Hi there, i have a 2015 Mazda 2 with 58500kms on the clock (translates to about 36350 miles). There is a mysterious shudder in both hard and gradual acceleration. The shudder is felt near the left foot (footrest) and the mid console where my knee will rest while driving. My car is lowered with a TEIN spring. The shudder is present in ONLY these conditions:
Only when accelerating at low speed between 25km/h to 35km/h
Does not present in cruising without any speed alteration
Present in smooth roads
Completely disappeared when accelerating in uneven roads or pavements
The weight of passengers / goods carried inside the car affects the shudder. More passengers (more weight) carried, the shudder becomes more apparent
Only when the car is LOWERED, when the stock springs are installed they are gone. I also tested couple of my friends’ springs with different manufacturers within the same ride height level and the shudder is still there whenever the car is lowered.
Some of the actions i did to solve this:
Replace new engine mounting, doesn’t work.
Replace new driveshaft, doesn’t work.
Wheel alignment / spooring, doesn’t work.
New wheels / tires, doesn’t change anything.
It may seem too foolish to work around such an unimportant issue. But believe me it’s been around 2 years since i tried to discover this and it became more frustrating over time.
You seem to have already found the solution if the issue goes away when you put back the stock springs. I have no clue why it would do this. I also have no clue why you would lower a Mazda 2.
Well yes, i’m just curious about what was really happening down there.
Living in Asian countries with unbelievably high tax rates forces the car culture in Asia to be more “daily-ish”. Expect less size and engine displacement here.
If this is the only way to perceive the problem, I think this sums up for it. I’m going to install a set of coilover to see in which height the shudder really softens. Maybe i’ll find a sweet spot when i’m comfortable with it.
Ha, lowering 1” results in shudder.
Paying to buy coil overs so you can raise height 1” is cost effective?
Well, you will find out what sweet spot is. Stock ride height.
You do have stock camber angles?
Your camber changes when ride height changes.
And lowering WILL affect your toe settings?
Concur w/ @Mustangman 's post above, drive shaft angles change when lowering the car. Wheels are in the same place of course, but the transmission (drive shaft source) is attached to the car’s body, which is lower now. This issue is commonly discussed in Hot Rod magazine, but usually for rear wheel drive vehicles. Restoring the oem suspension is the easiest solution of course. But there may be a way to restore the driveshaft angles, even with the car’s body lowered. I don’t know what it is though. Presumably you could raise the transmission a littl, but you’d be limited by it bumping into the hood. Perhaps there are two-part bespoke drive-shafts available that would work.
Just do a LS swap and RWD conversion and while you are building the ALL new chassis for it, you can make it what ever ride height you desire… problem solved…
Coil overs are another thought if you are hell bent on lowering the vehicle, you can adjust them to any height (within the limits of the shock body) lower it to it shudders and then start raising it up to it stops… If it happens to be the stock height then you can always just lower it for shows and stuff, then back up to normal non harmful height for normal driving…
Or just buy a Honda and you can do about anything to them without major damage…
When I had my Volkswagen, some of the kids thought it was cool to reverse the wheels to increase the wheelbase. Only problem was it put too much pressure on the wheel bearings and burned them out. Best to keep the mechanical stock.
I bought wheels from car being junked. I had junk wheels I put on so it would roll. I had to put them on inside out since they were jammed on calipers. At least BP was right.
