RX8 Coilover Selection
 

My son and I are working on some minor modifications of my 04 RX-8 to enjoy more our track days and with the intentions of competing in Autocross, time attack and road rally events. We want to improved the suspension with a good set of coilovers, but we can't decide which brand and setup to purchase.

We always haul the car to all the events, but not to the Autocross, which we drive. We are thinking in a good set of OHLINS coilovers, any advise Thanks

You can't go wrong with Ohlins but you're asking a loaded question since there is so much to proper suspension tuning that goes far beyond just picking coilovers.

Coilover Selection
 

We already change the sway bars and have adjustable links and we are running with Racing Beat springs and Tokico shocks which is not that bad but in Autocross not good. I'm thinking to go with 460 lbs/in front and 230 lbs/in back. I believe, but not sure, that this setup will give me better setting range for bumping tracks like Buttonwillow and Willow Springs but much better handling in Laguna Seca. Thanks for your input...:rock:

Check this site out.

Autocross to Win (DGs Autocross Secrets) - Buying Shocks

Also, check out this youtube channel by a well known suspension builder called Fat Cat Motorsports

https://www.youtube.com/user/SuspensionTruth

:cool:

I too am looking at getting new coilovers for my series 2 as my front winter tires are rubbing due to the front end being too low (height adjustment is already maxxed out). I currently am running HSD Monopros. Any recommendations that will give me the ground clearance I require?

Ground Clearance
 

You can increase the spring force which will increase the ground clearance, but the downside is more suspension stiffness. You will need to play with the adjustments. Good luck :icon_tup:

Is it the tires that are rubbing or the body of the car? Because if it's the tires, your problem isn't ride height. I had mine around 12.5" ride height at some point and the tires were fine. The splash guards were not.

Anyway, Ohlins are fantastic, as stated in this thread. I'm running MeisterR CRDs and very VERY pleased with them as well. They're only just now starting to enter north america.

Why must you turn this forum into a house of lies?

The tires are rubbing the fenders whenever I hit a bump or go to make a tight turn

What wheels are you running (in particular offset)? Because like I said, unless the HSD's are poorly designed for the car, you shouldn't be hitting the fenders. And you would hit bodywork on ground way before that. So if you have the wrong wheels, different coilovers aren't going to fix it. Especially if it rubs on a hard turn, that sounds like wrong offset, more than ride height problem.

Can you measure your ride height from center of the wheels to the top of the wheel arch?

225/55R17 all around, summer wheels/tires are 225/40ZR19, 245/35ZR19. I want my car to atleast be stock ride height so I can finally go over some speed bumps without worrying about getting stuck.

Those are tire, not wheel specs. Anyway, the HSDs should be able to give you near stock ride height, I have a couple of Miata friends with them (and the suspension is identical to ours). So what I'm saying is, installing new coilovers might be an expensive way to find out the coilovers aren't the problem. How did you determine they're at maximum ride height?

Cant even fit my fingers between tdc of my tire to top of the wheel arch. I had my mechanic (1 year ago) adjust the suspension for max ride and they were unable to get any more ride height out of the front coilovers

Center of the wheel. As in, where the lugnuts are.

https://perfautogroup.files.wordpres...easurement.jpg

1'1"

Yeah so you're lowered around 1.5". That shouldn't produce rubbing with correct wheel offset, so that's one thing.

You should be able to raise it higher with the HSDs. It's easy enough if you do your own work. There is no actual maximum on those, you just need to make sure about 20mm of tread remains in the part that attaches to the wheel knuckle. If you don't do your own work then... I guess it's even easier :)

This size will have a substantially bigger overall diameter than stock -- 0.77" according to the calculator on this site. Bet this is part of your problem. And either way it's not optimal for your ABS and DSC.

Slight lowering alone wouldn't be an issue. A slight offset difference alone wouldn't be an issue. A slight tire size difference alone wouldn't be an issue. But put 2 or 3 of those together and, yeah, you could have problems.

On a 17" wheel, use 205/55R17 (a hair smaller than stock OD) or 215/55R17 (a hair bigger). Narrower is usually better for snow anyway.

Problem is fixed, turns out there was some more vertical adjustment left in the coilovers. As for TC/ABS/DSC, I dont drive with them on anyways.

You can't really turn ABS off... anyway, glad you fixed it!

Pretty sure you can

I have Penske 8300 double adjustable shocks one my rx8 and they use regular 2.5" ID coilover springs, They are pretty amazing to say the least.

I am personally going with Silvers.

Hi all. My rear shocks/ springs have sagged a lot and I have been researching options available. Possibly still on original shocks on a series 1 (yes I know this is in S2 section but what can I say, I get around!).

I'm looking for any feedback on Blitz ZZR coilovers. Good, bad or ugly. It appears I can get these for the right price if they are any good. The RX8 kit has extended damper adjusters on the rears. The ZZR are similar in price to BC coilovers.

These do appear to be near identical looking to the BC coilovers and have the same spring rates being front 8 and rear 6. A reviewer in another forum stated they appear to be excellent quality and the valving is different but that's all the info I have now.

Any more info appreciated.

Pic of Blitz ZZR coil overs. Notice they are near identical to one of the BC units.
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...6bee881e1d.jpg

So I have up to 1k to spend on some coils overs for the street only. What do you all suggest? I want to lower it alittle, but still comfy on the street. It’s an 09 R3.

I always use fortune auto and best thing about them is you can buy the standard 500 series and just upgrade them to the full race 510 series instead of having to purchase a whole new set

For the Street , and Street only, especially if you only have $1,000 to spend, I would go with a good shock/spring combo, You'll get way more bang for your buck at that cost point, and the road manners and handling will be 10000000 times better then any coilover you'll probably get for $1,000 or less... Unless you find a crazy deal on like Ohlins or Penske's or something, and even then Ohlins still won't have the road manners of a good Spring/Shock combo because you lose alot of the bump insulation and travel that standard shocks and struts offer.

I have Racing Beat Springs, and Koni Adjustable on my 04.. I replaced my Tein Flex Z's with them because they were absolutely one of the worst coilovers I've ever had on a car despite them being highly recommended on this platform at the time for a street car with occasional track use and alot of spirited driving ( If you've ever driven a truck with a GVWR in excess of 10,000lbs with nothing for weight in it, like a Ford F450, or Chevy 3500HD thats alot how they rode.)

.... I frequently do long drives with my RX-8, rarely do I find the Koni/RB Spring combo to be too firm or uncomfortable. The handling feels much more like a well setup car with firmer suspension from the factory then some Rattlebox on over sprung, over dampened coilovers with zero travel like 99.9% of coilovers out there will make your car feel..

Over the years, the FD guys have come to the conclusion that 25" from the ground to the wheel arch is "best" for the FD as far as handling goes. Is there a similar measurement for the RX-8? Or are you guys just dropping it to your liking?

Usually ride height is measured from the center of the wheel to the arch, since those points are independent of wheel size/tire outer diameter.
But, anyway, 13" center to wheel arch is generally "good" (so about 1.25" drop off the average stock height). You don't really want to get into 12"s, there's nothing to be gained and more scraping.

I just installed Blitz ZZ-R coilovers in early august. Got them for an excellent price from RHDJapan.com, replaced all my camber/toe/caster eccentric bolts at the same time banged out an alignment and man this car performs beautifully now, even took it on an 1800Km road trip through the Rocky mountain to break them in and get settled.

25" fender to ground at all 4 corners, just needs some new wheels with better offset and it will be dialed in perfect.

Looked at those Blitz coilovers a while ago however I could not find a single review from an RX8 owner that went with them. So it was unknown if any different or better than the regular BC style common setup. The WRX guys seemed to rate them though.
What are the street manners like on these Blitz coilovers? Also adjustability as far as noticeable changes in damping? Be great if you could outline any issues you might have come across also.
Pretty sure these were same price as BC around here anyway. Cheers.

I just finished installing a set of Bilnax single adjustable coilovers from Shaftworks. I had Ohlins on my 2005 GT and although I really liked them I wanted something a little more stiffly sprung this time around. Shaftworks builds them to order so I was able to get exactly the spring rate I was looking for (12k/9k F/R) and have the dampers valved to match. The only down side was lead time. They were competitive price wise with off the shelf Ohlins. Overall I am happy so far. I don't think these will go as low as many of the other options, but I am not looking to slam the car. For now I have the car sitting just under 14" to the fender lip. I took a short drive so not much in the way of driving impressions to pass along at this point. I will be autoscoring the car so I made my choices with that in mind. A few pictures. The first was posted by Shaftworks before they shipped. The next two are a little closer up.

Everything feels well made. The set comes with adjusters and spanner wrenches. One small downside is that there were no remote adjusters provided for the rear dampers.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...d3f291efc0.jpg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...e487da9387.jpg
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...4a47357a5b.jpg

Same, found zero reviews on an RX-8, but a few from subbie, Nissan Z/S cars and even a Prius owner that had zero complaints.

I was going to get theBlitz Spec-C version with the external reservoir and 10k/7k springs but they went discontinued and i was probably aiming a little high with my driving usage. Somewhat glad i went for the 8/6K springs anyway. They might be the same as BCs with different paint, but since they were part of a large order and my friend bought 5K$ worth of stuff for his S15 we saved a fair bit and they were 200-300$ less than BCs from a canadian supplier, and I get that sweet JDM brand sticker to show off lol.

Performance is awesome, i left them set pretty soft for a road trip to get settled in, twisty mountain switchbacks were a complete blast, could push it so hard. I've dialed them up to about 70-80% stiff setting and it's about perfect for a weekend/evening hard drives now.

Will report with a long term opinion after a bit more road time.

Great info, thank~!

I am running ohlins DFV with 10.7K front and 6K rear spring rates. I think leaving the stock rear sway bar and redrilling the front OEM sway bar yields pretty good results and good balance. I am also running -2.5 degree camber front and -2.2 rear. I had to get the offset whiteline bushings for the front upper control arms to get the camber to this amount. I really like this set up A LOT.

The Ohlins is also offered as a stiffer race setup with 13Kg front 8Kg rear

compared to the standard Ohlins street & track 8Kg front 5Kg rear setup

Ohlins, or our Long Stroke Custom FPSpec Ohlins... *The Choice*, but not the cheapest. And... one week left before the price hike goes into effect for 2024 (February 1) ! www.sakebombgarage.com/rx8/suspension/