BC racing, Buddy Club or Teins?

[the_darkside]

Alright, first up im looking into an MX-5 and have found one but the suspension is shot. So i've heard BC coilovers are great, Buddyclub are alright and Tein Super Streets suck, would someone give me some guidance there. I did attempt to search this but got impatient after 3 pages. Also, could you possibly point me in the direction of somewhere to buy them? I tried google but just heaps of forum links came up.

Also, control arms, i'm a noob in this area, is there aftermarket ones for the NA6?

Sorry to seem like a lazy impatient teenager, but i've got lots of research to do and little time to do it as my car now resembles a crumpled beercan and its hard to get lifts to places.

Thanks in advance for the help.

[NitroDann]

Great way to ask this, its hard to get a decent response out of me with a question heading this way :p

Ok, your right you have your research ahead of you.

Aftermarket control arms are not needed. Mx5s are REAL sportscars, not like an r33 or a supra. No ifs or buts about it. Everything is fully adjustable from stock, patrick here, has stock arms on his and doesnt even have offset bushes and he runs like 4.5 deg camber on 10 inch wide rims and slicks, running with porsche gt3s on open track days while remaining road registered. And he isnt the only one.

When people say tein ss are crap, they are talking about a different level than the bc's.
Its like saying that a porsche boxter is crap, only because the context is 911s. See what I mean.
People put the tein in the serious track category and the SS are at the very bottom of that list, but may well be much better than the bc's.

The real question I suppose is what do you honestly want to do with the car?

Dann

[tobias]

Try looking in some Megan ez streets, I have these on my na there's plenty of adjustment and they were very cheap

[PaulF]

From what I've seen, lots of people on this forum are running Tein SS's and have been more than happy with them.

[mx52nv]

From an older thread:

Subjective as this thread is, I have fitted so many different set-ups to MX5s over the last decade that I will contribute my say.

Categorised in three price ranges.

1) Best 'off the shelf' MX5 suspension I have ever fitted was a set of OHLINS DFV.
Cost: $3,000-$3,500
Rated: 10/10 for both street and track.
Ignore all the BS you hear about having to rebuild them often and get a set if you can afford it.
*PSS9 and TEIN MONOFLEX rates a mention in this price range but I preferred the OHLINS on the limit to the PSS9 and the OHLINS were more livable than the MONOFLEX on a daily basis due to spring rates.

2) TEIN FLEX in the $2,000-$3,000 price range.
Cost: $2750 or so
Rated: 8/10 with more emphasis on track then the street

3) Koni Adjustable Yellow Sport shocks with Eibach Pro-Kit Springs
Cost: $1500 or less
Rated: 7/10 with better compliance on the street than Kings but still very capable on the track.

Other components like SuperPro bushes, Whiteline Adjustable Anti-sway bars & End Links, Roll bars, etc all contribute to the added handling capabilities of the MX5 but for complete coilover suspension replacements, these are my humble recommendations barring any other parts. And I have tried pretty much everything.

Regards,
Les @ MX5 Shop
P.S. anyone got a set of 949 Racing XIDA suspension for review?

[project.r.racing]

BC BRs = $1300 (pay the extra $100 and get BRs, V1s are $1200)
Buddy Club = $1800
Tein SS/other = $1800/$2200

The BR package that BCs offer remind me of Tein SSs. So the reason that people rave about them is that the get the same product for $500/600 less. Many Tein owners will agrue that the aren't the same quality etc. But then both are tried and proven, both come out with the same results. Work well, no leaks etc.

Buddy Clubs is a pot luck chance really. Good name but no one has really given them a real go. Anyone out there? Anyone?

I find the adjustment on the BC coilovers much better than the Tein coilovers. BCs adjust at the shock feet where the Teins adjust at the spring perch. Adjusting at the spring perch reduces the shock travel and hence decreases the ability for it to work at 100%. BCs don't have this issue.

[NitroDann]

You now see what i mean when you read les' (mx52nv) quote. In their category and price range, tein ss arent quite there, with cheap bc's being just as good.

Dann

[the_darkside]

Alright, well it would initially be for looks and handling, however, down the track I do plan on running a more 'aggressive' setup and doing some trackwork. Reason I ask about the control arms is that there may be an issue with the ones on the MX-5 i'm looking at. Thanks for your help guys, I'm liking the sound of the BC's for the ease of tweaking and not being overly expensive.

Still keen to hear more advice is anyone has some.

[NitroDann]

For a cheap very nice on the street and capable of some light weekend warrior stuff, its hard to go past the extremely cost effective konis/kings combo with some proper swaybars.

You need the swaybars no matter what you buy and with them and the koni/king you can have the nice looking dropped ride height, more comfort than stock and much better performance for cheap.

Then when you want to hit the track serious save for something serious, not something like tein ss which are as the name suggests, expensive street shocks.

Again, with the arms, everything is adjustable so just get a second hand set off the same model for damn close to free either off the forum or from a wreckers.


Hope this helps.

Dann

[Si.G]

I run the koni's, king springs and racing beat sway bars.

In terms of performance, I have not known any other set up on the mx5, but what I do know is that I am plenty competitive on the track and at sprint events - with 92 rwhp the times are not about the power So Koni's work well enough.

If you are looking at koni's for an early NA, make sure you sort out the rear top mounts or you will be on the bump stops if you run the car low. I have apexi top mounts - http://mx5cartalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=57&t=40374. There are other options.

Si

[NitroDann]

Because I have no first hand experience with the koni/kings, can you throw up a lap time and tyres used please?

Dann

[Okibi]

...In terms of performance, I have not known any other set up on the mx5, but what I do know is that I am plenty competitive on the track and at sprint events ...

Si.G car handles well but he's also very talented behind the wheel.

If you have any doubts about the components on an MX-5 your looking at see if you can arrange for it to be inspected by MX5plus, they're MX-5 experts and will be able to give you estimations for any parts that may need to get replaced.

In terms of suspension modification, experiencing the differences first hand, chat to MX-5 plus and the MX-5 club on Queensland motorsport members, they'll be able to demo different setups.

[NitroDann]

Theres like 5 grand under my car and most of thats HKS so im alright myself, I just wanted to see what koni/kings got you, which I assume is a lot for the price.

Appreciate the advice though mate

Dann

[nicholas787]

I've got BC BRs (gold) on an NB series 1
I'm not that experienced with mx5s, I can assure you they transformed the car from stock.
I've had absolutely no issues as of yet.
I was able to lower it more than enough and the build quality is great.

[Lokiel]

I've got BC BRs (gold) on an NB series 1
I'm not that experienced with mx5s, I can assure you they transformed the car from stock.
I've had absolutely no issues as of yet.
I was able to lower it more than enough and the build quality is great.

I'll echo these comments too.

I've had the BC BRs on my SE for a while now and love them - they're a great quality "bang-for-buck" coilover and are easy to adjust according to driving conditions since the dampening adjuster is mounted on the top of the coilover, NOT on the shaft (which may require you to jack the car up to get at them).