2005 RX8 Tires & Lowering Questions
 

Hello all,

I have a brand new (to me) 2005 RX8 that I want to be the best summer car possible for my uses. I don't intend to use it for the track, but there are instances that I am going to want sufficient speed. I'm thinking about these tires: I'm also looking in to some new rims for them. I love would love some opinions on those tires, or some suggestions on different tires that are in a reasonable price range. I'm looking to use it for summer mainly with the exception of being safe during rain fall. She will not be used in the winter/snow.

I want to lower her about an inch, although I'm an amateur to this I know I just don't want to buy some cheap lowering springs and screw up my shocks/geometry and everything else that goes along with it. I was wondering if anyone could suggest any fairly high performance shocks with low speed dampening. I'm also looking for a springs, coilovers, and suspension bushings that would all fit with my desire to lower it 1 inch. Are there any products that you recommend?

Thank you in advance for all your help! I'm still new to this so I apologize if I'm asking basic questions.

Those tires aren't summer tires....they are all-seasons. If you want the best summer performance, then get a summer tire.

Also, any mention of street racing is forbidden on this forum. Read the forum rules before you start posting any of your "kill" stories on here.

For the suspension side of things.....what is your budget for this? A good spring/shock combo will be roughly $800-$1000. Do you have the budget for that? I would recommend a spring/shock combo over a cheap coilover setup as it will be cheaper and perform better. You will have to pay upwards of $2000 to get a better performing setup compared to a good spring/shock combo. Coilovers give you the ability to set ride height, but you really don't want to lower the car more than an inch anyway as this negatively affects the suspension geometry.

I do, but I don't know if it's worth it because I may get another newer car such as a WRX or BRZ in the spring of 2016. The stock suspension seems fine to me so far, I've only been out on the road with her once and it wasn't an aggressive drive, will the stock suspension be okay for aggressive driving?

The stock suspension is plenty fine for mild aggressive driving, especially if you aren't running extreme performance summer tires.

What summer tires that aren't not too high quality but are rated for 130+ MPH that would also work be safe in the rain do you guys recommend?

Almost all tires will be +130 mph speed rating these days.....even most all-season tires.

What is your budget for tires? Plan on getting wheels at the same time?

Any idea on what your goal is for wheel/tire package?
-max performance at all cost?
-just an appearance upgrade over stock?

You might browse the tire comparison charts and reviews at tirerack.com, or similar on-line vendors, to get a better idea of what's out there.

Ken

All good advice. Where do you live? Do you need all season tires? I can tell you that summer tires are the other side of useless if it gets below freezing.

I can also share that I just made the jump to a middle of the road set of coil overs (all I could afford) and have my old dampers (adjustable) and springs in the for sale section. They were doing well, I wanted more spring rate. I will know in a bit if it was a good idea, I think I went too firm, but we will see.

When I was looking at this problem, I wanted the rear height to be the same, and to kill the gap over the front tires. I like how it turned out with the H-tech and set my coil overs for the same stance. MPG went up too.

Good luck.

Your MPG changed when you switched the suspension? Please enlighten me as to how this happened?

Only thing I can think of is that the new suspension forced you to get an alignment, and previously you had too much toe causing drag. But that means the alignment improved your MPG, not the suspension.

Nope,

The effect has been observed by others. Difference is drag. If you drop the nose an inch, you get a lot less air under the car, less air under the car is less drag. less drag is more MPG on the highway.

I drive a pretty set commute to work, and track mileage as a sign of engine health. I installed them with half a tank, and when done was up half an MPG from the previous several weeks. Every tank after that was up 1 MPG from previous tanks. My goal was to get rid of the gap over the front wheels, the MPG was a bonus. Will not make much difference with city driving.

Thanks for the clarification. Didn't consider the aerodynamics.