mx5cartalk.com

i am currently considering upgrading my suspension to tein ss, but have a few questions.

my research tells me that the main difference between the ss and flex is that flex is has independant full height adjustment as well as spring preload adjustment.
- how does preload on the spring change with the ss kit as you adjust height?

the other difference is that all flex kits come with upper pillowball mounts.
- other than EDFC compatibility and a slight increase in steering response at the expense of ride comfort, does the pillowball mount offer any other advantages?

i understand that the ss will need to be assembled with the stock upper rubber mounts (unless of course i get the ss kit with pillowball mounts).
- does the oem rubber upper mounts generally ever need replacing? my car is quickly approaching 200,000 kms.

if i wanted to buy the kit and install them myself, do i need to buy anything else?

cheers in advance

Ok, lets deal with these one by one.

The Flex have adjustable ride height which does not affect shock travel, however there is no such thing as pre-load of the spring. The spring will sit where ever it wants to. All you are doing is reducing the travel of the shock inside the spring.

The SS do not need pillow ball mounts as camber and caster are adjusted at the a-arms as opposed to the strut tops like most mcpherson strut suspension types. You only need the polliow ball mounts if you are chasing camber over -2.0deg. The pillowball mounts also have a harsher ride, or so I'm told.

The SS come with a strut top which are direct replacements for the OEM's. No assemply required. The strut top is also EDFC compatible.

The rears are a piece of cake, the fronts can get tricky when you have to seperate the top a-arm from the hub assembly. Other than that it's easy.

Great thread, I have been procrastinating starting one myself with the EXACT same deliberation!

'05 SE, can't decide between SS and Flex! Car has mainly weekend duties, no daily commuting and will hope to see a bit of 'mild' track/club days and twisty runs.

So adjusting the ride height on the SS affects shock travel unlike the Flex's?

In terms of adjustability, do both the SS and Flex have the same level of adjustment in terms of height? ie is one lower/higher than the other at either end of the adjustment?

I want to sit the top of the tyres (18\" wheels) just on the guards, or a 1 finger gap between tyre and guard unladen. Is this possible with the SS?

Locutus, where are you thinking of buying from and what are you looking at paying?

ahhhh.... Brad!!! that makes so much more sense! i've been scratching my head the the last few days trying to figure out how the springs are being preloaded when the lower perch is adjusted.

altering the shock travel poses another question - does the characteristic of the shock change depending on it's rest height? i.e. would the ride quality over bumps change if i had the ss kit set to max height, and then changed it to min height? assuming of course that i don't hit the bump stops or bottom out.

according to the instructions that come with the ss kit, the oem upper strut mounts need to be reused unless i have the ss kit which includes pillowball mounts: http://www.tein.com/tech_info/inst/km64u.pdf (last 2 pages). however tein doesn't list such a kit for any mx5 except the NC in their product lineup: http://www.tein.com/price/mazda.html



PASHN8, i think the general consensus is that flex isn't necessary unless you do a fair bit of track or autox work. the extra adjustability simply isn't required on the street, unless you want to lower the car dramatically without sacrificing suspension travel. the ss kit is capable of handling mild track work.

ss and flex have different height ranges, because the overall shock length can be altered on the flex. you will need to get out a tape measure to determine which kit will give you the height that you want. height ranges can be found here: http://www.tein.com/price/mazda.html (upper figures are mm, lower are inches). stock heights figures are in the sticky on the top of this forum.

i am looking at buying from www.949racing.com or ebay US. i want to take advantage of the australian dollar and i have enough faith in japanese products to overlook any potential warranty issues. under US$1k excluding shipping sounds like a pretty good deal.



after looking at the height figures myself, it seems that the ss kit may have the front of my NA lower than i want - the range of adjustment is 312/341 to 282/311 front/rear, so even on the highest settings the front is still 8mm lower than mazda's minimum recommended height.

i wonder if this is high enough for the front lower control arms to be parrallel to the ground at least... i'll have to get the jack out and take some measurements on the weekend.

Please keep in mind that Flex is NOT legal on the road in most places in oz, inc NSW, VIC, QLD, WA and TAS.

Adjustable clevis bracket is not approved at all in these cases. not that they are unsafe, its just that they have not been put through the testing that passes them as road legal!


feel free to check though.

Previous discussions regarding this here.............

http://www.mx5cartalk.com/viewtopic.php?p=275077#275077

Locutus wrote:according to the instructions that come with the ss kit, the oem upper strut mounts need to be reused unless i have the ss kit which includes pillowball mounts: http://www.tein.com/tech_info/inst/km64u.pdf (last 2 pages). however tein doesn't list such a kit for any mx5 except the NC in their product lineup: http://www.tein.com/price/mazda.html

Upper pillowable mounts for NB8C (GSM74-B1SS3) are available with the JDM spec Tein SS.

http://www.tein.co.jp/search/search1.cg ... ZDA&lang=e

The american spec NB8C SS ie 949racing.com does not have upper pillowable mounts and springs rate differ. US 7/6kg JDM 6/5kg

i am looking at buying from www.949racing.com or ebay US. i want to take advantage of the australian dollar and i have enough faith in japanese products to overlook any potential warranty issues. under US$1k excluding shipping sounds like a pretty good deal.

It is a good deal if you dont want upper pillowable mounts, however if you do want them, 949racing is charging $230 USD extra and $80 USD per spring if you want to change the rates.

yeah i saw that. i think i can live without the pilllowball mounts since our cars have all the required adjustment flexibility from the factory. my car is a rather spirited daily driver on crappy sydney roads so the increase in NVH probably wouldn't be worth it.

thanks for pointing that out.

Have you checked out the link ORX-626 provided several posts ago ?

The Aussie spec ones seem to be able to give a softer ride than the OEM suspension...

1red5 wrote:Have you checked out the link ORX-626 provided several posts ago ?

yes i have. i've read the whole thread multiple times infact. what's your point?

i am considering the ss kit, not flex so the thread has no relevance to me. i believe orx626 posted the link for MxJadeMonkey & PASHN8.