Opinions needed: Coilovers.

[Wivvix]

So i'm looking at swapping out the (dead) suspension on my NA.
Predominantly daily driving, with some "spirited" driving mixed in. Occasionally head to the track.

The options that i'm considering are:

1) Aussie Guinea Pig; FM V-Maxx 1.5 (FM rear shock mounts as well as v-maxx coilovers). The dyno plots of these shocks look good. Apparently in terms of ride quality they are similar to height adjustable illumina's with fm springs on damper setting 3. They would come to $1330 landed, and come w a 2 year warranty.

2) Tein SS. Quality shocks, height and damper adjustment. Not much else need be said. $1600 landed inc GST.

3) Your lightly used flexes or SS

[broady]

I'm very happy with my Teins. I'd be careful about importing them, make sure they've got appropriate spring rate & valving for our sh*t roads.

[hks_kansei]

I've also heard good things about BC Coils.

granted, I havent been in a car that has had them fitted.
but yeah, so far I haven't heard any people disappointed, or any horror stories.


but also, Tien SuperSteet is a proven combo.

[Wivvix]

I've heard the earlier BC's had problems (red and black V1) and the black and gold ones aren't really suitable for street.

The Tein SS I am looking at are 7kg front, 6kg rear.

Is there anyone other than Fulcrum who sells Teins in Aus? Cheapest local i've seen is like $1800AUD.

[Rob E]

Tein Basic 7/6 from eBay. NB mounts from Mazda. Racing Beat Hollow front sway. This is a good cost effective street/spirited driving set up.

[Wivvix]

Tein Basic 7/6 from eBay. NB mounts from Mazda. Racing Beat Hollow front sway. This is a good cost effective street/spirited driving set up.

Where do we find affordable Tein Basics these days? There were some on ebay for just over a grand about a year ago, but I can no longer find them.
They would be pretty much perfect for what I need.

[Rob E]

Tein Basic 7/6 from eBay. NB mounts from Mazda. Racing Beat Hollow front sway. This is a good cost effective street/spirited driving set up.

Where do we find affordable Tein Basics these days? There were some on ebay for just over a grand about a year ago, but I can no longer find them.
They would be pretty much perfect for what I need.

a few of the US ebayer sellers will ship to Oz......thats how i got mine a couple of years back for my old NA6.

[Bauer]

Anyone seen or heard much on the Neotech Coilovers? Korean made that seem to be priced the same as BC. They are the talk of some o/s Hyundai/Kia forums from what I have found but I have seen zero MX5/Miata comments.

[D-Train]

I have BC's in mine. I love them. When set on soft (0) they are like stock, if not better and when on hard (30) you can feel every rock on the road. Ride height is good too. When you first put them in you'll get approx a 1"+ drop, adjust them as low as you can and you'll get 70mm ground clearance or adjust higher and you can just go higher that stock height. They are bang for your buck if you ask me.

[Okibi]

I have jap tein flex, I was concerned the spring rates would be too stiff but figured that tein springs are so cheap i'll just replace them.

Had the jap springs on for years and I don't have a problem with them.

[Randy]

I just went through this dilemma for my NC. I spoke to quite a few people, both on this forum and off it, and called different motorsport shops. I ended up just going for some Koni adjustables and junked the idea of coilovers.

Now i race the car at least once a month and i liked the idea of coilovers BUT......the car is still my daily driver.

1.Most people i spoke to said that they found coilovers to be quite hard for the road.
2.You generally set your coilovers for height and damping......and then once you find your right setting you never touch them again.
3.Good coilovers are expensive.

I'm happy with the way the car sits with King springs......so height is already adjusted.....the Konis will give me that slight adjustability that i'm after.....and i save a lot of money by not getting the coilovers.

I've had three Mx5's that i've done loads of track days with that all had Konis and Kings and i never had an issue with them.

This is just my 2cents worth.

Check out shox.com that's where i got the Konis from.

Cheers

Randy

[Wivvix]

My current suspension has funky stuff going on. Front ride height is fine, 13.5" from hub to fender. Rear is all messed up, RR 14.5" and RL 15" hub to fender.
I have sagging springs I believe, and the shocks are definitely dead. I need to replace the lot.

What I want is full height adjustment, with max possible suspension travel, and damper adjustment from stock ride (but composed) up to relatively firm.

To achieve this, the suspension set-ups i've read about which work well are:

Koni sports with sleeves (GC): ~ $1500 landed inc gst.
Koni coilover kit, not as compliant as sports on GC: ~ $1400 landed.
BC Racing BR series, good reviews, good damping characteristics, but somewhat stiff: $1300 local disty.
Tein Superstreets, quality, no fuss, full height & damper adjustment: $1600 landed.
Tein basic, quality, no fuss, height adjust only: $1350 landed.
FM V-maxx w/rear shock mounts, max suspension travel, height adjustable, FM endorsed quality/setup, good damping characteristics, stiffer than stock: $1330 landed.

I don't believe there's such a thing as an affordable local shock/spring or coilover setup.
Invariably it will end up costing a grand just to get koni sports and decent springs.
For $300 more I get full height adjustment, possible full damper adjustment too (BC).
The question is, which setup best suits the application, bang for buck.

[Randy]

Is there any particular reason why you need the height adjustment so badly? If it's too low on the road it will scrape over everything. If it's just a track car i can understand you wanting it quite low. Also it's a bit of a pain to keep adjusting the ride height.

Just from experience I'd say you wouldn't want the car much lower then 15mm from standard if it's just a road car.......any lower is just uncomfortable and the fuzz start to take an unhealthy interest in your car

Though i have to say you've got some excellent prices for the coilovers you mentioned!!! Much cheaper then what i got quoted. So i can see why you're leaning towards them.

[broady]

An example why is to compensate for spring sag, it's the same with damper adjustment. You can stiffen the shocks as the shock deteriorates and loses its dampening ability.

When I installed my front strut brace I noticed the car tended to understeer a lot more, it was great to have the ability to click the Teins back 3 to restore the cars handling balance prior to installation. I suspect once I put in the FM brace that some more tinkering will be necessary.

Oh, another reason for height adjustment would be to play with things like rake. But for a street car that's probably out of scope for requirements.

[Wivvix]

Primarily I want height adjustment so I can find the compromise between suspension travel and aesthetics that is appropriate for our roads.
13 to 13.5" is probably what I will start out with, but may drop to 12.75'ish.

I'm fairly new to suspension, so maybe someone else can help me out here.

http://fatcatmotorsports.com/igallery/g ... engths.JPG
http://fatcatmotorsports.com/igallery/g ... engths.JPG

Based on this information, if I put in illuminas w/stock springs (for example) front ride height would go from 13.5 to 13"?
Does anyone know what NA8 stock ride height is supposed to be? Is rear hub to fender 15" stock? I presume rear height would drop from 15 to ~ 14.6"?

Cheers