Coilovers or Springs and Struts?
 

I have owned my FD for approximately 15 years. In that time I haven't put a lot of miles on it as life seemingly always sends other priorities. However, I'm at a point now where I can devote some time and resources to improve my car's drivability. The area I am looking at now is trying to improve the suspension. Recently, I replaced the 6 rear pillow balls and that helped. But to be honest, it is still such a rough ride that rather than enjoy the drive I'm just glad when it's over.

My car currently has Racing Beat lowering springs and OEM struts. Both of the front struts appear to be leaking as they are covered in oil. The rears look OK but without taking all of them off and seeing how they travel I really can't tell their condition. The records I have from the previous owner show that the springs probably have not had a lot of wear and tear but while I have no way of knowing for sure I suspect the struts could be original. So what I want to do is upgrade the suspension.

My goal is to improve the drivability of the car. I want a smooth comfortable ride that still handles well. I don't take it to the track or slalom, I just want a nice comfortable touring car. And I would like some adjustability for both ride height and ride stiffness. With my budget I have basically narrowed the upgrade down to two alternatives. I could keep the Racing Beat springs and buy an adjustable strut (don't know which one) along with probably new strut mounts or look at a coilover such as the Tein Flex Z coilovers.

I realize the coilover option may be more expensive and that's OK. That seems to be my budget limit right now. To be honest I'm leaning towards the Tein coilover but I guess my biggest question is whether the Tein coilover can achieve as comfortable ride as the coil spring and strut combination and if it doesn't would it be significantly worse. I really only ask this because I've heard that the larger coil spring can be more come comfortable but mine have a somewhat higher spring rate so I don't know if that matters or not.

If it matters my wheels and tires are 235/45/17. And with the present setup my fender height is approximately 26", not sure if that's good or bad but the car looks good at that height. And I can't seem to be able to get any up / down movement when I push down on the fenders. Not sure if that's normal or not.

So that's kind of it. Thank you for any advice you can give me.

Related thread
 

https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-gen-gene...nsion-1149308/

what cold air pressure are you running front and rear?

the reason i ask is because your Racing Beat springs are only 7% stiffer than OE. as to your shocks (please don't call them struts) that have blown seals, that will have little effect on your "ride." i have dyno'd over 30 OE shocks. from 6000 mile shocks to 130,000. they all dyno'd the same. yes i know, amazing, but true.

it could be a simple as your tire pressure. they should be set at 30 psi front 27 rear cold.

with your modest spring rate upgrade and OE shocks you should be quite comfortable. i do love the Eibach Pro Kit springs as the BEST suspension upgrade for the dollar. they are up about 30% and are wonderful. i ran them on my wife's FD. i think there is a set avail in the classifieds for low dollars.

please do check your tire pressure first and also your tire pressure gauge.
good luck.

32 psi

If you really just want comfort and handling, none of the benefits of coilovers apply to you.
Get Bilstein or Ohlins replacement shocks to go with your RB springs. Maybe add a set of sway bars, too.

Some thoughts...

I don't think Bilstein or Ohlin shocks are available any more.

Most of the traditional lowering springs don't address the problem of the lack of rear stroke and the hard OEM bump stops. Some of the aftermarket coilovers address that issue.

The thread that DaveW linked to is a good one.

Not sure about Ohlin shocks but I believe Bilsteins, Toxicos, and KYBs are all unavailable. The only shocks I can find are Mazda OEMs and Konis. It appears everything else has progressed to coilovers. If I were to decide to run shock absorbers with my springs and find I need to replace any of the upper strut mounts then the only thing I can find are Mazda OEM and they are pretty pricey.

Fortunately Howard's advice to reduce my tire air pressures did improve my ride and bought me some time.

In that case, I'd just buy a set of Ohlins DFVs from Japan, where they sell for $1,000 less than in the states (because I think they're actually made in Japan).
You can get some ~8 kg springs if 11 kg is too stiff.

Looked into this just a couple days ago when placing my latest order from Japan. I already have a set, but I was thinking I could buy a set to flip to offset my shipping costs.

The Ohlins that are $1800 in Japan are without springs. You are looking at $250 for a set of Swift springs. Then factor in the shipping at $250 and tariff at $300 and you are right back in the vicinity of SBGs price without their warranty support.

If you are looking at getting pillowball tophats, comparable to SBGs FPSport, that is a better deal in Japan as those are $2200 with both springs and the tophats, so you are looking at about $2800 vs $3400 all-in. But that is if you are comfortable with the default Ohlins 11/11 springs. SBG puts 12/10 on their FPSport R&Ts and that again makes it much closer to the sane price once you buy those Swift springs.

Either way, you aren't saving anywhere near $1000. Not from any seller that I've found anyways.

In the days before tariffs and when shipping was ocean freight via EMS (Japan Post) it made sense to go with Japan. Less so thesedays.

Regardless, as an owner of R&Ts there is absolutely no way I would recommend them to anyone who thinks their current ride on shocks is too rough already. There is a good reason why SBG has a lineup of custom long-stroke bodies and "GT" re-valved versions of Ohlins to improve their high speed (suspension speed, not vehicle speed) dampening performance. They are absolutely exceptional at speed, even peer-less at their pricepoint, but do not excel at just normal around-town, shitty-road, cruising.

This is the full kit with springs and uppers for $1,800:
https://store.shopping.yahoo.co.jp/k...fd3s-comp.html

I wasn't suggesting you were going to save $1000. But you could just about fly to Japan for $1000 and take them home in your luggage.
I didn't think about the tarrifs.

I am aware you won't get warranty support, but I think it's unlikely you're going to need to warranty to shocks before they need to be rebuilt anyway.

Out of Stock and Backordered and for Wholesale delivery-to-business only. But I do stand corrected at least a little. That price was valid at least at some point in the past year.

It doesn't say it's out of stock or backordered, it says it *might* be so contact them before placing an order.
Yeah, this particular shop only delivers to companies, but I think that's usually an issue with their carrier, not the product or the shop itself.
In my experience, all you have to do (if you're in Japan) is ask a business (literally any business) near you take the delivery for you.
As far as I can tell, this is just a dropshipper. The product is actually sent straight from Ohlins Japan.

You won't get ANY ride adjustability with the lowering springs. From my POV you have not narrowed your goal enough yet or it is not clear enough to me... So either you don't want ride height adjustability but do want damping adjustability (keep lowering springs and buy new struts of some kind) or you're getting coil overs that have spring rate and damping adjustability and possibly also camber adjustability.