I've done a couple Autox's this year, and while I'm very pleased with the 8's handling, it leans a bit more in hard turns than I like. I'm curious what autox'ers and racers think about adding just heftier shocks? I'm not ready to go the whole springs/coilovers/sway bars route just yet. I wonder if I can get rid of some of the body roll with different shocks?

 

I put on a set of Tein Basics - had to take 'em off again, way too harsh for a daily driver, but bought a set of Whiteline sways from the group buy.

MUCH more suitable, keeps the lean down, hold the car flat in corners, with VERY little effect on the "ride" overall - my wife never noticed a difference! Very happy with the results. :D

S

 

shocks control the rate of lean

springs, swaybars, and tire grip control the amount of lean


assuming you're shocks aren't bottoming out

 

A set of Konis set to full stiff should help with your body roll. They just beat you up a bit on the street.

 

Paul,

From the guy with the black RX-8 at the MSCW auto-x the other week...

Check out some of the opinions of the Koni Sports (Yellows) on the Track/competition forum. They seem to receive good reviews from the hardcore auto-xrs. I've been a Miata guy for the last few years. I just bought my 8 a few weeks ago, but I've been on here for months researching the alternatives and conventional wisdom on OEM Replacement shocks. The Koni sport is a twintube shock (vs a monotube like a Bilstein), but is generally liked in the auto-x/hpde crowd, is rebuildable/revalvable, and will work well with upgraded springs if you chose to go that route in the future. It's a good choice, and likely the one I'll make in about 12 months.

If you stay with the stock shocks, you may want to look at a front swaybar instead. Not that Mazdaclub cares, but just adding the front swaybar will keep you SCCA Stock class legal and should get rid of some of the push. If you care less about SCCA rules, a matched swaybar set like the RB would do very well in decreasing body roll without adding harsness to your street driving.

Another option (and the cheapest of the three) is a more aggressive alignment. I don't know the hot alignment specs off the top of my head, but adding some negative camber up front and tweaking the toe setting can make a pretty notable difference without changing another thing. Of course aggressive toe settings will clean the tread right off your tires in daily driving. Ask me how I know...

Technically, better shocks don't really decrease body roll if they have the same length and travel as the OEM shock. What they do is increase the pressure/force needed to compress the shock (which of course results in roll). You can still get the car to roll just as much, but you'll be turning harder to get it to do so. Sway bars do actually limit suspension travel somewhat, and do decrease roll.

 

come on paul, just do the full mazdaspeed suspension upgrade, it'll be fun :D

 

If ultimate performance potential was my ultimate goal, I wouldn't want to put on stiffer bars if I was only running at Rosecroft. It's such a small lot with such tight courses... ugh.

Shocks are helpful there, though.

OTOH, if you're looking for something that will make the car feel more responsive on initial turn in and largely eliminate roll, particularly in street driving, sways will do the trick. On an autocross course, the car will push more with a front bar that's much stiffer than the OE part. If you replace the rear bar too, you can probably retain the balance, but you won't be able to run B Stock with it if you want to move up to the events at FedEx next year.

 

Hmmm. I like help with the roll, but I don't want to loosen my fillings between events. I suppose I could experiment with different settings and find a happy medium in there. I just wish we could adjust the rear Konis without having to pull them out.

 

Hey man! :D
Yeah, that's why I lean towards a "shocks only" approach for now. Generally I like the handling, but just want less roll. I won't go to more expensive mods until my driving skills improve enough to take advantage of it. :D I'll keep the Konis in mind for next spring when Autocross starts up again. (In the meantime, I need to buy snow tires first...) :D

 

Ha! It's tempting until I look at the cash outlay.

Yeah, that's part of my thinking is wanting to stay in B Stock. I'd rather retain the car's balance more or less the way it is.

Interesting tidbit... I took an SCCA Level 1 course a couple weeks ago, and the topic of mods versus stock came up. One of the instructors said not to worry about non-stock mods -- "Nobody will care until your times become competitive, then they'll jump all over you!" :D