I just purchased my miata when I arrived here in Hawaii. I wanted something with just some suspension mods that is it. I bought the car with ground control coilovers with tockico shocks. I have lowered all the way and there is still a huge gap. Do I need to buy new springs or new shocks?

 

NA or NB?

 

You should be able to get the car low enough that it's pracitcally un-drivable with the GC sleeves. I suspect they are installed wrong, PO probably didn't remove the original spring perch on the shock before putting the GC sleeve on. Take a picture with the wheel off so we can see the shock and GC sleeve.

 

Na

 

Full coilovers if you want to go low. Stance or tein flex go pretty low.

 

Durr.. I guess I could've guessed NA seeing as "1992" is in your name...

My GCs along with the FCM mounts set my car very, very low and still have another 1-1.5" lower I could go if I REALLY didn't want to fit a jack underneath ( I have to slide mine in sideways working from the wheelwell in..)

 

There are some in our club that have a tough time getting on some shops lifts because of their height, In VT if the shop can't get it on the lift they can't/won't inspect it...Fortunately when they use my lift the arms swing under so it's not an issue...

 

You are crazy for wanting the car lowered around here. I have the tokico shocks and H&R springs, and I rub and hit the fram rails all the time when driving through parking lots with those huge speed bumps.

 

That's because your springs suck and aren't stiff enough. When you lower you have to increase stiffness unless you want to run out of suspension travel in a hurry.

I run 12"F/12.5"R with FM shock mounts in the rear and I have no troubles with rubbing.

 

He's talking about speed bumps. I'm pretty low and speed bumps for me is like climbing a mountain, I scrape all the way through frame rails over them

 

Trick with speed bumps and steep driveways is to take them at an angle so you aren't hitting them straight on. And having a set of blocks to drive up on solves the problem with getting on a lift. With out them there is no way to get the arms to swing under my car.

 

Yeah I know that they should go lower, but they are all the way down so I know something is wrong. I guess that is what I get for buying someone else's mess.

 

My car is pretty low, but not quite as low as before. I found for daily driving, it's not worth it. Also you need to make sure that if you do lower, you keep the travel as much as possible.

GC's are great, I'm running with the 450/350 rates at the moment, over koni's however, that said, if I was to start over on a virigin car, I think I'd go flex, or something where you can make sure you get the shorter body on the shock. By the time, you get the GCs + konis + FM mounts, you are looking real close to the price on the flex......

Also you need to consider what's the best for you, show isn't everything if you want to drive it. Parking lots, with the speed bumps, steep driveways, ramps, etc, are another.... So you have to decide what you want to live with.....

Dave,

 

Yeah I dont drive very far to work; not even a mile. I work on an Air Force base, but other then that I take it out on the weekends nothing crazy. I guess I am going to take the coilover out and check everything out.