Hi,
I’ve got an ND2 2.0 RF with standard Bilsteins. I find the car wallows too much. The Mazda Eibach lowering springs sound idea but I don’t want the full 30mm drop. I’ve been reliably informed that because the Bilsteins are gas pressurised that I would only get about 15mm drop. Has another else found this?
I’m trying to work out whether just to go the whole way and get coilovers.
thanks
Gareth, based in Hertford
Well I would say go straight to coilovers if you want to spend that kind of money.
Ok I don’t own the ND, mine is an NC and it was previously fitted with lowering springs to the Bilsteins. They were ok but much much better now I’ve swapped them for MeisterR’s.
As usual much of this is personal and not one size fits all. We had Bilstein’s as standard on our RF, we then later fitted Mazda (eibachs) which in our opinion improved the ride tremendously. Took away the occasional wallow and in our opinion improved it’s composure as a whole . As for the drop I can’t really say we ,measured it but here is a couple of pics of it lowered
However we have subsequently upgraded to Koni adjustable and BBR springs as part of our already planned BBR upgrade. This has given the car a very compliant ride with no wallows or grabbing at all. Very suited to our local roads
Thanks for the replies. I took some rough measurements off the first picture and it is pretty inaccurate but I’d say about a 25+mm drop at the rear versus my car. Pretty sure it isn’t 15mm as has been suggested to me.
If anyone still has yellow bilstein dampers and the Mazda eibach springs I’d love to know the distance from the centre of the rear wheel to the wheel arch. It is 365mm for me without any modifications.
Thanks
Whoever told you you will end up with a 15mm drop is very much wrong. I’d also add that unless you enjoy hard spirited driving and don’t daily the car I would 100% go for the lowering springs and not touch coilovers. I went lowering springs > coilovers as mine is only a weekend toy, and whilst when pushing on they are very, very good, the reality is the lowering springs were a fantastic improvement over standard for relatively little money and are all i’d want on a daily driver.
Thanks, it is mainly used at weekends. I also take the car to drivelimits.com and do their airfield training which involves the odd spin.
I’d happily go for just stiffer springs if I could do that without lowering the car by as much as 30mm. There is a hump in the drive and some rough track to the train station.
Which coilovers did you go for in the end?
I went for Meister R GT1s, but they are pretty hardcore.
I’m guessing those springs feel pretty firm even with the dampers set to soft?
Yes, if anything the ride becomes more uncomfortable with them soft.
I have the lowering springs on my Launch Edition RF which has the Bilsteins fitted, pictures of before and after in this thread:
Will try and remember to measure the distance for you
I had lowering springs fitted to my RF GT and it made such a massive difference over standard. Just make sure to get a proper alignment done after as that is essential to get the most from them.
I bought my new 2.0 ND2 in March and had the Mazda lowering springs fitted from new. I had not driven an ND on normal springs, but it handles well with no wallowing. The springs are not that much from Mazda, but I would take it elsewhere for fitment or certainly for alignment, as mine was out quite a bit, but Blink Motorsport sorted it out. I will measure the wheel centre - wheelarch distance and post it later…
Thanks for all the replies. If anyone has the 2.0 RF with the Bilsteins and the Mazda/Eibach lowering springs it would be much appreciated if you could measure the distance from the wheel centre up to the wheel arch.
Thanks again
I have the sports springs from Mazda which has the Bilsteins - its a 2.0.
The measurements are: Front 33cm Rear 35.3cm from wheel centre to wheel arch.
Thanks Snelly.
Just measured mine again. Front 37cm, Rear 36.5cm on an RF 2.0 with Bilsteins. Which is very different to what you are seeing with the soft top - apparently this is a known behaviour of the standard stiffer springs on the RF raising the front.
I spoke to Wheels-In-Motion on Monday. They called Eibach and said 30mm Front drop and 20mm Rear drop for their Pro springs. In the end there seems to be so many combinations of suspension you can be on before the switch I’m not sure how they can give an accurate idea of the drop.
Hence Wheels-In-Motion are going to fit MeisterR ZetaCRDs next week. That way I can do a drop of 15mm and have future flexibility on height and damping.
Thanks to everyone for your replies.
As mentioned above - in the end I went to the MeisterR ZetaCRDs. They were fitted by “Wheels In Motion”. A good experience with the garage. By my measurements the car dropped 24mm at the fronts and 12mm at the rear. The garage said the car would have been 10mm lower if I hadn’t asked. The car is more level and I’m happy with the height.
Still getting used to the coilovers and the settings. The car is much better on B roads and roundabouts. It leans less. On the Bilsteins it used to take a long time to lean into a corner, that is also fixed. The only thing that isn’t so good - is very uneven single track roads, but that is to be expected.
The picture below is a couple of days after fitting.
That looks perfect!
Dare I ask the cost because I am tempted!
I paid in the region of £1150. That included the ZetaCRDs and the rear extensions, fitting and four wheel alignment tailored to your preference.
So a bit more than double the cost of having the Mazda dealer installing the lower springs and keeping the Bilsteins. But the Bilsteins don’t include the fun of changing your damper settings.
Thanks, I need to start saving!
I had the Mazda dealer fit the optional Eibach springs to our ND2 RF, they also included a full 4 wheel alignment at a specialist they use (I have previously had 3 MX5’s set up at Wheels inMotion, and this alignment ‘feels’ very similar). The total cost was around £360. It dropped the ride height around 25mm, it hasn’t compromised the ride. As we’ve no intention of track days etc I’d have to say it’s a very successful dealer fit option for the money.
