Anybody has tanabe springs installed? I installed mine and put the short ones in the front and the tall one in the rear. But I noticed today that from the factory the short ones are the rear ones and the tall ones in the front. Please let me know if this is correct.

RX8Power

The new springs go exactly the same as factory, short rear tall front. You also had the problem with the car looking funny with your new springs didnt you? so this will explain your issue.

Dale

Yup..sorry buddy..you put them on wrong...Longer springs go up front to make up for the added weight of the engine compartment...I bet you looked pretty hilarious <- that's not an insult, i guess after you get it corrected you can then laugh at yourself.....don't worry though you shouldn't have caused any problems...just a PITA to do over again....

Yeah, I don't take it personally, that shit's hillarious, I'm laughing about it right now. I called Tanabe and told them suckers that the part # for the springs are backward. As far as doing it again, the first time was a pain in the ass, but now should be easy since I GOT THE EXPERIENCE. :D


Thanks for your input guys, you really help me a lot. Will keep you posted on how it goes.


RX8Power

Originally posted by XeRo
Longer springs go up front to make up for the added weight of the engine compartment.

I thought the car had 50/50 weight distribution?

Which Tanabe's did you install and do you have Pix? I've got the GF210's on order and am praying the front will lower more than the rear.

slaughter,

I used Tanabe's NF210's, when you get your GF210's make sure you install the long ones in the front and the short ones in the rear, don't do like I did. I'll give you pics when I fix my orientation problem.

Later

RX8Power

so are you satisfied now that the install is correct or should i return mine the minute UPS drops em off?

Well, I have not correctly installed the springs yet, off course I'm not driving the car, but I'll be doing that friday. Keep your springs for now and I let you know friday. I'll even send you a picture of how it looks with the new springs. OK

RX8Power

I'd like to see how the springs look installed. Thanks.

Man...i knew someone would notice this...i tried not to get into a longwinded one here cause, Rotarygod is good at that stuff..heheh...sorry buddy,....anyway...i should have been more clear...while you are correct in the 50/50 wgt distribution, that only pertains to the car at standstill...you have to look at the forward momentum weight when travelling at any speed in which you subject the car to G's whilst turning. These take into account nosediving, heavy braking. If you've been to an autoX event or actually any race regarding swift turns, chicanes, or switch backs...watch the front end of the car...your forward momentum, which under and over steer play into this also but i don't wanna get that far into this..., you will see the nose of the car dive as the weight is transferred to the front...

did i make sense here?..if not..i'll try again...to put it in short form...any physics book under forward momentum in the index...they always have a car on a race track when discussing this....


Originally posted by Gyro
I thought the car had 50/50 weight distribution?

I got my NF210 today and I plan to install them this weekend. Can you post some pictures so I can see what it is going to look like?

Thanks,

where did u guys order them from? prices? pics?

GF210's from Hop Up Racing, $169 I think was the price.

Will post Pix when I get new (working) camera.

Did you have any issues putting on the front spring?? The bottom part is not landing right?

Originally posted by XeRo
Man...i knew someone would notice this...i tried not to get into a longwinded one here cause, Rotarygod is good at that stuff..heheh...sorry buddy,....anyway...i should have been more clear...while you are correct in the 50/50 wgt distribution, that only pertains to the car at standstill...you have to look at the forward momentum weight when travelling at any speed in which you subject the car to G's whilst turning. These take into account nosediving, heavy braking. If you've been to an autoX event or actually any race regarding swift turns, chicanes, or switch backs...watch the front end of the car...your forward momentum, which under and over steer play into this also but i don't wanna get that far into this..., you will see the nose of the car dive as the weight is transferred to the front...

did i make sense here?..if not..i'll try again...to put it in short form...any physics book under forward momentum in the index...they always have a car on a race track when discussing this....



Maybe they just designed the front and rear suspension diferently and have different mounting points thus different lenght shocks/springs?

I have the purple Tanabes (NF210) on my car and I believe I put the long ones on the front and short ones on the rear. 1 inch drop all 4 corners.

Originally posted by neit_jnf
Maybe they just designed the front and rear suspension diferently and have different mounting points thus different lenght shocks/springs?

Not really. You just need larger springs in front since there's a lot more stress on the front end (weight transfer is aimportant thing to elarn about). Thats also why your front brakes are larger too. If the car drove in reverse all the time, then it would be the other way around.

Guys,

Here's the real deal...

Stock setup:
Large in the front
Small in the rear

I installed the Tanabe NF's today (Sort -Sort & Large-Large) and it did not work. The front was on the floor and rear was up in the air.

Tomorrow, I will be changing them around. Tanabe is using Small ones in the front and large ones in the rear. The size does not matter in this case because they are compensating the difference with a stronger spring rate.

I will let you know how it turns out tomorrow.

You're right, I had the same issue and Tanabe messed up, the springs will not fit in the car, I talked to the guy @ tanabe and he was supposed to call me back, but he never did. Once again "They will not fit", the parts numbers show the long ones for the back and the short ones in the front, but is supposed to go the other way around and if you switch them, they will not fit on the strut perch. So what I did was, I just put the short ones in the front with the stocks in the rear and the car looks just the way I wanted. Kinda like stock but not with the big gap in the front.

RX8Power

RX8Power,

Any pix with your set-up? Thanks. :cool:

anyone wonder if Tanabe did a little R&D before cranking out some springs for the 8?

310Guy

I'm gonna borrow my friend's digital camera so I can post pics by wed.


RX8Power

I installed my and they look fine now.....The back has no gap and the front has about two finger gap. It rides nice....

Originally posted by RX8on19s
I installed my and they look fine now.....The back has no gap and the front has about two finger gap. It rides nice....

Picture?

I will post them soon

Originally posted by Genom
Not really. You just need larger springs in front since there's a lot more stress on the front end (weight transfer is aimportant thing to elarn about). Thats also why your front brakes are larger too. If the car drove in reverse all the time, then it would be the other way around.

Actually, suspension geometry also explains the use of different spring rates front to rear. I'm not sure about the RX-8, but the Miata has different installation ratios front to rear, thus requiring different spring rates in order to get the same wheel rate. Not that the Miata actually has equal wheel rates front & rear, but the intallation ratios (i.e., the mechanincal advantage the wheel has on the spring) are usually different front & rear, as are the packaging requirements, thus forcing the engineers to use different springs front & rear.

In the end, many variables go into the choice of spring rates. Suspension geometry is one, longitudinal mass transfer is another, and there are many others.