that_one_rx8

Budget: roughly 1.2k and my driving skill I would say is good and I'm starting autocross soon

Steve Dallas

Bilstein B14 PSS for $1100 shipped. Every coilover priced below that is basically junk.

that_one_rx8

Alright thanks

DartzIRL

Had one of the stock rear shocks blow its top on track (Either because of, or immediately prior to, a high speed sphincter-pucker spin). Rather than go with stock shocks, I decided to experiment on suspension.

Have a set of Tein Flex-Z's on the car since February. This is a car that, 90% of the time is used as a commuting and working horse, with tools in the boot. From a numb-**** standpoint, they're perfectly tolerable on Irish roads. I can't tell of any handling benefits because I haven't reached that level of skill yet.

They are proibably very much overkill for what I do with the car.

They're set to the recommended heights only, and recommended damping rates. They haven't been corner-weighted or anything like that.

They feel good. They're much stiffer than stock, but don't crash hard on rough roads. It's a tolerable sort of stiffness, rather than being utterly bone-rattling.

Had it on track there a week or two ago and it felt great. Flat while cornering. Good feel. Could sense the tyres squirming a lot better.

Had a knock from the front left. Wasn't the coilover- just a bolt that hadn't been fully tightened. There do be the occasional squeaks from the springs but nothing obnoxious.

Drawnback wise - the car is a little bit too low for local roads. There's signs of hits to the sump, catalytic converter and on the underbelly. Some of them from new Mt. Everest type sump-breaker ramps the council installed on my local estate.

Just shows they're pretty durable too.

Maybe some rally suspension might be suitable.

Black_RX

DartzIRL

I am looking for a setup street use with height adjustability to reduce the wheel gap

I was about to get a set of Flex Z's until I read this post where one of the guys recorded the rear coils bottoming out just going over small bumps
Have you found this happens with the Flex Z's?
https://www.rx8ownersclub.co.uk/foru...93b1&start=100

Steve Dallas

This post is all you need to know:

https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-whe...7/#post4816653

DartzIRL

I hadn't thought of it. Went out to check and the plastic's been rubbed off the coils. I've had them on for nearly two years mind and have driving it on fairly shocking roads.

It will occasionally bottom when the car is dropping - such as off a partically sharp speed ramp, but not if the suspension is being compressed by the road. There's one particular place where I regularly drive and the car drops into a hollow in the road and it feels properly controlled because both wheels are dropping. There's no shock of anything binding up and it feels fine to my inexperienced ****.

I find it more noticeable on the front - but only in some very specific places where one wheel only is dropping into a dip, and then gets slammed back up into the car. Maybe the ARB is preventing the shock from extending fully, the car's dropping over and then you've got the energy of the downward moving body and the upward moving wheel to dissapate.

In the end I got what I paid for - put nearly 50k on them on a mix of motorway, Irish backroads and residential streets with ramps so sharp and awkward they've broken drop-links on me - and they're still more or less working. There's a little damper wear showing up in the NCT but not a lot.


That said, mine are running at the recommended ride-height and pre-load settings, with a bit of extra damping clicked in

canyonshark

Hello everyone,

I just wanted to update this forum a bit. For anyone out there that is looking for a great set of coilovers for the street or the track I highly recommend Feal coilovers. I have had a set of their 441 coilovers on my series 2 Rx8 for the past 4 years and they have been incredible. I constantly drive Angeles Crest HWY, and if anyone knows that road it is not the smoothest and it's also built on the side of a large mountain range with very steep drop offs. Once I upgraded to Feal suspension I had all the confidence in the world on this road. Also got a chance to chase down a few Porsches as well. Overall best bang for your buck with the Rx8.