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Finally I installed my Xidas from Supermiata on my Miata. Before I get to the review let me give you some background on the car. 2.3L GT2860RS @ 12psi guesstimating 250-270whp, Eibach front sway, stock rear, 3.63 with OEM LSD rear, 245/40/17 AO52 on 17x9 +48.
I decided to go with Xidas because of their reputation and impressions from people running them locally. My first Xida experience was probably over 5 years ago. It was at an autocross event in a STR NB, I was running basically a STR NA on Stance coilovers on a slightly bumpy lot. With my car the bumps would really upset the car and I had to make steering corrections throughout the course. I rode along in the NB on Xidas and was blown away, the car was on stiffer spring rates and the car ate up the bumps no problem and stay settled. There were no steering corrections required and the car felt so stable. I was very excited when I heard the Xidas are coming to the NC after autocrossing for many years on old JIC coilovers.
Being mainly an autocross car and weekend car, I went with the race rates. The Xidas come in a big box, with 4 boxes inside for each coilover, all bubble wrapped nicely. There is a set of instructions with setup tips and ride heights, and washers for the front factory strut brace. 2.5mm allen is required for loosing the set screw for ride height, 4mm for rear shock adjustment, and you can use a 5mm to turn the preload collar.
Install is pretty much same as others, these things are long compared to other options, especially the rears. If on stock bushings I would mark the alignment adjusters and loosen all the bushings it will make it easier for them to slip in since it will allow the control arms to move further down. I left all my alignment bolts and control arm bushings loose while setting up ride heights, measured the hub to fender on the ground, jacked the car up and then raised the control arm up to the measured height and tightened everything up. Make sure to even out the coilover preload since they’re not assembled with any specific height in mind and right and left might be different. Setting the ride heights up takes a bit of time, I was using the pinch welds for measurement, ended up at 120/123mm, it isn’t as low I was before but it looks great and allows my alignment guy to use wheel clamps. This puts me above 13” hub to fender but my fenders are rolled and slightly pulled. What I was really impressed with is the amount of droop available, I had to jack the car up more than before I could take the tires off since with my previous setup there was so little droop the car looked lowered even when I jacked it up off the ground.
My old setup had 8k fronts, these are 11/7. I set the car to full soft as in the instructions and headed out. I ran into road construction within a few minutes, there were large bumps and some dips coming up. I braced myself and got ready to have my spine rattled and was surprised when the car absorbed them nicely, but was way too bouncy after, stiffened them up to 5 clicks from full soft and got a similar result. 10 clicks feels perfect no more bounce and it absorbs everything nicely still. The suspension is firm but it handles bumps great, it is really confidence inspiring. I can’t wait to dial it in during autocross after driving on subpar suspension for so many years. Some of the events are over an hour drive so it will be nice not to be crashing over bumps and bottoming out.
My RX-8 is on Ohlins with the out the box spring rates, while it’s a comfy ride I feel like there’s a lack of travel in the rear especially with the softer spring rates in the rear. Once the spring compresses just from the car weight it leaves very little bump travel, and judging from the inside wheel spin I don’t think a ton of droop either.
Pictures below are with the car at 120/123mm, alignment is -3.2F, -2.5R, 7 caster, 0 toe front, 1/16th total toe in rear. Pardon the dirt I was excited to drive the car.
04-23-2022, 01:07 PM
Race Xidas on Turbo NC impressions
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