Ref Sensor · Miata sourcing

Rear end creak and knock

Owners hear creaks and knocks from the ND's rear end. Mazda has a bulletin for one of them, a creak near the differential, and owners point to other causes for a knock. This page says what each source says. It is not a repair guide.

How to read it. Mazda bulletins are summarised in my own words from the documents I read on 1 October 2026; owner accounts are from Miata.net forum threads, dated below, and are individual experience. There are no prices on this page.

Mazda's bulletin on a creak

Mazda Motor Corporation's Service Information R102/15, "Creak noise from vehicle underneath at the rear when clutch is engaged quickly or the vehicle accelerating/decelerating rapidly", issued 15 October 2015 for the MX-5 (ND) worldwide, is in Miata.net's collection (PDF). I read page 1. In my words: some cars creak from around the rear differential when the clutch is engaged quickly or the car accelerates or slows rapidly; the cause is a stick-slip noise where the power plant frame touches the rear differential; and production raised the tightening torque of the stud bolts and nuts. I did not read the repair steps on pages 2 and 3.

Bulletins are for dealers, not recalls, and customers should not assume one applies to their car; a Mazda dealer can say whether it does.

A knock over bumps: what owners say

From a March 2024 thread about a 2022 car with a knock from the rear suspension over firm bumps:

  • One owner said he hears something similar now and then, that the car has little sound insulation, and that he would not worry until it becomes frequent.
  • Others suggested aftermarket springs fitted badly, a stick-slip noise from newly fitted door bushings that lithium grease cured, and a ball-joint style bushing in the rear hub carrier that can wear and needs the carrier replaced. A poster pointed to a UK maker's polyurethane bushings for it, listing the two product numbers; another said a three-month-old car should go back to the dealer under warranty.
  • The thread does not say how it ended.

I did not find a source I could read for the app's note that the rear coils can touch each other and that Mazda added insulators. Search summaries repeat it; I could not confirm it.

Not covered yet

  • The repair steps in R102/15.
  • Seller pages for ND rear hub bushings; I did not open one.

© 2026 Fischer Interactive LLC. Written for the Ref Sensor app's Miata users. The seller's page is the authority.