pianoprodigy

I bought my car with the current Enkei Aegis Wheels wearing Toyo Proxes 225/35/18s in the front. The wheels are 8.5 wide, so I was told to go with a 245/35/18. I'm having some issues rubbing in the front. On banking turns at speed, the wheel scrapes the plastic lining. I've been doing a lot of reading at it seems like the Racing Beat springs are the best option for me because of the conservative drop in the front. While I'm at it, I think I should replace the Struts considering the car has 130k and I'm guessing the struts are original. I was going to buy some Tokicos until I started reading about them. It seems that most of you either dislike them or hate them, so I figured that I would go with the Konis.

I'm by no means an autoxer. I drive my car daily and mostly go really fast on the weekends. Does the Racing Beat/Koni combo sound good for me?

zeravla

I have the Koni yellow/racing beat spring combo. It handles really well with hardly any lean, but rides very stiff. However I live in Pittsburgh where the roads are truly the worst I've seen. If your roads are decent, I'd recommend the setup.

BTW the drop on the front for racing beat is .75". The only other aftermarket spring w/ that small of a drop is the PFS Comfort Sport which to my knowledge is no longer available. The PFS CS will ride better but handle worse. For street driving the sacrifice in handling may be worth the better ride, depending on your road conditions.

Any PFS CS owners want to comment?

rynberg

Before you go replacing a bunch of other things, I would replace your upper spring seats in front. I bought the HKS Sport Springs, which supposedly only lower the car 0.4" up front. Mine is significantly lower than that and the right is sagging worse than the left side. I checked out the spring seats and they look pretty trashed.

I ordered all the new rubber pieces (3 on each side), here's the price quote from Mazdaformance:

Hello Tyler,
Here are your prices (30% off Mazda’s list prices) for the parts you’ve requested:

FD15-34-110B x2 $41.86 each
FD15-28-380A x2 $15.12 each
FD01-28-123A x2 $1.58 each

It will take 2-3 business days for us to receive several of these parts from Mazda USA before we could ship out an order. S+H will be $14.88 for UPS Ground within the continental 48 states.

I ended up ordering mine through Mazdamotorsports, but if you're not a member, I highly suggest Mazdaformance. They're good people.

All my new parts are going in tomorrow so we'll see how much it fixes the problem.

SleepR1

I have H&R Sport Springs also. Additionally, I have Eibach sway bars fr/rr and TriPoint fr sway bar mount reinforcer. Wheels/tires are 9 x 17 SSR Integral A2s, 45-mm offset with 255/40-17 Pirelli P6000s all around. No rubbing issues. At the time I replaced the springs (2000), I replaced the rubber pieces: pillow *****/boots, and the rubber sheets (that sit between the spring and the shock perch). Ride is very good on the road, and excellent on the open track, but not very responsive on the autocross course though (need a stiffer setup for cone racing).

pianoprodigy

My tech. mentioned replacing these "seats." I thought about just doing that, but I think my shocks are going bad. When I'm on the highway and there are dips at continuous interval, it feels like I'm on a rollercoaster. It goes up and down smoothly, but the travel seems to be very long (if that makes sense). I know my left sway bar mount is crunched in a bit. How much will that affect handling?

The problem with just replacing these seats is that you have to pull out the front suspension to do so, correct? I'm just hesitant to pay for the labor twice especially when it feels like I need new shocks (I think).

DamonB

You have to remove the shock and remove the spring from the shock. Removing the front shocks on the FD requires removing the inner upper a-arm bolts as well as the shock. It's not an issue, just two more bolts per side to remove.

DamonB

rynberg I'd be interested to see what you think after replacing the rubbers. I think I'm going to replace all the rubber parts on the shocks at all four corners; it's cheaper than I thought.

rynberg

I will certainly report back. I'm only replacing the fronts right now, as the rear is sitting at the right height both left and right and the boots are in serviceable shape.

I was actually VERY surprised the parts are so cheap, given Mazda's usual pricing scheme.

rynberg

I must be missing something. Replace the shocks and spring seats at the same time.

pianoprodigy

Ok. I love the way the car sits. It looks very aggressive. I am definitely having some rubbing issues with the fender lining, so I thought I would buy higher height springs for the front at least. The shocks seem worn.

If I replace the shocks all around and the spring seats up front do you think this will solve my issues? I don't rub a lot partially because I am very careful of where I drive. I was thinking if I gained a little height from the new seats and got a stiffer shock this might just solve my problem. Yes???

If so, are Konis the best for me? Should I be considering another brand? As I said, I don't do much in the twisties. I mostly go fast in a straight line; however, I would like my car to feel more stabile if I wanted to take those turns just a little faster. All that said, Konis or something else?

rynberg

Your shocks will have little to do with rubbing in a corner. But if you still have the OEM shocks, they definitely need to be replaced. I strongly recommend the Konis due to their quality and adjustability at a reasonable price.

I think replacing the spring seats and shocks and getting a full alignment will do wonders for your car. I think the new spring seats will help you out quite a bit. But I am in the exact same boat you are right now. If replacing the spring seats doesn't fix the problem, I'm just going to bite the bullet and put aftermarket coilovers in.

patfat

I run H&R's w/ the koni yellows and they are very stiff. I would suggest you look at the bilstien struts. I have head many good things about them. I think what you use your car for the koni's are overkill. IMO

SleepR1

Yes, if I were doing shocks again, I'd go with a set of Bilstein HDs. They're self-adjusting.

DamonB

"Self adjusting" is Bilsteinspeak All shocks are velocity sensitive and thus all get "stiffer" when the velocity goes up. The Bilstein is a high quality shock, but there is no "adjusting" that it does that any other gas shock doesn't do as well.

SleepR1

Ahh, thanks for clearing that up for me DamanB. So Bilstein HDs are actually plain old non-adjustable shocks then

ptrhahn

iTrader: (9)

Honestly,
I would say virtually all lowered FDs with upgraded wheels rub the liners someplace. The front wheel wells are small, and its just a fact of life. Your wheels actually have a small (under 25") diameter, but remember... the stocks are 8" wide, +52 offsets with 225 tires. There are very few aftermarket wheels that are going to sit in that far... so they're going to rub a bit when you've goty the wheel cranked or you go up an incline. I've got 500# coilovers, and they still do it.

If you like the way it looks and drives, and it isn't tearing up the actual metal fender lips, don't worry about it.

SleepR1

pianoprodigy

The wheels have unrolled each side of the fender lip once. I was able to put them back without cracking the paint. There is a small chunk of tire gone on each tire from it hitting something up in there!

I can't say that I actually like the way it drives; however, I'm not sure why it actually is doing it. As I mentioned before, I seem to be feeling more body roll than I used to. I know of the following problems:

Tie-Rod Ends look shot (at least the boots)
Sway Bar Mount on left is cruched up a good 1/2 inch
The connector from the sway bar to the assembly(whatever it's called) is also bent.

I'm getting some instability above 75 MPH that I didn't use to have with the old tires. I haven't had the tires rebalanced, but I guess it could be that. I also thought that it could be due to the tie-rod ends. The instability seems to be a vibration in the steering wheel.

I really don't know what's considered stiff. The Konis are adjustable, so I could probably adjust them to feel ok, right?

ptrhahn

iTrader: (9)

I'd get those fenders rolled under, so that you don't have any more problems...

Sounds like you've had some sort of impact in the front, i'd get everything checked out.

Koni's are adjustable for rebound, but my opinion is that they don't really adjust the stiffness of the ride, so much as the quickness with which the shock reacts to compression...

pianoprodigy

Yeah, I'm planning on rolling the fenders. As far as an impact in the front, I'm not sure. The CARFAX was clean when I bought the car but who knows. Any more input on a best shock/strut for me?

ptrhahn

iTrader: (9)

I mean it sounds like you bottomed out hard, bent your sway bar mount, and bent the connecting linkage. An impact like that is good enough to damage other things....

Best shock in the normal stock-replacement range is probably the Koni Yellow.

pianoprodigy

I don't think I've ever bottomed out hard. I've scraped a few times on speed bumps, but nothing major. It must have been one of the previous owners...

What other things are you thinking of???

rajeevx7

iTrader: (11)

Prodigy - I think it is very probable that your unbalenced tires is causing the new vibration, about 99% sure. I am putting Koni/Eibach combo in tommorow and will post results in my thread.

I know PtrHahn is right, the adjustability of the Koni's only effects how fast the shock comes back from compression, hard = slow rebound
soft = faster rebound.
I can tell this for sure just from adjusting and pushing down on my shocks, which now take up floor space in my office. I just think the H&R's are more of your problem, too low. I know, Ironic coming from my car....last time you saw me I had a 3" drop up front with 235-35's....but as of tomm. no more!

Raj

pianoprodigy

Raj,

Yeah, let me know how yours turns out. I'm still unsure as to what to do...

Howard Coleman

iTrader: (6)

you have a really nice fd... i was looking thru your mods.

there are a number of ways for you to go.

the budget way: Eibach Pro Trak springs see this link for engineering info:

https://www.rx7club.com/forum/showth...hreadid=283430

but given your wheels/tires (somewhat similar to mine, Enkei 18X8.5 fr 18X10) you probably would be much better in the long run to buy a set of Tein HA coil-overs. that way you could set your ride height exactly where you want. i run 25 inches front and rear at the wheel wells. you do need to roll your fenders.

the Tein spring rate works just fine on the street and track 566 fr and 422 rear. the shocks have 16 adj settings. i run about 40 % from full soft front and 2 clicks from full soft rear. i have dynoed all 16 settings on the shocks at 10 different speeds and they are very nice. build quality and appearance is first rate. and they are inexpensive for what you get... around $900 for the set. i have run them for 4 years and love them. (BTW, don't buy any other Tein coil over as they have way too much spring rate.)

just a couple of other comments.... vibration at 70? check your toe. it should be a hair less than an 1/8th toe in front and rear. toe should be checked at least 2x a year. incorrect toe settings will ruin a set of tires in 500 miles. by all means get your swaybar mount replaced immediately.

howard coleman