Hope everyone is having a fab Sunday
Following on from my BBR200 upgrade I want to look at lowering my NC.
I won’t track day the car (at least I don’t think I will) and I don’t want my car to scrape the numerous speed humps in Sheffield. So I looked at the Wheels in Motion site and read their forum and it appears I can have new lowering springs and geometry set up for about £400. So has anybody had this done and if so was it ok?
Cheers
Nick
Hi Dutchie,
I’m your man 
I had the lowering spring job you’re referring to on my NC 3.75 (2.0l sport tech PRHT) at WIM (I live 15 mins away from Chesham) a few months back and initially was very happy with it. Felt much tighter round the bends and stuck to the road like a magnet. However after more driving I found it was bottoming out not only on certain speed bumps but also on lumpy or strongly cambered B roads, of which there are tonnes around here. Driving ceased being fun and became stressful, kind of negating the point of having one of these cars as you can imagine.
I chatted to Joe (he’s your man at WIM) about it and took in back in and we decided to go for adjustable coilovers (at a big discount as the eibach springs hadn’t given me the result I was after) - so far so good, the car is a little higher now and I’ve not grounded once. We couldn’t really work out why the new lowering springs had ended up with the car settling right at the bottom of acceptable limits - I had 32ish cms from hub to top of wheel arch - which is low. Could be the heavier car with the hard top but Joe has done similar cars and they’ve been fine. Ultimately each car is different and you have to find the right balance for you. The adjustable coilover job is alot more expensive (more like 1500) which is why I went for the lowering springs - but they just didn’t work out for me.
The coilovers are great though and the car is going back in next month to check it’s settled ok, make any adjustments I want and do another geometry check - all for free. Joe really is a book of knowledge on MX5 suspension and I wouldn’t take it anywhere else.
There are plenty of other threads on here about using smaller springs and plenty of different outcomes, most seem to be happy with them. I would measure the distance between the centre of the hub to the top of the wheel arch - if it’s around 34-35cm I would keep it as is.
Cheers
Hey that’s a very informative answer, thanks indeed. I think I know really that I need the set up you have now, I’m just trying to keep costs down.
Cheers
Nick
hey, mate how’s it going?
you can pick up a set of the meister zeta crd’s for £800.
if you shop around you should be able to get a fitting for about £200.
then a fast road geo on that it for another 150ish I guess.
That’s how I did mine, though I don’t remember if I was already on that setup when I drove up to see you that day when I collect the backbox.
btw I still have the backbox on and I am very pleased with it! so thanks again!
I should point out that the actual job of changing to coil-overs is much easier, faster, and more simple than changing your springs!
as it’s a case of one assembly out and one assembly in! on each corner.
versus assembly out, strip assembly, rebuild assembly with new spring, and then reinstall assembly! on each corner!
Just go with Eibach 30mm lowering springs and you will love it,
Hi.
I had the fast road geo setup with 30mm lower Eibach springs, Rx7 yellow dot ARB’ and PS4’s all round, fitted by Joe at Chesham WIM. (I’m only 15 miles away)
I am by no means a driving god, but the car does feels great, much sportier with very little body roll.
I have never had clearance issues on the average road, but speed bumps have to be taken with caution.
The car still feels great almost 2 years on. I would total recommend Joe at WIM.
Agreed, the Mazda tolerance on the suspension height is quite wide around 50mm on the earlier models, so if you have one at the bottom end and then lower it by 30 mm you could well be 80mm lower than the top end with the problems you describe. Measure your wheel centre to arch before you do anything to lower the suspension. I’m suprised WIM didn’t mention this when they did the eork.
Long story short, went to WIM for eibachs and alignment.
Initially very pleased, but unless it was a perfectly smooth road, at speed the car was too bouncy and felt unsettled. It was also very low, especially with a passenger.
Finally had Meisters fitted by WIM and wow. Great handing still but far better suited to British roads.
On a track, I bet springs would be virtually as good as coilovers. On the road though, its night and day.
If i were you, go straight for the coilovers.
You won’t regret it.
Hi Jim,
All good thanks and great to hear we’re both loving our cars. Please too your happy with the back box.
Meistersinger seem the way forward.
Cheers Nick
Thanks for all the advice. When I google WIM on my ipad a box appears saying they have ceased trading, click off that and you get to the site. I shall enquire tomorrow
Hi Nick, on the 20th i will be at Donnington evening (5:30-8) if you are not desperate to get something sorted before i will probably have a good idea by then on my setup for public roads/track behaviour (Paul Roddison will also be there btw)
Honestly mate it is still my opinion if your bilsten shock absorbers work leave it as is. If they need a refreshing if you want to stick to the same ride height i would look at getting another set of the B8 bilsten with the mazda sport springs. It really depends what you want from the car. A simple geometry adjustment can make it feel more “pointy” and maybe this is all that you need tbh.
I wouldn’t personally recommend anyone lowering the car just for looks. Mechanically lowering the car can achieve certain things but you can compensate for vehicle body roll by adding adjustable anti roll bars (you do want the adjustable ones because you really have to find the correct front/rear torsional bias for the car to have a somewhat neutral oversteer/understeer characteristics)
It really depends what you want to achieve mate.
They pretty much did but I didn’t really do any measuring, the car did look high up with sizeable gaps between the wheel in and the arch. It just went that bit too low with the springs
They’re still trading, called Pro-tyre now. Call them and ask to speak to Joe