I've finally installed my front KONI Yellow struts to accompany my previously-installed rear ones and TEIN S.TECH springs, as my front stock struts were getting very creaky and felt overly stiff. Now I finally have a square suspension setup. I set all of my KONI struts to the softest setting for street driving (there are a LOT of speed-bumps, pot-holes, drainage troughs in driveways, etc. in SoCal!), and they still sit about 1/2" lower than the stock struts with the TEIN springs. I really like the way this combo drives; it's got enough travel and bounce to be comfy, but enough stiffness to prevent body-roll and feel tight while taking turns and changing lanes.

Wheels are Konig Lace 18x9.5 powdercoated hypersilver, +45 Offset but the 25mm Garageline spacers put the actual offset at about 20mm.

Front Tires:
-265/40/18
-Federal RS/RR 595

Rear Tires:
-275/40/18
-Nexen N-Fera SUR4

Despite being listed as 265-width, the front Federal tires are really about 270mm upon measurement; this makes my tire setup pretty close to the RX8 ideal of a square setup.

Fenders rolled and flared as much as humanly possible (almost an inch of total extra clearance, IIRC), and the internal wheel-well shrouds have been cut back a lot as well along the outer-facing edges to prevent rubbing. I left as much material towards the tops and inside-facing edges as possible for road-noise dampening and weather protection, although it's not very wet or salty in sunny San Diego so I've never had a problem.

And now for your infotainment, I present to you a brief photographic tour of the incredibly protracted installation of my suspension!


Stock struts with just the TEIN S.TECH springs, circa mid-late 2014
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Installing the rear KONI Yellow struts, mid-2015
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Rear KONI Yellows in rear, with TEIN springs, mid-2015
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Installing the front KONI Yellow struts, early 2019
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Using spring-compressors rented from AutoZone to remove the springs from the struts, early 2019
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Front KONI Yellows installed with TEIN springs, early 2019
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Before any suspension work (circa early 2014), and still with the super-thin tires the previous owner had installed (I'm not a fan of the lifted monster-truck look on sports cars)
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After suspension work and new tires - circa early 2019
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Rear isometric view after new suspension and tires (the supercharger in the background is almost ready, and that's why I put the larger 275/40 tires on the rear - otherwise that's obviously a ludicrous amount of tire for a stock NA RX8!) - circa early 2019
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Front with 265/40/18 tires and TEIN/KONI suspension - circa early 2019
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Front with 265/40/18 tires and TEIN/KONI suspension - circa early 2019
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Rear with 275/40/18 tires and TEIN/KONI suspension - circa early 2019
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Getting rid of those taillights should be your next priority..

 

+1
Car looks good but tail lights need to be set on fire

 

Hmmm. I did buy those several years ago. Suggestions? Maybe the smoked variants? Anything but stock S1 tails - those things are ****-ugly.

 

Look at my recent posts, not long ago i posted up my S1 with the same style tail lights but are black in the areas where yours are chrome. Looks way better, and doesnt break the bank

 

The stocks are a million times better than the ones on the car currently.

 

This came out great, how much lower does it suggest with these springs from stock. I been looking online and came across h tech tein springs that are gold color (* -1” front & -.3” rear (RX-8)

 

difference between h and s is ~1/2" iirc. i have koni yellows with s tech and installed h techs with yellows on my buddys car. mine was slightly lower but his rode much better

 

I have old pictures of my old TiGrey with both the H-techs and the S-techs. Remind me to come back later (also making a mental note for myself) and post both

 

Drop measurements can be found at Tein's website:
https://www.tein.com/srch/us_search....ault&genuine=0

 

Thank you guys! Any recommendations where to purchase the koni shocks? I found a few places on eBay that have them listed from $875-$1000 for all 4. I have a similar setup on my FD and prefer the ride compared to the tein basis coilovers I currently have on the rx8.

 

I believe Koni discontinued the orange STR.T 8250 non-adjustable performance shocks for the RX8, which were specifically designed for enhanced performance with both OE and stiffer/shorter lowering springs. It appears that they might still be available at a few places though. If you can locate a set of those, they’re about 1/2 the cost of the yellow Sport adjustable shocks.

The rear yellow Sport shocks on the RX8 can’t be adjusted without removing, disassembling, then reassembling the entire rear shock/spring assembly. So for most people the rear RX8 Sport shocks are essentially non-adjustable anyway.
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Tein H.Techs with Koni Yellow shocks

Tein S.Tech with Koni Yellow shocks

 

oh now you’re going to make me install the Koni orange STR.T shocks with Mazdaspeed springs and post pictures.
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Well someone had mentioned the two tein springs and konis have also been mentioned, so i just figured it would be a helpful visual for any newcomers that come across this before other threads with picture examples.

Honestly with the knowledge I have now, and experience from different setups, if spending anything less than $2,000 I would recommend people go with a proper spring and shock combination over any market coilover under that value (except maybe some fortune autos if you find a deal. They arent the best but they are far better than other stuff out there around the price or cheaper and they are rebuild-able. Most people would do great with them honestly as a entry level performance height-adjustable coilover thats customizable and serviceable).

 

Thank you guys both! Ricky my cars the same color so this is a great representation! I really do appreciate the pictures and definitely going this route, can’t wait to get started.