az_lynx

Well I should be looking at a nice bit of cash here in the next month (bonus and tax return) and after spining out the reX and taking a good look at my suspension I have decided that tires and suspension is the next stage! I was comparing my reX to some others (stock and w/ shocks and springs) and it seems like my shocks are SHOT and a couple of the springs are REALLY compressed. In fact my left front tire has less than an inch of clearance.

My plans w/ the reX are as follows. I don't have any plans to drag race it. I do want to auto-x and road race it. And I also WILL be showing it at shows. W/ a custom light weight stereo and custom interor.

I don't know that much about suspension but my plans were.
Tires,
M2 toe links,
M2 Trailing arms,
Strut Tower Brace (don't know which.... would love an R1 one),
Full set of bushings (possibly Jim's if anyone has any left),
and then either shock/spring combo OR coilovers. (what are ALL the differences... is the worth the money for coilovers?)

Am I missing anything? Any other items better than what I listed?

throw me your thoughts, thanks, chris...

KZ1

coilovers are great is for nothign else, the adjustable ride height. very accomdating. Jim's bushings are a serious commitment, very harsh ride and loud. I understand they work extremely well, just make sure you really want them. I have several friends with them, and they love them, I have just diff mounts and hate them, loud and they massage my back at about 4k. I don't know much about other stuff, so I will let others add.

az_lynx

Well when noise comes into play I'll be ok. The whole car is going to be striped and dynomatted. If that dosn't take care of it, the loud clean music will. Thanks for the heads up tho... I really wish someone had them here in town so I could see how they ride. Arn't sports cars supposto have rough rides Than again I havn't been in a car w/ them so I'm not sure how rough we're talking.
If I didn't go w/ Jim's bushings what could I go w/ and how much of a difference (performance and feel) are we talking about?

KZ1

it transmitts serious vibration, not just from road imperfections, but from your drivetrain, gears, etc. The stock ones are pretty good, polyethylene would be best IMHO.

hapa

Hey KZ, if all you have is the diff bushings, how do you know what the others will do? Also when Jim was selling the bushings he made it clear, that if your that worried about vibration and noise, then you shouldn't install the diff bushings. If they are that much of a problem, why don't you switch them out to the Mazdaspeed units? Do your friends with the installed units have any good comments, I'd love to hear some more feedback. I haven't installed mine yet, so I'm deciding on the diff. mounts as well. What shocks and springs are your friends running? if coilovers do you know the spring rates? More info. please.

thanks,
eric