I decided to be the first one, or that I know of, to order the springtech springs.

I just got them in today, opened the box no documents and noticed that the only marking on them is of what material they are made of and that they are BRIGHT red....might paint them black if im not lazy

I noticed two are slightly shorter than the other two. so it is at this point I ask.


do the short ones go in front or in back?




I dont have a lift so i have to do one corner at a time and want to get it right the first time since these are supposed to be a pretty decent drop.

thanks all who provide input.


Ill post pics when im done of before/after
the measurements of drop before/after
and how much they threw off my allignment/camber/caster/toe etc, whatever may become missaligned with a large drop.


I cant complain much since they only cost $108 usd.

 

i get off work in an hour, does anyone know which is which, they both look to be the same diameter, but two are about an inch shorter, i am assuming they go in back though

 

The longer ones go in the back. The way to tell for sure is the springs with the tighter taper on one end are the rears. They will only fit on the rear lower spring perch.

 

ok awesome, I know what your talking about, thank you that DEF made the difference. I was afraid I was going to have to get off work clueless like always.

 

Let us know how it goes and post up pics. Also you can click on the link to my spring page for pics. and pointers on what not to do.

 

I'm going off of memory here, but I'm pretty sure that with my Tanabe springs, the longer ones were in the front. I did the install nearly a year ago...but I do remember I didn't even have to use the spring compressor on the rear shocks to put the new rear springs on due to their shorter stature.

I don't know a thing about the brand of springs that you got, I'm just thinking it would be the same. Lots of people have got this wrong and the front drops extra and the rear is all jacked up in the air.

You definitely want to get this right the first time...it is a pita to do...even more so if you have to redo them all.

Good luck and read through the DIY...here is the one I used by Robin Yang. It was very helpful.

http://www.hi-impact.org/ryang/modify/modify.html

And you will definitely need an alignment when you are done...just make sure you've "pre-loaded" everything before you tighten it all down.

 

my s techs had the shorter ones in the front, the longer in the rear. If you call or email springtech i'm sure they can clear it up for you, though I agree with shaun completely.

 

The rears typically are closer to stock length because most aftermarket mfgs go with progressives in the back that start softer than stock so you have more initial compression at rest causing the drop at the rear. The fronts are typcially physically shorter because they are constant rate and stiffer than stock so they are a shorter length to get the drop.

At least that's what I've found in both my after market springs I tried.

At the end of the day. They are not interchangeable so the rears don't fit over the front shocks and the fronts don't fit on the rear spring perches. The taper is the key to telling the difference.

 

Also Teins and most springs have a part number on them that usually starts with and F or an R to identify the front and rears.

 

Cool. Thanks for clearing that up! I hopefully won't ever have to change the springs again anyway and can go with a nice coilover set. And very nice read from your other thread. It was very informative...and a lot of it over my head!

 

Glad it was helpful. Yeah Eric Meyer is a great guy to talk to. Really opened my eyes about how to test and dial in your suspension setup. I'm still not sure on the camber adjustment because I haven't had a chance to really get my tires warmed up to where I can tell the difference in temp. But I love the current setup so far!

 

yeah, the shorter ones were in front....I was surprised, this car is as easy to change springs on as my old honda....up front....
I was only able to change the front ones because, for some reason slipped my mind, I forgot I was supposed to take my girl out to dinner.....springs>food....so yeah the rear is going on today after work.

I forgot to let the upper arms relax before I tightened the bolts back up on the bushings so it only got about an inch drop up front, gonna loosen them when i get home.

all in all just for front springs (using air tools) took about 20 minutes. Im going to see if there is a way to do the rear springs without touching the cam bolts....i guess ill find out.


now here is my question, this setup worked GREAT in my old mazdaspeed protege, had it as my solo car. I had medium rate springs with STIFF sway bars.
now I know it was FF and only kicked the curb at 2200lbs. but it worked great for the weight transfer during trail braking. it would let the nose dive hitting the brakes going straight, but as soon as I hit the turn hard trail braking the sways would push more on the outside tires and the rear would ever so gently slide...SLIGHTLY.

would that same setup be effective on the RX8? if no one has done it I think Ill give it a try.

 

It took you twenty minutes to install the lowering springs in the front?

 

Took me 30mins each side using no air tools.

I had to remove the cam bolt to drop my rear springs out. Instead of trying to monkey around forever. Just mark with a marker the cam location and rip it out. Only takes less than a minute to locate it back again. Your going to get a alignment anyways shortly after so even if its not 100% perfect you'll be fine for the afternoon.