So I went for a nice long, fast, windy, drive up Mt. Rainier yesterday and realized RX-8's are pretty much the **** at everything. Even though the car performed fantastic I really want to do some serious suspension mods.

I'm wondering how much is too much? I dont see myself taking this car on the track but I would like be able to drive around with little body roll, squat and dive. Here is what I've dreamed up so far:

1)Eibach Pro Kit springs w/ Koni shocks
2)RB sway bars front and back
3)Auto Exe strut tower bars front and back
4)Auto Exe member brace kit

I'm pretty set on the first three but would the member brace kit be overkill? And I guess I'm looking for your opinion on how noticable these mods are going to improve the handling of the car.

Thanks

 

When it comes to suspension, there is no such thing as too much in my book.

 

1 - OK mod - springs like Mazdaspeed would be better
2 - too soft: Agency Power or Progress Technology
3 - Save your money on the front one. Stock is fine.
4 - Debatable on how much it actually does plus they weigh and cost a boatload

Add to the list - kick *** tires.

 

also add lightweight wheels. It really improves handling on rough roads.

^ and RB sways aren't that soft. They are at least 100% stiffer and made a big difference in handling for me.

You may also want to consider keeping with one brand for springs/shocks/sways, e.g. Mazdaspeed or RB. The sway bars for these companies make a balanced setup when combined with their shocks/springs. If you mix you may get undesirable resuts, e.g. Mazdaspeed springs and RB sways will give you understeer.

 

Uhmmm...It does

Hard Suspension + Lightweight wheels + Rough Roads = Bent & Unbalanced wheels

 

You want Strong wheels, and if they happen to be light, then your in luck, and prolly paid a lot for them

 

If you are going to upgrade your sway bars, you might as well upgrade your endlinks while you are under there. As far as sways, I have AP front & rear & they really tightened up the car. Also, they are adjustable.

 

Well, the hard suspension would contribute to bent wheels (which should be quite strong anyway), but the lighter wheels themselves make the ride and handling better. They move up and down easier in response to bumps in the road, allowing more contact and transferring less of the force to the cabin. I feel this from personal experience (I have Enkei RPF1s 18x9.5, 17.2 lbs as opposed to ~22 lbs stock)

 

1) Eibach Pro Kit springs w/ Koni shocks
2) RB sway bars front and back

Might be better to get these three items from the same company or at least get coilovers from one company. If you get mismatched springs and shocks, you'll destroy the shocks and/or have a bouncy ride. If you get stiff springs and stiff sway bars you'll pay the price in ride quality. Balance and harmony is best here...
stiff springs/shocks w/softer sways or vice-versa. You can get too stiff which is not good, esp for the street.

3 )Auto Exe strut tower bars front and back - Xcelent choise, BOTH front and rear. The front OEM strut bar is about the stiffness of a shower curtain bar. My experience with them is that the Autoexe really stiffens up the front engine cage and improves steering response and chassis stiffness - as it's bolted to the sides of the chassis too. It's a substanial piece and the triangular construction is very high quality. A great help on the track..probably less so on the street.

The rear is again very very substantial structual piece and stops most of the skittish behavior of the rear esp on track during attitude change and keeps evrything glued to the road allowing no flex whatsoever back there. There is really little back there to start save the OEM brace that is behind the rear seat backs.

4) Auto Exe member brace kit - I would only be guessing but it should be useful as Autoexe doesn't make stuff for no reason...still I'd say this is a mod designed with the track in mind.

Oh and I haven't bent any wheels (RPF1s) and the lighter the better keeps them from getting bent as there is less force on a lighter wheel hitting bumps.

 

5k would be about how much I would spend on suspension(not including rims and tires)

 

Have to ask what you are planning on doing with the car.

 

I'd say one of the biggest things you can do is to increase the width of your tires. I'm on 19x10's all around now wrapped in 285's. My lateral handling is just amazing.

 

dude, those are some crazyass rims throwdown.......damn

 

Yeah I've definitly thought about lightweight wheels and fatter tires but i was going to save that for later. I'm more concerned about body roll thats why i was thinking of the suspension mods I listed. From what everyone has said so far i think i may hold off on the member brace kit and put those finances toward some wheels and tires.

 

If your concerned about body roll, then go with that. Plenty of braces to tighten the car up. The RX8 wheels & tires aren't all that heavy. Infact, my Volks & Falken Azenis (minus TPMS) weight more than stock with TPMS buy about 2lbs per corner.

Like BlueRenesis82 suggested, figure out what you want to do with your car & run from there!