Suspension Troubleshooting

Last updated: May 25, 2000

Front

Date: Mon, 04 May 1998 07:33:16 -0700
From: Derek Punch

Hello all, short note to let you know the source of a front end clunking I've had in my car for over a year now.

Turns out the front lower control arm (Maz PN: F131-34-350B@$341 from Maz Comp) is integrated with the lower ball joint. It appears that the ball joint was out of round and would have some non-linear behaviour when stressed(autocrosses for example).

It has been hard to find until lately when it has been doing it every autox. I was initially convinced that it was my camber/caster bolts as it seemed that I'd get positive camber every time this clunk came about on course. They needed to be changed too, but that did not stop the clunking. Backing out of a parking spot and the accompanying steering lock occasionally would cause the clunk too. On course when it happened the car would suddenly understeer (push) violently just after the clunk. Had an autox this weekend and voila-no clunk. Hopefully this could be of some help to others-as we well no-there are NO unique 3rd gen problems!

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From: Jim King
Date: Wed, 31 Mar 1999

This happened to me at a track day at the Streets of Willow course in So. Cal. a month ago. I went wide (used 102% of the road :) at the exit of a chicane and put the front passenger side off into a sort of pothole. It made a mighty loud bang but all seemed OK after coming back in to check things out.

Later in the day during the last session something "changed" (no thunking) and it started understeering like a pig, right in the middle of a long left handed 180.

Turns out the pothole incident deformed the lower control arm ball joint and bent the bolt coming out of it about 20 degrees. This effectively loosened the crown nut, too. The bolt was now more of less free to turn due to suspension loading. In the afternoon it broke free and swung around 180 degrees changing the alignment (by moving the bottom of the knuckle arm) from some toe-in to massive toe-out (well, maybe 1/4"). It was obvious looking at it.

I limped it home this way, with the car pulling strongly to the right, and didn't find out exactly what was wrong till it took things apart later. Funny thing is I pulled into a fast foot driveway half way home and it shifted again and the rest of the trip home the car tracked straight with who knows what for toe-in (or out).

Moral of the story, I guess, is stay on the pavement and avoid potholes in day-to-day driving.

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Date: Tue, 29 Sep 1998 20:13:51 -0700
From: "Derek Vanditmars"

> If I accelerate briskly through a fairly tight left turn
> (easiest to do on a winding on-ramp, for example) I get this loud
> clunking sound, "bam bam bam".  During normal driving going over uneven
> pavement, I can barely sense the sound of something moving around that
> shouldn't, but I usually only get the loud repetitive banging while
> turning left and accelerating.  From the way it sounds, I thought it
> would be obvious when they looked underneath the car, but apparently it
> wasn't.  Any ideas?  Anyone else encounter this?

Had a similar problem, left turns during acceleration was the worst. Could also get the noise on very heavy straight-line acceleration, but not as loud or often.

It was the driver's side engine mount.

This mount is "pulled apart" when the engine is accelerating, and when turning left the engine also wants to lean to the passenger side of the car, adding to the "pulling apart" of the engine mount. It is very difficult, (impossible) to see if it is broken, until you remove it, then it is very obvious.

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Date: Wed, 16 Sep 1998 19:29:47 -0700
From: "Peter Roosakos"

Every right turn my car would make a clank-clank-clank sound. Ended up the studs that go through the caliper and hold the pads on lost the clip that holds them in place. I'd turn right, one of the studs on the left front caliper would slid out, and each spoke on the rim would hit it (clank, clank) and knock it back into place.

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There is a TSB on clunking on the 93s that recommends replacing some of the suspension parts (not sure which ones). Go to the TSB section of this site (from the main page), and follow the instructions there to get the TSBs. --Steve

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Date: Tue, 20 Oct 1998 09:17:00 -0400
From: "Rad Man"

>I notice when i drive my 93 straight and slightly turn the wheel left
>its quite. When i turn the wheel slightly to the right, it sounds like
>a rubbing of some sort, but only when i turn it right. My fender liners
>are out, so i know its not that. Im thinking, it might be a wheel
>bearing or a bushing??? Any suggestions or ideas?

My 93 and 88 had the same kind of noise. New wheel bearings fixed it. Could try re-packing the things, but at about $50 (I think) it's cheaper / better / easier to replace IMO.

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Date: Tue, 8 Dec 1998 23:11:46 EST
From: FSBOREGIS@aol.com

I had a clunk in my front suspension since I bought the car. I had it checked and found that the bushings in the upper A arm allowed excessive movement. I was told that it wasn't a safety problem, but I worried about handling due to changing steering geometry.

The pivot point to this bushing is actually a metal "tube". The bushing limits noise and softens the road harshness (mines an R1 so it doesn't feel like it softens it much).

I wanted urethane bushings, but couldn't find anyone who made them. I watched the movement (on a rack, not on the road! I'm not insane!) and realized that if I could limit the fore and aft motion I could live with these bushings until such time as I could find urethane. (By the way I was warned by 3 Mazda shops against replacing just the bushings. They wanted me to replace the whole A arm because they had heard of several people bending the A arm when the bushing was pressed in place.)

I took the upper arm off and found that the inner metal tube had a diameter of approximately .625" and the OD of the bushing was 2". I made a trip to my local C&S Hardware store and found out that a standard 3/4" washer had a hole diameter of .75" and an OD of 2". I spent 80 cents and bought 2. It was simplicity itself. It took me about 15 minutes to install them as "spacers" on the back side of the rubber part of the bushings. It does not interfere in any way with the metal inner tube. They fit as if they were made for that purpose. They did not cause any binding in the assembly as the assembly tightens down to the inner metal tube, not the rubber bushing. I still have the flex and shock dampening, BUT NOW I AM NOT ASHAMED TO DRIVE MY CAR! The noise is completely stopped and it did not change my front end alignment.

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Noise or vibration that happens only under braking is possibly caused by warped brake rotors. There will also be a vibration or shaking while braking. --Steve

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Date: Sat, 20 Mar 1999 12:08:53 -0800
From: Stephen Stanley

Wheel bearings tend to rumble/grumble for some time before they start to squeal. If it is the bearing going, then jack up the opposite wheel to the turn side that makes it make a noise (ie if turning left makes it squeal, then it is probably the right wheel) and turn the wheel by hand - you will probably hear some pad noise as well as the potential bearing noise. Grip the top and bottom of the wheel and see if you can wiggle it. Even with decent bearings you may get a millimetre or two of play, but should get no more. If it is the bearing squealing, then replace it as soon as possible - I suspect that you would notice the rubbing/grumbling noise beforehand, so think it unlikely.

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The stock anti-sway bar mounts have a tendancy to tear away from the frame. This will cause some noise (not sure of exact sound). David Breslau of Widefoot sells re-inforced mounts available from him or Crooked Willow.

Trev Dagley (Netblazer)used to make similar ones (he originated the concept). --Steve

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From: Phil Weber
Date: March 31, 1999

I have noticed the front end clunk in my car also while autocrossing (athough it is rare). I also drove another SS RX-7 that has had many more autocross and track events on it. The front-end clunk was much more pronounced and frequent.

If you look at the three holes where the top of the shock pokes through under the hood you will notice that the holes are slightly larger than the bolts on the shock and the three nuts really don't have a whole lot of surface area to grip onto. In the the other car you could actually see the scrape marks that were left from the nuts sliding around. The amount of movement is very small but in a relatively high G turn it only takes a small suspension geometry change to upset everything. This may or may not be the same thing you are experiencing, just something to consider.

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Date: Thu, 1 Apr 1999 10:15:21 -0800
From: Peter Wong

>I have a cricket-like sound being generated by the chassis somewhere
>near the drivers side up front.

This could be a loose hood latch. I used to wrap the metal part of the "U" (not the hook) with some duct tape but it would wear through and I'd have to keep replacing it. Some sort of durable bushing would do the trick.

Probably could adjust the hood latch or bump stops to hold the hood tighter but I was lazy :-)

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Date: Tue, 6 Apr 1999 00:31:13 -0400
From: "C. E. Howell"

Just for another data point, I recently had a pop in one corner of my front suspension, especially during turn and suspension travel. I was convinced it was bushings until I noticed that the weld fixing the sway bar stud into my tubular PFS sway bar was fractured allowing about 1-2 mm of in/out travel of the stud within the weld during suspension travel, "popping" as it went.

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Some people found that some downpipes (aftermarket) will rub/bump, causing noise from the front end. --Steve

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From: David Breslau (breslau@space.mit.edu)
Date: April 14, 2000

>If I take the suspension apart, how do I know if the ball joints are bad?  Any
>looseness?  From what I hazily remember of the original install 3 years ago, I
>think the shop manual has you attach a spring scale to the ball joint to
>measure resistance before it moves.

Failed grease boot, rough feeling when moving the ball joint by itself, varying tightness/looseness over its movement range.

Other things for you to check are all the heim bearings in your suspension that are non-stock. I'll bet your Penske shocks use heims, and if one of them has seized from exposure to debris or wear, it could introduce noise. The JRZ's I got recently use a heavy-duty rubber sleeve, similar to what the stock shocks use.

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Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2000 23:18:57 -0500 From: "Jonathan S. Ott" Subject: RE: (rx7) [3] grinding/vibrating noise

>I've got a rather odd sound occasionally on my 93 R1.  when either taking a
>left hand corner or accelerating hard, I get a rubbing/grinding/vibrating
>sound.  it seems to be coming from around the top of the
>transmission.  I've ruled out motor mounts by inspecting the passenger side
>and replacing the drivers side, and I'd expected that to fix
>it.  Unfortunately it now seems even worse.  It's been getting
>progressively worse as time goes on, in that I can make the noise happen
>more often.  Initially it would only be heard when taking off around a left
>hand corner, where engine torque and centrifugal force were both trying to
>twist the engine.  At this point, my plans are to drop the transmission and
>look for any indication of rubbing, hopefully I'll be able to at least find
>the source.  If anyone has any suggestions of what else i should look at
>while the transmission is out, I would appreciate it.  This noise is
>driving me nuts, and my current plan to drop the tranny is coming up on a
>desperation move.

My RX-7 did the EXACT same thing--first, rubbing sound while accelerating through a left turn, then progressing to rubbing sound while accelerating even when going straight. Looking underneath, I found shiny metal surfaces on the downpipe and frame where they had rubbed. Rotary Performance replaced the passenger side motor mount and I have had no trouble ever since.

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This could also possibly be caused by a bad PPF (Power Plant Frame). --Steve

Rear

Date: Wed, 6 May 1998 02:29:14 EDT
From: JYoungCJ

I had a clunking noise from the rear of my recently purchased '93 Base w/ 60K. It would clunk when engaging the clutch (esp. from a forward gear to reverse), hitting the brakes, or driving over a bump in the road. I posted a question on the list but the only responses were from others with the same problem.

Upon inspection of the rear suspension with both wheels jacked off the ground, I could rotate each of the rear wheels over 1/8" as measured at the outer tire surface. I am not a fan of RWRS (Rear Wheel Random Steering) so I replaced what appeared to be the worst offending bushing. This was the bushing on the rear toe control link where the link attaches to the wheel hub (not the frame attachment point).

I used the factory replacement bushing FD01-26-230 ($101.20 for the pair). Mazda Comp has a replacement they claim is 40% stiffer than stock but I went with the stock replacement for SCCA classing reasons. The replacement took about 2 hours for both sides. Mazda has a special SST that would significantly reduce this time. I used a very large C-clamp and a carefully choosen closed end wrench and socket. A large vise would have been helpfull.

The result is a much quieter rear end and noticably improved cornering (no more RWRS). The lower control arm bushing is still a little loose and will be replaced later but the biggest offender was by far the toe control arm bushing.

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Date: Tue, 22 Sep 1998 14:30:10 -0500
From: "Dela Huerta, Damian"

After 3 rounds at the dealer they finally fixed the severe rear clunk/crack I was getting during momentum shifts or bumps. It was the rear I-arm bushings, they replaced both I-arms (about $500 each) and viola, smooth sailing, clunk is %100 gone. This was of cource after the Maz-duh dealership replaced the motor mount and rear diff bushings in an attempt to fix the problem. Good for me though, because the drivers side motor mount was destroyed and new diff bushings at 80K miles can only help. Fortunately my extended warranty (long battles with them) paid for each repair. Total cost was around $3000 (parts and labor) and I paid only $250 for the warranty deductible. Thanks good I keep on them and thanks again to Brooks for his early help against the warranty company.

The I arm is easy to get to so I assume if you were to purchase the bushings separate and put them in yourself it wouldn't be too costly. Just a pain in da but to get the bushings in the I-arm, if it is even possible. :-o

Next step, see if they will replace my rear diff, there is way too much play, bouncing (smashing is a better term) back and forth, slowly pulling the car apart. Wish me luck :-)

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There is a TSB on clunking on the 93s that recommends replacing some of the suspension parts (not sure which ones). Go to the TSB section of this site (from the main page), and follow the instructions there to get the TSBs.

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Differential trouble can also cause rear end clunks. I am not sure about the diff in our cars, but on one occassion I broke a lot of the teeth off of the ring gear in the 10-bolt rear on my old Firebird. This ended up causing a lot of clunking and shuddering from the car when it turned in one direction, regardless of speed and smoothness of the pavement. --Steve

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Date: Wed, 25 Aug 1999 15:10:08 -0400
From: Tom Walsh (TWalsh@achieversusa.com)

> From a dead stop, when engaging into first gear, there is a 
> clunk in the rear (clutch in still depressed) and it occurs 
> up to 3rd gear.  Keep in mind that the clutch is depressed 
> when the clunk occurs.  Only happens from a dead stop.

The problem is with the differential mount bushings. These are located above the differential in the rear. They are grease filled with a metal center sleeve and a metal outer sleeve.

They are difficult to see, but you can normally see the leaking of the grease as it leaks on the open drive shafts and then gets throw every where under the car.

You need to drop the drive shaft, the PPF and then the diff itself to get to them. There is a bracket that attaches to the top of the diff and that is where they are located.

Brooks and I replaced his when he broke his diff recently. We replaced them with solid replacements and he noted that the thump went away.

I have yet to do this, if for only a lack of funds.

I am pretty sure this is the cause of the problem.

Also while you have the diff out... Make sure you swap the fuel filter... It takes 5 minutes when you do it this way... :-)

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Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1998 16:38:21 -0400
From: "Alan Beder" (albeder@earthlink.net)

The toe control links are the most common cause. I've attached a previous post on how to check them.

Be forewarned they are expensive. I just ordered the bushings for one side from Mazda Comp for about $65. The whole link was $180.

I spoke to Brian at Mostly Mazda the other day and he said he is close to releasing a replacement link they will be much stronger and much cheaper. This will probably be the best solution.

>From: Jim Young
>
>The best method to check your toe adjusters is to jack up a wheel and place
>your left hand at 9:00 and your right hand at 3:00 on the wheel. If you can
>noticably move the wheel as you alternately push/pull with your left/right
>hand, your toe bushings are worn. Mine were so bad at 60K that I had almost
>1/4" of movement.
>
>The most obvious symptom is the noise, but it will affect handling and tire
>wear.

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Date: Tue, 09 Feb 1999 22:30:06 -0500
From: "Shiv S. Pathak" (shivp@worldnet.att.net)

My car was pretty clunkful in the rear until I installed Mostly Mazda's trailing arms and toe links. Tightened up the rear end noticeably. Before the installation, if the car was rocked back and forth or driven over rough surfaces, you could hear a loud "thunk" or a "dok" coming from the rear suspension.

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Date: Wed, 10 Feb 1999 22:43:06 -0500
From: Jennifer Wilson (racergrl@erols.com)

Well, I was going to wait until it was fixed to post, but I have faith that it'll be done soon. I have a '93 R1 that was making a clunk when the rear suspension unloaded. We were able to recreate the noise by doing the following: Jack up the rear end, place hands on the tire at 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock positions, and jiggle it (technical term) :-)

Anywho, he was reasonably certain that the bushing in the middle of the lower control arm (where the trailing link attaches) was the problem. One side was making major noise, and the other minor noise, so I went ahead and ordered two new control arms from Mazda Comp. (Gotta stay stock for autox.) Did I mention ouch$? Hate to see what they'd cost at a dealer.

Anyway, he said that while replacing bushings like that in aluminum arms you run a good chance of buggering up the arms, and more than one person has said other suspension parts may have been picking up the slack for the failing ones, so I went for the whole arm. They'll go in tomorrow, and we will see if that fixes it.

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Noise or vibration that happens only under braking is possibly caused by warped brake rotors. There will also be a vibration or shaking while braking. --Steve

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Date: Mon, 05 Apr 1999 09:11:07 -0400
From: David Disney (disney7@icx.net)

I had been hearing a clanky/rattling noise coming from the rear of the car. It sounded like it was coming from beneath the hatch area while driving over rough pavement.

Turns out it was the outer toe link bushings. I bought two replacements from MazdaTrix. It took about 45 minutes for me to install them. No more noises now!

FWIW, there was an extremely small amount of lateral play in the bushings I took out. So small, that I wouldn't have noticed if someone had handed them to me and I hadn't already suspected a problem. Apparently that small amount of play is greatly magnified with the weight of the car and other applied stresses.

Also, Mazda Competition and Mostly Mazda offer replacement bushings that are supposed to be about 40% stronger. However, I didn't get them because both places were telling me that it would be three to four weeks before they would have them in. The bushings from MTrix were about $54 each (you need two).

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Date: Mon, 05 Apr 1999 16:50:52 -0400
From: David Disney (disney7@icx.net)

I noticed that if I kicked one of the rear tires or pushed the car from side to side I could hear the popping. I jacked the car up, grabbed the tire on either side and pushed on one side while pulling on the other and vise versa (as if checking the bearings on the front). I could feel a very slight pop in there so I knew something was loose. I then had a friend do the same thing while I was under the car. If you put your hand on the various components while someone is doing this, you will eventually be able to feel the pop in the component that is bad. I found it quickly as the toe-link was the only component that seemed to support the hub assembly against that sort of lateral movement. The inner toe-link bushings were fine on mine... it was the outers that were bad. The outers half the size so they probably always die first.

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Date: Sun, 18 Mar 2001 09:37:30 -0500
From: "David Ieroncig" (Rx7@Rocketship.com)
Subject: (rx7) [3] Clunking culprits & DIY Bushing Removal Tool

I found the source of my rear suspension clunkiness. Two bushings seem to have some play. a) Toe-links' outer bushing b) Lower control arm middle bushing. This finding is consistent with Ciriani's archived documents.

I managed to press out the toe link bushing by simply hammering it out using a 30mm socket as a support to the link itself and a 22mm socket to sit on the bushing itself. You have to wack it quite hard. I used a small sledge hammer.

As for the lower control bushing I cannot use the same elegant "wack it out" technique because the arm is still on the car. I have found the following website that can inspire one to make his own DIY Bushing Removal tool.

http://marcswanson.ne.mediaone.net/~jshadzi/bushing_tool.html

I hope this will help some of you that are contemplating to finally get under the car to find and fix those nasty suspension clunks.

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Date: Mon, 5 Apr 1999 14:31:07 -0700
From: "Lou Young" (lou@hell-bent.com)

I didn't have any noises coming from the rear, but I felt a funny wandering in the rear of the car, especially when thrust forces would change while cornering. I knew of the common test of wiggle in the rear wheels with your hands in the 9 and 3 o'clock positions to check for movement. On both rear wheels, I had about 1/8 inch of movement on the outer edge of the wheel. It didn't seem lilke a lot, and since there's no movement while wiggling the wheels with my hands and 12 and 6 o'clock, it didn't seem right, either.

Everyone else had replaced the outer bushings when confronted with this problem, so I ordered a set of bushings from MazdaComp and got to work. It was actually one of the quickest procedures I'd ever done on the car and in about an hour I had the bushing replaced and the car put back together. Of coures, I still felt movement when I wiggled the wheel.

I ordered another set of bushings from MazdaComp, this time the inner set. These bushings are more difficult to change as they have a metal lip that overlaps the control arm, making it impossible to get any leverage to push the bushings out. The manual shows a Mazduh mechanic using a hacksaw to cut the lip off, which is a pain in the ass. I used a combination of a grinding wheel and a hacksaw to cut the lip off. It was a pain in the ass. I put the bushings back into the control arm and put the arm back on the car. The movement was completely gone.

All four of the bushings that I took out seemed to be okay until I actually compared their feel against the brand new bushings. I biggest clue should have been when I moved around the insert on the inner bushings, it would seem to separate from the rubber part. It seemed minimal at the time, but the newer bushings didn't do this at all.

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Some aftermarket exhausts (cat-back) will hit or bang against the rear underbody. It will cause some vibration as well, under throttle or when letting off. --Steve

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Date: Tue, 22 Jun 1999 09:15:29 -0500
From: "Eng, Cary" (Cary.Eng@COMPAQ.com)
Subject: (rx7) [3] Jumping and pitching while accelerating

>Having a not so minor problem under acceleration. Any acceleration,
>not just drag racing.  The front of my car is pitching up and to the 
>left and feels real loose out back at the first instant when I get on 
>it. I *think* it is the rear bushings I've heard people mention from 
>time to time wearing out. I cranked my struts up all the way and it 
>didn't seem to help much, if at all. 

Sounds like your rear toe-control links are going out. Having the same problems with mine, but only when I'm turning left and I get on/off the throttle. Maybe it's time we get a group-buy going on Mostly Mazda's "competition toe-control links".

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Date: Wed, 24 May 2000 09:23:51 -0400
From: Gene Felber (gfelber@talussolutions.com)
Subject: RE: (rx7)[3] Worn subframe bushings for M2 trailing arms

The putative culprit has been found, so to speak (uhh..write). A few days ago I posted the following and had many inquiries and suggestions regarding my problem:

    After having the trailing arms installed the driver's side rear suspension
    makes a nasty clunk. Never had this before. I jacked the car up and rotated
    the offending wheel where I noticed the clunk was emanating from the area
    where the trailing arm meets the rear subframe (not the control arm).

    Removed the bolt and metal sleeves (bushings, I guess) and noticed quite a
    bit of play between these and the subframe. That is, it appears that the
    holes for the bolt assembly have been sufficiently worn to cause the
    trailing arm to move up and down over bumps and the like. I checked the shop
    manual and didn't find any parts resembling bushings for the subframe mount.
    Is this correct?  Or, perhaps, is it possible that the play is due to worn
    pillow ball mounts in the rear control arm causing too much movement in the
    trailing arm?  

Many of you suggested the pillow ball bushings in the control arms and/or trailing arms. After looking at Steve Cirian's site, these suggestions appear to be the logical route.

It turns out that, in fact, the _new_ M2 trailing arm had a faulty or loose heim joint. Under acceleration or load the joint would move from side to side (around the ball). The metal to metal contact was creating this nasty clunk. Brian Richards kindly sent me a replacement arm. Apparently, he's never seen this before with these arms. I'm going to send him the "noisy" arm so he can better determine the cause. I guess we should label this a rare event and those with these trailing arms shouldn't worry. Anyone have a similar episode with these arms?

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From: Roderick Newstrom
Subject: (rx7) [3] Jumping and pitching while accelerating

I had the same feel... like the front end was torquing to the left while the rear end got real light. It got to the point where I was scared to corner over washboard for fear of the rear end coming loose. Mariah motors replaced all struts and an upper ball joint in the rear and everything is GREAT now.

Ed.'s note: most likely the ball joint fixed it.

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Date: Mon, 20 Dec 1999 02:40:54 -0800
From: "schaefer" (normandy99@email.msn.com)

>My car lately has started a thud sound every time I brake. Not loud, 
>but noticeable. To me it seems to be caused by inertia. When I brake 
>(as opposed to accelerating) I hear this sound somewhere from the 
>back of the car."

Either your toe control links (1st culprit) or your trailing links. Solution is either to (1) press in new Mazda bushings or (2) get the revised suspension parts from M2 performance ("www.mostlymazda.com "), then "M2 performance", then "suspension".

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Date: Tue, 25 Jan 2000 22:47:26 -0800 From: Max Cooper (max@maxcooper.com)

> Recently, my rear suspension has developed a loud knocking noise.  I notice
> it when braking, driving over rough roads (which is just about everywhere in
> Boston) and during changes in momentum.  After reading through old posts on
> the subject I was convinced that it was the bushings. However, recently I had
> the car up on a lift and tugged at the rear wheels from various angles and
> didn't notice any measurable looseness.  It did flex a small amount, but
> nothing beyond what I've seen on other cars.  If what I said is accurate,
> could it still be a bushing problem, or should I look at other components
> such as the shocks?  The car is a 94 with 49k on it.  If anyone has any
> insight, please let me know.

Try the same thing with the wheel removed. I tugged my wheel around and noticed nothing once. I did the same thing with the wheel removed and it was clear that both my toe links and the fore/aft links had bad bushings. I have the suspension clunks, but haven't done anything about it yet.

Ideally, I'd like to get the M2 toe links and new bushings for the trailing links. I might get the M2 trailing links, too, but I think the most important bushing is the one in the lower arm, which I don't think gets replaced by the M2 trailing links.

Torque Steer

Date: Sun, 17 May 1998 16:52:44 +1200
From: G^Sport (glenyuri@ihug.co.nz)

I had a number of replies and was offered these causes:

  1. Tires. Try rotating front to rear and see what happens.

  2. Worn suspension bushings.

  3. Worn strut tower bearing (I just replaced the entire suspension except the bushings on mine and I have no clue what this means. --Steve)

  4. Check out the rear toe-in/out adjustment links, bushings are probably worn.

  5. You got a bad bushing some place...put the car on stands and start pulling/pushing on things. It doesn't take much movement to be a problem.

  6. Even though all tires are the same pressure, they may not be the same circumference, which is the #1 cause of what you've just described. Use a tailor's tape or a piece of string and measure the tire circumference in the same place on both rear tires.

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