You have to align it anyway .......

Have you seen any aftermarket bushings for the A-arms yet. I figure mine will be shot by the end of the year....

Nope. Shock-only replacement done this way doesn't change anything in the geometry.
Springs are another matter, though the RX-8 suspension is square enough that you will only have to adjust camber and the toe and caster will fix itself (provided it was right to begin with).

Then again, I do my own alignments on a regular basis, so my opinion may be skewed.

Not yet.
I talked with the Energy folks back in November and they were preparing a set, but I haven't heard anything since.

What you did different than what most people do, or should do if they need a DIY, is you dropped the springs off with the suspension rather than pulling the shock/spring assembly as a whole unit and then using a spring compressor to remove the spring off the shock in a separate step. There are a lot of extra and unnecessary suspension disassembly steps in there as a result

the OE bushings are a very unique design and better than any of the polyurethane crap, if you aren't going to delrin or spherical/pillowball types don't bother

nicely done MM, thanks!

Huh? How would I do that?
I pulled the whole assembly off then pulled the spring. I just loosened the top bolt while it is on the car.

I want some delrin/precision ones. Might have to resort to making them myself.

I have a spare set of upper and lower A-arms for the front to use when mine are shot...and then I'll mod the old ones

Just when I thought I wasn't confused anymore,,,,

ok, guess I misunderstood, but I'd just pull the upper front control arm pivots loose rather than monkey around with a ball joint, that and undoing where the front shock attaches at the top and bottom lets you swing the whole thing out easily, same for the rear but I drop the lower rear arm instead which requires dropping the rear swaybar endlink (and ride height sensor if you have anything over the base option model)

I do my own alignments too, but I'd recommend at least checking it whether you pulled the arms or not

Funny...we all do it slightly different.....but it still works :D: Ain't life grand....

As mentioned above...be safe. Use jack stands and undo anything you might break. Those headlight levelers are damn expensive...handle with care

I also unbolt all the shock mounts from the chassis before lifting the car, it all just drops down to max suspension extension when you put it up on jack stands

This is a great write up. I'm doing this tomorrow w/ Espeliar springs. I don't understand having the jack underneath the hub but I'll do it anyways. It's not too out of my way.

I have the Tokico D-spec 519 shocks and springs set which is supposed to lower the car 1.25" on all 4 corners and my front almost looks like stock height, or maybe .25" lower than stock, the back however looks like its 1" lower. Any ideas as to what might have made the front not drop so much? The bad thing is I had a shop do it, is it possible they reversed the springs? Fronts in the rear and rears in front? Thanks.

hey all, anyone know the part # of the front shock dust boot? can't seem to find it in any .pdfs i have access to. :(

I almost was going to order some of the stock parts for my shocks to have 2 sets of fully assembled shocks and the dealer faxed me a printout with all the part numbers on a diagram, call and see if they can fax you one. I left it at my uncles shop or I would look it up for you.

How come this isn't in the DIY section?

Because its really about ignition to get higher hp with turbos, we just drifted off subject a little. There aren't instructions on here telling everything about the install.

i just called the parts dept. at my dealer and they said the front shock dust boot isn't pictured on the film mazda provides them either... hrm.

no image tags available in the DIY section. PLUS: this is the Wheels, Tires, brakes, and suspension forum. :)

Couple things
 

I did my fronts this weekend.

Pull the spring off slowly so you can get a good look at how the rubber stoppers fit together.

If you are doing the Koni yellows you have to drill out the old end caps and reuse them. They do not provide new ones

When should I replace the bushings?
 

I'm replacing my struts and springs but i don't know if i should replace the bushings. and or what else should be replaced in the process !

Hi You couldn't send me the attachments with the torque settings could you?


Thanks


John