I don't feel any looseness at 80.
A strut tower brace stiffens the chassis. Do you think the chassis is flexing causing the looseness you feel?
Do you have a load in the car? Where is the load located? Evenly distributed or heavy in the back?
Tire inflation pressures all good, 34 F&R cold?
Well, I guess I just wanted the car to feel tighter as I read that front strut bar is the most effective way to help a car increase its rigidity by allowing both strut towers to react to compression and tensile forces.
strut bars are a complete and utter gimick, it fancies up your engine bay and does nothing else.
get some sway bars instead
I disagree completely. I have used strut tower bars in previous vehicles (2001 PT Cruiser) which stiffened and flattened cornering in an amazing way. I have one on my 2010 Mazdaspeed3, and it is one of many mods done around the same time, but I still notice considerable stiffening of the chassis at speed while cornering.
I do have doubts about the effect on the CX-9, though, so I am agreeing with you. I dont know that there is chassis flex in this car, but truth be told, I havent tried it so I cant evaluate it. I find my 2 previous and current 2015 CX-9s to be incredible cornering vehicles, especially given the type of vehicle they are, as a crossover. All of the tests of this class together name the Mazda as the best handler of all of them.
Well thats the thing. When you spend some time in the Mazda and go over some bumpy roads, you notice that it is genuinely a very well put together car with absolutely zero chassis flex. I think that a strut brace would be one of the most useless mods for this particular vehicle. Now a PT cruiser? Thats a whole other story, because its level of engineering quality doesnt come anywhere near close to that of Mazda.
Now with the MS3 you had, you didnt install each part seperately so you dont actually know exactly how much the strut brace helped, which is why Im skeptical.
Having spent a fair amount of time with the Mazda and putting it through its paces, this is my conclusion in terms of handling and aftermarket parts:
The chassis itself is extremely well tuned and I like how the suspension is set up, but its a little bit too soft and allows for too much body roll during aggressive cornering. The stock open differential is no good for spirited driving either - I would replace it with a LSD that has a shorter final drive ratio. This will improve traction and handling greatly (this mod is for FWD owners only)
the 6 speed automatic transmission in this vehicle is very well geared, but I think that the final drive should be slightly shorter for a more peppy, racier feel which will yield on better spacing between the gears. I think the RPM is a little too low for highway driving in sixth gear unless you are going quite fast, so you will kill two birds with one stone by installing a new differential.
If you are to spend any sort of money on suspension upgrades, the first place I would look without a doubt is sway bars. They help keep body roll in check and improve steering/chassis feedback without any penalty in ride quality.
Coilovers. The stock suspension sits a little too high for my liking, (Im talking purely about my experience with the Mazda 6 sedan here, although much of this applies to CX-5 owners) but its well tuned for everyday driving and feels sharp as long as you dont push the car too hard. Id recommend taking a look at BC racing coilovers, arguably the best aftermarket suspension you can buy for any car period. Since coilovers are out of question for many of us especially the CX-5 owners, I think sway bars are the most cost effective upgrade that will make a huge difference with how the car drives and no sacrifice in ride quality.
Do you recommend both front and rear sway bar and any particular brand?
Has anyone installed a front strut bar on this suv? Thinking about getting the Autoexe one but not sure how much of an improvement will it provide. I really hope it can make the handling tighter since I feel that the steering is a bit loose on the freeway.
Before you spend the money and times on mods, you may want to get a good alignment done to verify the steering looseness is not just a setup issue. Your car is so new I don't think tie rod ends could be loose, but that's also worth a quick check. Tire pressure and brand can also make a difference.
I do my own alignments and can tell you even tiny toe-in/out adjustments can make big differences in steering feel.
If you are close to me, I would definitely have you check it out, coz a lot of tire shop did not do a good alligment job plus you end up getting a few nick or scrapes on your wheels.
What adjustments are available on our cars? Certainly front toe-in. Maybe rear toe? Anything for caster or camber, or are aftermarket camber adjusters available?a lot of tire shop did not do a good alignment job
Has anyone installed a front strut bar on this suv? Thinking about getting the Autoexe one but not sure how much of an improvement will it provide. I really hope it can make the handling tighter since I feel that the steering is a bit loose on the freeway.
Well, I guess I just wanted the car to feel tighter as I read that front strut bar is the most effective way to help a car increase its rigidity by allowing both strut towers to react to compression and tensile forces.
strut bars are a complete and utter gimick, it fancies up your engine bay and does nothing else.
get some sway bars instead
... I don’t know that there is chassis flex in this car, but truth be told, I haven’t tried it so I can’t evaluate it....
Well that’s the thing. When you spend some time in the Mazda and go over some bumpy roads, you notice that it is genuinely a very well put together car with absolutely zero chassis flex. I think that a strut brace would be one of the most useless mods for this particular vehicle. Now a PT cruiser? That’s a whole other story, because it’s level of engineering quality doesn’t come anywhere near close to that of Mazda.
Having spent a fair amount of time with the Mazda and putting it through its paces, this is my conclusion in terms of handling and aftermarket parts:
The chassis itself is extremely well tuned and I like how the suspension is set up, but it’s a little bit too soft and allows for too much body roll during aggressive cornering.
If you are to spend any sort of money on suspension upgrades, the first place I would look without a doubt is sway bars. They help keep body roll in check and improve steering/chassis feedback without any penalty in ride quality.
Coilovers. The stock suspension sits a little too high for my liking, (I’m talking purely about my experience with the Mazda 6 sedan here, although much of this applies to CX-5 owners) but it’s well tuned for everyday driving and feels sharp as long as you don’t push the car too hard. I’d recommend taking a look at BC racing coilovers, arguably the best aftermarket suspension you can buy for any car period. Since coilovers are out of question for many of us especially the CX-5 owners, I think sway bars are the most cost effective upgrade that will make a huge difference with how the car drives and no sacrifice in ride quality.
I think the OP is like me. He's not referring so much to stability in the vertical as opposed to the horizontal. So, and I cannot speak for the OP but for myself, I'd like to dial-in less under steer as naturally as possible without messing with the wheel alignment and burning through tires every few months and without generating too much harshness in the vertical as a net/net result of swapping for racing shocks and springs.
I think if the bar is designed and built correctly with the right materials, it could make a difference with some Pilot Sports or something on that level.
Now, that's interesting because I've never met the modal effective Sway Bar that did not charge a penalty at the front door of ride quality and those were all sports cars. It would be interesting to see an effective Sway Bar doing its job as an effective Sway Bar, while not charging a door fee on ride quality on front on an SUV chassis like the CX-9. In fact, if such a Sway Bar exists for the CX-9 - then I would appreciate someone telling me where I could find it, seriously. It would be the easiest aftermarket tuning purchase I could probably ever make.
I'm all for the Sway Bar upgrade - but the price paid in ride quality relative to what you get from a stock CX-9, must be significant and undeniable. I offer that I could be very wrong, here. However, like I said, I've never met the Sway Bar that did not charge at the front door for ride comfort reduction in the vertical, while offering credits for horizontal stability in the turns. He's got to find the set-up that works for him, of course. And, starting with just the Strut Bar might be a good way to get his feet wet and get the CX-9 talking to him. If it needs more, I'm sure the CX-9 will tell him that.
My gut tells me that a top side bar and some Sports might do the trick.
1. A strut bar will make no difference on your car because the chassis is already structurally rigid and does not allow for any suspension components to flex
2. Good sway bars yield no reduction in ride quality. You will just get much more precise handling and less body roll with zero sacrifice in ride comfort. It’s the best choice for your needs.
3. If you find that the car understeers too much for your liking, your first and most crucial modification should be adjusting your front camber to something more aggressive (have a good shop tune this to your handling requirements so you do not get uneven tire wear) and TIRES. Get some high performance Yokohama tires.
That can't be. A sway bar is a spring steel torsion bar. It limits one wheel from going up while the other wheel goes down. It limits it by the twist in the spring steel bar. Body roll is exactly one wheel going up (in relation to the body) while the other goes down (in relation to the body). So, if you drive over one bump that evenly raises or lowers both wheels, no problem. If you go over a bump that raises only one wheel, the sway bar will resist that and cause the body to move around.Good sway bars yield no reduction in ride quality. You will just get much more precise handling and less body roll with zero sacrifice in ride comfort.
That can't be. A sway bar is a spring steel torsion bar. It limits one wheel from going up while the other wheel goes down. It limits it by the twist in the spring steel bar. Body roll is exactly one wheel going up (in relation to the body) while the other goes down (in relation to the body). So, if you drive over one bump that evenly raises or lowers both wheels, no problem. If you go over a bump that raises only one wheel, the sway bar will resist that and cause the body to move around.