mx5cartalk.com

I'm looking at buying some coilovers, but I am on a bit of a budget..

are either of these a good option:

http://www.racelandus.com/coilovers/mazda-coilover-kits/mazda-miata-mx-5-na-coilovers.html

http://www.racelandus.com/coilovers/mazda-coilover-kits/mazda-miata-mx-5-na-ultimo-coilovers.html

Will these sacrifice much comfort? I haven't started racing it yet, so this is just for the street.

Coilovers will definately firm up the ride but it wont make it uncomfortable. Although Im more into the racing/sport/handling side of things then euro comfort so a firm ride does not bother me.

For your budget a good shock and spring combo might be of better choice or save up and get some yellowspeed or BC coilovers as these have full adjustments etc.

I have BC BR coilovers in my NB8B and love them. Ride is firm but still compliant and not uncomfortable and I daily mine with no issues. I find the BC's provide a better ride then my old suspension did.

Yeah, maybe I'll save for yellow speed, or have a look into the shock and spring combos..

Koni shocks and king springs seem like a popular choice/combo.

Or yellowspeeds/BC even HSD are good from what Iv heard.

Someone is selling some king springs in this forum, so maybe I'll look into that.

If you get king springs, make sure to get good shocks too as the stiffer and shorter spring from kings will kill your shocks rather quickly and you'll lose performance because of that, so make sure to buy both good shocks and springs.

Just my 2 cents.

David

the problem with purchasing 'budget' coilovers from an overseas supplier is that you also have to budget for breakages and super expensive international shipping back to the retailer that sold them to you.

at that point you might of just brought the $950 YSRs from a aus retailer and been done with it.

CatchyD wrote: the stiffer and shorter spring from kings will kill your shocks rather quickly

Bullshit.

Yes, a big drop would cause the shocks to bottom out and die, but the kings are only a 30mm drop.

Most of this "lowered springs kill the shocks really fast" stuff comes from people who've either cut the springs right down and bottomed the shocks out, or people using stiffer springs on old shocks (that are already 90% stuffed anyway) and "feeling" the car is more bouncy because the springs are stiffer.

Yeah, it may wear the shocks faster, they might need replacing in 100,000km instead of 120,000km, but it's not the "OMG I put in lowered springs on Monday and my shocks all blew up on Thursday" that people on the itnernet seem to make out it is.

It could be bullshit, but I'm just speaking from experience, my last car had this issue, It only had 10 year old shocks on it with about 100'000km's, previous owner put kings in at about 80'000. He may have riden it hard before I bought the car but all I know is the front shocks were gone (I was unable to go over speed bumps faster than about 5km's or I would smash the engine underbody covers and front bumper on the ground) and the rears were beginning to show signs of needing to be changed. Granted yes they did have 100'000ks on it so they had done a fair bit of km's, but that really should be more of a deterrent for a 20 year old car with most likely more than 120'000kms on it.

Point still stands cause what's the point in putting stiffer springs on if you don't change the shocks as well, the ride becomes "bouncy". I'd much rather a firm ride than a bouncy one.

The OEM Showa shocks, especially on NBs, are crap. I have seen them die rapidly (ie get to the leaking and bouncing stage) when fitted with firm eBay springs and threaded perches but they have a tendency to die rapidly anyway. In short, if you own an NB that still has Showas on it (or an NA for that matter!), they're probably already rooted, either through wear or age. So why wouldn't you change them out?

My first MX5 was actually a 1999 Miata I both when I lived in the states. Beautiful car, 4 years old with 28,000 miles and had never been out of the garage in anything less than beautiful summers days. When I pulled the shocks, they were in pretty poor shape. After switching to KYB AGX and Tein springs, the car was transformed. I hate those Showas.

hks_kansei wrote:

CatchyD wrote: the stiffer and shorter spring from kings will kill your shocks rather quickly

Bullshit.

Yes, a big drop would cause the shocks to bottom out and die, but the kings are only a 30mm drop.

Most of this "lowered springs kill the shocks really fast" stuff comes from people who've either cut the springs right down and bottomed the shocks out, or people using stiffer springs on old shocks (that are already 90% stuffed anyway) and "feeling" the car is more bouncy because the springs are stiffer.

Yeah, it may wear the shocks faster, they might need replacing in 100,000km instead of 120,000km, but it's not the "OMG I put in lowered springs on Monday and my shocks all blew up on Thursday" that people on the itnernet seem to make out it is.

CatchyD wrote:my last car had this issue, It only had 10 year old shocks on it with about 100'000km's,

which is 3 years past normal prime operational performance.

I just realised I have Some Excel KYB shocks in , even though you say that the springs won't really stuff up the stock shocks, are these stock, or aftermaket?

KYB Excel-G aren't stock, but they are a stock equivalent.

ie: they aren't better/worse than stock shocks, but their being there indicates they've been replaced at some stage.

project.r.racing wrote:

CatchyD wrote:my last car had this issue, It only had 10 year old shocks on it with about 100'000km's,

which is 3 years past normal prime operational performance.

And about 60000km past their best for that era of car.

In the 80's even new cars were considered to need new dampers at around 40k km. I know technology has improved since then, but 100k is well past any damper's prime for performance.

if on a tight budget, this may be worth a look?
http://www.miataturbo.net/suspension-br ... ead-78451/