Oh great hive, please impart your knowledge. 1995 Miata, 120k miles, owned about 2 years, I replaced the coilovers about 5k ago. Runs and drives great, a daily driver usually. I suspect no suspension items have been replaced beyond that. Yesterday, something seemed odd. Today I paid more attention, which was easier, because what I was feeling had changed for the worse.
Say, if it's floored in second, I quick-shift into third, then let off, the rear end does a quick wiggle. Not in a playful way either. Even in 5th, floor it, and without moving the steering wheel the car heads left. I let off, and the car heads right. So, under acceleration the rear steers me left, weight transfer when I let off, it steers right.
Something is weird back there? Where? What are my likely culprits? I'm not DD this anymore until it's better.
Mine did that for a while. I put new bushings in the rear upper arms with no change (couldn't get the lower long bolt out so I left it). Eventually changed the shocks for an unrelated reason and it went away. Still not really sure what the issue was but it didn't do it anymore with a different set of rear shocks.
If it's got a Torsen (and most '95s do), you can get that sort of behavior with uneven tire diameter - even different tire pressure. Check pressures and maybe swap the wheels side to side and see if the problem follows.
Like Keith said, start with tire pressures. If one of the rears is 5-10 psi down that will do exactly what you said. If the pressures are fine and swapping them doesn't change it, look at the bushings. A worn bushing on one side can do the same thing.
In reply to Keith Tanner :
Well, that's interesting. Had a nail in the middle of the left rear fixed recently. Tire people love overinflating, but this behavior is just in the last two days. Tires look OK, but I will check pressure in the morning. This sounds plausible. Thanks!
Fingers crossed :) Stuff like bushings are next, but I like to go through the things that are really easy to check and fix before I get into the hard work.
NOHOME
MegaDork
2/17/23 7:17 p.m.
Not a believer in coincidence. New shocks and problem shows up shortly after?
Possible bad product or a missed re-assembly step?
In reply to NOHOME :
Shocks have been on for 5000 miles. Not sure that's close enough to be coincidence.
Keith Tanner said:
In reply to NOHOME :
Shocks have been on for 5000 miles. Not sure that's close enough to be coincidence.
Mine were on a couple years after being rebuilt by bilstein before the problem started. Although I never tried swapping those shocks back on to see if the problem came back.
In reply to Keith Tanner :
Bingo! 23 left rear, 40 right rear. I should have checked the pressure when the tire was fixed.
Thanks!
