Maybe the springs Busings

Texas, so you all ready know how fun Mazda's can be to work on haha

 

took a look today at a shop in L.A. (wow that rhymes) and we narrowed it down to the OEM bushings. It's also a possibility that because my car is much lower than stock, add to that I have the upper adjustable camber arms to compensate for the negative camber, that the rest of the links (namely toe rod and traction rod) are being positioned in a weird angle to the point that the OEM bushings don't have room to move correctly.

I don't know if that makes sense, but I'm in the market for some toe rods now to see if that helps.

 

have you by chance been in any rear in accidents?

 

Carfax is clean, and aside from a couple of spinouts, I've been in no accidents or mishaps since I"ve gotten the car

 

Good luck w/ the toe rods lane

hyhaha.. yeah. there's 7... aside from that there's a wanna-be w/ a hatchi (not the hachi.. the guy.. spent 8k & it's not even running yet)... we just got the newest baby runnin tonight ^.^ such a sweet feelin)

 

Okay today went to L.A. with my girlfriend and the noise came back... like SUPER LOUD. It's like when you have loose change in your jeans, then you throw them in the dryer-type sound. It got really loud now too and I take back the "most likely suspension" because the noise clicks faster when I speed up, until I go fast enough not to hear it anymore.

Damnit. What is it. Wheel bearings maybe? Someome said "diff" but wouldn't that only make funky noises if I'm going anywhere but straight?

I'm jacking the car up tomorrow, and I'm going to inspect components again... maybe remove my teins in the back and put stockers for a quick "drive around" test to see if the noise is gone, etc.

 

well the only thing i can think of without looking at is some companys perches that the spring sit on have a step to them so the spring doesnt twist. some dont and it doesnt matter but for the ones that do if the spring isnt sitting right that mights be you problem. if this makes any sence to you? it could also be your tire rubbing the spring. when you move the vehicle transfers the weight which causes the rubbing. hope you find the problem.

 

You won't believe it. The problem was:

dry bushings.

The shop lubed them all up, and the noise is gone. Apparently they were so dry that whenever a suspension arm wanted to pivot, it would twist the bushing until the bushing/arm friction would be overcome by the twisting force, then the bushing would "snap" back, making the annnoying sounds.

Sounds like I might be shopping for some a new poly bushing set soon

 

At least you solved the problem haha.

 

Going back through this thread, you did mention bushings.

GJ BUDDY!

BTW I vow never to change shocks on the front of a Miata, after I saw how much work it is to do so at the same shop that my car was at LOL

 

I haven't heard very hard things about installing shocks on miata's. Just gatta read up for tips on miata.net Just about everything is a little different on a miata, it's weird.

 

man i sure wish i had an s14 with sounds like that..

my s13 makes soo many damn sounds that i just began to ignore them all and just drive lol..

-valve tap at random moments (even while accelerating)
-start up rattle from 2 missing exhaust manifold bolts
-backfire/popping (no fire.. just popping) when letting off gas some time
-same type of suspension clicking noise you have when i turn my wheel all the way and move (for parking).. lol
-etc.. etc..

Well I'm glad you got it fixed.. i'm gonna go rubber lube my suspension pieces now too