Finished installing my Xida ClubSport's yesterday. Now I understand the hype
 

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1354045242

They are 550/350 springs. And my god are they good. They ride as good as the OEM shocks, and obviously handle much better.

My one regret is they are so good that I have to go MUCH faster through the twisties to get the same enjoyment. Too fast for the street. 270° highway on ramp with a recommended speed of 25? At 70 it feels rather boring. And this is with 195/50 all seasons. I used to be sliding around that same ramp at 65.

Now I just need an alignment. Any of the Indy guys have a favorite shop? I will probably take it to AIM tuning.

Oh and I didn't take any pictures of the install because I don't remember where my camera is. It's a red '99 and I used the long bolt method, use your imagination!

where are the slammed pics?! how else are we to know if these are good shocks or not?

Of course, how silly of me.

Before:
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1354046333

After:
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1354046333


Ride height didn't change much. I didn't measure it from the pinch welds, but it was something like 12.75" front 13" rear from center hub to fender after I took it off the jack stands. I may need to adjust the spring perches still, as I noticed the rear helper springs were almost fully compressed with the car in the air and the wheel off. Is there any rule of thumb for setting the spring perch height?

Don't you wish you got 700/400 springs now?

I was absolutely floored to see how well the car drove on the street. Then realized that in a balanced car like ours, comfort = traction. I run 600/400 on my daily and it's smoother than 115/95, lol.

Ride height looks great. Low and functional. I dig. Needs more boost now!

no slammed = no care.

I plan on getting 700/400 springs at some point, but until I get 15x9s and run RS3s they are pointless. I would be interested to see what the difference in ride quality is between them. I already spent $2200 on the shocks, what's an extra $300 for some springs for the track?


What about spring perch adjustment? Is that something that will be adjusted during the alignment or should I take care of that before I get it aligned? How should they be set? I assume with the helper springs that I should set the perches so that the helpers are unbound with the wheel in the air, and they should be fully compressed when it is on the ground (which I haven't checked but I am sure is the case).

Just set the ride heights, preferably corner balance, and go from there.

Not slammed or flush, downvoted.

You know those extra black rubber pieces that came in the bag with the tools? You put those somewhere on the upper shock mount assembly to get more droop travel (ie, the helper spring isnt completely compressed). I forget the actual order of parts though.

Oh no, the droop fag crew flipped-on their bat signal.

If you have helper springs on your car, you're either part of the droop fag crew, or you got talked into buying a part you didnt think you needed.

AIM is where i would suggest if you can get in. While you're there, pick up my Hydra wideband that's been sitting on his shelf for 15 months while i've been trying to get him to tune my car. I'll buy you a 6 pack.

If you're willing to travel, there's a couple good shops in Louisville i'd recommend. I'm taking the Escort down there to get aligned and corner-weighted in the next couple weeks.

Have you ever been talked into sharing a bed with a woman?

Question:

If you are talking about an off-ramp, shocks are not really the determining factor of how fast you can go...sways, bump stops, spring rates have more to do with it. If the off ramp is really bumpy, then I would agree. I would think the real test of a new set of coilovers would be bumpy turns, transitions, stability under braking/trail breaking, how aggressive you can get on the gas coming out of a corner, can you make a mid-turn correction without upsetting the car,etc.
The shocks are pretty much along for the ride in a smooth steady state corner.

Would you mind updating us with some real world impressions under these types of conditions?

Thanks

Thats absurd, I own a miata.

Well, until I get the car to a track or autox I can't really give any impressions.

It's now too fast at the limit to safely push on the street. Not for lack of trying, of course. Like seriously I take hard turns faster than I did with the stock ones on and it just sticks. When I find enough clear space to actually get them to the limits, I will report back.

Thanks, look forward to your impressions

All I can is, I wish I had that suspension on my car. I have to settle for something less, like NB Bilsteins with NB FM springs.

Too fast for the street is exactly what I worry about. Talk about fun killer.

I had some VMaxx Extreme Sports on order, but I ordered them in early August and FM still didn't have them in October, so I got impatient.


It's a different kind of fun. I still have it set up pretty loose, I have the FM sways, the front is weak and the rear is medium, which leaves you with a pretty tail-happy car for the street. After driving it a bit more, the car definitely still has the great feedback that the stock suspension provides, it just does everything at a 20% higher speed. At speeds that used to be 'interesting' it now turns like it's on rails. As far as ride quality, the only time I actually remember I am driving a track-worthy stiffened springs is when I hit a REAL bump, otherwise I don't even notice anymore.

My friend has Toykios on his NA (though I don't know what springs he has) and I still feel like I am going to throw up every time I ride in his car. The ride quality really is that much better.


Bottom line: with $60 195/15 all-seasons and <20 degree weather, I still have trouble reaching the limits on the street. Can't wait until it warms up and I can get it to a track. If only those grandpas in front of me would get the fuck out the way I could have some fun.

I know the kind of fun impossible to get to the limits reasonably on the street is. Just trying to avoid that. Ended up with 88$ summer tires in 185 width... hearing this makes me wish I went with 175 width all seasons so I could get XIDAs. :vash:

if an extra $10 a corner limits you from getting xidas...

Your name must be Scott.

Actually $1 would stop him. 10 is just makin it rain

Huh?

You inferred that had you bought 175 all-seasons instead of 185 all-seasons, you would be able to afford Xida's. That's $10/tire.

No, I was talking about grip levels. That's what the whole discussion was about.

XIDAs adding grip so that street fun is impossible.

Summer tires and wider tires grip more.

Narrower tires and all seasons grip less.

The 175's are actually more expensive.

And I said I bought 185 summer tires. o.O

bah, you can get rock-hard tires in just about any size :)
we had minivan tires on our 914 and you could break the rear end loose at like 20 mph :giggle:

I think Hustler runs (or used to) 185 minivan tires on his dd. Might have to look into it and get some 9" wheels for the track.

So you guys are saying that less grip is better and Xidas with bicycle tires would be more awesome than Xidas with Hoosiers? I just want to make sure I understand...

Yep, just that. :party:

Do whatever you want, just put the Xidas down and step away.

I said the day I got TEIN Flex that "I dont know why anyone would spend so much money, these are fine!" then my friend Andrew says "do yourself a favor, don't ever drive a car with XIDAs, or you'll hate yourself for wasting your money..."

needless to say I hate myself for wasting the money. XIDAs rock!

I run 205 Toyo Extensa on the daily.

What makes Xidas great is how the suck-up the bumps. Stiffer springs, less compression force and a rebound curve that dumps force is what makes them both have comfy and more grippy. Look at a Grand Am DDP curves.

Is that a male enhancement tire?

Jimmy Johnson hooked me up.

Better him than Dick Trickle

Ordering my Xidas next week with 600/250 springs. man I cant wait to see if they live up to the hype

Do you know they compare to the Ohlins DFV?

Why wouldn't they be?

What made you choose so much front bias?

How do you guys feel about the NB tophats versus the spherical bearings?

I don't know, I've only run sphericals, lololol.

The NB uppers aren't bad on my daily, probably not as crisp but hard to compare to my all-poly track car.

Run the sphericals. I wish I bought them the first time. The NB upper setup with xidas is just janky IMO. I mean it works, I dont like it, and I know the plastic isolator is the source of my front end clunk.

Yeah, but for the price difference between the two I could basically buy a set of 6ULs...

Helpers or no ?

One distinct difference:

DFV stroke
96mm front
76mm rear

Xida stroke
125mm front
103mm rear

The Japanese made Ohlins are very high quality coilovers. As well built as anything on the market I think. They are however, older tech and not specifically designed and tuned for a Miata in competition as the Xidas were. I think the DFV's cost a bit more too.

Yes, helpers.

Do other Miata dampers offer the development work that AST and 949 did, how common is it? I don't know that I believe Ohlins, Tein, nor KW are out there testing shocks in track driven Miatas and swapping out shims and pistons. I remember talking to Brian a couple years ago and he was telling me about putting shock-pots on his EvoX when he was making dampers for it, I don't know that anyone aside from Multimatic, Penske, or Nitron are doing stuff like that...and if they are they're not selling the product for sub $2000.

There no chance tein did any development work on the miata, those are universal shocks with universal valving and go on various platforms. thats the downside to MOST ots coilovers; AST/Xida is unlike any other shock for the miata.

lol at $1800 Xida rears with more stroke than $2500 Ohlins front dampers.

The Penskes have work depending on who you buy them from, like guy ankey or someone like that. Buy them from penske and they're generic valving that sucks on miatas. The penskes seem to be the cost of springs more than xidas, not including the club sports. Since you cannot get penskes without the upper mounts. The penske upper mounts are better than the 949 upper mounts IMO, much easier to change springs, have a hex flat for tightening the top nut, etc. And IMO with the right valving they're better race shocks, I cannot comment on street manners, I've only ever raced on them.

Why? Are you answering a question that no one asked...again?

Penske mounts better than our spherical bearing, billet, coaxial perch mounts on the Xida-S?

You have raced on 700/400 or 800/500 Xida-S?

Hustler, I cant make a too direct comparison, penske car was on 850/500, very well csp prepped, same front bar as I have, no rear bar. And I have club sports 650/400 (because 700 was out of stock). Comparing both cars on 275 hoosiers. The Penskes just worked better, any of the sort of cracks, breaks between type of pavement, or missing chunks of pavement were just not as noticeable, and there was even less worry than the xidas that some random surface defect was going to upset the car. Maybe it was mental but the penkes felt better, I do not have any data, and it would be meaningless because I'm down like 40 hp from that car and 650/400 is way too soft to hoosiers.

Emillio, I've never driven or ridden in a car with your solid mounts. And taking a harder look at your mounts they two are much more similar than I remembered. Main differences being the slot on the penske upper spring perch and the hex flats on the top of the shock shaft.

So:

-Coaxial perch, spherical bearing mounts vs fixed perch, urethane bushing mounts

- 30% stiffer springs

-different car

-30% power difference

I'd say your comparison indeed has some relevance but not really conclusive.

Agreed. The budget is going either way at the moment if I'll be able to afford the xida upper mounts for my car, spring rates will be the same for next year, and the power difference will be swung the other way. Its so hard to compare this shit. It'll be a lot better comparison with the same spring rates at least. I think some of the skiddishness I was feeling was just living on the bump stops on any turn that lasted longer than a slalom, because the springs were too soft for the grip I was creating.

This thread is now adequately trolled, carry on.