Hello. My Arizona came with XYZs installed at pretty much the minimum height:
I find it amazing on corners, literally like a magic carpet - no tilt!
But our smaller (funner) roads around here in Fenland are a little on the erm, crap side. Meaning a lot of sudden vertical movement and the odd scrape so I definitely need to be a little higher.
So what is my range of adjustment here and actually, if I’m going that much higher, might I not as well put the stock suspension back on? Am I getting a better ride at the same height with what I presume are racing shocks than stock?
How much of that lovely road-hugging am I going to lose, particularly at speed?
I know as much that wheel alignment may be necessary after raising but always after lowering but other than that, any and all advice welcome.
Hi Barrie, thanks yes that was the page I’d just read before I posted. It makes sense, loads of info but I can’t see an adjustment range there unless I’ve overlooked it. It’s been a long day!
Have a look in FAQ’s on their website. It says that most applications can drop from OEM ride height by 120mm, not sure you’d get that much on the 5 though? However, it would appear that you could raise the suspension higher than you possibly have it set at now? Couldn’t find anything on spring rates for them either? with the adjustable damping, you should be able to dial in a better ride at an increased height setting that would suit you? I had Meisterr’s on a couple of previous 5’s ( I realise a different design) but managed to get where I wanted to be with them. Its definitely worth experimenting first before swapping them out for OEM suspension.
Barrie, thanks so much. I’m doing a dozen things at once at the moment including tweaking the new baby. I obviously didn’t have the patience to dig deeper on their site as you’ve done!
Good to also hear some real world experience. I’ve spoken to others with adjustable coilovers on different cars but not anything as slight as an MX-5 so only have a guess at the moment as to how much I’d like to change them.
I’ve booked time with my mechanic though so we can do it interactively on Saturday morning. My feeling is I won’t need to raise them by that much to get them spot on but I’ll find the time to read up more before then.
That’s great, report back when you’ve had chance to have a go with your mechanic. Hopefully you’ll be happy! You’ll probably find, as with the Meisterr’s, that some of the damping adjustment range is superfluous, however, you should be able to get where you want. I used to like the softer end of the range for my daily drive to work but could dial in a stiffer setting for when I wanted it.
Barrie
EDIT: As the bottom and top mounts are fixed on the car, the body of the damper will turn within them to lengthen (or shorten) the overall length to give you the ride height you want. Keep an eye on the amount of thread left in the bottom mount when doing this? Not sure on the XYZ’s but the Meisterr’s have a “sight” hole in the bottom mount, if you go beyond this point when adjusting, and you cannot see the threads through this hole, it will be a serious compromise in safety terms.
These are double perch system, meaning the shock length is adjusted to set the height. This has no effect on the ride quality. “Drift Spec” is a clue as to the weight of the springs.
Double perch/ Dual perch/ extendable shocks seems to have been a gimmick invented in Japan, and latched on by Chinese manufacturers as a way to market generic cartridges to a wide range of vehicles.
The limitation of these shocks is that there is reduced shock travel compared to a conventional shock. That bad ride; you will still get it at stock height. Rebound adjustable shocks can kind of mask this.
Great thread, involving conflicting manufacturer assertions on the merits (or not) of the double perch shocks used by a variety of makers, including those found on Alibaba:
Basically these setups most benefit road users who want a lowered car, rather than someone running at stock or near stock ride heights, but who wish to improve handling.
On my two Roadsters, one has traditional single perch, height adjustable setup. The other has a dual perch setup. Both are at similar ride heights (12-12.5" wheel centre to arch lip). The car with the traditional setup has more travel, and it shows in the ride quality.
Since you bought up the thread on miata.net, then might want to check on a few new one. There was no point “arguing” with them as it was all theory vs. theory.
So I decided to make something just to prove a point, as well as designing a new setup for customer with a different focus. The MeisterR ClubRace was the result.
This is not a theory, but an actual double perch coilovers with the same travel as many single perch coilovers that was optimised for ride height of 310mm / 320mm (12.2" / 12.6")
The major advantage is that driver can freely adjust the ride height from the out of the box ride height to 2.5" higher with no affect to damper travel ratio; something dual perch cannot achieve.
That mean you can run this suspension at the lower ride height, as well as OEM ride height, without the need to change anything.
If you compress a springs by 40mm with a single perch coilovers in order to gain 2.5" ride height, it will 100% mess up the vehicle dynamics due to massive reduction in rebound travel.
Another advantage is that with the helper springs, you can adjust the compression / rebound travel ratio without changing the ride height, as adjustment to the helper springs and ride height can be used to offset each other.
Therefore, if you run a bigger wheel setup and want to limit compression travel, you can do so without changing ride height.
With a single perch setup, you will either have to change ride height to give the wheel more room, or use a longer bump stop which effectively remove usable damper travel.
Just want to bring it up that the dual perch isn’t all bad. It allow a lot of “versatility” that a single perch setup cannot provide.
A little creative engineering will be able to get around the small draw back of the dual perch design, such as using extended top mount to gain space needed to fit a longer damper.
MeisterR by itself have limited engineering background.
How MeisterR differ from other suspensions brands is that we have a technical partnership with Black Art Design (BAD). BAD provide MeisterR with in house suspension engineering expertise, vehicle dynamics advices, and manufacturing capabilities.
For example, all of the suspension engineering advice for the ZetaCRD damper valving were done in house with BAD. We know every shims that gone into the piston, because we place it there and tested it when we were designing the CRD valving.
Who is Black Art Design? BAD is one little well kept secret in the UK. The owner is a vehicle dynamic engineer for over 20 years. He was also the Ex-Techncial director at LEDA suspension (British suspension firm running for over 30 years).
BAD have a track record of building championship winning suspension for race car, as well as OEM, military, and government project.
Race Car project include this 950 Horsepower Ford RS200 Pike Peak Race Car.
It was 1 of 8 cars in the world to make it to the top of the Pike Peak in 2013 within the 9 minutes mark (call the 9 minutes club), and it finish 4th place in the unlimited class behind 3 factory works team.
Able to draw in all the experience that BAD have available, using those knowledge into building MesterR products, and commission prototype by BAD directly in house.
So BAD designed the Zeta Pros? Or were they only involved in the current products? This is my concern about your older products purchased as used products, whether you continue to stand by them and provide ongoing technical support (beyond offering discounts on an upgrade).
Please don’t turn this thread into an advert. Trade adverts or promotions are not permitted for non-MX5 Owners Club Forum members. Keep it factual, and refrain from subjective opinion.
Saz, you asked a question which was perfectly valid, Jerrick responded very well. You obviously didn’t like the response, I guess that you expected him to flounder but his comeback was brilliant and informative. That leaves us with your further response which is laughable in my opinion. How an earth could Jerrick respond adequately without stating things as he did? Not so much an advert, more calling your bluff? OP has now left the thread as he also sees this as being very odd. What a way to promote interest and involvement.
Basically, you shouldn’t lose much driving dynamics from changing the ride height in this case.
However, if you are getting a jolting stop when going over rough road surfaces, that will be you running out of damper travel and changing the ride height won’t solve that.
The rule of thumb is at least 25mm of the thread needs to be in the lower bracket.
So that is what I will recommend, and that would be the highest setting possible on the coilovers.
Place I have my dampers rebuilt at regularly overhauls Konis that are 40-50 years old…
I expect when the Meisters I have pop, that they are going in the bin. When I brought the Meisters, they came from a TV aerial company that sent me 8 shocks by mistake.
Don’t know if you missed the part that WE CAN REBUILD DAMPERS. If you are going to throw the kit in the bin, maybe selling it for £100 to another member would be a better idea.
Not matter what happen, we can always replace parts… it is just a case if it is economical to fix an old specs suspension vs. purchasing a new spec one.
Now I don’t remember that order, but considering we moved warehouse mid 2014 we are looking at over 3 years ago minimum.
I am human, I make mistake. Sometime I go out of the country and I have to get some temp staff to ship thing out; they make mistake.
Things have moved on a lot over the past few years; we don’t always stand in the same place and sell the same products.
Either way, I think that pretty much conclude most of what I need to say.
If anyone have any questions, please feel free to contact us and we will be happy to answer them.
