ptrhahn

iTrader: (9)

If the valving is worth a darn, these look like a pretty good deal for a basic set-up.

RTS3GEN

Lol! If you consider these "basic" I wanna see what you've got! I'd consider Koni two ways and lowering springs basic! Ohlins with external reservoir's would be extreme. I think these are pretty advanced for a car of this type. Aside from not having an external electric controller, these are pretty adjustable and offer tons of tuning potential!

ptrhahn

iTrader: (9)

By basic I mean that they are single adjustable, not double or triple, and appear to be large monotube design, but no remote resovoires. Fairly high spring rates, but not extremely so.

The plusses are, they are alluminum, and they appear to have taken some care in designing the upper mounts and bushings so that they don't bind and don't make noise.

All good stuff, especially for $1300. If the valving is good, and the service is good, that's a deal.

Rice Hata

iTrader: (24)

I'm in the market for new coilovers as well. Not sure if you guys saw the info on spring rates:

http://www.pettitracing.com/rx7/trakprocoilovers.htm

The Stage I/II are 10/8 f/r and the Stage III is 20% stiffer so I'm guessing 12/10.

Does anyone have any driving experience on these? They are less expensive (and lighter)than the Tein Flexes. I would be interested in the Stage II coilovers.

eyecandy

iTrader: (19)

How is the noise and ride quality with those rubber bushings? and I assume it also has rubber int he upper mounts? One last question what size is the top nut for the damper?

kyleaudio

iTrader: (22)

also interested in what you think about the ride quality. i may consider a set of these if anything happens to my current coilovers or if i get another FD.

for the record i have Ohlins I.T.O. coilovers with the same spring rates (12k Fr, 10K Rr) as the stage I and II. the ride on the softest setting is very nice, it feels smoother then stock and only a little bit stiffer then my 2009 honda fit, they are not bouncy at all, and my car handles SO much better then it did with both the stock springs and shocks and stock shocks with tein S-tech springs. i could honestly say that my setup would not get annoying as a daily driver. i have not turned the shock damping up yet, so i cant say how they feel at the stiffer settings yet. (i just got my car back on the road this weekend).

makio

I've had the Trak Pro Stage III's on my FD for a couple of days now. Unbelievable how smooth they ride, not jarring at all. I'm really impressed with these coilovers. Much better ride quality than my previous Konis with Tein H Tech springs.

Medpilot

Just got mine yesterday (Stage III). Although it will be a while until I get to try them out since I am at the beginning of a build. Quality is first class. The box had a good 5lbs of packing in it and I weighed the box at 57lbs. Very light! I was impressed with the mounts as well.
Since I can't leave well enough alone, I removed the lower perch and found a seal with Japanese writing on it and English saying "No Guarantee if seal broken". Obviously, I didn't go any further, but I was able to conclude that the insert is Japanese anyway FWIW. Made me start to wonder if a rebuild with Koni or the likes would be an option down the road.

eyecandy

iTrader: (19)

Got any pics of the seal area? And did you happen to breakdown the uppermount? I would like to see some more detailed photos and specs.

Brekyrself

iTrader: (30)

Let us know how you like them. I am going to pick up the stage 2's next month, spent too much money with Ray at Malloy Mazda today

rx7xrx7

Installed stage 2 last weekend and the street ride on soft is awsome. I can't wait to adjust the valving down and try them on the track. The way they came the ride height was a little low on the front. It would rub under heavy load. I will raise the front up some soon. Very pleased with quality and performance so far.

Rice Hata

iTrader: (24)

I just ordered the Stage II Trak Pros after speaking with Cam. It was between these and the Tein Flexes, but they were out of stock. I'll let you know how they are when I get them installed.

My Tein RE 16kg f/r will be for sale at that time.

Howard Coleman

iTrader: (6)

about a month ago i received a PM asking me what i thought of Pettit's new Trak Pro coil overs. after a visit to their site my eyes were opened to the size of silver dollars!

generally i have been frustrated by the coil over sets offered for the FD. as you may recall from my suspension setup thread i really really don't like pillowball upper mounts.

they serve NO purpose w regard to uprating suspension performance.

NONE.

the upper and lower A arms scribe the race car FD geometry and the upper mount does nothing.

other than insulate the chassis from all the road NVH. Mazda correctly engineered a rubber insulator to deliver road happyness.

who the hell came up w the "Pillowball" tag anyway? it is the exact opposite. something, perhaps, was lost in translation or the marketing guys won the day.

anyway, if you have read the entire 600+ posts in the thread you know that it has been almost impossible to get exactly what our magnificent chassied FDs need as far as coil overs. if it isn't non-pillow-ball tops (NPBT), it is stupid spring rates, or non-rebuildables etc.

and right there, staring me in the face was the complete package.

i called Cam who is my old racing buddy. Cam and i first met at Road Atlanta when we were both racing our full tilt GT3 RX3s at the Runoffs in the 80s. huge fields, very very competitive last race of the season so it's o k to trash the car for the Nat Championship...

Cam and i have been close since then and i have the utmost regard for his talents and dedication to the rotary.

after a number of lengthy conversations i was even more convinced that Cam has exactly the answer to the FD needs. Cam and i are now working together on the package.

my primary input will be on spring rates.

consider:

April 15th, the first SCCA National race of the season in the highly competitive Central Division at Indianapolis Raceway Park. we literally were given a favor by being allowed to go out for one lap as the flagman was waving the checker signalling the end of practice. this was on a completly new Craig Carter/Coleman designed chassis that bent even a few more rules... (but was "legal").

checking tie wraps for spring travel after the lap is was determined we needed to go from a 425 to a 450 pound spring in the LF. we didn't have it with us so Craig flew his plane back to his shop and returned w it.

i qualified on the pole in a brand new chassis, won the race, and set an new lap record at IRP.

spring rate does matter.

and if you are serious about going fast ontrack you may end up w 4 different springs.

in keeping w the Pettit serious answer to the FD coil over problem a significant range of spring options will be available.

and these won't just be the ill conceived cookie-cutter offerings available from companies covering the waterfront. these will be engineered just for the FD.

for instance.....


the stock FD spring rate is 263 front andf 195 rear (pounds per inch)
that's 4.6 KG fr and 3.4 rear if you like metric.

that means the rear is 74% of the front.

i run & recommend 8/6 for street and occasional track app.

i recommend 10/8 as max rate if you do street and track.

note 10/8 places the rear at 80% of the front (8/6 is 75%)

one of the primary themes of the suspension thread is that the greatest challenge for making the FD rip on a road course is hooking up the rear. the easiest way to go slower is to run too much roll couple in the rear by using too stiff a spring or bar in the back.

remember my IRP situation. small differences in spring rate make big differences in lap times.

to that end Pettit will be offering 10/7.5 and if you need higher it won't be 12/10s as they are 83% biased to the rear.

12/9s will be your spring.

i could and will go on and on re Trak Pros but will leave it for later.

i will be doing ontrack testing and will share the data. while i am partnering w my old buddy Cam i am not a part of the enterprise side of the equation other than i will have most of his packages on my car. they will, after evaluation go back to Cam.

i am really excited about what will be a new uptick in hardware for the FD.

my rollcage arrives in a week and w the addition of my Tremec 6 speed gearbox and GT4094 and running methanol as base fuel along w my RacingBrakes 2010 should be lots of fun.

howard

Medpilot

Thank you Howard. That was a very positive and constructive input. I am new to the FD, but have worked with a lot of other cars and higher end coilovers. When I went looking for the perfect coilover for my new machine, I was rather disappointed that the options were either over-sprung or made to look like a real racing product, but had little real engineering into the coilover. The best one I saw was the Ohlin, but I was not 100% sold on it because I do intend on driving the car around town occasionally. I could re-spring them, but $3K + new springs were driving me to keep looking. When I ran across the ProTrak, I felt that they met all of the things I wanted ( weight, adjustability, and quality ). I was even more impressed that they used a rubber insulator because, like you, I know how pointless a pillow ball is on the FD geometry. There is a place for a pillow ball on some cars with strut type shocks, but not on the FD. It was a marketing carry over from companies who sold shocks to other cars I am sure. I was absolutely floored when I saw that they were under $2K also.
I bought the Stage III and may eventually get a softer spring if I end up using the car less on the track and may anyway, because they may be a bit much even for that.
As far as the performance goes, I wish they had some rebound adjustability, but for the price, I can't complain about that. I hope that the japanese insert can deliver the performance I am expecting. Outside of Ohlin, all the Jap shocks I have dealt with use cheap to make needle type metering valves that do not compensate for fluid viscosity changes as they heat up during an event. I still haven't determined what the Protraks use. Anyone know? Koni, JRZ, and penske all use some form of stacked washer style valve that will compensate for viscosity changes. Ohlins still use a needle vale, but spent a little more time in construction using materials that have expansion rates to offset the fluid temp changes. They also have a flow restrictor to help with this.

BlinD26

iTrader: (27)

After seeing these in person over the weekend and reading Howard's 2 cents, looks like I'll definantly be leaning towards the Pettits once the engine is revived.

Howard Coleman

iTrader: (6)

"There is a place for a pillow ball on some cars with strut type shocks, but not on the FD. It was a marketing carry over from companies who sold shocks to other cars I am sure."

exactly correct. the upper mount on strut suspension does matter.

perhaps the yoyos that decided to carry solid upper mounts over didn't realise the FD has a real race car suspension.

as to the tech details... rest assured they will be disclosed.

hc

ptrhahn

iTrader: (9)

They should do a "Stage IV" that's double adjustable w/ remote resovoires.

Medpilot

i would be pissed! Because I would have to sell my brand new shocks! haha.

Specter328

iTrader: (2)

That would be amazing.

remydrm

Maybe Howard can chime in on this? Do you know if there is any chance of this?


Does Pettit offer camber plates for the FD?

ptrhahn

iTrader: (9)

Camber plates aren't necessary/applicable for the FD (see Howard's post).

i'd love to know who's shock insert is being used, not sure if it's DA or RR compatible.

1FAASTFD3S

iTrader: (33)

Or even better a "Stage V" thats triple adjustable for low and high speed damping with the external reservoirs and maybe even hydraulic preload!! If they did I would seriously look into these.... Probably put the price up in the Ohlins/Penske price range, but well worth the $....

Rice Hata

iTrader: (24)

I received my Trak Pro Stage IIs a few days ago and they look great. I weighed one of the coilovers and it was 10.8 lbs on a cheap digital scale. They are being installed this week, so I should have an update next weekend.

Howard- I'm glad to see your positive comments on these coilovers, just wish the 10/7.5 was available before I purchased

f2racer

iTrader: (1)

Anybody have any experience with the Stage I setup?

Thanks!

rdgt99

iTrader: (3)

Well I guess I'm now leaning toward the Pettit kit but looks like Stage II and III are on backorder. I was deciding between getting Koni Yellows/Eibach or spending the money and getting Tein Flex but the price point on the Trak Pro's is on the spot - plus Howard's input makes this kit very appealing.

Can't wait to hear more feedback once everyone gets them installed.