rear suspension
 

Has anyone noticed a softening of the rear suspension , lately when i am pushing around corners the suspension seems to be too soft ??? .

My car has 22,000km on the clock, and has only been driven to church on Sundays ( Got to keep the re-sale value up isnt that right HYMEE , you never know potentiall customers may be lurking on the forum ) ha ha ha .

cheers
michael

Can't tell you that... by the time i have 22000km in my car (that is I think about same time next year). I will have a new coilover ;)

My car is fine after 10000K... maybe it needs to be tightened?

i thought it was just me.

I noticed going over bumps aswell.

Have you noticed any increase in suspension noise? I had the same problem with my old E46 Bimmer at around 30,000km. Turned out to be loose/worn upper shock mounts. The noise wasn't as immediately obvious as you might think, but when they
replaced the mounts the car felt significantly taughter, and the quieter operation was obvious.

Tyre Pressure?

Grip level of worn tyres?

Worn dampers (shock absorbers)?

Coil springs cant really be "tightened". Coilovers can be made adjustable, both for height and stiffness.

Cheers,
Hymee.

I know they are not adjustable but I am sort of on those lines...

maybe I am thinking the suspension is getting loose... on the edge of falling apart --- that is what I meant :D

Tyre pressure 38/40 psi front and rears ,tyres about 60% worn .

Now that i think of it i also noticed the rear suspension being kind of lame/soft at willowbank when i first test drove the RX8 , these cars had been around quite a bit and possibly worn the dampers /shocks .

I will get them checked out tommorow .

Thanks for the input guys .

cheers
michael

OEM shockers in most mass produced brand new cars are usually only good for 40,000Km. Go for a set of bilsteins or koni's should see 70,000km before needing regassing.

FFS, just buy the sway bars and coils. You know you want them, but want to need them. You don't need us to convince you. The missus will get over it... eventually.

;) :p ;) :p

just don't tell her. What she don't know wont hurt her!

She might notice something when she goes to check the oil level.

just put some more tupperware over the mounts, adds to the tupperware engine bay look.

.........and by the way, how many women would check the oil.

.... and how many MAN don't check oil!

I saw one check his engine oil but the ground wasn't flat :)

In MOTOR July issue on page 82 , there is reference to the RX8 suspension ,by Michael Taylor

On the initial drive , the rx-8 can feel a bit softly suspended , but you rarely find anything that can upset it .( i have a few times )

Its softly suspended because its chassis has such traction -that mazda can give you the best of both worlds -grip and comfort .

I like my suspension like my women Firm , and not soft and sponge .

What do you guys think???

cheers
michael

I was under the impression a hard suspension gave less grip.

I admit, the car would be enhanced by fitting firmer roll bars....shocks and springs are fine by me.

Having got about 2000 Km on ours now, I have noticed on several occasions that the rear is underdamped.. ie. it's too soft over bumps- and the shock doesn't control the spring properly- it takes an extra 1/2 a 'bounce' to settle again. It was also noted by the boys at Motor in COTY last year.

It is a good trade off though I think, between ride comfort and performance. If we still have the car when the shocks need replacing I'll be going custom valved bilsteins methinks.

rotarenvy.. that's why race cars run the same spring and damper rates as road cars, then isn't it, cos they are nice and soft, and grippy :)

Yes you can go too firm and limit weight transfer , which reduces grip in some circumstances, and obviously over bumps, but in general you can go stiffer on most road cars and improve grip cos there is too much weight transfer, and it overloads the tyre that is doing most of the work. If you get the spring and damper rates right you can better distribute cornering load across more tyres giving better grip.


Rowds

RRS

Thanks for your input sounds like you know your tyres and suspension set ups .

cheers
michael