matt5462

I recently bought an o6 shinka, so far I have MS rear, front stress bars intake, exhaust, side skirts and a rear wing. I have found reading that I will never really/at this time beable to have a fast 1/4 car that corners great ect......without running into multiply problems, so I have decided that instead of doing the all american major h/p gains I would invest the money and do the suspension. I have decided on 18'prodrive wheels and tein flex. I have been told by a good racer friend that I may just want to to a rear sway???? any thoughts on that?? and what tire size would be best all the way around???

Red Devil

I have the Tein Flex and Whiteline adjustable sway bars front and rear. Others have the Tein Flex and Racing Beat sway bars front and rear. I don't think you can go wrong either way.

My answer to the best size all around is to fit as much tire as you can at all four corners wihtout rubbing, and without going staggered. At the moment, that appears to be the Enkei RP-F1 18x9.5" wheels. I have these, and fit 275 street tires at all four corners.

Razz1

RB sways are great.

The KW coil overs Variant 3 are the best for handling

DPE

iTrader: (1)

Matt5462,

Just FYI, I'm a Prodrive dealer and I have a set of Tein Flex on the way that should be here by Thanksgiving. Might be able to make you a good deal on everything together.

And you are a wise man to spend the money on the chassis rather than trying to make it a lot faster. I think in time as ECU flashes become popular and get sorted out there might be some pretty decent/economical NA packages out there to give you another 15-20hp that might be worth doing. Not that that will make your car a monster at the strip, but I think it worth waiting to see what develops. Right now, you're just not going to get a lot more out of the car NA.

As for a rear swaybar only, I can't say I've tried it but on this car that doesn't seem like the best idea. The chassis is already well balanced; a rear bar COULD make it awfully tail happy. A rear bar on a 350Z or WRX does wonders, as they push too much from the factory and both are generally a little more floppy than an RX-8 to begin with, but people that put front and rear bars on an RX-8 all seem quite pleased and the car remains balanced. We sell Whiteline, both adjustable and non-adjustable, and they work quite well.

As for tires, if you don't want to worry about rubbing or the like you can do 245/40 at all four corners and it works great. Not to undermine Red Devil; I know his car works VERY well and he likes to embarass Porsches at the track , but I belive there is the potential for clearance issues once you get past 245/40 all around and lower the car. Not a wheel and tire expert though, just my 2 cents.

Regards,

Phil
DPE

Red Devil

You know, I see you say this a lot but do you have anything to prove this? Any shock dyno charts that display their superiority vs. Koni or Tein or JIC or HKS, etc...

I've never seen anything conclusive to lead me to believe that any one is better or worse than any other...

Red Devil

Not at all. When I bought the Flex's from you guys I had no intention of slamming the car. So clearance wasn't really a concern. My car is lowered about a bit less than an 1" up front and a bit less than 3/4" in the rear. I, personally, would not go any lower, though on my setup.

Jax_RX8

Getting ready to do my suspension as well. I really want to do the RB sways/endlinks.

Thinking about also adding RB springs (already have Shinka bigger shocks) or possibly going with Tein Basics. Problem I have is budget, if I go with Tein Basics, then that is all I could afford for now and would have to skip the sways.

So what would be better bang for the buck - RB Sways and Springs (about $600) or Tein Basic Coilovers (about $700)

Red Devil

Only thing I can comment is that I ran into another RX-8 owner at the track last summer. He had the RB sways and springs package. He commneted that it was great for daily driving, but that by the end of every 25 minute track session that the OEM dampers were beginning to get "bouncy" from the stiffer springs.

When I did my upgrade, I debated all options, but ulitimately concluded that no matter what I was doing the dampers/springs at the same time.

CosmosMpower

Price on that set of FLEX's coming in? Also can you PM me on some streetable brake pad prices, (carbotech, hawk etc)

Razz1

Those systems aren't even in the same league. This is a racing sytem.

http://www.kw-suspension.com/en/index.php

Edit: DPE is correct, Whiteline sways are good. They weren't out when I bought the Racing Beat setup

Edit: Red Devil is correct do the shock if you don't do a full coilover. You will regret springs only. The stock rear shocks weak.

Red Devil

I have yet to see anything that proves superiority amongst Tein or Koni or KW or Penske etc...none appear to be markedly better than one or another when looking at comparable dampers for comparable purposes...you say the Variante3 is a racing system, so match that against a Koni 28 Series.

I'm sure comparison papers are out there and I just haven't seen them...this is why I asked for shock dyno charts.

BlueRenesis82

i am always down for a good read too

DPE

iTrader: (1)

Cosmos: You've got a PM .

Jax: We have not messed with Shinka shocks at all, and thus I don't know how they'd handle lower/stiffer springs. But in general, your best move here would be to get the shocks and springs upgraded at the same time, and then get the sways later if you are so inclined. Basics are going to be a big upgrade that you can definitely enjoy without adding sways for awhile. Whereas if you get springs and sways, you will still be left with another large purchase to make (shocks) if you are not pleased with the results. Not to mention you'll be doing the suspension install essentially twice (since doing springs is really no different from a labor standpoint than doing shocks and springs or just shocks). You may also consider Tokico or Koni shocks with Tein springs; our package deals come out to essentially the same cost as the Basics, and give you damping (shock firmness)adjustability (rather than height adjustability like the Basics). We're coming to believe that the Konis are superior shocks (not surprisingly), but the Tokicos are not bad and certainly an improvement over OEM. And the Tokicos allow for simple adjustment in the rear with the extension cables (which DPE includes with all DSP kits we sell for the RX-8). And for a further shameless plug, we've also lowered our price on the DSP kits by $30 and are including free shipping.

I'll have more on the subject in a thread in our forum soon, but I'm running Tokicos with Tein H-techs on my car while another guy has the Konis with H-techs on his. So we have a nice way to compare.

As for the KWs, I believe the on-paper advantage they have over most other systems on the market is independent compression and rebound adjustability. The vast majority of coilovers adjust compression and rebound at the same time. That is a real advantage to have them adjust independently, but like all things the quality of the components has to be good or they still have the potential to suck no matter how adjustable they are. Certainly not saying they suck, and I'd love to try them out myself, but that's not on our near-term agenda. Hopefully we'll get some reviews eventually. What we can say through customer feedback and our own experience with Tein is that Tein Flex do not suck, and are in fact very good quality coilovers for the price.

And if you read the above paragraph and haven't a clue what I'm talking about, come over to the DPE forum sometime after Thanksgiving and I hope to have more posts on suspension topics in one of our sticky threads.