I’m looking for technical help or recommendations on: general suspension.
I am redoing the suspension on my mazda. Taking wishbone out. De rusting and painting. New bushings and such and now looking at the suspension.
I haven’t got a massive budget but want to get some nice, clean suspension. I am someone who wants a comfortable ride. Not taking the car for track days or want it lowered. I want suspension that makes for the most comfortable ride at a budget friendly range. What I want to know is the difference I can expect of going for instance the £500 meisterR coilovers vs genuine mazda shock absorbers with standard springs (not lowered) . Basically what I am asking is which is better for the most comfortable ride. Brand new £500 Coilovers or £500 worth of brand new genuine mazda and standard springs(eibach or maybe MX5’s aftermarket version). Cheers!
The adjustable suspension is basically exactly that. It has a range of operation for damping and a range of operation for ride height. However this range would be significantly stiffer than the stock suspension and expect the ride height and suspension travel to be lower with the various aftermarket coilovers. However you would also likely to need bushes. And you should do full wheel adjustment.
However this is my opinion and others opinion would be different. My advice to speak to a suspension specialist mate. Hazard a guess sorting suspension properly would be more than 500 squids
If you are tight on funds, the best bang for your buck will be aftermarket “OEM Equivalents” from the likes of Autodoc, when they have a 40% off day.
If you can afford it, going to the Maester is well worth it to give you adjustability. They are very popular for good reason.
Genuine Mazda spares will be good quality, work well, but will cost considerably more than an OEM equivalent that will be just as good. So unless you are feeling flush, and are building an “as it left the factory” museum peice I would avoid paying the premium for them.
The mistake I made was paying for upgraded shocks, but not paying enough to get the adjustability I actually needed. Ended up selling them and buying Maester CRDs (for my NC).
Hi t.hine1, welcome aboard.
I drive an NB so not dissimilar to your car.
I fitted the MeistrR Sportiv+ coilovers to mine in an attempt to change the aesthetics. I wanted to lower the car but not by as much as 30mm which was the drop offered by lowering springs alone.
I believe the Sportivs are now actually height adjustable and differ from the ones I bought so the outcome may not be entirely the same. However, if I could go back in time I should have stuck with the OE suspension or spent alot more on fully adjustable coilovers.
The OE set up is hard to top so ride quality and compliance are significantly better with the stock suspension.
Simply replacing the bushes and having the suspension properly set up may be enough to give you what you want.
Hth
All the best,
Guy
Cheers guys,
Some really good advice. You chaps know your stuff! When I said £500 for suspension I meant for just the coilovers/shocks and springs. Treating the bushings a separate. Gone for IL motorsport rubber bushings.
Thank you for all the advice. Will mull it over and make a decision over the weekend.
I had MeisterR ZetaPros on a NA. Using height settings from the box, and a middling rebound setting, I found it skittish over tthings like catseyes. Compared to my Protechs on anther MX5, not impressed. On a middling setting, ~12" ride height, the Protechs are very smooth, despite springs with quite a high spring rate. Meister springs went rusty quite quickly. Sold the car onto another owner, with not a lot of miles on them. I personally would not buy this brand again.
Had the Protecs, with P5 pigtail springs, Mazda NB top hats since 2008 and a lot of miles. In that time, one of the rears blew out its seals on a trip down to Cornwall, both rears rebuilt for under £100. In principle, I know I can get new springs made, but likely I’ll be looking at something like Tein, based on the information I received from IG Racing regarding the servicability of different European and APAC shocks.
The Protecs are height adjustable, but I’ve not had to touch height in 10+ years. Probably set compression rate a couple of times in that period.
After about 5 years (daily use), they still looked pretty good (on right, compared to Corn’s Racing Gear shocks that had been dry stored for 20 years). At this stage they had done about 80k kms, currently on about 90k kms.
Just for clarification unless you realise this, the £500 will get you the Sportives, adjustable for height but not ride comfort. That meaning you haven’t got the top adjusters between hard/soft damping.
You’ll need to spend at least another £300 for that option the MeisterR CRD’s.
Well worth the extra I would say, I’m running the Sportives currently on my NC, had the CDR’s on my last NC and do prefer those.
If you want to keep it stock then as said in a previous post nowt wrong with that, you’ll still get a nice pleasant ride. The MeisterR’s will firm that up for you. I’m 68 this year can suffer from a dodgy back from time to time, the firmer suspension I have is no problem to me. Previously owned an NA which I completely changed the suspension for stock new Mazda units, it was great, so was the NB I owned, that had Bilsteins. Now I wouldn’t have hesitated having the knowledge to have fitted MeisterR’s to those.
go for the meister zeta crd’s
9 clicks up from softest will give you exactly the same ride as the OEM but WITHOUT all the diving on brakeing, nose lift on acceleration and body roll on corners.
whats more you actually get a performance boost in acceleration and brakeing because it takes out the dive and nose lift.
and as they start to age and become bouncy you can adjust it out!
note
i meant to post to thread no at mickap!
sorry about that
Why is everyone recommending sports suspension in the form of coilovers when the topic starter writes he does not want lowering and wants maximum comfort? I really wouldn’t know any better option than (perhaps facelift) stock suspension to be honest. I really see no advantage choosing sports adjustable coilovers. The only sports coilovers that retain standard comfort in all situations while also improving the drive are way outside of the 500 pound budget. Since the topic starter does not have a sportive ride as a priority I see no reason to choose anything but stock.
Thank you for all the advice you have given so far. Really appreciated. To clarify. The reason for this question.
On MX5 parts. I can get genuine mazda struts and springs for about 500-600 pounds.
Now buying those means I know I am getting good quality.
If i bought 500-600 pounds worthof coilovers. That would be in the lower budget range for coilovers. So i know i am not getting the best quality.
What i wanted to know. And what i wanted to confirm was. That genuine mazda parts at this price range will give a more comfortable drive than the coilovers. I wasnt sure if 500-600 pound coilovers were capable of making a more comfortable ride at that price range compared to genuine mazda parts.
Hope that clears everything up for you guys.
Thanks again for the advice!
humm kind of hard to answer.
out of the box coilovers of that price range might not be that comfortable (i dont know mine cost 800) but if you spend time to adjust and possibly money on them then they can be just as comfortable.
i can only speak of the meister zeta CRD’s at £800.
out of the box with damping set to 8 clicks from soft they give the same ride as the standard sport tech set up.
if your really tight on budget i would recomend getting a low milage set of bilstein shocks off of another member and then buying a new set of standard springs.
I can only speak from my experience of the ND2, but based on that the standard (sport?) suspension on my 30AE was very harsh and uncontrolled, like the springs were too soft (which allowed a lot of roll - (not necessarily a bad thing) - but the (Bilstein) dampers were too stiff, especially over small sharp bumps/expansion joints and the like.
I went with Tein replacements, (about £800) rather than Meisters as the spring rate is lower, and so far it’s a huge improvement, a sort of oily smooth well damped compliance that the original stuff just didn’t have. For everyday use mine is still sitting a bit low, (speed humps can be nightmare but thankfully they’re rare where I drive) but thats easily tweaked by adjusting the shock casing length.
In all honesty it’s probably a bit soft for track day cornering speeds, but on the road it’s now really quite good - very stable and predictable on the bumpy roads around me. It just feels utterly planted, even at (fairly) silly speeds.
So, my conclusion is the OE springs/Bilstein dampers combination can be improved on, and will not offer the best ride comfort, if that’s what you’re after.
