Cotton Mouth

I need someone to tell me how I can fix the rear ride height on my 2005 RX-8. The back end sits lower than the front does and it looks like **** to me and others are now starting to ask me why the back end is sitting so low, lower than the front does. Anyone have the Fix?

As always thanks in advance,

Here are a few pictures of my 2005 RX-8 to help get a better view of what I'm talking about.

JTtheDude

Do you have stock suspension? If not then when it was installed it probably wasn't preloaded and could have caused that. Or you might have blown shocks.

xun4gvn4everx

iTrader: (2)

The previous owner also may have dropped the rear but not the front. If its not what JT says, then get new springs for the front, rear, or all around.

alz0rz

iTrader: (41)

the rear sits lower then the front stock..

04RX8man

isn't that what it's supposed to be like?

Cotton Mouth

I bought the car from a Medical Student that his Daddy bought the car for him when he started medical school. The car had 31,000 miles on it when I bought it but the car was never taken care of during the time the previous owner owned the car in fact it didn't even look like the interior was ever vacumed out before and the Original Factory Floor Matts were still in the trunk of the car in plastic and never used and I almost bet the guy never had the trunk open before to notice that there were floor matts in there as the trunk appeared new still and didn't look like anyone was inside of it. I know crazy **** right there.

Anyways I bought the car for $5000.00 and three days after I bought it I took it to the mazda Dealer to have it all checked out and they did a lot of warranty work and what not including a new engine also.

So to answer your questions I would have to say that everything was still original when I bought the car and the car has always sat lower in the back end and nobody has ever said anything about it before but I noticed it a couple times and thought really nothing about it and the car really rode nice and handled really good too and thought that is just the way the RX-8 sits and I looked around at others and they really didn't sit as low as my car did in the back but appeared to have a noticable difference between the front and rear suspension with the rear of the car a little lower than the front.

The car has 42,000 miles on it now and both sides sit about the same height. I put new brakes and rotors and painted the calipers a couple months ago and while doing that everything appeared normal and no signs of them leaking or anything like that.

I would like to fix this issue but not sure how or what would work to fix the issue. I would like the rear to sit like the front of the car does now, with just a little gap above the tire as I don't really care the the looks of the ones with a lower suspension. I think the car would look nicer if the rear of the car sat up more like the front does.

Anyone have any reccomendations as to who makes a suspension that would keep the front about the same height as it is now and bring the back of the car up to where it would match or even some what be a little higher than the front suspension? I don't mind replacing front and rear suspension to accomplish what I'm trying to accomplish. I just want to still have the nice ride that it has now.

When I put the Wheels and tires on the car last spring I had a 4 wheel alignment done at the time and they never said anything about anything beside they told me the rear end was with in spec and didn't need any adjustment.

Hope all that information helps and thanks again for all your help.

Darrin.

xun4gvn4everx

iTrader: (2)

Well, if the shop is telling you that nothing is wrong with the suspension, and you say it rides well (assuming you are taking into account that the rear shocks are not worn out) then you may want to start by just getting new shocks all around. It cannot hurt. If it still seems to sit odd to you, then get springs all around. Then you can decide how high or low you want the front and back to sit. This of course, is taking into consideration that money is not that big of a deal to you. So if you have the money to spend, this should eliminate your problem.

BigMikeATL

Mine sits a tiny bit lower on the rear drivers side because of a 10" sub. It bothers me a bit, but not enough to spend the coin on getting it adjusted.

xun4gvn4everx

iTrader: (2)

^A 10" sub weighs enough to noticably lower your drivers side?

Cotton Mouth

The shop in general really never said there was anything wrong with the suspension when I took it in for a 4-wheel alignment, they just said the rear alignment was in specs and didn't need no adjustments at all, but I assume now if something else was wrong they would of told me at that time, maybe not. I never mentioned to them anything about the rear ride height at that time. I just figured I know on some cars when doing a alignment, part of the alignment has to do with the Ride Height and I figured if that is the case than the rear alignment something would be out of wack and they would at that time say something but than again what I think and sometimes how they think are two different things here.

It's not that I want or have the money for new shocks if the ones I have don't need it but I was also thinking because of the age and the miles now on the car a guy really can't go wrong if he replaces them and I don't know how long the original ones are supposed to last millage wise or age or what everyone else seems go get out of theirs before having to replace theirs?

So I think I see what your telling me here than to do is start with replacing all 4 shocks and see if that helps and if it doesn't than replace the springs too? That way a guy doesn't replace the springs too when you don't know for sure if that is the problem or not when it could be just the shocks, am I reading that right? No need to spend the coin on shocks and springs if you don't need to, I agree there. Or would it pay to replace the springs too at the sametime as the shocks because of Labor wise to replace the springs at the sametime as the shocks beings they are already going to have them off when replacing the shocks? Or is there not that much of a difference cost wise? I don't know that myself.

Ok, now what is a good shock out there that I should consider when replacing my old ones with? I was as good of a ride if not better than what I had if there is such a thing. Is there anything like a Good, Better and Best method when buying new shocks for the RX-8? Anyone know the name of the shocks and maybe the best place and price wise to buy them at?

Again thanks for your guy's help here. I think by knowing all this that I mentioned above is going to save me a lot of money and time to get this accomplished without trial and error or taking someone elses word on it when they really don't know for sure.

Thanks again,

Cotton Mouth

Hey Big Mike,

You mentioned that you didn't want to spend the coin to have yours adjusted. I didn't know they are adjustable are they or are you refering to the word adjustable as replacing yours?

I wouldn't think a 10" Subwoofer would cause a car to sag too much in the rear end as I wonder how much you would sag if you had a passenger in the back seat. I gues if a 10" Subwoofer would cause your car or my car to do that I would have to say that the shocks are shot for sure unless you have one hell of a heavy Subwoofer riding around in the back of your car with you.

SilverHokie

iTrader: (1)

Take a picture of your suspension setup if you can and post. Maybe we can tell if your rears are aftermarket...or get the fat chick out of your trunk.

alz0rz

iTrader: (41)

Once again, the REAR sits LOWER then the FRONT from the FACTORY.

JTtheDude

Do you have the same wheel and tire size both front and back?

Cotton Mouth

Sorry no fat Bitches are aloud in the car period. LOL. I pretty dam sure they are factory originals but not positive and I will get some close up pictures of the rear suspension and post them up for you all to view here shortly hopefully yet today.

alz0rz, I know I read wwhat you posted earlier, the rear sits LOWER than the Front from the FACTORY. I read that before and again now but that doesn't tell me how to fix the issue here like I originally asked. I have not yet seen a RX-8 that sits like mine does in the *** end yet anywhere i have looked. I'm not saying there is a problem for sure, what I'm trying to say is maybe there is and maybe there is not but I don't like the way my 8 sits in the *** end and was asking everyone if there is a way to fix my issue with my 8.

The Tires and Wheels are the same size all the way around the car also. The tire size I believe is 225-45-18

Thanks,

pdxhak

iTrader: (2)

IMO it looks ok and think the aftermarket wheels make the gap up front more noticeable. Assuming your springs/struts are ok and want to close up the gap then put on Tein S-TECH springs.

rodjonathan

iTrader: (6)

what happens when the rear shocks are blown? how can you tell ... sorry but just wondering

ms70616

Your car looks the same way mine did before i put my lowering springs on, and my car had completely stock suspension.