 5, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 5, 2013 Don't worry Tony, I made sure I read up before I attempted this! Thanks for checking though This was done on 4 axle stands (bought 2 extra specifically for the job) on flat ground. I didn't measure with a spirit level but the car was level to my eyes. I also know that the diff takes 0.7L and the gearbox 2L and by the time they were filled to the level of the fill hole they were pretty much bang on those volumes (I had 3 x 1L bottles, so I was able to calculate how much had gone in by the volume level on the side of the bottle). That sound right to you? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted June 5, 2013 Report Share Posted June 5, 2013 Four stands..... Well done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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