Took her for a ride today on her maiden voyage and I think she likes em. I love the drop and it rides really smooth, no bouncy ride, no harshness. I'll see how she performs with new endlinks.

 

What kind of endlinks? Stock or AWR?

 

I think I'm gonna stick with OE since adjustable ones seem to loosen up, plus OE is cheaper from the place I'm gonna get them.

 

stock (though not originals.. replaced about 10k miles ago).

I got the front bolts on the bushing brackets off just fine, but the rears.. it isn't happening. Now I understand why the factory service manual calls for removing the lower tie bar, endlinks, the exhaust midpipe, the steering gear, both shift levers, both lower control arms, and the crossmember (the big honking black pipe that is the entire front suspension geometry depends on) just to get access to the front sway bar.

le sigh. If I was a Mazda dealership service department, I'd gladly have at it, because 1. I'd be getting paid by the hour to take apart all that **** just to get at some bushings, 2. As it would be my job, I'd have the time to get it done, and 3. I'd have all the proper tools (and a lift) to get the job done.

I'm actually, for the first time EVER in my history with this car (turboing, all the suspension work, all the electronics work, detailing, all maintenance, etc) I am considering paying someone to do this. I have two weeks of finals (a week of lab finals, then another week of final finals) coming up and with 20+ hours of work each week on top of that, I just don't have the time or energy to even think about tackling it. For now, I'm just going to put it all on hold.. front bolts on the bushing brackets removed an all.

I give thanks to Mazda Corporation of Japan for assembling the car in such a fashion that it is extremely time consuming to do what should be the simplest of repair/replacement jobs. If I could so much as get a socket wrench other than my teeny little 1/4" drive onto the rear nuts, I would have finished this last night. When I got up this morning, I put the car back together and set her down, but didn't get to drive her all day because one of my roommates blocked the driveway with their car and must have forgotten I was here.. and they are hundreds of miles away now >_<

So for now, case closed. In a few weeks I'll deal with it again haha

 

The stock ones work (i.e. I don't think the AWR are actually stronger, though I've been wrong before), and aren't that expensive, but you gotta remember that in northern climates (I don't consider NJ the north.. I consider PA the south if that's any indication lol) they are practically disposable unless you keep constant tabs on them. I have protected my rear endlinks (though just on the sway bar end doh) by spraying them down with flat black paint when new after installation. Then I sprayed an undercoating over that (when dried/cured).

Kansei Tip #1 for working on a Mazda: Find out the sizes and other specs for every bolt/nut/whatever that you will be wrenching on, and order stainless steel replacements before beginning the work. Re-use NO stock nuts/bolts.

 

Thats a good tip Kansei I wish I can say I have a carcass of at least one endlink, but my mechanic went to town and throughly showed the bolts that you don't give me so much trouble and that in the end the air chisel always wins.

 

Another good tip is to use anti-seize compound on everything, especially stuff under the car or subjected to a lot of heat.

 

But things that get really hot need copper anti-seize (anything near ze turbo).

 

Is there any objection to putting anti-seize on the endlink bolts for front and rear?