I’m looking for technical help or recommendations on: __coilovers
About 2 years ago I almost bought a set of MeisterR Coilovers but at the last moment baulked at the cost.
I have now decided to go ahead with new Coilovers this year, and would like to get some advice from others on what they have done. My chief dilemma is that I don’t want to lower the current ride height (368mm all round) very much or even at all. Local speed bumps and potholes would be a real problem with a lowered height.
It looks like there isn’t much price difference between MeisterR zetacrds and replacement Mazda Coilovers (or at least the parts that make these up). MeisterR have advised me that zetacrd can be set to 355mm, which might be manageable but possibly a little low.
My question is whether the MeisterR Coilovers are an improvement on the Mazda versions if, like me, you will never go near a track?
Despite the comments above i would fit Meisters on mine anyday over and above the standard suspension. If you fit the adjustable type for ride comfort then you have a range of from soft to hard feel, your choice.
I’ve got Meisters on my current NC, they are the Sportives so no adjustment for ride comfort, just height adjustment. If I had the choice again I’d go for the MeisterR CRD, you wouldn’t need the Club race.
As for quality, had them fitted for 5 years on my previous NC, they still looked like new condition when I sold it. Similar story on the current NC, they have been on around 3 years. I do pamper my cars but the suspension only gets looked at and cleaned oiled down around every six months.
A shout out here for Tein coil overs. They manufacture themselves, in Japan, if that’s of any significance as to their quality (and there’s plenty of ‘cheap Chinese’ parts around that are actually of really good quality. Origin is no guarantee of anything these days)
I had them on my ND, and they were (imho) far far better than the OE Bilstein dampers/Mazda sport springs that my car came with, which seemed to find every tiny bump in the road at low speed and amplify them, yet did not control the spring well enough when confronted with a series of ripples for instance.
Mine were the Flex Z, where ride height and spring preload are set independently of each other. The ride quality was excellent.
Maybe worth a thought?
I respect all the opinions expressed in this thread. Please don’t flame me.
In my experience, the OEM stuff is developed by some of the best engineers you will ever meet - manufacturer & supplier.
The problems begin when the vehicle is about to go into production and the accountants start to “take money out” of the product.
The well engineered system can quickly be turned into a cost reduced shadow of its development self in the name of “added value”.
Some small niche suppliers may have greater control over the spec of the components which go inside their finished article. They may not have an army of ride and handling engineers but neither will they completely ruin a system to save 10 cents on a damper valve.
Not saying this is definitely the case in all situations but I spent a long time in automotive R&D and witnessed some terrible management decisions in the pursuit of saving a few cents here or there.
I had my Bilsteins converted to height adustable and experimented with several different rates of Eibach springs until I found the perfect balance for road and track. The Bilsteins were 9+ years old, we had a mate at Lotus test them, they were bang on spec (I doubt Chinese dampers could match this). There’s a reason why major sports car manufacturers use Bilstein & Eibach, they’re good.
But I’ve experience with Tein dampers on my old GT86 Cosworth, they were pretty good too. But not quite Bilstein/Eibach standard.
This is all very helpful, and I obviously need to do a bit more research.
Most of my longer trips are done on motorways, so ride comfort is priority one. I’d also like a fit and forget solution - absence of a drive or large garage means that I don’t do very much maintenance or other work on the car.
I’m going to read more on Tein, but leaning towards the Mazda coilovers as fitted to my car at the moment.
I appreciate that this may not bring much, or any, improvement in handling but it’s such an enjoyable car to drive anyway(70 with the top down feel much faster than 90 in my Cooper), that I’m not too worried about that.
My Koni dampers are adjustable…they go from f### me my fillings just fell out on the hardest setting to oh, look, my moobs are are oscillating, time for a trainer/sports bra, on the softest setting.
Worst was the “Sport” kit of Bilstein dampers on a 35k 2011 mk3 which was like driving a boat.
I’ve had an Eibach sport spring with koni adjustable dampers on a 2006 1.8. That was good.
I now have Meister R Clubrace and that’s fantastic. I dont track the car at all btw.
I’d now never buy a setup that wasnt adjustable.
When I’m on my own and I. The mood you can adjust to suit but if I go off on a long distance tour I can soften things up for more comfort.
I would maybe try a Bilstein adjustable set at some point but my experience of their fixed stuff on the Mx5 and the M3 I have has been less that great.
So my vote is Meisters albeit not the entry level ones.
Remember they come with top mounts and everything needed and are super simple to install.
If you go for Eibach etc you’ll need new top mounts / bump stops etc. And when you add all these things up you’re not far away from the club race Meisters ……
As far as the China production goes that’s of no concern to me. Plenty of UK brands. Hifi in particular are all Chinese owned and built and mostly better made than they were here in the UK.
Anyone into MX5s will tell you Meisters are the way to go unless you get into Ohlins / Nitron etc.
MeisterR, Tein, Yellowspeed, D2, HSD, all the same thing. All Chinese manufactured stuff.
They’re ok for the money, but won’t last forever and aren’t the pinnacle of engineering.
German TUV approved and branded stuff is much better in the long run (H&R, Bilstein, Eibach, KW, and brands like ohlins - swedish?) are much longer lasting and quality.
Wouldn’t say no to some Meisters, but wouldn’t expect them to last forever that’s for sure. Had them on my last 2 civics.
TUV is simply a Testing house that manufacturers/agents/importers etc pay to ‘certificate’ a product for use in a specific application, in the same vein as BSI, Bureau Veritas, and dozens of others depends on discipline - in fact a basic TUV cert doesn’t even look at manufacturing QC procedures, production methods etc, just simply the product submitted for inspection is capable of doing what it says it can at that time. So no ongoing checks, just renew every 3 (I think) years. In fact the exact same item could be submitted each time. There’s obviously more stringent certification available, but many just get the basic tests done so they can add ‘tuv approved’ to their marketing spiel.
I’m not saying that tuv, or any other approval is a bad thing, it’s just not the guarantee of quality and consistency many think it is.
It’s a good before and after pic yes, I could have given you a before and after pic of my 5 year MeisterR’s after around the same mileage. You would have had trouble telling which picture was the newly fitted and the 5 year old one.
I only have a pic of a 5 year old MeisterR before I sold the car last year.
Yes its been cleaned underneath and yes they were dirty from road grime beforehand.
personally I think you should go with the mk3.75 mazda sport springs and dampers.
the car will be low enough to look ok, handling and comfort is great and decent ride height that wont cause you much trouble on the road. Note I mentioned the 3.75 as the early NC’s suspension specs use relatively higher springs even if the suspension swing arms and linkages are identical.
This is what I said at a different post about the Meister’s and although I never owned them I still rate them to be on the lower end of the band for suspension manufacturers.
Thats quite shocking how badly they have deteriorated.
Ive done 14k on my Meister CRD’s over 4 years and they still look great. I always give them a rub over with the unbiquetous oily rag when I have the wheels off and they are holding up very well.
MeisterR everyday for us, all ours wear them, ours have lasted very very well and one is a daily, and one is still running on the very first prototypes from when he first started to make suspension for the Mx5’s, its all down to how they are looked after just like everything else on the roadster regardless of what ever it is.
M-m
