MX-5 OC Forum

Had them powdercoated by a local-ish place...paid £220 for the wheels and centre caps, took them a day :)  

Finally got coilovers on, so wanted to snap some up to date pics

Not content without knowing what the problem is, I just marked the pulley and belt with a permanent marker... During a (very small amount of) dry steering i could hear a noise from the pump, like someone rubbing two balloons together.   Checked my mark and the pulley and belt marks were about 2" apart...so I guess that means the belt ...

Cool, well I'll see if the MOT on tuesday yields anything wrong with the ball joints/linkages...and if not down the garage again for an exploratory session...

It's pretty bad when stationary/low speed, it becomes less noticeable at speed but steering still feels a bit dead and won't centre very well. Aside from a "wrong" noise is there any way of diagnosing the pump?

cool, will do...hoping it's nothing too costly/serious! Been reading up on alignment and i see caster is directly related to steering weight and self centering...can caster angle get "knocked out"? or is it a permanently set value unless adjusted...

well, as luck happens (good or bad?) my  MOT is on tuesday...is this the sort of thing that would be picked up? Maybe worth mentioning it to them beforehand so they can take a look whilst it's being MOT'd?

PS belt is fine tension wise.   Is there a way to check the balljoints without jacking the car up?

My 5's steering seems to have gotten pretty heavy lately, especially noticeable during low speed manouvers, the steering wheel also doesn't "self centre" very well, all resulting in a rather treacle-y feel. It is constantly like this, and especially noticeable after driving other cars with PS, my gf has a BINI with quite heavy ...

Bit of a pain, I've had an aftermarket HU for a few weeks, installed myself...recently the radio has started cutting out (audio/signal not HU power) when going over bumps, changing gear or engaging the handbrake... The USB/cd side of things works fine with no cutting out, so i don't think it's a speaker or power issue, more the radio ...