Also, in case anybody missed this:

https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-wheels-tires-brakes-suspension-55/stance-spring-length-196748/

Yes, it's for Stance, but it's clear that 7", 6K springs are giving at least some RX-8 drivers problem. I suspect things like ARB stiffness, tire choice, and driving style all affect the outcome, however.

 

I'm with George - it'll push things a bit. However, if you can get them for cheap, I say pick them up and try. If they don't work, you could always sell them on Ebay...

 

a pic from sunday

 

Car is looking great Max!

 

maybe this has been covered, but i dont feel like going through 16 pages... so, ive had the pss9s on the car for about a month now, and i love them, hands down. but i have 1 issue, i still have the factory strut bar, and the adjuster ***** "tap" it over harsh bumps, as the top strut mount has a small amount of give with the initial "push" of the rod. is going aftermarket really the only fix for this? it may sound ghetto but i tried a washer or two under the factory bar, but there's not enough threads to keep me feeling comfortable. Any info helps, Thanks.

 

I've never had that issue with my front PSS9 shocks and I've installed them twice to date. I hate to say it, but I feel it's an install issue - something's probably under-torqued. I'd remove your front shocks, inspect and re-install making sure to snug everything up.

With this said, 3 weeks ago I removed my front strut bar as it's pretty useless on a car with a double a-arm suspension. Plus, removing it drops 4-5 lbs from the car!

 

I read through all these pages and i was intrigued with the quality and insightful information you guys provided. I'm looking to do my first mod and i wanted to start with coilovers, saving those pennies :P

A little info: i recently bought a '04 6MT, i use as a daily driver and i might do some track later on.

I'm a complete noob to this so bare with me.

I had a few questions, it seemed that these coilovers were a reasonable price for both DD/track with great quality, so if these were used as more DD how long will these coilovers last (in terms of KM) or is it after a certain amount of KMs a "revalve" is needed, if so approximately how many?

I aim to put a the MS front in my wish list of mods, will there be any foreseeable problems of ground clearance if the PSS9 are installed. [i.e speed bumps= ftl?]

Lastly, should i look at any other coilover setup? lots of people are using S tech springs on this forum but i heard that they will deteriorate the stock shocks quickly...i really don't want to go through replacing the shocks afterward I'd prefer one simple set, hence the coilover package.

Thanks in advance guys. cheers

 

for someone that isn't too well versed in suspension and doesn't intend on doing anything serious with the car a simple aftermarket shock / spring combination will suffice.

coilovers will create more problems then you bargained for.

 

I think the PSS9's are the perfect DD/track coilover. The monotube shock design has fewer moving parts than a twin tube shock, and Bilstein doesn't list a rebuild schedule for these shocks. These shocks are very durable. If your price range is 2K or below, I'd go with the Bilsteins...

The MS bumper sits low even at the stock ride height. I'd pm TopGear8 and get his feedback. He autocrosses an STX car with the MS front. Personally, I wouldn't want to DD/track a car with a front lip that sits that low.

They're not many good spring choices out there that fit OE style shocks - most drop the car too low for performance driving and/or offer spring rates that are just too soft.

Only other option would be to add coilover sleeves and turn a good set of shocks (konis, Bilstein HD's, etc) into a coilover. But by the time you purchase the necessary items (sleeves, spring perches, coilover springs), you're in the price range of the PSS9's.

 

I'm currently in the DC area attending the NE Divisional @ Fedex Stadium.

I was the fastest STX car on the practice course on Friday. Car felt absolutely planted. Max, if you haven't done so already, you should look into the Andy Hollis washer mod for the swaybar bushings/brackets. I added thin washers to my front and rear swaybars and the car feels better-than-ever right now!

Today was Day 1 of competition and Gary from my local SCCA region co-drove with me. We are currently sitting 1-2 in the class. Gary is leading with a 56.4, while I'm 0.2 seconds back with a 56.6. A bunch of fast WRX drivers are just behind us with times of 56.7, 56.8, 56.9 and 57.0 (btw, I coned away the fastest raw times in the class of 56.0 and 55.9 on my 3rd and 4th runs respectively).

As a reference point, Ian Baker is currently leading STS with a 56.389.

Day 2 should be interesting...

P.S. I've left my shocks set at 3F/4R since the Swift spring swap as this seems to work best. On the advice of an S2000 guy, I tried pressures of 39F/36R cold and 40F/37R hot. Car feels absolutely fantastic with these pressures.

 

Sounds like fun Chike. I will be going to Houston next weekend. Should be a lot bigger region and competition.
I have been running 39/37 hot temps. Do you have a link to this washer mod?

 

^I've been running the same on my 265 Dunlops.

 

Max,

Unfortunately I do not. But Hollis described this mod in a GRM issue earlier this year. I'll look for it when I get home and send you a scan.

-Chike

 

Day 2 of the 2010 NE Divisional went well and I came away as the STX class champion. Gary couldn't quite match my pace, and fell to 3rd. Adam Koback (won ST at last year's Finger Lakes NT), moved from 4th to 2nd.

My fastest time today of 52.2 was 0.4 seconds faster than anyone else in the class and 0.2 seconds faster than Ian Baker's winning time in STS. My cumulative time for the weekend was 0.1 seconds off of Ian's. All in all it was a great weekend, with great competition.

I'm still impressed by just how well my suspension is working right now. These coilovers kick ***!!!!

 

Thanks for the info, so far these are my #1 choice....i gotta see how the summer comes along first before i go to next "phase".

good luck with your races

 

Understood. Good luck with the development of your car!

Thanks. I wasn't expecting this result, but drove the best I could each day and wanted to force my competitors to out drive me.
Max, the article "Handle it!" by Hollis was in the May 2010 issue of Grassroots Motorsports on page 103. I've scanned the section of the article speaking about the swaybar washer mod below (sorry about the poor quality):

 

Thanks Chike. I googled it last night. I will try this befor my next event.

Nice driving this weekend! I am also pretty happy so far with these coilovers. At our last regional event my times were dead even with the guy that won STS at Blytheville this weekend. He cones his, so I actually beat him. But it's good to know if I could have stayed anywhere close to his times I could have been competative in STX.

 

Chike, congrats on the win this weekend! Wish I could have been there!

 

Thanks guys! These were the STX class results:

'Street Touring X' - Total Entries: 14 Trophies: 5 Car Color Day Times Total

1T stx 190 Chike Dellimore 2006 Mazda Rx-8 Grey
D1 57.678 56.678 56.043+dnf 55.969+4 108.961
D2 54.020 52.868+1 52.581 52.283 -

2T stx 91 Adam Koback 2004 Subaru Wrx Silver
D1 57.127+1 56.910 60.488+2 56.861 109.487
D2 53.256+1 55.399+dnf 52.626 52.034+1 0.526

3T stx 90 Gary Krichbaum 2006 Mazda Rx8 Gray
D1 57.595+2 58.095 57.221 56.439 109.589
D2 55.941+dnf 53.287 53.476 53.150 0.102

4T stx 191 Kevin Tulay 2004 Subaru Wrx Silver
D1 60.000 58.831+2 56.845 56.783 109.717
D2 54.204 52.934 53.416 53.692 0.128

5T stx 7 John Willemin 2003 Subaru Impreza Wrx World Rally Blue
D1 58.364 57.038 58.326+6 57.106 110.399
D2 53.604+2 53.363 54.142 53.361 0.682

6 stx 107 Travis Finlay 2003 Subaru Wrx Blue
D1 59.460 56.721+2 56.896 57.387 110.793
D2 54.203 53.897 63.689+1 54.271 0.394

7 stx 29 Paul Sciukas 2005 Subaru Wrx Blue
D1 59.780+3 57.705+1 57.603 57.519 111.241
D2 53.722 53.760 52.647+1 53.478+3 0.448

8 stx 87 Dave Ogburn 2009 Mini Cooper Jcw Black
D1 60.689 58.536 58.199+1 58.521 112.702
D2 55.093+1 54.181 54.057+2 54.307+1 1.461

9 stx 1 Charlie Thompson 2004 Mini Cooper S Works Brg
D1 60.410+2 59.270+1 58.758 58.313 112.809
D2 56.996+2 56.224 54.496 55.141 0.107

10 stx 48 Andrew Weigel 2004 Bmw 330Ci Blue
D1 58.179+1 57.659+5 56.698+4 57.553+1 112.811
D2 53.258 53.404 53.556 53.120+1 0.002

11 stx 55 Chris Bickford 2004 Subaru WRX Blue
D1 59.453+2 60.244 59.865 58.959 113.666
D2 56.109 54.707 54.643+1 55.860 0.855

12 stx 43 Andre Downey 2002 Subaru Wrx Red
D1 60.231 59.711 59.890+dnf 59.283+1 114.198
D2 55.368+1 55.186 54.984 54.487 0.532

13 stx 187 David Ogburn 2009 Mini Jcw Black
D1 62.960 61.260 60.685 60.113 116.751
D2 59.472 57.111+1 56.821 56.638 2.553

14 stx 155 John Laakso 2004 Subaru WRX Blue
D1 63.776+4 62.267 62.004 62.238 119.228
D2 57.224 57.939 58.468 57.886 2.477

 

Chike, where are those posted?

 

Results aren't up on the NE Division's website yet, but the DC region has them posted on their site.

Results: http://www.wdcr-scca.org/LinkClick.a...=1663&mid=3490

PAX: http://www.wdcr-scca.org/LinkClick.a...=1663&mid=3490

 

+1 I just finished all 16 pages and certainly learned a lot more than I thought I would. It's pretty much like taking a class on suspension components if you read this thread word for word. Took a few hours but it was well worth it. I'm looking at purchasing these coilovers when I get back into the states.

So props to you guys (specifically Max and Chike, though there were others, you guys helped the most) for a job well done on trial and error with the suspension, specifically the PSS9's. And for the updates as to how they are doing along the whole way.

Two thumbs up,
Ryan

 

Pics!

Gary




Chike




Ian Baker

 

A member from my local scca region (BRR), took a few pics of me on course on Sunday morning:

Entering the showcase




Into the final turn before the finish

 

Went over to Houston region this weekend to get some seat time. And to run with a bigger region than ours. See how I do in a bigger pond bigger pond you know.Ended up being 102 drivers.

Placed first in class and Paxed 4th, about .2 from the top on a 60 sec course.

The surface was not all that good, lots of loose gravel and pretty slippery. I don't feel I drove really well, but that might just be a product of the surface we were on. Nothing really felt fast. And it was HOTTT. 95+ degrees.

Started out at 5/6 ft/rr. Went down to 6/7 my last run, but that didn't work at all.