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Discussion starter · #21 ·
I thought of that, but I don't want to put an old part on a new car. Especially after the guy at the parts counter said their own shop replaces 2-3 of them a week, plus several more they sell to indy shops. The bearing itself is in a plastic housing, definitely not a part that's built to last. 4 months would have been nice though.

Maybe something is weird about this particular strut that overstressed the mount, maybe it had something to do with all the coating gumming up in the steering knuckle, maybe it was just me driving the hell out of the car with marginal part to begin with, or maybe all of the above!

No way to know for sure, just fix the obvious and see what happens. When I turn the steering wheel with the car not moving, you can see the top of the left strut shaft shifting around in the mount. The other side doesn't do that and it's quiet. So chances are I'm right about the problem, even if I have no clue what caused it.

Ah, the joys of automotive customization... Modding cars certainly has a way of opening a Pandora's box, sometimes.
 

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Discussion starter · #22 ·
Yes indeed, the LF strut mount was blown. No more noise, just great ride and handling!
 
Discussion starter · #23 ·
Quick update:

The front of the car has settled to level now, the proof is in the picture.

One thing I noticed by using Photoshop tools, which really just confirmed something I already saw, is that the front wheel openings are taller and shaped differently than the rears. As you can see from the photo, the chassis is level with the wheel hubs, give or take some fudge factor caused by my drawing abilities.

So, the FSD's do settle down to where they should be after pounding on them for a few hundred miles. Also, wheel gap differences between the front and the rear are perfectly normal, the front gap will always be greater if the chassis is level. That's probably why some aftermarket springs lower the front more than the rear, but level is better.
 

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Interesting picture as I noticed my own fronts are up pretty high after getting it checked out. Perfectly normal it seems.

What doesn't seem normal to me though is that there is a greater amount of vibration coming through the steering wheel than before, even after making sure that everything was installed correctly. No one else that installed the FSDs noticed this? It's not a heavy vibration, rather, it's further amplified than it was before I swapped out the OEM struts. Takes dips and bumps like a champ though as I can easily tell the difference as I regain control maybe a second (!) earlier during highway driving.
 
Discussion starter · #25 ·
Vibration through the steering wheel. I can't think of anything about the dampers that would do that. But didn't you just say it did that before, just to a lesser extent? If so, then the problem lies elsewhere, most likely a bad tire or a tossed balance weight. Or a few other things but those are the usual suspects. The steering on my car is quite smooth.
 
[quote author=nue link=topic=135975.msg3032859#msg3032859 date=1238630176]
Tires seem like the most likely culprit I suppose then as nobody mentions this at all. Guess I'll have to get that taken care of... Not sure what a tossed balance weight is though.
[/quote]

Those little weights that they clamp/stick onto your wheels when balancing them can sometimes fall or get "tossed" off, which will then cause the tire/wheel to vibrate and the steering wheel to shake/vibrate as a result.
 
Discussion starter · #28 ·
One way to check that is to rotate the tires. If absolutely nothing changes then you can pretty much rule out tires or wheel balance. The next most likely culprit is a tie rod end (the links that connect the steering rack to the wheel hubs). A split or otherwise compromised bushing in there can cause a shimmy.

How many miles are on the car, and how is the wear pattern on the front tires? What does the vibration feel like, exactly, and does it increase with vehicle speed? If you take your hands off the steering wheel, can you see it wobble?
 
~38k, wear is pretty bad and will be done within the next few thousand miles or so. The vibration has always been there, just that it seemed to be further amplified with the installation of these struts. It's most apparent when slowing down from 30 or so to about 10 when I can hear the change I leave in the ashtray rattle as well. It also occurs at highway speeds when there are imperfections and what not. The vibration is fairly subtle, as people looking at the steering wheel probably can't see it but I can definitely feel it.

Guess the next thing to check out is the tie rod ends :(.
 
Discussion starter · #30 ·
What's the status on the vibration problem, any luck solving it?
 
Discussion starter · #32 ·
On stock springs I think they're quite good, and I'm very picky about ride and handling. They take some of the edge out of sharp ruts, pot holes, and eroding pavement (which Seattle has plenty of, I spend a lot of time up there), but also firm up the ride a bit on low frequency bumps and dips (as intended by design). Kind of a wash in terms of ride quality, at least for me.

The main thing is they give you is much better body control, especially rebound, which was the main thing I was looking for, but didn't want to suffer a choppy ride just to get it. The ride quality isn't as busy but it is a bit firmer over some road surfaces. Rough surface traction and bumpy road body control are both greatly improved. Put another way, the chassis works so much better that tire grip is the limiting factor now. The suspension was the limiting factor before.

The main thing is that the dreaded leaping and bounce at high speeds is virtually gone now, I haven't been launched into the great unknown since installing them. That was scaring the hell outta me and slowing me down, which is why I yanked them at 3000 miles. I don't know what the hell Mazdaspeed was thinking when they came up with their damper spec but they missed it by a mile. Hard to believe they stuck with it for 3 model years.
 
Discussion starter · #34 ·
Did you try rotating the tires?

The weird thing that if anything, NVH should have improved with these shocks. I know that going over things like road reflectors is smoother now, like I let 10 pounds of air out of the tires.

But if you're getting a wheel shimmy and more NVH, I still suspect that something either broke during the installation, or a marginal part was made worse (I broke the LF upper strut mount). I really don't think it's the shocks per se; your old ones could have been so worn that you had zero compression damping, so even a new OEM damper would have made the problem a little worse. The FSD's have a lot more compressing damping, but they soften up a little around 1000 miles.

You can do a tire rotation yourself just to check, but if nothing changes, I would try to find a shop that specializes in frame and suspension work.

Good luck!
 
Rear tires are almost bald so no point in doing that, hence why I'm getting new tires ASAP :). I'm hoping that this is the problem as the installation of the shocks were redone, shown to me, and explained every step of the way but the issue persists.

Everything is smoother in a way but at the same time, these and vibrations are discomforting and cramping up my wrists as I drive long distances but then again, driving long distance isn't exactly fun in this car to begin with :lol:.
 
Discussion starter · #36 ·
Well you could still try swapping the rims and tires yourself just to see if anything changes.

But new tires are always better than bald ones! Which ones are you thinking of buying?

And even with 4 new tires and a precision wheel balance, I would still move the front rims to the rear.

If you do all that and the problem persists, then you know there's something wrong with the chassis. Nevermind the FSD's, you've got an unrelated problem that really needs attention.

Many moons ago I went through all this and still had a front end problem with my 86 Corolla AE86. The senior tech at the shop decided to check my steering rack, and it was shot. The pinion gear was worn and chipped so the rack was actually skipping a notch in the rack during very heavy loads. He strapped the front wheels down and started turning the the steering wheel until it made a popping sound, and the steering wheel wasn't straight. The rack and tires didn't move but the steering wheel was off. There's only one thing that can cause that:

They cracked open the unit just to show me, and I wasn't far from losing the ability to steer the car at all! Once replaced, the car drove great, no problems at all for several years. This is where specialists are useful, they know what to look for when the usual suspects like ball joints and bearings have been checked out.

Point being, there's a lot of things that can go wrong and it probably isn't the dampers.

Good luck again, this must be very frustrating. Hopefully it's just the tires! I've been there too - I was convinced there was something fuctup in the front end on a different car but the shop said lets just see what new tires do. Problem solved.
 
Discussion starter · #38 ·
Glad to hear it! Enjoy what I think is the best solution for a daily driven MS3 for mature, experienced drivers. Simple change (for most people), big results, without having to endure a harsh riding, more expensive solution, just to get the car under control. Mazdaspeed failed but Koni prevailed, the car should have come with these from the factory.

BTW, they need about 700-1000 miles to really break in. The ride comfort will improve with no loss of performance. Pretty cool, IMO.
 
Hey guys, need some help. I just had installed a set of Koni FSDs with Racing Beat Springs front and rear. It really looks lousy. There is 1 inch fender/tire clearance in the rear but 3 INCHES in the front. That seems WAY off. Am I losing my mind. It was LOTs of bucks for the labor. Please give me your insight as it seems some have seen somewhat of a similar result. I went with RB springs because I didn't want to "drop" the car with the roads here in VA. Let me know. THanks. GB
 
[quote author=Greybeard link=topic=135975.msg3103432#msg3103432 date=1241494407]
Hey guys, need some help. I just had installed a set of Koni FSDs with Racing Beat Springs front and rear. It really looks lousy. There is 1 inch fender/tire clearance in the rear but 3 INCHES in the front. That seems WAY off. Am I losing my mind. It was LOTs of bucks for the labor. Please give me your insight as it seems some have seen somewhat of a similar result. I went with RB springs because I didn't want to "drop" the car with the roads here in VA. Let me know. THanks. GB
[/quote]

why not go with the stock springs?
 
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