Hey guys,

I was about to purchase rears by PT until i saw Teams post about losing control in wet conditions and decided i might just get front and rears.

I wanted to know in advance before i get them what setting i should use for fronts and rears. I know some of you have gone back and forth between different setups of stiffness and wanted to know what you stuck with.

I have the 40EA Bilstein shocks(I think they are similar to the bilstein HD's) with stock springs along with the other 40AE suspension goodies.

Ill be using the oem endlinks as well.

Thanks!

 

^^Really depends on your setup (alignment, suspension, driving style, etc.). We can't really tell you without trying it out, but I for example had great success on full soft front and rear (even full soft is stiffer and OEM), so try that first, then adjust from there. Even those settings made the body roll go almost completely away. Many people say full stiff in the front is too much, which I had considered, so I'm about to try the middle as it will probably be perfect for me, but I can't say for sure just yet.

 

^^^ Forget the bars & adjustments for a minute and consider the car is generally well balanced to start, even wo/bars. So now say you use the bars and set the same stiffness increase front & rear. You are not changing the balance, but you are increasing roll stiffness.

The result is less lean, meaning the suspension may stay in its optimal range of movement better, but harsher, with less overall grip, plus less side to side suspension independence. It's a compromise that might be benefical if you track the car say, much less so in a DD situation.

Likewise, changing the front to rear stiffness ratio is something only you can decide by driving the car in the manner and place where *your car's* handling performance is lacking in your judgement. It's so dependent on your own tires, springs, alignment, etc., that advice here is conceptual and offered so you can anticipate what adjustments might do.

Where do you want more grip? With that in mind, stiffer in front and /or softer in rear produces more understeer (aka "safer" lol) and the reverse is the opposite effect. You can adjust yourself into get loose trouble (big oversteer) or turn the car in to a pig (big understeer). In the middle is balance. It's totally up to you.

 

^ thanks for the info. I use the car mostly for daily but am hoping to get in some autox with some of my rx8 friends.

I bought my rx8 used with shitty nexen tires and looking to replace them for some s drives, after them id like to try the direzzas.

anyway... im looking to increase the cars potential at autox with something besides tires and was recommended to look into sway bars since i dont need to replace my shocks that alot of S1's need to do. Though since i use the car as my daily i cant have it getting erratic when it rains, i lost my 09 rx8 that way from hydroplaning downhill on a curve.

Ive never dealt with sways before, is it something i can set to soft for daily (even though it would be harsher than oem) and then jack the car up and switch it to stiff on a track day with relative ease?

 

^ absolutely. Once you get in the swing of things and know how to do the adjustment it's only a couple minutes (that is considering the bolts on your endlinks are not rusted). The rear is easiest, it's right there when you slide in behind the wheel. The front's are easiest w/wheel off. 2c is to set the front and then play with the rear adjustments (one or both side, one side adj is for finer adjusting) to make it easier.

The only thing to watch though, depending on how your adjustment holes are laid out on the bar's end, you MAY want an adjustable endlink to keep from having preload situation (bar under tension on flat ground). With the car on level ground - if you can unhook one side endlink and put it in the other hole(s) on the bar without tensioning the bar itself in order to get the link bolt in the new hole, you'll be ok. Ohterwise, not so much and an adj endlink on one side would make it much easier (and better) allowing it to be done without any preload.

Two adjustable endlinks allow you to do both ends of the car, one per end.

 

Oh and believe it or not, tires really are everything. I've had two sets of extreme performance tires, (Bridgestone Potenza RE01R, and currently Advan AD08's) and as a result I feel I kinda have to spoil myself and get this category for now on because anything else is a MASSIVE downgrade! The grip is insane, even in wet, and they're totally livable it daily drive.

 

Set the front at the middle setting and leave it. It's comfy enough for DD, and full stiff is so stiff it completely defeats the suspension of the car. Set the rear soft for DD. For autox, experiment with the hard setting if you want more rotation.

 

seems fitting ....

 

Hehe, thanks guys for the help. I take research to a whole unfun level before i buy something, i want to know the ins and outs before doing anything especially because i dont want anything to break and/ or replace because i didnt do my homework.

Also my bolts shouldnt be rusted as my car has never seen snow and is garaged.

Ill have to read up on this Preload, I think i might have my mechanic do it for me the first time that way i see what needs to be done and can do it myself later when adjustment needs to happen.

 

bump, maybe this was posted elsewhere, but I only just learned about it myself, PT now sells a reinforced bracket/bushing kit for the 1.25" diameter front bar

Replacement brackets and bushings Progress Technology: Anti-roll bars, sport springs, coil-overs, camber kits and more since 1995!

I know a few people have had issues with an occasional non-reinforced bracket breaking (including me on my custom 1.25" racing bar)

 

These might be the Cadillac version. Come with zerk fittings too:

Hotchkis Sport Suspension

 

More like BMW since they cost 2x more ($116 list vs $50 list). If there's a choice I choose the non-zerk version. Never seen a sway bar zerk bushing yet that has any grease channeling. In my experience it just puts some grease where the zerk fitting comes in the front side and the rest squeezes out making a mess. The grease is needed the most at the top and bottom rather than the side. Would also need to verify that Type A fits the RX8 because the longer universal bracket will need to have approx. 1/2" cut off the top end to not overlap onto the ABS wire locating bracket and bolt head.

 

^ Good points.