FM door bushings, second generation
FM door bushings, second generation
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Description
Such a simple idea. Now with better materials and a dramatically lower price!
Your doors are held closed by the latch, but they're locked into place with a bracket that slides over a rubber bushing. That makes it easy to align everything, but it means the connection isn't as strong as it could be. In a convertible, the doors provide a surprising amount of structural rigidity if they're properly anchored.
These replace the soft rubber door bushings with a stiff, injection molded, fiberglass-reinforced nylon replacement. The door is solidly locked into place, allowing it to reinforce the chassis. The effect is of a stiffer car with fewer squeaks. We have measured a 3% improvement in torsional rigidity on a 1990.
This is our second generation design, which is now made out of fiberglass-reinforced Zytel nylon resin from DuPont, which makes it even better than the old version. How much better?
- 3x stronger (tensile stress)
- 6.5x less stretch (tensile strain)
- 1.5x more resistant to bending (flexural modulus)
- 39x better impact resistance (notched Izod impact test)
And just like our previous version, it has good chemical resistance.
In other words, they'll survive for a long time without being treated gently. Like our first generation, the bushing is taller to give 36% more overlap with the door cup. More overlap = less deflection = stiffer car. And on top of all that, they're half the cost of the previous design!
Now available in colors! Choose from standard black, FM blue, or a bright red. Bear in mind that the color will not be a perfect match for your car - for that reason, we don't recommend (e.g.) red door bushings for a red car. Want a different color? Let us know! We can't do custom colors, but if we hear from enough people we can add more colors.
Fits all Miatas.
Installation is quick and easy - simply remove the two bolts that hold the factory rubber in place and replace with this stiff piece. The door does need to be aligned properly, so if your Miata has an exciting history a bit of tweaking may be required. We've installed them in every car in our fleet.
Sold in pairs, enough for one car.
Instructions
Shipping
$9.99 flat rate shipping. Orders over $40 ship for free in the US!
Details
There are no shipping restrictions on this item.
What does it fit?
Emissions
Emissions do not apply.
Warranty
1 year
SKU
Bought two sets, ND set is installed. Install is super easy. Will do the NB when time allows. These bushings are a really stiff compared to OEM. I am sure the NB has original bushing, will be good to change them out. Great product from Flyin' Miata
These fit very well, easy install. No issues with cracking, just followed the install instructions.
As soon as i get the car back on the road ( dash is apart for wiring harness replacement that PO totally hacked up.) I will post back about if they provide any stiffness to the chassis. They do appear to fit tighter to the metal door frame.
I see that the OEM metal door frame bracket can be adjusted too. I tested the bushing for fit in to them before installing. There is about 1/16 inch clearance all around.
I might try wrapping the outside of the bushing with extreme 3M tape and leave the outer red tape in place to allow a slip fit. It will require a precise fit though.....
BTW i just used the OEM bolts but have the FM hardware bolts just in case.
Thanks, Milburn! There's a pretty wide variance in the fit for the factory metal door cups, so it's pretty common to need to adjust them to fit the new FM door bushings. Usually, a small bonk with a rubber mallet or a slight tweak with some padded pliers is all that's needed for a semi-tight fit on our bushings. We wouldn't recommend wrapping them in tape as that will eventually wear off and be a sticky mess.
I’m actually shocked how much of a difference these made in every day annoyances from the Miata. The 80 mph shake is gone, going over bumps with less flex. It’s almost like they knew all the annoying things about Miata’s and fixed them. Well worth the money!
Cracked on install. Quality was awful. Nice sticker though.
We aren't sure what happened here - we tried reaching out to Carlos, but we haven't heard back. Please get in touch with us so we can help get this sorted out. Thanks!
Easy to install and harder than the original part which is too soft.