Buying a 6MPS (Need advice on a particular car)

Hi guys,

As the thread suggests I am new to the forum, Ive been reading the forum and there is lots of helpful info on here! :)

Now I need some advice, I went to have a look at a 6MPS over the weekend and I checked all the usual things that the the 6MPS tend to have problems with, the VVT, engine mounts (gearing down and shifting up in higher revs) but there was one issue that I picked up and that is when going over bumpy roads the back of the car would sort of skip to the side...and also there was a kind of loud bang noise that came from the back of the car (diff mount??) when I went over some rough road.

My guess is that the shocks are worn out and thats what is causing the car to skip. At times when going over the bumps there was a sharpish turn as well and as I said the car would kinda skip to the side and it feels kinda dangerous lol. Not sure if the bang noise from the back is related to shocks or whether it could be a diff mount thats worn? By the way the car in question has 120,000kms. Has anyone replaced their standard shocks with geniune Mazda ones is aftermarket the way to go?

Also the car has one front tyre worn much more than the other (pretty much bald) and all the wear is on the outside of the tyre, is this something to be concerned about?

Any input would be appreciated, thanks guys.

Sounds more like diff mount issues to me, and the front tyre issue could be lots of reasons.
My suggestion would be to keep looking, there are plenty of good cars around for reasonable money

The front tyre wear you describe is a 6MPS characteristic due to insufficient wheel camber, which is not adjustable. Every stock 6MPS will have this problem if it's on stock suspension. You can keep replacing tyres, but a permanent solution involves either lowering the car which has the side effect of producing more negative camber, or you can install offset upper control arm bushes which will allow front camber to be adjusted. Either way, getting the front camber right wont only save tyres it will transform the handling.

The rear end skipping around would probably also be a wheel alignment issue. Thankfully the rear end is fully adjustable. Dunno about the knocking sound, it could be any number of things but if it was a diff mount it wouldn't effect the handling. If it has an aftermarket exhaust it could be banging on the diff.

Best solution, buy Mals (above) car.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by bd581

Best solution, buy Mals (above) car.

---

Agree!!

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

Well it would have to be the best and most intelligently sorted 6 in the country, at the very least.

Thanks for your replies guys, I'm pretty set on this car, it is quite clean other than the issues described, I just wanted to know whether those problems could be major and whether I'm looking at big $$ to fix... they dont sound like major issues from what you guys have said.
I'm planning to lower the car so the camber should be fixed as you have pointed out, and I'm going to have to get new shocks in the rear + wheel allignment and hope the skipping goes away.

I would take it for an RAC inspection. If the seller is serious about getting rid of it he shouldn't have a problem with you taking it to the RAC.

I'm guessing along with your diff mounts being shot, the 'skipping' could be your subframe bushes allowing movement in the cradle.