mx5cartalk.com

Hey guys, I've done endless amounts of reading about suspension, and I think I've decided on a set of BC BR coilovers for my NA8. The car is just a runabout and fun car, sometimes daily dríven but not every day.

Before I click the buy button, is there any better I can do for $1299? I don't want to spend more than this. Originally I was just going to buy a set of Koni Sports and use them with my King low springs, and be done with it, but as I ALWAYS do, I upsold myself and have decided I would like the adjustability of coilovers.

I liked the idea of Konis, Ground Control coilovers, and FCM bumpstops/top mounts, but by the time shipping is factored in to all these things, it's pushing over $1500.

Thanks, and sorry if the topic has been done to death already, I've just read too much and confused myself now

Simon

Well...you need to define what is "better" for your money.

I ask it in a very general sense. I.e. better for my type of driving (fun, twisty roads, general day to day stuff, maybe track days in the future).

Basically what I want to know is, are they sh!t in an MX5, can I do better overall for the money?

You could see if importing from the UK gets you a better product. Not entirely sure what the options might be, Gaz, Ground Control, Meister... perhaps Vmaxx.

http://www.performance5.com/handling_suspension.asp

maybe these?

generally speaking for your budget there isn't going to be much better, maybe different but probably not better.

Hi I recently "upgraded" from BCs to Ohlins at 3 times the price. To be honest I think the BCs were just as good. Maybe the Ohlins will last longer? (but then they have to be rebuilt..)

BTW I got my BCs from justjap.com, seems cheaper than what you are looking at?

yellowspeeds are cheaper but until they redesign the rears i wouldn't recommend them.

What do you mean redesign the rears?

if you mean the height collar it was done years ago??

with the height collar set at the highest setting the car is still way to high unless you start lowering the upper collar and make the spring non-captive and gives you a horrid ride. I'm also sure the front height collar is directly inline with the suspension arms so the C spanners cannot be used to adjust them.

On the 3 Mx5s i have used Yellowspeeds on i have had no issues getting the car low enough and adjusting the collars.

I have set all of the cars to have the control arms level or sometimes slightly lower than.
With plenty of adjustment left. Never touching the preload.

Maybe you hit issues if the car is trying to scrape the ground but i dont know why anyone would want design a shock to do that?

I'm with Dweezle. I had to raise my yellowspeeds as they were too low, front and rear, and scraped on near everything. Anything so much as a snail on the road presented a hazard to the underside of the car. Unless you're going for that 'look' then I don't see how there could be a problem with not gettng low enough, and if there is, you should probably be looking at airbags anyway.

Never had any trouble with adjusting the lower collars either.

this is the absolute limit the yellowspeeds can go in the rears. the fronts have no problems as there is still plenty of range left in the height collar. the rears on my car are at the lowest setting for height and the spring is only just captive. you can see the ride height is pretty spot but it is at the limits. i would have liked a bit more range in the rears so there is room to go either way. rims are 15x8 with 195/50. if i drop the rear spring collar an extra 5mm the ride becomes horrible.

Nice shot of the silver NA

I'm happy with my BC Racing BR series coilovers but would also consider these HSD coilovers at this price if buying today:

http://www.otomoto.com.au/p/4148673/hsd-hr-type-coilovers-for-mazda-mx5-na6ce-and-na8ce.html

- they have additional travel in the rear compared to BR series or YellowSpeed coilovers.

FWIW: I helped replace a set of YellowSpeed coilovers with AFCO coilovers on another member's car. He had only had them installed for 3 weeks and thought that BC's rode better (he'd dríven another member's car with BCs installed). Prior to the YellowSpeed coilovers he'd dríven his SE with stock SE shocks then FM Stage 1 suspension. This is a guy who'd actually dríven his car with multiple suspension setups (so he's not biased) and he didn't think much of the YellowSpeed coilovers. From a build quality point of view, I thought that the BCs were better than the YellowSpeed coilovers we removed (but I'm probably biased).

I'm happy with my BC Racing BR series coilovers but would also consider these HSD coilovers at this price if buying today:

http://www.otomoto.com.au/p/4148673/hsd-hr-type-coilovers-for-mazda-mx5-na6ce-and-na8ce.html
http://www.option1garage.com.au/HSD.htm

- they have additional travel in the rear compared to BR series or YellowSpeed coilovers.

FWIW: I helped replace a set of YellowSpeed coilovers with AFCO coilovers on another member's car. He had only had them installed for 3 weeks and thought that BC's rode better (he'd dríven another member's car with BCs installed). Prior to the YellowSpeed coilovers he'd dríven his SE with stock SE shocks then FM Stage 1 suspension. This is a guy who'd actually dríven his car with multiple suspension setups (so he's not biased) and he didn't think much of the YellowSpeed coilovers. From a build quality point of view, I thought that the BCs were better than the YellowSpeed coilovers we removed (but I'm probably biased).