I read in the miata mag (6 99) about the installation of swaybars on a 5 from racing beat. They liked the drive & the product, but there was one minus: the urethane bushings they supplied did start creaking after a few days (!!!) Anyone checking the bushings on your 5 from a JR swaybar?? Better? (12/99)
I've got JR sways. Yes they sqeak too if completely dry. Thats why I relubricate them once a year (usually at the start of the season). Haven't seen the RB ones. Are they by any chance painted? I just installed some heavier sways on the Impreza turbo. Supplier adviced to remove the paint at the position the bushing would have. Otherwise they would go squeaking within days. (12/99)
.. added the very tacky grease JR supply to the bushes .. and no creaks in UK heat .. only trouble is now you can see they move sideways by 1" each side .. some in the states add jubilee clips to stop this .. but I am not convinced there is any need as the change in characteristics would be minimal .. but then they are a bit more fanatical than me. (12/99)
I've had my JR swaybars in for about a year. They never made a single noise. I just put the originals back in...guess what... :( (12/99)

I've got one fitted to my Eunos. It's a simple single bar with two rear-wards bracing bars

Safe enough, perhaps, but unless I'm being dumb, the soft-top can't possibly fold properly with the bar in place. The unzipped rear window can't lie flat - it doesn't fit between the two bracing bars. It's a new rear window, so I don't want to see just how far it'll bend before cracking.

The roll-over bar ruins the clean lines anyway, so I was leaning towards getting it removed. Any general advice? (4/00)
Mines similar; the window unzips, and although it doesn't lie flat, its not kinked. No problems whatsoever. I think the problems occur when someone consistantly over several years doesn't bother to unzip the rear window ('ve seen a Berkley going around in need of a rear screen....). Some people use an extended loo roll/foam pipe to prevent the rear window from kinking when lowering with no ill effect. If your bar really is a roll bar (as opposed to various types of style bar), you might find it a problem in removing (lots of trim dismantling required). (4/00)
I have a similar Roll/style-bar (not sure which, have yet to test :-) http://go.to/mx5ireland for pics) Get a rear window protector, then when the roof is down and the window protector is in place, you have a fairly functional wind-deflector! (4/00)

Thanks for the advice. I'm pretty sure it's a roll-over bar and not a style bar - it's pretty substantial, plain black finish and ugly as sin. What i found was that the rear window section sort of slumps against the two bracing bars, sort of sagging in the centre (is this what you mean by kinking?). I resisted trying to force the roof down over the sagging window section for fear of breaking it/ripping something.

Think I'll try a more determined attempt to get the roof properly down before deciding on ripping out the roll-over bar. Just got to wait for the rain/snow to stop now :o( (4/00)

I recently got the set of strengthened anti roll bars from Dealer Alt and decided to fit them yesterday. It didnt look too demanding a job, but these things always turn out more than they seem.. :(

The problems I had were with the small links which connect the roll bars to the A frames on either side. Specifically the fact that these have to be held with an allen key (#5) while the nut is removed by a ring spanner (size 14) and that on my not even 1 year old car they were rusted almost solid. I eventually managed to get these off (I later spoke to a nearby Mazda garage who told me that it wasnt unusual for it to take up to 1.5 hours to get each nut off!! I didnt feel so bad after this) and replaced the sway bar.

When I then tightened the offending nuts back up i found that I couldnt get them to tighten fully back to the sway bars. The notes from DA suggest that they should be torqued to 30ft/lbs, but I'm unable to torque them as the whole nut/bolt assembly turns.

I guess what I want to know is if this is "normal", if not what have I missed?

I've tightened the nut as far as I can using the spanner/allen key technique but want to be sure that what I have is safe. Any help/ideas/solutions greatly appreciated.

For anyone thinking of changing or removing these nuts, by the fourth one I found that if cleaned with WD-40 and small wire brush and then some copper ease on the thread _prior_ to the nut being removed it was a much less painfull and time consuming job. Shame I hadnt tried it this way first... :/ (6/00)
I take it this is a Mk2 .. the nuts on a Mk1 have special serrated large heads built in .. so they self lock to the link and you need to torque the Allen key end .. with an adapter to socket drive for the torque wrench; buy one .. or search out your impact driver which normally has a selection. Hope you are doing all of this with the car on it's wheels (the torquing) .. it is awkward .. but it is possible .. been there done that several times now. (6/00)
Yep, its a Mk2, and on ramps (was in instructions.. ;) So the important thing is the torque of the allen key to the nut then, not necessarily the overall tightness to the bar? Or am I reading you wrong there?? (6/00)

While parking the '5 last night I heard some rather disturbing metallic noises from the back end. Took a look this morning and found that the bolts that attach the sway bar to the small dumbbell thing were very loose (turn them by hand). Not sure what this might have done to the handling or what might have occurred if the bolts had dropped off but after speaking to one of the mechanics at Mazda I have tightened them back up.

Can anyone think of what might have caused the bolts to come (very) loose or might it be that they were not properly tightened when the Koni's were fitted (assuming they would have been undone for this) ? (6/00)
I would have thought someone had forgotten to tighten them up after the Koni's were fitted. Give em a rollocking! (6/00)

If they weren't torqued up properly, then they *will* loosen over time. Lucky you caught it now - not that it would have been dangerous to have a dangling bar (hmm... there must be a more innocent way to say that), but you would have lost the bolts.

BTW the first free service on new MX-5's (well, my '96 anyway) at 600 miles is mainly to tighten up some bolts under the car, and also to change the engine oil (I think). I never queried what bolts they were tightening as I hadn't any '5 knowledge back then :)

I think it might be worthwhile to check the tightness of bolts under and in the car every couple of years, if just to prevent rattles and squeaks. (6/00)