I've Never Driven A Vehicle That...
 

...rode more differently depending on the temperature than the 8.

The ride on this car is dramatically more comfortable when the temperature is above 60 degrees fahrenheit.

It was 61 here today. I had the windows down, cruising over both smooth and rough patches of road, unruffled.

The ride is far, far noisier and stiffer below 30 degrees fahrenheit.

It's like driving two different cars at the opposite ends of the temperature spectrum.

Man, you should try driving at temps of -30.

Tires hard like hockey pucks, shocks that don't absorb shocks. Not fun!

Chris...

Honestly, I believe it.

I've noticed slight deviations with other cars; nothing like this car.

It must involve the shocks and struts.

maybe the stock tires, too... but i dunno. just another potential negative to those potenzas....

My non-stock, oversize tires help this a lot.

A bigger factor is the shock absorber oil - the oil is very stiff at cold temps (like crisco, as a matter of fact, and really doens't become a decently flowing liquid until it heats up above 50 degrees. Shock movement warms up the oil, but those first 2 or 3 miles on a subzero day are really "buckboard" (and just what the hell is a buckboard, anyway?).

Stew, you've confirmed exactly what I suspected, but didn't know for sure, about the shocks.

I suspected the shocks as the culprit, but didn't realize it was the lubricant, and not the system itself, that is.

this only goes to show that the japanese were thinking about nothing but dan diego when they picked the equipment out for the US version, both the stock tires and the stock shocks are chosen specifically for someone in san diego where it never rains and never gets cold

Or they used marketing statistics to estimate where the most RX-8s would be sold...

Just like the human body. Go outside and run when it is cold, then run when it is warm. The body performs much smoother when it's warmed up.

Flat spotted tires. The bridgestones get it bad especially if you put em away hot. My Kumho MX are a bit worse. Takes about 3 miles to smooth out.

My Pirelli tires are a WEE bit better than stock on the flatspotting issue.

I agree. Mine rides hard in colder weather. at about 70-80 degrees it rides smooth and quiet. At 50 and below rides hard and loud... glad the warm weather is here!

This must be why my motor vibrate more when it's cold outside.
After having my motor mount(s) replaced, I thought they installed defective mounts because
the vibration persisted. The weather was below freezing at the time.
Now that I think about it, there is almost no vibration when the temp is above 50 derees...
Must be fluid in our mounts? Can anyone confirm this?

Only problems I've had when its really cold is starting it. It always starts, but its much harder.

You don't know what a buckboard is? It's an old wooden wagon, usually pulled by a horse. The wheels are directly connected to the axles and there are no springs, although sometimes the driver's seat would have springs.