I have the same problem all of you guys do (clunks, embarassment with passengers, etc). It's annoying as hell.

At first I noticed the noises were just coming from the rear end (mostly the driver's side), but I just moved the brake line and it was fine (since my '02 LX has drums in the back.. gah). That seemed to fix the problem for the most part. But now after fixing that, the pass. side's noises were brought out more. The sound is something like a metal-to-metal clicking noise and occassionally a scraping/groaning sound. I also have almost resorted to going back to stock springs, but who the hell wants to do that?

As Mac said, there is a thin little plastic piece (it's transparent, right?) that goes on the strut that is easily lost or thrown away. Like a dumbass, I threw them all away thinking they weren't important. I don't know if the missing pieces could be the culprit for all those annoying noises though.

I might even have the wrong springs.. lol. I don't think that the Sprints, that were made to fit 90-94 proteges, were meant for my car but when I installed them they fit into the spring perches pretty much perfectly.

Oh yeah, and anyone know what the hell those transparent plastic sheets are called? I need to get some. They're probably like 50 cents each at Autozone or something.

And about the "put some weight on the back" thing... I have two 12's in a box back there and it didn't help any.

 

Why doesnt anyone want to listen to me?? cuz im a girl and dont know what i am talking about!!! geeze!!! trust me.. those little plastic pieces have NOTHING to do with it....i have those.. and the noise is still there.. there is this metal piece above the bump stomp.. when i take mine apart this weekend hopefully ill let you know exactly where it is. also it could have to do with the shortness of the spring...

 

Even though it might not make a difference for those with coilovers, the small plastic sheet that I mentioned earlier is listed as #6 "sheet" in the Mazda service manual.

Just an FYI. Also, I doubt these will be available from Autozone, and the likes. Probably a dealer only item.

HTH - Jim

 

Hello, is there anybody out there?

 

It was due to the stock strut bolt does not have enought threads on them once you put your lowering springs on. Check this out. at the following thread.

http://forum.protegemp3.com/vbb225/s...threadid=25438

 

Thank You!! I will be doing the washer thing tonight! I'm sure that will fix it. Hopefully no more clunk so I can drive around in peace!!

 

Yah, i was having the same exact problem when i put my Eibach's on, the car looked BAD ***, but the only problem was that embarassing squeaking, there are a couple of fixes that you need to do to get rid of it.

1. Take everything apart again, and re-tourqe all the suspension parts to the new spec.

2. In my case, when i put the new springs on it disturbed the factory mounting harware, so i had to buy new spring mounts from Mazda, i found that since the Eibachs broke in the new mounts, there is no more squeakiness, the only problem is that it cost about 150 bucks, and the only place you can get them is from mazda, and they arent covered by warranty.

3. Grease up the springs, the bushings, the mounts, everything, basically once a month i spray everything down like amother ******!

There three things helped me, and now all i hear is the ocassional squeak when i drive over a huge pothole...and i live in michigan, so thats rpetty damn good!

any questions, feel free to message me or email me!