Really pleased with it, open top motoring and all that.
I am surprised how much it rolls and wallows, and really want to improve this.
Simple question do I really have to spend 25-30% of it’s initial purchase price to improve the suspension?
I’ve had a word with the experts and they’re all saying fit a set of after market coil overs, geo and it will be great. But at £1200 I would hope it would!
I’ve read the past posts on suspension improvements and again after market coil overs seems the way, and that eventually you’ll end up putting coil overs on.
Ive been running Tein Flex Z coilovers for over a week now and the car is totally transformed £732 to buy and fitted myself (just pay for Hunter alinement). 16 damper setting with 16 being the hardest.Ride height (can just get 2 fingers inbetween the arch & the tires) I did change all 4 tyres ( nothing wrong with the tread but previous owner had 3 diff tread patterns on)
Forgot to add 'somebody who knows what they are doing with the Hunter"
You really don’t need to spend much.
Check you have four good quality matching tyres.
Check your tyre pressures…29lb.
Check you haven’t any broken drop links.
Then a four wheel alignment check with the proper equipment, usually a ‘Hunter’ machine.
Only after the above would you need/want to start spending, there is no need to go for expensive springs and dampers unless you want to use it hard a simple set of Mazdaspeed springs to lower it by 30mm is all you need for general every day driving.
Hi, I too own a sport mk 3 and recently went through the same quandary.
There’s a relatively simple and reasonable cost effective solution. Mx5parts.co.uk supply a set of 30mm Eibach springs which reduce the height of the standard 4x4 look of the car and make it handle so much better. No wallowing or fighting the wheel over rough roads.
I had this done and had them fitted for £25 per corner. Hunter wheel alignment was also done 3 days after to allow the new springs to settle.
I kept the bilstein suspension that the sport wears and saved loads of money by just doing the above.
The transformation was fantastic and you would not regret it
I fitted the Mazdaspeed Springs, no loss of ride quality. Big improvement
I also fitted RX8 anti-roll bars (yellow dot) These can be had for less than £100 a set. It now corners with very little roll. If you look in the Motorsport gallery you can compare the roll of others
I agree with this, mine looks and handles brilliantly, I’m sure it can still be improved with some after market suspension, and maybe I will when the bilstein’s let go, but for the moment I’m more than happy with it being lowered.
Hi I changed to Eibach 30mm lowering springs with Bilstein shocks on my launch edition which defiantly improved the cars handling and reduced body roll. However, the compromise is, grounding over speed humps (more so with 2 in the car), exaggerated Mazda bounce, more noticeable pot hole impacts when cornering and a little bit of spring sagging.
For a car which is only used at weekends, these compromises, may be ok to live with. But for a daily driver, which my launch edition is, compromises are unacceptable. There is no way i would ever sell my mx5, so have now installed myself Meisterr coilovers. They are an uncompromising, suspension upgrade and I fully recommend them.
I had lowering springs fitted on Bilsteins, to be honest they fitted the bill ok but did bottom out occasionally although I think the bump stops were shot on the rears.
I’ve since had Meister R’s fitted and needless to say it has made a huge difference to the car and my pocket of course but we won’t go there.
wow thanks for all the responses, lots to think about.
As an engineer I’m struggling to see how just dropping the springs down by 30mm will improve body roll and wallow. Surely that will need the anti roll bars improving as well.
If you add the cost of lower springs, uprated anti roll bars and geo, you’re perilously close to after market coil overs.
Meisters keep coming up, and quite a bit of negativity on the Gaz.
Lowering springs have stiffer springs rate to avoid bottoming out generally speaking. So it will reduce how much roll you will have.
However, they are limited in how much they can put up their springs rate as they have to work with OEM dampers. So that in itself are a compromise in their design.
The most important part of a sport suspension is actually the damper. Because that directly affect how the tyres are loaded, and that mean ride comfort as well as steering response are more affect by damping. Mono-tube / twin-tube dampers, adjustable / non-adjustable, etc… there are a lot of info.
I am happy to help with more specific questions, but a little light reading goes a long way in the research phase.
Lowering springs have stiffer springs rate to avoid bottoming out generally speaking. So it will reduce how much roll you will have.
However, they are limited in how much they can put up their springs rate as they have to work with OEM dampers. So that in itself are a compromise in their design.
The most important part of a sport suspension is actually the damper. Because that directly affect how the tyres are loaded, and that mean ride comfort as well as steering response are more affect by damping. Mono-tube / twin-tube dampers, adjustable / non-adjustable, etc… there are a lot of info.
I am happy to help with more specific questions, but a little light reading goes a long way in the research phase.
As I am not a trader on here, in respect of the forum I will not provide any prices. Prices can be obtain directly from the manufacturer via E-mail. I am happy to share information regarding products if requested.
Regarding the difference MeisterR ZetaCRD and ZetaCRD+, I will put it here also as it can help helpful to others.
For the NC MX-5:
ZetaCRD: Design for fast road & occasional track use, great with road compound tyres. Ride height optimised around 13" to 13.5" Springs Rate: 7kg/mm front, 5kg/mm rear
ZetaCRD+ / ClubRace: Design for track focused use, best with semi-slick tyres. Ride height optimised around 12.5" Springs Rate: 10kg/mm front, 6kg/mm rear
The main thing to remember is to choose suspension base on your ride height and usage. The NC have a fairly limited rear damper at those ride height, so trying to dial in as much damper travel as possible is key to a good suspension.
