Mx5 NB pulling to the left under heavy acceleration

[Joe5y]

Evening all,

Reliving my youth a little and just bought a 2004 Mk2 Mazda Mx5 having owned one back when I was 20.

All is good with the car but having picked it up after checking everything I could it has a quite obvious pull to the left when accelerating hard and when coming off the throttle it sort of re-centres. It almost feels like torque steer but from the rear.

Things of note;

1. It has a Torsen LSD
2. It has fairly old tires on. Matching fronts but one very low rear drivers side odd tire.
3. It's a 6 speed 1.8.

Can someone point me in the right direction to rectify this bloody awful and dangerous trait.

Thanks all

[MX-5 Lazza]

For a start, at a minimum you want matching tyres across axles. Better would be a full matching set of 4 tyres.
Make sure the pressures are correct (around 26psi).
Get a full 4 wheel laser alignment done. This makes a massive difference even to a well maintained car.

[Joe5y]

MX-5 Lazza said:

For a start, at a minimum you want matching tyres across axles. Better would be a full matching set of 4 tyres.
Make sure the pressures are correct (around 26psi).
Get a full 4 wheel laser alignment done. This makes a massive difference even to a well maintained car.

Thank you. I will get this done early next week.

Is there any pitfalls to watch out for with wheel alinement as I've heard Mx5's have a slightly different set up / not as straight forward to day to day cars?

What tires are good ones to go for?

[MX-5 Lazza]

Tyres-there are thousands of threads giving advice...

Alignment. They are very adjustable with front camber, caster & toe and rear camber & toe. They are very sensitive to alignment and a good technician can make a massive difference to how the car feels. Wheels in Motion are well worth the trip as they are proper experts with MX5s. There is nothing special about them though but most cars aren't that adjustable so most garages don't really have the expertise to get the most out of them.

[Joe5y]

MX-5 Lazza said:

Tyres-there are thousands of threads giving advice...

Alignment. They are very adjustable with front camber, caster & toe and rear camber & toe. They are very sensitive to alignment and a good technician can make a massive difference to how the car feels. Wheels in Motion are well worth the trip as they are proper experts with MX5s. There is nothing special about them though but most cars aren't that adjustable so most garages don't really have the expertise to get the most out of them.

Thank you.

Re tyres, are there any that you'd recommend?

[anonymous-user]

I had a similar issue when I bought my mk1 1.8 - it would yaw violently when accelerating and then "bounce back" the other way when lifting, so much so that I wondered if it had been crashed or something was bent. Tried swapping the wheels around front to rear didn't really help. The rear tyres were worn almost to the limit so I had 2 cheap new tyres fitted just to get it home, still just as bad, although it would do some hugely comedy rubber squeals at every junctions.

I then fitted the wheels from my previous 1.6, and it was instantly sorted.

I assume therefore that at least one of the old wheel rims was bent. They're now filled with earth as planters in the garden


BTW for tyres - I would advise against Toyo Proxes, no matter how much certain people will tell you they are the best. They are not. They ruined my car and I binned them after perhaps 1000 miles and went for Kumhos, which have been soooooo much better. My favourite tyre so far has been Champiros, but again people will say they are a budget tyre and therefore can't possibly beat the beloved Proxes...

Old thread / argument and finally video proof here:
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=144...

Edited by anonymous-user on Sunday 19th February 12:55

[bearman68]

Joe5y said:

Evening all,

Reliving my youth a little and just bought a 2004 Mk2 Mazda Mx5 having owned one back when I was 20.

All is good with the car but having picked it up after checking everything I could it has a quite obvious pull to the left when accelerating hard and when coming off the throttle it sort of re-centres. It almost feels like torque steer but from the rear.

Things of note;

1. It has a Torsen LSD
2. It has fairly old tires on. Matching fronts but one very low rear drivers side odd tire.
3. It's a 6 speed 1.8.

Can someone point me in the right direction to rectify this bloody awful and dangerous trait.

Thanks all

Almost certainly wheel alignment(maybe because a suspension component is worn out) - Check the suspension and fix, put new rubber on it, and 4 wheel alignment. It will be OK then.

[Joe5y]

JimSuperSix said:

I had a similar issue when I bought my mk1 1.8 - it would yaw violently when accelerating and then "bounce back" the other way when lifting, so much so that I wondered if it had been crashed or something was bent. Tried swapping the wheels around front to rear didn't really help. The rear tyres were worn almost to the limit so I had 2 cheap new tyres fitted just to get it home, still just as bad, although it would do some hugely comedy rubber squeals at every junctions.

I then fitted the wheels from my previous 1.6, and it was instantly sorted.

I assume therefore that at least one of the old wheel rims was bent. They're now filled with earth as planters in the garden


BTW for tyres - I would advise against Toyo Proxes, no matter how much certain people will tell you they are the best. They are not. They ruined my car and I binned them after perhaps 1000 miles and went for Kumhos, which have been soooooo much better. My favourite tyre so far has been Champiros, but again people will say they are a budget tyre and therefore can't possibly beat the beloved Proxes...

Old thread / argument and finally video proof here:
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=144...

Edited by JimSuperSix on Sunday 19th February 12:55

Thank you very much for all the info.

Is there certain wheels that are better than others? I've got the standard S-VVT wheels on. I'll include a pic below.

I think my first thing to do is to get all the bushes in the suspension replaced - is there a poly bush option and is it advisable? At the same time as this I'll get tyres (and wheels??!) and alignment done. If doing all this and I find it makes no difference I may have a little cry

I love in Reading, someone above recommended somewhere in Chesham which I'm not adverse to travelling to but I wondered if anyone knew of somewhere more local?

Thank you all once again.

[Joe5y]

bearman68 said:

Joe5y said:

Evening all,

Reliving my youth a little and just bought a 2004 Mk2 Mazda Mx5 having owned one back when I was 20.

All is good with the car but having picked it up after checking everything I could it has a quite obvious pull to the left when accelerating hard and when coming off the throttle it sort of re-centres. It almost feels like torque steer but from the rear.

Things of note;

1. It has a Torsen LSD
2. It has fairly old tires on. Matching fronts but one very low rear drivers side odd tire.
3. It's a 6 speed 1.8.

Can someone point me in the right direction to rectify this bloody awful and dangerous trait.

Thanks all

Almost certainly wheel alignment(maybe because a suspension component is worn out) - Check the suspension and fix, put new rubber on it, and 4 wheel alignment. It will be OK then.

Hoping that this is the case. Happy to spend the money as I look to keep the car as a weekend toy.

[MX-5 Lazza]

I'm in Wokingham so you are fairly local to me.
I doubt it needs new bushes. Mine is a 2001 Mk2.5 that has has quite a hard life having been supercharged for 13 years and been used for quite a few track days. The bushes are still fine. If you do replace then stick with stick bushes. Poly bushes will ruin the ride.

[Joe5y]

MX-5 Lazza said:

I'm in Wokingham so you are fairly local to me.
I doubt it needs new bushes. Mine is a 2001 Mk2.5 that has has quite a hard life having been supercharged for 13 years and been used for quite a few track days. The bushes are still fine. If you do replace then stick with stick bushes. Poly bushes will ruin the ride.

Ah, excellent. I'm actually in Woodley, right near the George. Being from the same area and from your recommendation re alignment place in Chesham I guess that they're the ones I should call tomorrow morning and no one more local?

Have you a picture of yours?

[Joe5y]

So, just booked into Wheels In Motion got this Saturday to get 4 new tyres and alignment done buy their resident Mx5 specialist, Joe (great name!). Keith who I spoke to couldn't recommend the Toyo Proxies more highly but having taken on board what has been said above I'm a little concerned. (The Toyo's have been ordered but I can cancel and reorder as late as Thursday).

What are he bad points / negatives from using the Toyo's?

[fatjon]

Mine does this when one of the back tyres is low.

[thebraketester]

Not sure why you would go for the Toyo unless there is absolutely no other choice.

[Joe5y]

thebraketester said:

Not sure why you would go for the Toyo unless there is absolutely no other choice.

What makes you say this when many say that they're highly recommended?

[anonymous-user]

Personal experience (see above) , followed up by this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWqEPmFGgv0&fe...

Seriously don't buy them - buy something else, order some Kumhos or similar from Black Circles or something.
I'm not anti-Toyo btw - my kit car has Toyo 888s on it and they're great, but the Proxes were just terrible on an MX5.

Edited by anonymous-user on Monday 20th February 19:32

[bearman68]

Hi OP - forgot to say, I had this little marlarky on my MR2 after removing the subframe.
My MR2 is also running Toyos, but I understood them to be the tyre of choice on an MR2

[Joe5y]

JimSuperSix said:

Personal experience (see above) , followed up by this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWqEPmFGgv0&fe...

Seriously don't buy them - buy something else, order some Kumhos or similar from Black Circles or something.
I'm not anti-Toyo btw - my kit car has Toyo 888s on it and they're great, but the Proxes were just terrible on an MX5.

Edited by JimSuperSix on Monday 20th February 19:32

Thank you.

What Kumhos did you go for in the end?

I'm in the train of thought that if I get some tyres that I think are crud I'll stick the wheels, tyres on eBay and buy some new wheels (I've always liked the big spaced twisted 5 spokes).

[MX-5 Lazza]

The Tokyo T1R used to be the top recommended tyre but they are old now and are no longer the best choice. I haven't given an opinion myself because I still have them on mine, have been on for 3 years or so and they are likely to be here for a while yet as all my hard driving is done on Yoko A048 semi slicks

Yes, there are a few local places that could do the alignment, some pretty good, but WiM really are worth the trip.

As for pictures of mine... do a google for "Lazza MX5". It's a well known car

[binnerboy]

alternatives to Toyo T1R would be (in no particular order)

Yokohama prada spec 2
Kuhmo Hs51
uniroyal rainsport 3

for a bit more money the usual stuff like michelin PS3, dunlop sportresponse, Goodyear eagle etc

I used to run the T1R , the kuhmo I found to have better grip in all situations and it is an old tyre design.

read and watch this

http://www.motmotorsport.co.uk/mx-5--rx-8-tyres-42...