The MX5 was created as a sports car. Mazda did a great job, it has become the best selling sports car with over 1 million cars sold.

Alignment is absolutely critical.

Mazda created a very flexible system with the alignment bolt set up. This allows many possibilities to change the set-up of the car.

You can adjust the toe-in, steering angle, camber angle and caster angle on the front and toe-in and camber on the rear.

However, getting this set-up correct will completely change how the car feels and behaves. A poorly set-up MX5 can feel twitchy and hard to drive, turn-in becomes agressive meaning the car reacts very quickly to any input from the steering and it can cause premature tyre wear.

The MK1 and MK2 have different alignment bolts. The thread is finer on the MK2 bolts, allowing for finer adjustment. If you were replacing them, it would be worth buying MK2 bolts. They are available new, but they are expensive.

The alignment bolts are located on the MX5's wishbones. They suffer from all the issues that bolts located on the underside of the car have, they often seize and break when adjustment is attempted and the car should not be driven with a broken alignment bolt! If this happens whilst an alignment is in progress, the car would need to stay where it was and this will have a cost. Some alignment centres charge £300 per hour for their ramps.

So before you take your car for alignment, make sure you have checked that all the bolts can be adjusted and you take a few spares with you, just in case one brakes.

Here at DoctorMX5, we have a service to check all your alignment so they are ready for adjustment - CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION

Call us today: 01489 896907

KEEPING YOUR 5 ALIVE