just order mine !!! i should them later this week ill keep you guys updated

Congrats. Let us know if you have any questions.

Btw, did you get these primarily for autocross, track or street use?

thanks....
i got them for street/autocross

Cool. Well the more people that run them in the autocross, the more we can help each other with set-up tips/issues.

My season starts in 3 weeks. I can't wait!!!

yea mine starts in april :)

Well I did another event last weekend with mixed results. I was back at my own region, with normal people, with my own course design.
Since I had alot of success with my Progress sways set on front medium and rear soft in the very low grip, I though I would try to go up to stiff in front and rear for the grippy asphalt of our site. Also, I think it was peppy said he ran stiff in front and soft in the rear, so I gave it a try.
Well I struggled with understeer on turn-in and the tight stuff, followed by oversteer mid to late corner and trying to put power down out of corners. So I had time inbetween runs to move the rear sway back to soft(they are 2 way adjustable.) This helped with the oversteer, but not the understeer, and I dropped half a second off my time on a 50sec course. I just could not attack corners like I wanted to without pushing. By that time it was starting to sprinkle, so that was what I ended up with. I think Medium in the front and soft in the rear is where I want to be.
But I ended up about 1.3 sec out of first in pax. Below is a pic of the car I am chasing. You might recognize it as a 2 time national champ in STS2. With our fastest driver.
Attachment 265192

Max,

Sorry to hear about your understeer issues. I'd try running your front swaybar on a softer setting next time. Do you have any idea what the effective wheel rates are for the different settings on the Progress Tech FSB?

-Chike

P.S. Yeah, Kerry Coughlin is a solid driver who has a few national trophies to his name iirc.

I really don't know the wheel rates on the bars. I do know the car was better on the medium setting on the very low grip surface of last month. So I gave it a shot on stiff-didn't work out. So back to the middle setting next event. Which will be in 5 weeks on another crappy surface.

I'll send you an e-mail later this afternoon/evening. You might find it helpful.

P.S. I'd give Progress Technology a call. They'd have that information. My MX-5 rear swaybar had no wheelrate info, but I got it from a call to Eibach.

Too late now, but you should have tried backing off the front shocks one or two clicks. It sounded like softening the rear bar helped your mid-corner oversteer, but you were still having push at corner entry. By backing down the front shocks you would decrease transient understeer while not affecting (greatly) mid-corner balance. However, backing off the front bar would make the car more prone to oversteer both at turn in and mid-corner, which is not what you needed.

I'd encourage you to try that at the next event - leave the bars alone and soften the front shocks.

George,

While everything you said is correct, Max is still in the early stages of working out his set-up. I think he needs more information about the spring rates of the different settings on his swaybars (F & R).

Armed with this knowledge, he should probably do an event or two where he adjusts his front swaybar settings only. Once he has a general idea of which setting he likes best (on an asphalt or concrete surface), he should then use shock settings to fine tune the entry, mid-corner and corner-exit balance of the car.

My $0.02. YMMV...

-Chike

Understanding roll & wheel rates is really only important if you are looking to make a change (i.e., buy new springs or bars) from an existing setup. For example, "My setup is pushing bad - I've tried all different settings and I can't make the push go away. What new front spring rate should I choose?" Then a bit of math (properly applied) can help you make an informed decision as opposed to simply slapping on the next softer spring.

IMO, for a given setup, the rates are not all that important if all you are trying to do is optimize the setup via trial & error. And, if Max can make his car switch from oversteer to understeer mid-corner by tweaking the ARBs, then the car is fairly neutral and there isn't alot of reason to think about roll & wheel rates - just change something and see if it makes it better. If your car is good mid-corner but is having corner entry problems, I'd start with adjusting the shocks. It may not fix the problem, but it is easier to change than the ARB, so why not?

Don't get me wrong - I always encourage people to learn about the underlying theory & math, if they are so inclined. And I do agree you should strive for good mid-corner balance first (via ARB & other changes) before focusing on transition behavior (via shock changes). But there's no reason to shy away from shock tuning on a car with adjustable shocks, as long as you follow the maxim of "change one thing at a time."

I couldn't agree more. Very good points raised.

Thanks guys for the help. Doing a little research on the wheel rates of different sways, and it really seams like the PT are going to be very high on the stiffest setting. Emailed Progress to get the actual rates, as I can't seem to find them. Got them switched to the medium setting now and will try that at the next event.

got mine installed and loving them still gotta play with camber and stuff and yup thats an R3 bumper :)
Attachment 264729

Car looks great! Glad the install went well.

$1500 here: I like this shop for some reason. Maybe its because he had a nice car :)

http://www.good-win-racing.com/Mazda...0-1070RX8.html

That's what I paid shipped, but I got mine from Stranoparts.com (not listed on his site, but he can get almost anything).

S0l08, 91 Impulse RS, or anyone else in the know - what's the torque specs on the lock nut shown in the above pics by S0l08? I think I need to drop my rear coilovers and tighten both. I'm hearing a "clink-clink" sound over bigger bumps.

I compressed the suspension, removed the interior trunk trim and there's some play in that washer on both sides. Everything else was tightened down and snug.

Thanks.

Really don't know the specs. I just hand tightened them fairly tight.

Thanks. Well, I'll dig out my install instructions and see if it's in there.

If not, I'll do something similar...

not sure either just don't use an air gun

^^^Time to change your sig! Its not stock anymore.

I was able to verify with my engineering contact @ Bilstein that the front spring rate range that the stock PSS9 shocks can handle w/o a revalve was accurate (in post #15 of this thread): I plan to run the kit as is for at least 6 events, and then try a different spring rate up front. The alternate springs have been ordered.

Look for an update by late April/early May...

Did a track day today.
My car loves the track!
The car was so easy to drive and I put down some really good times. The Bilsteins with progress bars really shine out on the track. Suprised a lot of people with my times.