HKS Hipermax III Sport

[projectMS3]

I know there's not a lot of information on this suspension. We're building a 2009 MS3 to compete in the Redline Time Attack series.
HKS has decided to support our effort and given us a set of Hipermax III sport coil-overs. Here are various photos for people to check out. I'll update thoughts on the suspension once it is installed. The fit and finish and machining on these is top notch!
Check out my Flickr album for more photos.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/35435203@N02/sets/72157613835046269/
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3628/3283056860_3ef292dcb0_b.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3514/3282236187_69abd4c8cf_b.jpg
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http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3357/3283057790_938a497731_b.jpg
Rear Damper and Spring
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3449/3283057968_1d6650b065_b.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3338/3283058106_53e1605fc0_b.jpg
Top of the rear Damper
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3180/3282237389_6aa207b771_b.jpg
Everything in the box
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3382/3283059056_44f2831f76_b.jpg

[strytnyne]

wow those look fucking hot

[daonly1around]

limited or unlimited FWD?

[projectMS3]

We're running in the street class. Our goal is to build a car that we drive to the track and home. No trailers, no stripped out interior, etc.. Full interior, street tires and fully streetable.

[madvillian]

oh my god i waaaaaaaant. hey, hks im building a project car tooooo! =)

[Kain]

Definitely keep us updated.

[CnoTataymo]

Install them already!

[bykeryder4life]

I wanna see how low they allow the rears to go please post pics with the rear slammed

[projectMS3]

We should get them on the car real soon so we can corner weight the car and test it out at Buttonwillow Raceway on the 28th. After which we'll be test fitting wheels to see what the largest front size is that fits. Since we're running street tires (non R-Compounds) we may need to go super wide since the car is so front heavy.


bykeryder4life- We'll see what we can do. Keep in mind we're really focused on maximum track grip and that's not always the lowest setting. You need some amount of travel, especially for bumpy tracks like Buttonwillow and Willow Springs, the 2 tracks at the start of the Redline Time Attack series.

[madvillian]

you can comfortably fit 18x9's with a 30 offset with 245's on the front, without doing any work to the fenders, although it is not the same case in the rear.

idk if you care or not, but if so:

http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?t=123730078

[bykeryder4life]

For sure I understand the lowest doesnt mean performance. I have coils on my car and wanna see what other kits can do and how much adjustability they offer the user. If you guys are doing a track setup for buttonwillow you wont have the rears slammed most likely so no worries about getting pics posted up its a waste of time. Just let me know if it looks like they have the adjustment space to get the rear down low.

[Speed3@UCI]

these coilovers costs more than all the mods on my speed 3 put together and multiply x2.

[bykeryder4life]

you get what you pay for....cobb's coils with 4 way adjustability ( i think) are going to be like 5k if you wanna really get serious. Go look at some KW variants (thats who makes mazdaspeed's coilovers)

[projectMS3]

you can comfortably fit 18x9's with a 30 offset with 245's on the front, without doing any work to the fenders, although it is not the same case in the rear.

idk if you care or not, but if so:

http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?t=123730078
Good to know. Love the wheels. What are those?

I think we'll be sticking to 225s on the rear. They're not getting much hotter than 160 degrees F, they're barely being put to use.

[madvillian]

theyre rota g-forces. im confident you could run a 18x9 with a 35 or maaaaybe 40 offset wrapped in 255's without rubbing.

[projectMS3]

We finally got a chance to drive on the street and at the track. The Hipermax come in three different versions. The Sport version is intended for track use and after having driven the car around town this last week I can say it's not a good street suspension if you live somewhere with bad roads like here in California it's not uncomfortable but it ain't pleasant.

On smooth asphalt it's actually quite good and could be used as a street suspension. At Buttonwillow it performed very well on the better paved sections. If you're not a California track junkie Buttonwillow has some of the worst paving of any track I've driven, maybe only surpassed by the Streets course at Willow Springs. Both those tracks are akin to poorly maintained streets.

On smoother tracks like Laguna Seca or Spring Mountain I think the suspension would do even better. HKS also offers re-valving for the Hipermax which might suit US tracks a bit better. We'll wait and see how more testing goes at Willow Springs before we think about re-valving these.

The adjustment range really makes a difference. We tested them in conjunction with a pre-production Tri-Point engineering rear sway bar. The combination worked great. Turn in was a little crisper but the real difference was from corner apex to corner exit. The car just tracked out in a more linear fashion with less understeer, the tires didn't feel like they were scrubbing as hard and our tire temps and wear showed this to be the case.

Here are some photos from the day.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3423/3361573942_f688eb9c1b_b.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3603/3361573834_b35cf154df_b.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3470/3361573704_ae7d7df9cd_b.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3640/3361573492_cb8eddeace_b.jpg

[Nliiitend1]

Thanks for the update!

The car looks great out on the track, BTW. (thumb)

It sounds like these might be the ticket for those that are looking for something even a bit more serious/track-oriented than the Mazdaspeed (KW) setup. :)

[CnoTataymo]

Nice shots. What are the specs of your wheels and tires? How big are your gaps too?

[projectMS3]

It sounds like these might be the ticket for those that are looking for something even a bit more serious/track-oriented than the Mazdaspeed (KW) setup. :)

I think so. The fact that you can have them rebuilt and also re-valved by HKS here in the US means you can really dial them in for the tracks you frequent.

For Redline we might not re-valve them but I know I usually run Buttonwillow and I would love to tailor these to that track.

The wheels are 18x8 TR Motorsport C2, +48 offset with 225/40 18 Yokohama AD07 tires. Not a bad wheel. For Redline we'll be running a Volk or Yokohama wheel to save some more weight. We just needed a basic track wheel to test different size tires and clearances.

[projectMS3]

Oh yeah one last thing. We desperately need some volunteers for March 28th and 29th Redline race days. If you live in California and want to make it out to Buttonwillow we would love the help! Just contact me. All we can offer is lunch and dinner and our eternal thanks and hopefully a ton of fun.

[daonly1around]

Oh yeah one last thing. We desperately need some volunteers for March 28th and 29th Redline race days. If you live in California and want to make it out to Buttonwillow we would love the help! Just contact me. All we can offer is lunch and dinner and our eternal thanks and hopefully a ton of fun.

sure, i'll make the cross country trip to help you guys out, how long does it take to get from VA to CA... HAHAHA

wish i was closer

[madvillian]

looks awesome!

[ericm]

Do you know what the spring rates are? The front springs look especially thick and short.

[projectMS3]

Do you know what the spring rates are? The front springs look especially thick and short.

Front is 8kg and rear 4kg.

[fastguy]

does it slam the car bc i want these coils sooo bad

[daonly1around]

does it slam the car bc i want these coils sooo bad

coil overs aren't what you want if you to "slam" your car... go with air bags... why do you want to "slam" a ms3? get a truck or something..

[Corbs]

okay fag myb I want to slam it bc i like the way it looks and yeah since most people slam trucks.... wrong most ppl lift them noob.. and airbags are shit i would never get them... i want to slam my car big deal get over it...

just a matter of time for you...

[daonly1around]

okay fag myb I want to slam it bc i like the way it looks and yeah since most people slam trucks.... wrong most ppl lift them noob.. and airbags are shit i would never get them... i want to slam my car big deal get over it...

mmm, ok, go pick up an issue of "truckin" and see how many are slammed VS lifted... and you know NOTHING about air ride obviously..
and slammed cars look worse than ANY set of hot swaps or wheels with red lips... hahaha

[projectMS3]

Enough with the bickering please. Here are some photos of the suspension installed. First race for the 2009 Redline Time Attack season is next weekend! Wish us luck please.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3662/3378659186_a7d31f1046_b.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3558/3377841831_6fd788ca95_b.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3560/3378658994_e264c51185_b.jpg
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http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3619/3378660000_d0973233eb_b.jpg

[madvillian]

droooooool.. so nice..

[CnoTataymo]

Damn, nice. I just realized you don't have any front camber adjustments. Are you going to get some?

[projectMS3]

Damn, nice. I just realized you don't have any front camber adjustments. Are you going to get some?
It is by far our biggest weakness right now. We need more negative camber.
The way the rules are structured we're very limited in options.
It won't be til much later in the season that we'll have a solution for that. It's top secret so I can't let you guys know just yet.

[Nliiitend1]

...at least give us a hint by laying out the rules you have to follow...;)

[madvillian]

im at -3.5* in the fronts and rears, that enough for ya?

[CnoTataymo]

madvillian, you have the BC coilovers with front camber plates? I thought when I saw your pictures before, you didn't have that option? Unless I'm trippin.

[madvillian]

haha i have the plates, but at the time when i put the coilovers in i didnt know how to install the plates, so i was like oh ill do it later. its been a year later, and they're still just sitting there in the cabinet..

[projectMS3]

Minor update. We competed in round 1 of the Redline Time Attack series. The race was at Buttonwillow Raceway (my home track really) and I would be lying if I didn't say we had some serious problems. For the most part our brakes were not working. We had a small air bubble trapped somewhere in the system, we flushed the system 4 times and it still wouldn't leave. With no choice to run as is we headed out to compete. Every single car in the top 10 was pretty much stripped, trailered there, and had more power and more tire than us, and working brakes. Still even with that, we came in 6th in class out of 18 and we beat cars that were putting down more power, and with nearly everything modified. We basically drove to the track, competed and drove home. The only thing we did was change to a fresh set of tires before our first run. Not even on different wheels, we had them changed on the set we drove to the track on.

Our list of mods was very minimal. Yokohama AD07 tires, HKS coil-overs, Tri-Point Engineering rear sway bar, CP-E intake, Downpipe with Cat, and exhaust and 1 Recaro Sportster CS seat with Schroth harness to give me more headroom. That's it and we finished 6th. By the way, 1st place was the Bergenholtz Mazda 3.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3334/3410731511_3813e55eb7_o.jpg

[noobinacan]

that car looks nice...my 2 cents.

1) Here is a wheel/setup that COBB runs and is do-able. why re-invent the wheel.

Volk RE30 18”x8.5”, +52mm offset Wheels (Street Class)
Toyo R1R 255/35-18 Tires (Street Class)
Prodrive GC05 18”x 8”, +46 mm offset (Mod Class)
Toyo R888 245/40-18 Tires (Mod Class)

you can wrap the wheels in whatever.

2) I really think you should get a braille battery to save weight and a carbon fibre hood.

3) if possible, go for BBK, rotora comes to mind. no stud replacements required and no spacers required if you pick the right wheels. This will allow you to do the following:
- swap out pads quickly at the track
- less brake fade
- saved un-sprung weight on the front axle. at least 30 lbs if i remember correctly.

4) Short throw shifter

do everything you can to save weight, including removing rear seats when going to track. etc...
You are tracking and competing..and will have to commit in some form :)

Also, a few folks use this: Motive bleeder to bleed brakes and is a quick job.
Euro 0100 model
http://store.motiveproducts.com/shared/StoreFront/default.asp?CS=motive&StoreType=BtoC&Count1=688015162&Count2=605155587

thanks and g'luck.

[projectMS3]

We most surely need wider tires. For the next race we hope to have the following done.

1. 245/40 Yokohama AD08
2. Maybe a lightweight battery, the Bergenholtz 3 came in first with a full interior so I don't see too much sense in removing it the interior. I'd love to do a carbon hood but our budget won't allow it at the moment, we need our cash for item 5.
3. More power, we have CPE-E front mount, standback and ECU flash sitting here along with the turbo inlet pipe, we just ran out of time.
4. Shifter isn't really necessary for us, all our testing at both Buttonwillow and Willow Springs has shown us we only need to on average two gears per track. 4th and 5th. The engine is just so torquey and responsive we don't have to shift very much.
5. With our budget the way it is we can either do a BBK or a Differential, I'm really leaning towards a Quaife. The stock diff becomes easily overwhelmed at the track. I'm thinking the Quaife will make a bigger difference than anything else. Bergenholtz upgraded their diff and said it made a world of difference.
6. Brake bleeding. Oh man, we tried it all, vacuum bleeders, pedal method, pressure bleed, dealerships, etc.. We spoke with one of the guys from Stoptech and he says it's probably a tiny bubble trapped somewhere in the caliper, he suggested tapping the caliper with a dead blow hammer as we bleed, and also unmounting the caliper and bleeding it at 15 degreee angles from the stock orientation. Fun!

[Wes]

Is this car registered for MazFest? It better be!

www.mazfest.com