1990 - suspension upgrade reviews?
 

THE CAR: 1990 1.6L miata - completly stock down to the tires, except, XS turbo [reinforced] kit, SSQV bov, custom exhaust, short ram intake..
(yes i bought it with the kit, so i decided i'd have it welded up in few areas and trying to make this a slow build car over the next summer and winter)


oem suspension as it sits now.. now i have some things to fix on my turbo still, But, some buddy off a local only website offered me coils off his old '95 that he bought for, and never installed, so theyre brand new, though out of the package, i trust him though..

KYB AGX with Ground Control?

so here are my questions: (price listed was 400, without negotiating so far)

How would this suspenion hold up in comparision to my oem suspension now? I've got the stock 14" for now, though looking to get some wider 15" rotas on there soon..

ive heard the miatas suspension is so touchy... upgrading one part without upgrading all or using the right tires will completly ruin my stock's great handling..

Its my daily, but the roads are half decent and stiff doesnt bother me- I DO NOT WANT A BOUNCY RIDE, though keep in mind, im on stock now, so anything less than the few bounces i get now would be an improovement

I'm planning on attending autocross and gymnakas for first time this year with my buddy, though i'm not drifting this car..

I also plan on throwing sway bars on there soon, as i stated, I dont want my back end to swing out on me for drifting, i'd prefer the better handling

I don't plan on "slammin" it; i was feeling a lip, and maybe an inch or two lower to reduce ugly wheel gap

like i stated, theyre near to brand new, he's somewhat of a friend, u could say friend of a friend, and he offered them to me for 400.. now, i don't know much about cars, and what i do know doesn't have much to do with suspension, typically my 240 friends speak of coils costing up to 900..

In conclusion; KYB AGX w/ Ground Control for 400: Is this an upgrade? or would you consider this a waste of money, and after a year, an eventual downgrade?

thanks,
Brendan.

If "Ground Control" implies ground contol sleeves and springs, then for $400 that's really cheap. what are the spring rates? probably standard ground control, which are 375/250.

I'd consider it an upgrade over stock, but the KYBs aren't a terribly great shock, and you'll likely find that you want to upgrade them down the road. Ground-controls are nice stuff, and you could swap them onto better shocks later.

@soviet: yes theyre 375/250 sorry for not mentioning

@mcarp22; yeah i mean.. ive heard AGX's can be somewhat sketchy, but for 400.. it jumped off the page on me.. i dont have much money right now, ona budget, so.. it'll probly work for now and if upgrades are calling down the road than so be it, but its an upgrade for now? also, would i have to worry about them shitting out on me and putting my car down for a few weeks til i had money to replace? i mean i guess il hold onto my stock stuff so it wouldnt be too bad but i'd rather these not blow or whatever

If you use those spring rates you should remove the rear sway to keep the balance same as stock - otherwise the car will oversteer more.

http://www.fatcatmotorsports.com/FRC...MSDS_1_6NA.htm

And anything is an upgrade over 21 year old shocks.

that statement confused me sorry, still new to this.. why would it oversteer more? wouldn't it hold better to the back?

i forgot to mention;; i kno my friends weld-in cages affected the car, though im not sure in a positive or negative way.. idk if rollbar owuld have same effect but due to it being a vert n me only being 18 still livin with my mom, she informed me i will be gettin a weld in rollbar even if she has to pay for it [i wont oblige if she pays haha, ive paid for everthing else..] would the rollbar affect it?

The ratio of front to rear roll stiffness more or less determines if the car will oversteer or not. Putting just the 375/250 springs on the car will bias the roll stiffness towards the rear, resulting in oversteer. Disconnecting or removing the rear swaybar will restore the factory balance. Adding a larger front swaybar is also desirable.

The car will feel more solid, but that won't really change the way the suspension works.

I have kyb/gc on my car. Love the setup, although ive yet to do any track days. Most that ive done with them so far is spirited canyon driving and drifting/donuts in a parking lot.

Either way they are much better than stock imho.

Curious, what are your spring rates?

I'm not sure what everyone's problem is with KYB. Yes they're lower end in terms of shocks, but as soviet says anything is better than 20 year old equipment. I loved mine when I had them. I upgraded purely for smaller diameter springs, adjustable perches, and a better selection of spring rates. Maybe my feel for shocks isn't that great.

@blindsay: bring that twitter shit in here again and I'll kill your first born only send you 11 roses for Valentines Day.

honestly curly that seems like a halfassed statement, considering "at (namehere)" is the equivalent to saying "towards (name here)" which was around way before twitter

If I said #INeedSuspensionHelp it'd be different, but I believe I was simply addressing two people in one post but because I was quickposting, I didn't have time to quote.

still have a problem?yeah i dont care all that much. thanks everyone else for the help.

So you're acknowledging knowledge of twitter then? Even worse. It was meant as a half serious joke, not a halfassed statement. Thanks for playing though.:nuts:

Edit, either way, I gave you an honest review of the KYBs, never turn down advise.

disconnecting the rear sway results in a weaksauce car with little turn in ability. If anything, upgrade the front bar.


Hell according to the FCM chart my car should be over-rotating every time I turn the wheel. I was worried when i tossed in the new teins, I went from a FRC of 59% to 52%. Feels a lot better to me IMHO, my rear is planted and in control.

i didn't turn down the advise, i simply didn't appreciate the twitter comment [whether it be sarcastic or not, my internet sarcasm detector must be broken, cause I didn't pickup on it from your font] and no I'm not a twitter user, if thats what u call it

@blindsay - chill out.

#braineack.

I'm chill, i can have a good laugh, but I feel like a death thread was kind of out of order from someone i don't know, nor any 'lol' or 'jk' added yaknow. eitherway; any other reviews?

I'm with curly yet again: had agx on my car paired with fm2 springs and I really liked it. going from 1-4 was a huge difference in firmness and they worked just like they're supposed to for the money. GC is also known good product

@400 it sounds like a good deal.

FTFY

Oh shit, are we agreeing on things now?! I'm thinking of a number between 10 and 20!