planning my susp setup.
 

everything on my car is buget, so $1300 or more for some mad tyte JDM drifto coilovers is not going to happen. right now the susp is just the tokico HP package, and its just WAY to soft for my taste. so far what my plan is by reading other posts is:

ebay coilover (come with 450/350 springs)
RB hollow front bar
stock 1.6 rear bar
blistien HD or koni sport struts.

now my main question is what would be the best struts? i want really good handleing. not worried about how "harsh" it is (not a daily), as long as it drives like its on rails. car spends all its time on the street, but i do plan on doing some auto-x, and road courses. any other sugestions?

koni

my bilsteins beat the shit out of my soul.

Assuming I can get the Miata running right on the COPs, you can sample the HDs pretty soon.

Did you plan for new mounts/bumpstops? They really do make a difference.

Sorry to ask an off topic question, but any way you can pm me a pic of ur car on current setup? im looking to get something similar (I WANT the car to be very soft, its going to be a daily) and wanna see what the drop looks like. thanx

Isn't this going to be too oversteery?

I would think so. I was oversteering with 500/350 so I switched the rears to 300 and it sems to be perfect now even with the stock rear bar in.
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A long time ago I asked shaik (Fatcat) what kind of setup I should be using, and he said the following:

Of course, other than the plug for his coilover (ebay should work just as well as his), this seems like a pretty good combo to use.

Even if you do decide to go with eBay coilovers (and it's been my experience that if you do, you'll need to fabricate some centering spacers) I'd still suggest Shaikh's NB top mounts and bumpstops.

on 1.6 you need 550/300 w/ tubular front bar and oem rear to be perfectly neutral.

Bryan, it is hard for me to understand exactly what you are trying to achieve.
What is a budget setup in your mind.

Sway bar=$144
get this as well $84

Konis-$519 shipped


Ground control is around $350

This is the setup that I have, plus I am getting ready to add some bumpstops and ISC rear mounts, and some heim joint adjustable end-links soon. So right around $1100-$1200 after all is said and done and you have done some shopping around and parts hunting.

Stay away from ebay coilovers, there is not math in those, who knows what you will end up with for spring rates. The Miatas best characteristic is the handling, don't ruin it man.

If you want something cheaper than what I suggested, get OEM r-pkg Bilsteins, not the HD's, the R's are much stiffer, which is what you want.
They can be had for around/uner $200 used. Throw the GC perches on them, not sure what just the perches cost. And get the QA1 springs in 550f and 350r. Any understeer/oversteer can be tuned out by calculating your swaybar MR and adjsuting accordingly till you have the ammount of oversteer that you want. Then upgrade the rest when you have more money.
I don't know about most people here, but I like a bit of oversteer, it's a bit more exciting that way, ask my friends. lol

go with illuminas dude.

some good info so far guys. looks like i need to do WAY more reading up on it. thanks

If you want something cheaper than what I suggested, get OEM r-pkg Bilsteins, not the HD's, the R's are much stiffer, which is what you want.
They can be had for around/uner $200 used. Throw the GC perches on them, not sure what just the perches cost. And get the QA1 springs in 550f and 350r. Any understeer/oversteer can be tuned out by calculating your swaybar MR and adjsuting accordingly till you have the ammount of oversteer that you want. Then upgrade the rest when you have more money.
I don't know about most people here, but I like a bit of oversteer, it's a bit more exciting that way, ask my friends. lol[/QUOTE]

Hmmmm this sounds very familiar....:giggle:

Bryan, check out my thread on "budget setup".....I'm in the process of putting together this same idea.... Not saying ITS the answer, just might find some useful info in there...

---I found some useful info seeing FCM recommending QA1 springs, which makes me feel even better bout trying this route out

i cut about 1/2 coil off the rear springs, it was sitting a little ass high. its stiffer than my stockers were, but not a ton. btw, thats my old tire set-up:195/50/15 front and 225/50/15 rear. its actually the same height front and rear.
http://img133.imageshack.us/img133/7053/img0670bb7.jpg

the ore i look into susp, the more confused i get. here is what i want to do. have really, really, good handling, i want to car to corner as fast as it acelerates. i dont care about how harsh it is. i already have soild motor mounts, and the car is COMPLETY gutted, a rough ride doesnt matter, as long as it handles awesome. i want it to be pretty nuetral, a tad of understeer would be perfered over oversteer. and i dont want to brake the bank.

so far the only parts i know to get for sure is the RB hollow front bar, and FCM bumpstops. so looks like i mostly need advise on shocks and spring rates.

also anyone have any good links to susp setup/tuneing theory?

fixed. :jerkit:

basically, but unlike most, i dont give a damn about how stiff it is.

in other words you don't really care about "ridin low" cr.net-style. Plus, you want to drive mostly on the street (= bumpy = less grip with stiffer springs = slower).

Why not retain the stock springs, get RB or FM SOLID bars and invest in some good dampers (koni/bilstein/AGX)? Get these (blue) bumpstops. With this combination, I'm 99% sure you will be on the bumpstops with an effective spring rate of 350+ lb/in when cornering hard. First few cm of the spring travel (ie. when not on the bumpstops), you will retain a good ride, but more importantly, your car won't be all over the place (=faster) if you hit a bump somewhere. Think about it. This is completely contra to the usual aftermarket approach of stiff springs+ highly overdamped which doesn't make much sense for a street-driven car.

makes really good sense. i think i will just do one thing at a time and go from there, i am still on stock bumps. because the car is lowered like and inch or so, i think i will go ahead and get some of the 36mm bumps from FCM, and a RB hollow front bar and see where it goes from there. i have been looking at tokico illuminas lately too.