How do I make my car more firm?

illapino · Post by **illapino** » August 13th, 2006, 2:04 am

1992 Mazda Precidia GS
225 000 kilometres
(new tires, new wheels, new suspension, so i'm not talking about ride quality here)

the car feels loose. i don't think anything is falling apart, but when i'm driving it, it has an overall looseness about it. not having a short shifter also adds to a sort of sluggish attitude on its part. what i want to know is what can i do to make my ride more firm. i may seem unclear, but it's hard to explain online. just driving it makes it obvious what i'm talking about. i don't know if MX-3s are normally like this, and installing all new suspension has ruled out a factor that i had thought was primarily responsible, but what can i do to make it run more firmly? i'm not talking about body sway or anything. what i mean is the engine and transmission as a whole: there's no firmness. new cars all have that solid feel, u know. so after driving them, and then driving mine, the comparison is drastic, for my Precidia has this emptiness about it in the way it functions. well what i can i do to restore that solidity? rebuild the transmission and engine?

Dali · Post by **Dali** » August 13th, 2006, 3:02 am

pick up both strut tower bars, some bronzeoil bushings for the shifter set up and that should help, if its been lowered that will stiffen it up a little, new tie rod ends, could have worn wheel bearings, as for the motor and tranny they are just old, filling the motor mounts will help. that is pretty much it, ive done these and noticed quite a difference. it could be any combination of these that is affecting the ride of the car suspension wise or the way it runs mechanically.

illapino · Post by **illapino** » August 13th, 2006, 5:21 am

thanks for the motor mount filling tip. but as i said, my complaint had nothing to do about suspension. i have new end links, one new wheel bearing, wheel hub, upper mounts, all that. it's the mechanical solidity that i'm talking about: how it runs. it's so spiritless, empty, and loose....

XxantwawnxX · Post by **XxantwawnxX** » August 13th, 2006, 9:00 am

illapino wrote:it's so spiritless, empty, and loose....

Could it just be a reflection of its owner

but serously, mi not sure i know what to say to this...

Si1verBullet · Post by **Si1verBullet** » August 13th, 2006, 11:34 am

Buy a lower mileage one.

I went through all this with another car of mine, I ran it to 300,000 k and changed the suspension, bushes, mounts rod ends.

It was still *nothing* like a 50 or 70,000 mile version of the same age. I got it *close* to that feeling by doing a :

Full change of all rubber bushes. New steering rack. New tie rod ends. lower Ball lower ball joint, new engine mounts, new gearbox mounts, bearings. Basically anything that is consumeble, where metal meets metal or rubbber it needs replacing.

Looking back, with the effort I put in I should have parted the car out and bought a newer one. That simple.

Get under your car. Take a look at all the bits of rubber bushing everything together. All that is fucked. Even it it doesnt look that fucked, after the mileage you have done it is.

I have 400,000 km beater Geo Metro on orginal enigne ( still has perfect compression ) and gearbox, and the car is loooooooooooose. I change the odd bush here and there and swap the dampers and what nots to keep it straight, but that just how old cars get end of, and you would be amazed at just how loose a jap car can get and still keep ticking flawlessly.

Hopefully not put you off too much, but really, its time for new car if its bothering you.

mx3autozam · Post by **mx3autozam** » August 13th, 2006, 12:42 pm

Get SRD bushings and make sure everything is tight. Jack up the car with the wheel on and check for any play. Also CV shafts tend to make clunking as well as ball joints, tie rod ends and sway bar end links

So your car is lowered. I'm assuming you've got new struts with springs and hopefully new mounts. Also make sure all wheel bearings are good and have no play at all and are smoothg. All ball joints, inner and outer tie rods and end links are new as well as srd bushings are really nice and upper strut tower bars. Maybe replace both cv shafts with napa remans and have a lifetime warranty. there only $100 each canadian.As someone else suggested motor mounts. Get mazdaspeeds or fill yours with uretahen. A short shifter with all srd bushings will be nice as well. Another thing is the brakes. make sure there is no calipers sticking and all bolts are tight and all sliders and moving parts are lubed up. After all that you should have a tight car with no noises or looseness. If you think its loose still amybe its your springs etup. What springs and struts do you have

Also check to make sure your wheels are balanced good and alignment is done. This may sound stupid but also make sure all lug nuts are tight. I've heard many having loose before and having slight loosesness from that.

Hope this helps you out.

Flinch · Post by **Flinch** » August 13th, 2006, 4:28 pm

yeah man lowering your car an inch or so makes all the difence becaus it also lowers your centre of gravity. It will make your care more responcive and less tipy feeling. I found strut tower bars made the diference as well alot less bady roll to bad with my ZE i had to take out the front one because it hit the IM.

mx3autozam · Post by **mx3autozam** » August 13th, 2006, 6:24 pm

Flinch wrote:yeah man lowering your car an inch or so makes all the difence becaus it also lowers your centre of gravity. It will make your care more responcive and less tipy feeling. I found strut tower bars made the diference as well alot less bady roll to bad with my ZE i had to take out the front one because it hit the IM.

Ya alot of people say strut bars do nothing. But they actually do. I didn't think it would do anything on my car but man did it ever feel tighter. Also you should get your back on. Theres many things you can do so it doesn't hit your manifold.

John

illapino · Post by **illapino** » August 14th, 2006, 2:29 am

thanks for the advice: and one more thing. My car is lurchy in first gear, low speeds. Crawling around a mall, trying to find a parking spot, which requires at least 5 speed bumps to get to? Really really really annoying. A reflex of mine found out that disengaging the clutch half-way smoothens the lurches away. but: really really annoying