I’m looking for technical help or recommendations on:
I am trying to figure out if I should save money buying a 2.0 NC2 MK3 with standard suspension, and doing the BBRGTi 1K fully fitted and aligned kit at a later date, or should I pay more than that total to buy a car with the Factory Bilstein extras included instead? I don’t really need a 6 speed, and I don’t need cruise or heated seats, so the cars are a lot cheaper?
I do a fair bit of town driving and there are speed ramps everywhere so it needs to stay very complaint, I don’t want harsh, but I do want a more dynamic feel than the standard setup in the end? What would you do?
Just to throw this into the mix. I have a 2007 NC1 2.0 Sport. The sport is important on the 2.0 as it denotes a LSD, 6sp box and Bilsteins with slightly lowered springs than standard.
Speedbumps are fairly horrible with any mk3. It’s a brave soul who doesn’t slow down with even standard suspension let alone a lowered one. The bilsteins in my opinion are not a sufficient improvement on their own to choose one car over another and in terms of ultimate satisfaction you would do better to focus on buying the best cared for example you can and drive for a few months first before deciding which mods to go for.
Compliance will often mean that clearance is lost on approach and departure from speed bumps due to bounce and sometimes firming up the damping will make a crucial difference between ground contact and clearance.
Thank you for the advice, whatever I get I will obviously keep it stock for a while to see how Mazda intended this all rounder to be before messing around with it. Cheers!
Just to add, whichever model you choose, the coilovers will have done the miles the car has covered (unless they have aready been changed) if you went the BBR route, or other aftermarket such as MeisterR coilovers, they would be brand new and hopefully better than tired or at least worn OEM set up.
Barrie
On the subject of speed bumps, how do you guys approach them? There are the ones which go straight across the road with no breaks and the large square ones which you can drive up and over or straddle. With slightly lowered suspension I would imagine it being quite problematic?
The square ones I go really slow and drive straight and central with one wheel either side. The ones across the road usually less slow and at a slight angle if possible. Only times I have grounded badly were on private speed bumps which were across a driveway and very tall and narrow and also coming off a tesco humped roundabout too fast and bouncing the front lip off the ground.
Car is approx -30 mm on meister crd’s
Try putting the passenger side wheel over the middle of the square ones, so you don’t get the bump on your side, and the car will not ground at all. The full width ones are best straight on at around 19mph without breaking. I know I have 20 on my road!
As a compromise, I bought a 2007 Icon 2.0 and (due to a broken pigtail on a front spring) decided to retro-fit the Bilstein B12 kit. (£690 + fitting)
Got all the nice trim (leather/aircon/mohair hood) but no 6 speed box or 17" wheels (which I didn’t want) and now it’s 30mm lower it looks and handles beautifully.
No grounding on any speedbumps BTW and I can straddle the square ones OK
I have a 2009 mk 3.5 Sport which I believe may have lower height springs than the Mk 3. Fitted PROPER Bilstein B6 shocks and after they had settled down (quite high for good few weeks) the body control is brilliant and it won’t bottom out on the fiercest dips or speed bumps. Handling transformed, definitely needs suspension set up by someone who really understands potential best settings
Hmmm, that’s odd for a couple of reasons - firstly I’m sure my shocks were B8’s (although it’s an 07 Mk3) and it didn’t need to settle at all. I would have thought it would be the springs rather than the shocks that determine the ride height in any event?
B8s as I understand are for shorter springs and probably even stiffer than B6s, did you fit B8s yourself? but having fitted B6s to all my cars for the last 25+ years they do appear to need to settle. Obviously springs and spring pan heights only ultimately affect the ride height
I got them direct from Bilstein as a kit and had them fitted by my regular garage- very pleased with the service from Bilstein. I believe - though I’m not sure - that they’re the same fitment as the Sport models. My car just sits better now and it certainly seems more stable and planted in corners.
TBH, despite spending most of my life in the motor trade, suspension and geometry is something of a black art to me. I was just looking for a cost-effective, idiot-proof improvement rather than just replacing a couple of springs and leaving the rest of the suspension 57k old
The issue about speed “pillows” is that they can cause uneven tyre wear, so you approach them so as to not wear the inside of the tyre.
When people complain of grounding, its often not actual grounding, and usually sounds worse than what it is.
I was properly grounded in a 91 lowered NA. Entering an industrial site, where the speed hump was unusually tall to slow incoming loads, I became properly stuck, and my passenger had to get out so I could move. No real damage to the underside.
I would say I probably don’t go over enough pillow bumps to worry about inside edge wear. I realise that the underside catching the road surface is amplified but have also noted that mazda have a habit of poking some fittings such as the rear ppf bolts in an awkward position. Seen pictures of these bent or damaged.
