I was just looking at a rear sway bar designed by Anthony Woodford Racing, and they say that ES model 95-98 Proteges have different struts. The ES model OE struts have a tab to connect the sway bar end link to, and DX/LX do not. Now, I am going to replace my struts, but I do not which brands have those conecting tabs. I would assume that MazdaSpeed struts would, but they are too much for me. If anyone has any knowledge about this, please share it with me. Thank you.

 

If you live in Canada this may be true, but if you live in the US and have a 95-96 it is not true as the dx's came with a sway bar ,, as for the 97-98 I am not sure ...
B

 

Thank, TheMAN. Do you know, by the way, how thick stock front and rear sway bars are?

 

nooo.... I have dx and a rear sway bar ....

 

i also have a 98 dx 1.5l with a sway bar. sway bars are required for mazda's suspension design (TTL) as it supports the horizontal alignment of the rear wheels (look up alignment and it will show you adjustment points for rear wheel alignment, a sway bar will be pictured independent of your model)

foreign models may be different, who knows.

 

I'll double check my rebuild manual when I get home. However, I will go take a picture of a bar connecting the rear suspension components on my DX that I did not add, and I doubt the original owner did (although its slimly possible.)

Besides, TTL has what it states, twin links to each side of the rear of the car connecting the suspension towers. I doubt a sway bar adds any real world benifit since theres no weight in the back. It'd probably be along the lines of improvement a rear suspension tower brace would give you (not possible in the 98 proteges, donno about 95-97's, the 98 has the frame assembly molded around the top of the strut mounts, making attachment of a brace impossible without cutting pieces of your frame out) which is almost none.

 

alrightythen , here is a pic ,, for you to look at ,,, with a rear sway bar,,, this is my car




okok

 

it's funny how 2nd gens are so damn finiky ... I am getting a laptop soon so I may be able to scan some of those fsm pages in the book ....
Bruce

 

this doesn't really help, other than it shows no sway bar.

Rear Suspension Diagram

however, the rebuild manual... TheMAN's right, it's class dependent. how my lx got a rear swaybar is beyond me, but then again i have various factory defects in my car that dont make sense (the ceiling is gray but the interior color is tan, they screwed up the color matching, the cruise control button the the defrost button were in reversed sockets, exc, this car literally 'rolled' through the cosmetic QC check) but then I looked at the bolts for the swaybar and the linkages look newer than the other suspension components, it seems added after factory by the previous owner.

according to the brake diagram i have, the only difference in ABS and non-ABS struts is obviously the mount for the abs hardware near where the control arm joins the strut.

the springs for the 1.8l models are probably stiffer to support the heavier engine, as TheMAN stated.

 

I just got the rear sway bar off a 95 DX at the local Pick and Pull.
Let's see if it bolts on my 98 DX. I'll post an update later.


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Alright...my 98 DX, which does not have a sway bar, has the mounting brakets on the control arm but no little tab/bracket thingymabob on the strut assembly for the sway bar end link to bolt to. I guess I'm going to go down to the auto store and compare a 98 shock to a 95 shock and see what the differences are. Maybe the 95 shock can be used on the 98.

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Did some looking at some online stores...most list the same strut for 95-98 on the 1.5l. So maybe some aftermarket shocks(Koni and KYB in this case) have the missing tab/bracket on all their struts for part simplification even if it's not used in some applications....anyone else have any ideas?

 

Alright, I guess I want to know if anyone with a 96,97,98 dx has a rear sway bar. We've figured out the 95 has it.