What is a bumpstop?
#2
The bumpstop on our cars is a small piece of dense foam that slides on the shaft of the strut. Basically its there to prevent your strut from bottoming out really hard (compressing completely) if you were to hit a really bad bump. Without these in place, you would get a very hard jolt, but the foam absorbs most of the impact and smooths it out a little, as well as protecting the strut from damage. In other words, DO NOT REMOVE them! When you install lowering springs, you might need to trim them down an inch or so, but thats it.
#4
It depends the car, how much your lowering the car and what brand of springs I guess. For instance, I have Tein SS springs and the chart that came with them states that I didn't need to cut the bump stops at all.
#5
The shop should correct them, but you might ask them to be sure. If you don't want to cut your stock ones, you can order the MP3/MSP ones from Mazda, they're already a little shorter from what I've heard.
#6
Thanks for all the help guys, its much appreciated. Now I just have to decide what to get for the car. Rippersnapper, I didn't know P5 was a Decpticon, I always though Proteges were the good guys.