Well, I've had aftermarket (Sprint) springs on my car for about half a year now, and I have the usual rear passenger strut clunk problem that seems to be commonplace among 3rd generation Proteges. The left one makes noise to a certain degree, but isn't as sensitive to bumps as the right one. Since the stupid bolt at the top of the right strut is stuck, I can't get it off (probably because it's stripped).

There was a solution to this problem mentioned on another forum about putting 7/16 (I think?) washers under the bolt to fill in the gap. I tried it on the left one cuz that was the only one that would come off, but the noise persisted anyway. I'm pretty confident my only solution now is to buy some struts made with aftermarket springs in mind.

I really like the Mazdaspeed adjustable struts, but at $200 a strut I'm pretty sure I can fix the problem I have now without having to shell out four bills. I called Corksport but they didn't have any information about the Protege struts other than what was on the website, which didn't have any information about the struts.

Is there anyone out there with a 3rd gen protege that has aftermarket struts and can give me a recommendation?

Thanks!

 

best bang for your buck struts are the Tokico HPs/MSP struts...about $450 for set of 4 i think on mazdastuff.com

 

Anywhere besides mazdastuff.com sell them? Corksport said they didn't know when they'd be available. I don't need all four, just the rear ones.

Thanks for your help!

 

umm...not a good idea to mix struts when they are valved differently...you need to buy all for or just go for OEM replacement if you just need one or 2

 

get the kit from mazdastuff, it already comes with everything you need (hardware, bump stops, etc) mazdastuff is also one of the few dealers that are still able to get the kits. (each non mazdaspeed dealer was only allowed to sell a certain amount and cant order the kits anymore.) I work at a dealer so trust me, and piecing it out is way too much. I just ordered mine from them last friday and i'm getting them this friday. Just spend the money, you'll be happy with it