Karcepts Sway Bar | 2016+ Mazda MX-5 (ND Miata)

[@leeraymer166]

What size Karcepts sway bar do you recommend for occasional Autocross and track days with stock Bilsteins? What about with Konis and Progress lowering springs? Thanks for making this video. It’s very informative.

[@kendrickroland7939]

@Zayne Brayan no problem xD

[@RacerCurtis]

I watched so many different tutorials on the ND Miata, and this guy simply does the best job, even better than FM imo. So detailed, yet not too lengthy. Covers everything that you need, but nothing more. Fantastic job man!

[@JetFuelOnly]

Thank you!

[@aroundomaha]

One of the best how to tutorials I've seen. Thank you for taking the time and for sharing it!

[@JetFuelOnly]

Thanks!

[@31186dan]

Subbed for the ND Miata content. Love the videos! 👍👍 done a Goodwin exhaust on mine and loving the car. 2016 club had it a few months now

[@TrackMonkey327]

Thanks for posting this video. I'll be installing a swaybar soon on my 22 Miata.

[@АлексА-р5в]

Hi, great solution! I quickly lost the rear suspension bushings. Is there any solution to replace the standard bushings?

[@31186dan]

Thanks for the walkthrough! Quick and painless!

[@thomasmanson1119]

It looks like a lot of work for what it could possibly net you. I installed my first sway bar on my ‘69 Mustang, later in life I installed one on my ‘93 Miata, I don’t remember if I put one on my ‘96 miata, but I do remember putting one on my ‘04 Vette and I am sure I didn’t put one on my ‘07 Z06. In most cases I felt very little reward for the work involved in any of these, but I did of course really enjoy just working on the cars. Thanks for all the effort you went to making the video.

[@Rob-uu8wt]

Unless you are pushing the car at the limit on a road course, the benefit is almost zero, and might make the ride more harsh. The body roll on my ND miata without proper sway bars is so bad that it tops out the suspension on the inside wheels on track.

[@sammietam4201]

Would it be easier to install sway bar and coilover all at the same time? If so I will wait for my coilover to arrive first b4 switching the sway bars.

[@JetFuelOnly]

Not too much easier. Yes you will have to disconnect the endlinks again while installing coilovers but that’s about the only overlap

[@zzf967]

I might be wrong but aren't you supposed to tighten the end links while the car is on the ground to avoid preloading the sway bars?

[@JetFuelOnly]

That is better but with a low car it can be impossible. As long as both sides are level it’s fine

[@ziekaman2450]

Hi, is putting only a front sway bar safe to do? Or should i really upgrade the rear one aswell. Thanks!

[@JetFuelOnly]

In SCCA stock classes only one bar change is allowed. Most people do the front because it balances the car better in the case of the ND

[@anthonyrystad]

Would you recommend mix and matching Karcepts on the front and another bar on the rear?

[@vincentjames501]

That should be fine. I've found you don't want much rear bar though in the rear. I tend to run 1.5-2 from full soft on the rear Karcepts bar so be sure you don't get one with crazy high rates!

[@anthonyrystad]

@@vincentjames501 Thanks 👍

[@qinghaq4247]

Well done. Good job and video. Tq for sharing.

[@vanquish421]

Any reason I should go with these over the Progress sways?

[@RacerCurtis]

Karcept ones are much more track focused, the quality and adjustability are unrivaled here. And another big reason is, only Karcept has a 3-piece sway bar design, which allows you to slide the bar in without removing all the stuff (see FM's tutorial to see all that hassle)

[@rayenie8964]

Do you have a shop in southern CA? Or can you recommend one?

[@JetFuelOnly]

I’m not a shop just a KZbinr. Unfortunately I’m in NorCal. Get into a local Autocross Facebook group or check the Miata forums to get recommendations.

[@LearnBreeze]

this may be a dumb question, but do people ever get nervous of the jack failing or something else happening and the car falls down on top of you when you are under it?

[@JetFuelOnly]

For sure! That’s why it’s really best to never stick any part of your body under a car until it is resting safely on jack STANDS.

[@RacerCurtis]

What I do is I put the jack stands, then raise the jack back up to barely touch a jack point. Then if the wheels are off, I slide them under the car! Triple securities, that's how I feel safe for working under the car

[@Davan514]

Wondering if changing only the front one is enough .

[@JetFuelOnly]

SCCA street category only allows changing one. The front does make a difference

[@Davan514]

@@JetFuelOnly have you done it on your Miata?

[@JetFuelOnly]

@Davan514 I don’t own a Miata, Vince from the video does. I believe he only has the one sway bar.

[@31186dan]

Thanks for this 😎

[@jec00702]

Have you had, or heard of, any problems with this swaybar tearing loose from the subframe

[@JetFuelOnly]

With the right setup yes it’s possible to tear the subframe. I believe Karcepts sells a reinforcement to prevent this.

[@bobbailey6706]

If you plan on serious ax or track time, get the reinforcements from Karcepts.

[@jec00702]

So don't really need reinforced area unless hard racing

[@bobbailey6706]

@@jec00702 Basically correct. Pays to check your undercarriage regularly anyway, if you more than DD the car. Brian does have quality products. Know him personally. Great guy!

[@Lord_Sunday123]

You would have to be doing something more serious than normal daily driving/back roads driving to damage the subframe. It's happened, but it's not something I would personally be worried about in anything other than a car that's tracked hard.

[@LearnBreeze]

What about all the clunking noise that starts up after two weeks?

[@JetFuelOnly]

Retighten everything. Things will sometimes work loose. End links do need to be solidly torqued down

[@LearnBreeze]

yea, I"m trying to weigh between the massive extra labor hours of the smaller ones vs dealing with ( what seems like ) un ending clunking sound from this karcept. I really don't want a perpetually noisy car.

[@vancvrman604]

I bought a 2016 ND with this Karcepts sway bar already installed. It clunked terribly the whole 8 hour trip home from where I bought it from. Scary as I was driving through the Rocky Mtns. I took it apart and found the passenger side drop link was installed upside down and it was causing the clunking. The slotted end has to go to the top. Lubed everything and retorqued and not a peep out of it since.

[@robertdawson5303]

Hardest part of this entire job is that nut on the drivers side. Zero room. Getting that out might have taken longer than the rest of the job combined. Also, a note of caution. The end links say 29 ft/lbs of torque. I set my torque wrench to 29 ft/lbs and snapped the very last bolt of the entire install. Just re-ordered the replacement end link. Be careful. The metal is soft on those end links. Maybe it was my torque wrench. It felt like more than 29 lbs and I should have listened to my gut. DON’T OVER TIGHTEN THE END LINKS! Since I cut the old bar out, I have to wait a week to do a 5 minutes job. Hope the mail doesn’t screw up on this delivery like they did with the bar. It took an extra week last time. Grrrr. Also, this video is just about the best one out there. I watched it over and over before doing the job and by the time I actually did it, it felt like I had done it before. Please do more ND videos!

[@JetFuelOnly]

Thanks for watching!

[@robertdawson5303]

Karcepts is amazing. They are overnighting me the end links, so good chance I am on the road this weekend. Still can’t say how much I like the ride, but I can say I am impressed with Karcepts customer service. A+++ to them.

[@jasperlambrecht1906]

Nice tutorial. But as non American its bit useless, because we need to convert it al to the metric system now if we wanna do it 🙈

[@JetFuelOnly]

I prefer to work in metric, but when it comes to torque specs for some reason I stick to ft-lbs

[@RamaP94]

Did I spy ohlins on that mx-5? Can you do a video the differences between the ohlins and the stock dampers in the mx-5?

[@vincentjames501]

They are JRZ RS Pros with 625/300 springs.

[@saschab.7154]

Cutting out?You are real mechanics?

[@JetFuelOnly]

No we are not, we are DIY hobbiests. But logic will tell you this is the most efficient way of getting a sway bar out that you will never need again. It’s pretty common on the Miata. There are no adverse affects of doing this except having to buy a cheap sway bar if you want to put it in again.

[@RacerCurtis]

Yeah. If you watch the FM's full front sway bar removal video you'll see. Getting it out without cutting it is a 4-5 hour job. But cutting it makes it a 1-2 hour job. In fact, most ppl I know chose to do it this way. But so far only Karcept has the 3-piece sway bar design

[@balkerman3014]

@@RacerCurtis I replaced mine without cutting with the progress bar in 2 hours.... 5 hrs is taking it way to easy...

[@cameraobscura2684]

Why would anyone be so stupid to pay $900 for a front anti-roll bar if not for strictly track use?

[@VeganBytes]

I have an ND, and there is some pretty bad body roll going on and I'm using Eibach lowering springs with the Bilsteins. $900 is a lot of money, I'm not going to lie, but it's a well engineered piece of technology that allows garden mechanics to install it without much fuss. I haven't bought mine yet, but I need to do so soon as the weather is getting better and I'll need it for mountain runs through the twistys 👍

Man I thought that was Mr. Orange from Reservoir Dogs. I smoke too much weed.

[@АлексА-р5в]

Hi, great solution! I quickly lost the rear suspension bushings. Is there any solution to replace the standard bushings?

[@АлексА-р5в]

Hi, great solution! I quickly lost the rear suspension bushings. Is there any solution to replace the standard bushings?