Calling Miata owners

Miata 37 · Post by **Miata 37** » Sun Apr 18, 2004 9:54 pm

While I was out yesterday afternoon I turned out of a parking lot and POP from the front suspension. Uh oh....popping, cracking and creaking all the way home. Upon investigation today, it became apparent that the problem couldn't possibly have came all at once yesterday, it was just the second half of the problem. Both front sway bar mounts were sheared! I would have thought I'd notice one of them being broken, but it took the second one for me to "get it." Hmmmm, I wonder if ONE sheared mount could have been causing my little alignment problem

I removed the front bar and mounts today until I can get replacement mounting brackets. Surprisingly, the car still corners pretty flat, but the turn-in is slower. The bigger surprise is the ride quality...feels like a Lexus now!

So anyway, fellow Miata racers. Have any of you changed sway bar mounting brackets? I've seen three options thus far: Moss, Racing Beat and Mazda Comp. Does anyone have any experience with any of these or others? Or should I finally shell out for spring and shocks/coilovers and ditch the sways altogether? I've talked to a few people that are happy with swayless suspensions, so who knows. Anyway, I would like any info and advice you folks could share. Thanks!

Mark McCrary · Post by **Mark McCrary** » Mon Apr 19, 2004 7:00 am

Wow that is odd for a M1 to have broken a bracket like that. The M2 cars have a problem with broken brackets and the make a fix for it. I am not sure if the make it or not for a M1. I would just put the heavy duty brackets on next time. There is a lot of people that do not have sway bars on there car. I now Steve Holsher doen not have any sway bars but you better go high on the spring rates.
Best of Luck,

whenry · Post by **whenry** » Mon Apr 19, 2004 7:29 am

What you are describing happens to many "upgraded" Miata particularly 94-97 models. It is something to watch on all cars. I guess that you will need to make a friend with someone with a welder to replace the original brackets and then buy a reinforcement bar that ties the brackets together. I have never had a Miata do this and the car that Mark drives as his daily driver (and that I built)has had upgraded bars for over 100k miles with no issues. But I tend to stay with the early models. YMMV

CABoegemann · Post by **CABoegemann** » Tue Apr 20, 2004 10:23 am

I used to run a Mazda 323 hatchback. The sway bar mounts broke several times. So many times that I kept two spares with me at all times. Racing Beat has stronger bracket with a flange welded onto each side to keep it from happening. The bracket alone should work for a "stock" car but you really need the the entire brace that Wayne was talking about for a car with anything bigger than a stock bar.

That's my $.02

whenry · Post by **whenry** » Tue Apr 20, 2004 10:36 am

I have been waiting to see what the failure rate is on SpecMiata with the Eibach sways since we are not allowed to run any of the upgraded mounts or braces. So far wheel bearing failures are much more common. Obviously there are different forces at work here.
I would tend to run something better than stock if your rules allow since it happens at least in the autoX world on a frequent basis.

Mark McCrary · Post by **Mark McCrary** » Tue Apr 20, 2004 4:46 pm

Since you are running SM2 I would get all the support I could. I think you can do anything to reinforce it.

Miata 37 · Post by **Miata 37** » Tue Apr 20, 2004 5:53 pm

I gotta say, after driving the car a few days without that beefy 25mm front sway bar, I kinda like it. The silky smooth ride (as far as Miatas go) is nice!

I'm really thinking about just doing stiffer springs and adjustable shocks to see how that goes. Besides, if I don't like it, I'll still have the big sways bars to throw back on. Now about stiffer springs. I've done some searching and came up with the usual suspects: Racing Beat, Jackson Racing, Flyin Miata, Eibach. This being a daily driver, I don't want to pad my dentist's wallet with new springs, nor do I want to scrape the nose all around town. I know, I can't have it all, but I still wanna try. What sort of springs have you guys had experience with? I've already decided any aftermarket springs will require removal of the black factory front airdam, as it scrapes occassionally already. It's about 2 inches thick so that gives me a little room for the inevitable drop. What other sources for Miata springs have I not found yet? What sort of spring rates should I look for? For the shocks I'd like to go with Koni's, but I've head they require some sort of modification to the car for fitment.

Maybe the KYB AGX's instead as I've heard a lot of kind words about them. What do/have you guys use(d)?

whenry · Post by **whenry** » Tue Apr 20, 2004 7:25 pm

there is a schedule on goodwinracing.com that gives you the various rates of the available springs.
Having had R models and other lowered Miata, I prefer a stiffer than stock but softer than R spring. I go with the Tokico. I lowered the M car with Eibachs and regretted that decision from first day. I also prefer AGX's; the only other choice would be Koni's but I've never wanted to be that hard core with my street car.