Despite my car being in the shop, I've been looking at a bunch of Mods to do. Top of the list of course is suspension.

Do you guys think the Tein-S springs running over the OEM dampers are worth it?
Because honestly ~210 lb/in in front and ~180 lb/in in back just doesn't seem like it would be enough. I'm a young guy and have no worry of back pains or anything. I want to do no more than 1.5 inches of drop but would love ~400 lb/in of pressure.


So honestly. Think I should just get the springs now? are they really THAT different? or should I hold out for the more expensive more intense 450 lb/in Tein basic dampers?

Can people with both let me know how they like them? any input at all. this would be my first significant mod.

 

Don't ask me, i have cut springs

 

It's a silly question, it's like I'm young, I can take the pain, and I want all the pain... just ask yourself... what for? you don't just go the hardest spring in the world because you can take it... for no good reason.

Ask yourself again, what do you intend to do with your car? Autox, tracking etc daily driving or just want the lowered look? remember most lowering spring like s.tech or tanabe gf210 (one i have) do lower the car at the same time without sacrificing the ride quality, in fact they improve the ride quality over oem quite significantly!!! without the pain of course.

If you have hellaflush setup with only 2mm gap between guard and tyre then by all mean go the hardest spring that gives almost no suspension stroke, and those s.tech or tein basic you mentioned will not give you pain.

 

what he said^^
also keep in mind that harder isn't always better when it comes to suspension setups.

 

tein s-techs were too soft in my opinion, and too low especially if your running them on oem dampers. It depends on what you want to do with the car really, if your mostly just driving on the street, i think s-tech and a good shock like konis are perfectly adequate. If you are going to be attending track days i would save up for something better,

 

I wouldnt recommend putting 400lb springs on your stock shocks...Good luck getting them to last more than a month..

 

TopGear8, the Tein damper systems are both shocks and springs... plenty of longevity there.

My last car had 400lb/in Dinan coil overs which were fine, but that car was also much heavier.
Ideally I would want 350lb/in in front and 270-300lb/in in back but haven't been able to find a system with those rates yet.

I only mentioned the young thing because I really don't care if it's a super taught suspension. I value the looks of a drop I guess, but mainly I want the handling.

Purely for handling and very occasional track use. What do you guys suggest?

 

^I was referring to posting about the S Techs...

I'm running 560F and 400R on Moton shocks...May go up to 700F and 450R to do some further testing...

You say Ideally...How do you know what ideally is..have you calculated frequencies?

 

with properly valved shocks you can still retain some comfort even when running on stiffer springs. The quality of the shock valving is just as important as the spring rate in terms of ride quality.

There are several systems with rates close to what your looking for,

http://www.good-win-racing.com/Mazda.../60-01758.html

http://www.good-win-racing.com/Mazda...5-RX8-DFV.html

http://www.good-win-racing.com/Mazda...0-1070RX8.html

http://www.good-win-racing.com/Mazda.../20R-1102.html

 

Moton shocks or coilovers? Either, nice but price. I'm on stock kw v3 coilovers. I'm thinking about getting custom spring rates and maybe valving.

The kw coilovers are very streetable. 450/280 (progressive) I think.

 

^Shocks and Coilovers are pretty much the same thing, They are the Clubsports. Height adjustable as well as Rebound/Compression adjustable. They don't sell "coilovers" as they do not make springs...Most people run Hypercoil or Eibach with their Moton's.

 

I should have proofread.

Either way, nice but pricey.

 

Pricey indeed, but in the National Solo scene, they are as popular as RPF1's are for the rx8

 

How is the valving? Normaly shocks are valved for a small range of spring rates. Is the adjustable that wide?

 

Typically(from the research i've done) The Moton's are valved to match a wide range of spring rates, what is that range? good question. I've only done testing so far with one set of springs, and got it set up to where I like it, as far as the valving goes, well i'm still learning alot. Bill at Small Fortune Racing is the guy to ask about Moton's valving.

 

They will valve it around any spring rates you want, let em know.

 

Hm.. well do you think it's worth buying the s-Techs and just experiment from there on out if I want it tighter?

I'd only do that if I was able to do all the suspension work myself though.

 

Yes I know that. I was looking more for the answer topgear provided, which is basicly that they have a wide range of adjustability and he will find out how wide.

 

Going up to 700in the front is about a 25% jump which is pretty big. From what I understand, its the rebound valving that needs the most work/adjustment.

from what I understand shocks have low speed and high speed valving and most are only adjustable for low speed. The high speed are set based on the spring rates. Atleast thats how the KW's are which is why they dont recommend a large change in the spring rates. However the KW's and the Motons are in a different ballpark.