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Howdy doody

Have been putting a lot of thought into how best to spend my tax return this year, and have decided that i will definately be getting a set of decent tires... However, to compliment the new tires i was also interested in getting a bit better suspension...

The problem i have is this:

Tein SS are damn good, but damn expensive also, and at the moment $2000 fitted is a little more than i would like to spend ($1000 would be about the right money!) What are the options here?

Is it worth looking at getting a set of the OEM bilstiens from either an SE or 10AE? How much better are the Bilstiens than the stock OEM struts?

Have you thought about Konis? I know that on the early MX-5s that the Koni/Standard spring combination works well, not sure if this is the same on the NB? This would keep the price down. I believe that the Konis for the NB are not height adjustable, unlike those for the earlier models.

Check out MX5MANIA's website at the top of this page for prices on shocks, including Koni.

J

I had set of SH Blisteins and springs supplied and fitted by Mania to my NB8A (off a 2001 jp only model) for $870. They had done only 20k. I would describe them as firm but compliant. Overall Very happy with them from a price / performance perspective. The handling has improved a lot, night and day really (though my car had done 80k on the originals) but you need to need to keep tyre pressures to 28-30psi to suit them best. Hope that helps

TK

Koni's and stock springs work great on the NB8B+ too

If these later model Bilstein's are anything like the Clubman Bilsteins, they get quite tedious after a short while. This is why I upgraded to the Tein's, are a very nice compliant ride, and with a twist of the hand very firm and little roll.

Tein SS crap all over kings and konis. Spend the money, they transform the car. However, for about half the price, secondhand Mazdaspeed shocks and springs from an SE would be an excellent step up from stockies. They can be revalved and repaired unlike stock shocks, are not stupidly low and quite frankly, billies are pretty good gear. The springs rates are also quite sensible. I think the damping of the billies would be superior to the yellow konis too - much better controlled.

It is subjective though.....try a car if you can and see what you think. The SE billies are different to the 10AE and clubby ones too.

CT wrote:However, for about half the price, secondhand Mazdaspeed shocks and springs from an SE would be an excellent step up from stockies. They can be revalved and repaired unlike stock shocks, are not stupidly low and quite frankly, billies are pretty good gear. The springs rates are also quite sensible. I think the damping of the billies would be superior to the yellow konis too - much better controlled.

So you think he should get these SE Bilsteins and Mazdaspeed Shocks from Mania for $1,200 with only 4000km on them?

A good alternative for sure. 4000klms is nothing. The shocks would be at least $350 each new from madza so add in $400 for the springs and that seems pretty good to me. The height adjustability of the Tein SS is good, but lets be honest, 95% of people will never adjust them at all. The damping is what you are paying for. And I think that's where Tein have the advantage at the moment. Firm but controlled and certainly not wallowy or crashy. Every time I drive my NB (which is very rare these days) with them I really enjoy how they have transformed the car.

Brad wrote:If these later model Bilstein's are anything like the Clubman Bilsteins, they get quite tedious after a short while. This is why I upgraded to the Tein's, are a very nice compliant ride, and with a twist of the hand very firm and little roll.

Aussie-market Bilsteins are much softer than the Clubman Bilsteins, which are only slightly firmer than a Koni. However, the Teins are far superior again.

CT wrote:Tein SS crap all over kings and konis. Spend the money, they transform the car.

I too was looking at the Koni King thing but after reading this I am not sure what to do.

I wont be doing any track days but want a better ride as my 5 is a daily driver, are Teins really that much better? and where can you get them installed for $2000 I was quoted closer to $2500.

Richard

Brad wrote:If these later model Bilstein's are anything like the Clubman Bilsteins, they get quite tedious after a short while. This is why I upgraded to the Tein's, are a very nice compliant ride, and with a twist of the hand very firm and little roll.

When I had them fitted Dave from mania said to me "hey it looks like clubman springs on these, you got any fillings " but honestly I havent found them too bad at all - though I used to have an SW20 mr2 that was so low when I bought it that it was nearly on the bump stops so perhaps I am a little desensitised. Incidently simone commented that she drove the car that my shocks were on originally and said they were the same damping level as that on their SE.

I did a bit of a search on Miata.net before I purchased and the guys there suggested the valving was a different on the newer bilsteins (at least compared to the '94 and earlier versions). Given bob doesn't want to spend lots of money like I did they are a pretty good solution.

TK

tk421 wrote:When I had them fitted Dave from mania said to me "hey it looks like clubman springs on these, you got any fillings " but honestly I havent found them too bad at all ...

I've found my ~185,000km Bilsteins to be more comfortable than my ~10,000km Koni/Kings for day to day driving.

My clubman with its bilsteins tend to be rather hard. Ive dríven an NA6 with teins - much nicer feel to it

Richee wrote:

CT wrote:Tein SS crap all over kings and konis. Spend the money, they transform the car.

I too was looking at the Koni King thing but after reading this I am not sure what to do.

I wont be doing any track days but want a better ride as my 5 is a daily driver, are Teins really that much better? and where can you get them installed for $2000 I was quoted closer to $2500.

Richard

Yeah the Teins are better, and if I had to put my finger on it, it would be that the Teins are much more settled and pliant on bumpy corners (it needs a really rutted corner to throw the car off line), but at the same time while the Teins are firm, they swallow big bumps without the crashiness that the koni/king combo sometimes shows. And the Teins are firmer in the body control, so it gives you more confidence and there is a real feeling of more grip.

The Koni/Kings are great, but the Teins simply are less of a compromise....but as the old saying goes, Speed Costs Money, How Fast Do You Want To Go?

One real world comparison I made the other day was coming back from Warwick there is this particular stretch of road which is so bumpy and undulating I was scared I would bounce right off the road when I was there last time with the Bilstein's, it was a really bad feeling and generally made me slow down to get control back. Then on the weekend we went through again, this time with the Tein's set to 10/8 f/r (16 being the hardest) and it was bliss...simply no comparison. Controlled and smooth. That's with dropping an inch out of the ride as well. On the track it was worth about 2 seconds for a 1:20 lap.

The thing is driving around the street you don't notice the difference much at all unless you have them quite soft. The spring rate will still give a bumpy ride, though once you pick some speed up they become more compliant, the Bilstein's became less. I always knew that's what was wrong with them, they needed a higher spring rate and lower damping rate.

It's times like last weekend though that you really can see what you pay for...and also see where the cars lacking, in my case needing MAJOR bracing to stop the rattles and shimmying.