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Hola Señors,

I am looking at buying an mx5. On inspection everything about it seemed ideal for me, except it was way too low. I reasoned that it was fitted with yellowspeed coilovers, which are adjustable for ride height, so I paid a small cash deposit thinking I could raise it up.

However, I am now worried that I don't actually know if it can be raised, for all I know it is presently in the top position. I have read that the highest position on yellowspeeds is a fair bit lower than stock. I can accept a little bit of a drop, but I want to be able to drive over speed humps and up driveways without much greater care than normal. As it is, when I opened the passenger door I worried about smashing it on a normal low gutter.

This is the car in question:





I am wondering if anyone with experience with yellowspeed coilovers is able to tell from these pictures whether the car can be raised? And if so, any estimate by how much?

Thanks very much

It should be able to go higher than that. Worst case scenario you can sell them and buy others OR im sure you can get spacers

I had yellow speeds in my old nb. It sat a fair bit higher then that.

You should be able to raise it up a fair amount

Perfect ride height!

But yes they can most definitely go higher than that.
Just remember you'll need a new alignment whenever you change the ride height.

emily_mx5 wrote:Perfect ride height!

But yes they can most definitely go higher than that.
Just remember you'll need a new alignment whenever you change the ride height.

For optimal handling, NA/NBs were intended to have the rear about 0.5" higher at the rear - this car looks to be higher in the front.

Just a warning about going too low - it gets old real quick when you're dragging your arse over even small speed bumps and you spend a lot of effort driving around car parks trying to avoid them. Here in Brisbane where it's very hilly, going too low makes your car almost undriveable.

Find a ride height that you're happy with, then get the alignment as emily_mx5 recommended.

I had mine completely maxed out on the top end of the height adjustment, and 5mm more preload dialed in on the rear and it ended up with the frame rails about 120mm over the ground. I'd like them to go higher

Beelzeboss wrote:I had mine completely maxed out on the top end of the height adjustment, and 5mm more preload dialed in on the rear and it ended up with the frame rails about 120mm over the ground. I'd like them to go higher

120mm is more than stock.

project.r.racing wrote:120mm is more than stock.

Hmnn, seems too low for stock ground clearance because my NB looked SUV-like to me before changing to coilovers.

Checked wiki and stock NB is 135mm, NA is 140mm.

markwid wrote:

project.r.racing wrote:120mm is more than stock.

Hmnn, seems too low for stock ground clearance because my NB looked SUV-like to me before changing to coilovers.

Checked wiki and stock NB is 135mm, NA is 140mm.

For the frame rails?

Just measured my NB SE on stock suspension and the (front) frame rails are @ 110mm and pinch welds are @135mm.....

Thank you for your replies, 15mm below stock sounds like I won't have any problems with ride height.

markwid wrote:

project.r.racing wrote:120mm is more than stock.

Hmnn, seems too low for stock ground clearance because my NB looked SUV-like to me before changing to coilovers.

Checked wiki and stock NB is 135mm, NA is 140mm.

Cannot be. A BK Mazda 3 has 130mm clearence. Both NA and NB are lower.

Nevyn72 wrote:

markwid wrote:

project.r.racing wrote:120mm is more than stock.

Hmnn, seems too low for stock ground clearance because my NB looked SUV-like to me before changing to coilovers.

Checked wiki and stock NB is 135mm, NA is 140mm.

For the frame rails?

Just measured my NB SE on stock suspension and the (front) frame rails are @ 110mm and pinch welds are @135mm.....

Yeah that seems right. Other poster must be measuring from pinch welds.