Starting getting a few things done again on my Mazda5, I'd ordered this Mazdaspeed 3 rear sway bar to replace the stock one; fairly common mod, but still I thought to take a few photos in case someone is thinking about this.
I ordered the sway bar, rubber bushings, and retaining clamps. I figured the bar-ends would still be serviceable on my 2012.
The parts breakdown doesn't say "MazdaSpeed 3" anywhere, just "for 18-inch wheels" which was the giveaway.
It's not too tricky: elevate the back end, I just used jackstands on the marked side rails per usual.
Got my handy 1/2 drive metric set, and tried out my Aerokroil for the first time, "the oil that creeps", since these suspension nuts/bolts had 5 years to seize up.
And they were pretty sieze-y. I did this before, with an aftermarket sway bar; removing one of the bar-end links completely probably isn't strictly necessary, but it makes it a lot easier to not have to twist-force-strain to get the bar loose from the ends. You have to use an allen wrench to hold the stud (it will just spin otherwise) and a 14mm closed-end wrench on the nut.
The nut driver is there because I got tired of the allen wrench digging into my palm.
After I fished out the stock one (on my 2012 GT), side-by-side you can see that the MazdaSpeed one is way meatier!
Those little silver bands are there to keep the bar from walking sideways over time. I had to get a drift and tap-tap-tap the ones on the new bar a little closer together like the stock bar.
I went ahead and removed the four bolts holding on the fuel pump / tank outlet guard plate. Another thing that may not be strictly necessary to remove, but I was concerned about whanging the bar against that fragile tank outlet trying to remove it. So there's the new bar mounted in place.
Pretty lazy, I didn't even clean off the part number / shipping stickers!
Nothing really tricky to it; a good 60-90 minutes unrushed, tops. And it's transformative, as others have mentioned. *Much* flatter roundabouts and onramps, negligible smooth road ride impact, probably some additional headtoss on uneven pavement, a decent tradeoff.
I ordered the sway bar, rubber bushings, and retaining clamps. I figured the bar-ends would still be serviceable on my 2012.
The parts breakdown doesn't say "MazdaSpeed 3" anywhere, just "for 18-inch wheels" which was the giveaway.
It's not too tricky: elevate the back end, I just used jackstands on the marked side rails per usual.
Got my handy 1/2 drive metric set, and tried out my Aerokroil for the first time, "the oil that creeps", since these suspension nuts/bolts had 5 years to seize up.
And they were pretty sieze-y. I did this before, with an aftermarket sway bar; removing one of the bar-end links completely probably isn't strictly necessary, but it makes it a lot easier to not have to twist-force-strain to get the bar loose from the ends. You have to use an allen wrench to hold the stud (it will just spin otherwise) and a 14mm closed-end wrench on the nut.
The nut driver is there because I got tired of the allen wrench digging into my palm.
After I fished out the stock one (on my 2012 GT), side-by-side you can see that the MazdaSpeed one is way meatier!
Those little silver bands are there to keep the bar from walking sideways over time. I had to get a drift and tap-tap-tap the ones on the new bar a little closer together like the stock bar.
I went ahead and removed the four bolts holding on the fuel pump / tank outlet guard plate. Another thing that may not be strictly necessary to remove, but I was concerned about whanging the bar against that fragile tank outlet trying to remove it. So there's the new bar mounted in place.
Pretty lazy, I didn't even clean off the part number / shipping stickers!
Nothing really tricky to it; a good 60-90 minutes unrushed, tops. And it's transformative, as others have mentioned. *Much* flatter roundabouts and onramps, negligible smooth road ride impact, probably some additional headtoss on uneven pavement, a decent tradeoff.