Does anyone know if Koni's from a 2004 to 2008 will work on the 2009 RX-8? The rear suspension hookup points are said to be different. Also will a aftermarket front sway bar from a 2004-2008 fit a 2009?

 

My instinct was to say call a dealer, but in my experience they're usually wrong. Still... if the parts catalog has the same P/Ns, it should be the same?

 

I contacted Koni and they have no info yet. The dealer has different part numbers every year from 2004 for the shocks. A aftermarket dealer said the shocks are different in the rear since the entire rear end is changed. I know I can get Bilstiens from the 2009 RX8 R3, and then they can be re-valved. I am planning to autocross the car.

 

I would think you'd want to try Bilsteins since they've done work on the '09s.

http://www.bilstein.com/contact.php

Don't forget to post your results.

 

From what another forum member told me, it seems that the spring perch on the shock body is 15mm higher, so they are not interchangeable. What I'm not clear about is whether the other end of the spring is also moved or if the spring is a different length than the 2003-2008 rear spring. I'm still looking through all the topics on differences introduced with the 2009 model; but it seems that most of them are focussed on the engine rather than the suspension. Before anyone says to use the search, I have and am in the process; but the search engine for the site, if we're to be fair, produces more than a few false positives, and those are often a dozen or more pages long. I am reading through my search results as quickly as I can manage.

 

^^

Rear suspension geometry was changed to make the back end have less of a sashay. That's as much as Mazda released.

 

I have set of Konis that have been redone to 09 specs for sale if anyone is interested.