Has anyone lowered their MP3?

[suki]

If so how to do you like it?

[PaulMP3]

i got the spool springs, rides like stock. i wish the back was a tad lower.


http://www.mazdamp3.com/members/paulmp3/117-1741_img.jpg

[bruce95fmla]

Originally posted by paulmp3
i got the spool springs, rides like stock. i wish the back was a tad lower.


http://www.mazdamp3.com/members/paulmp3/117-1741_img.jpg

Are you sure about that, It looks even to me .. Most people tend to wish the front was lower..
Bruce

[bigbillsfan]

i lowered my mp3 with the spool springs as well. i agree i was hoping the back was going to settle some what, but i've had them on for about six weeks and they don't look like they have at all.

[PaulMP3]

Originally posted by bruce95fmla


Are you sure about that, It looks even to me .. Most people tend to wish the front was lower..
Bruce


that pic makes the back look lower than it is:confused: it is noticibly lower in the front. i can get 1 finger in the front well and 2 in the back.

[Vicocola]

no camber kit needed? tires wont wore out because of that? coz my friends is300 tires were messed up a year after he lowered it

[PaulMP3]

i got allignment about a week after the install and the only thing tha needed adjusted was my front toe. The allignment guy was real surprised.

[PaulMP3]

my tire wear is normal, i got about 3000miles on them.

[suki]

how much for the spool springs? did you instal it yourself?

[APEXistud]

Here is my MP3 lowered with the Tein S-Tech's. The alignment on is fine where it's at, but I will be buying the Ground Control Camber plates to help dial things in a bit more. I've had them on for about a month now with no noticable tire wear and I have put these springs through the motions to guage the difference in handling. I'll just be rotating my tires more often until I buy the camber plates.
http://a1.cpimg.com/image/C1/0E/19737281-c467-02000180-.jpg

[PaulMP3]

Originally posted by suki
how much for the spool springs? did you instal it yourself?

i paid 229 shipped, i think they migh be cheaper now. I did the install myself, it was pretty simple just took a good bit of time because it was my first spring install.

Apexistud your drop looks very even, what is the drop on those. Looks verysimilar to the spools.

[Tanginamo425]

Originally posted by APEXistud
Here is my MP3 lowered with the Tein S-Tech's. The alignment on is fine where it's at, but I will be buying the Ground Control Camber plates to help dial things in a bit more. I've had them on for about a month now with no noticable tire wear and I have put these springs through the motions to guage the difference in handling. I'll just be rotating my tires more often until I buy the camber plates.


I was planning to get those springs. How do they feel handling wise? The TEIN S-Tech springs, I can get them for $180... Cuz i mean, with the stock springs, taking the corners still feels very stiff...

[APEXistud]

The S-Tech's to me, feel a bit softer than the stock MP3 springs. I dug up some specs on the Racing Beat Springs that came on the MP3 and compared them to the Tein S-Tech's. Here's the original post. (http://forum.protegemp3.com/vbb225/showthread.php?s=&threadid=22716&highlight=Tein)

[Tanginamo425]

Hey thanks for the post APEXistud. I'm starting to have second thoughts now.... hahah Hey for all u mp3 guys, has neone gotten the skunk2 race coilovers? I found them for sale so just curious to see what people think.

[APEXistud]

Originally posted by Tanginamo425
Hey thanks for the post APEXistud. I'm starting to have second thoughts now.... hahah Hey for all u mp3 guys, has neone gotten the skunk2 race coilovers? I found them for sale so just curious to see what people think.

Sorry if I made the Tein's sound like they suck, by all means they made an excellent product. It's just that they're not my cup of tea. I was thinking that they'd be more performance oriented as far as the springs rates are concerned. Looking at what MazdaProbeGT (http://forum.protegemp3.com/vbb225/showthread.php?s=&threadid=23692) said in your other post. He seems completely satisfied with the S-Techs. 2KMazdaspeed had the Skunks2 coilovers on his MSP and he thought the Skunks were to stiff for his taste. So I think the question you may need to ask yourself is, what type of ride are you looking for? Soft, Stiff, or Race and do you plan on auto crossing or track racing? Or are you going for appearance more than functionality. I am very picky about the parts I put on my car and after riding in a Protege with JIC's, I'm kinda biased towards those. So the Tein's will keep me satisfied for the interim.

[Tanginamo425]

For me I'm lookin for somethin alittle stiffer than the Racing Beat springs. I'm plannin to do some autocross in the near future. I don't plan on buying any parts till after winter. Still, I'm trying to stick with JDM parts.

[Bigg Tim]

I lowered mine with ground controls. I love it, I can adjust it when ever I want to without messing up the alignment too much, as long as I don't go to far up or down. I checked this out, I had a friend align it PERFECTLY, then I moved it up an inch and had him recheck it and it wasn't really that far off. He told me it would take a while before it would mess up my tires. So as long as I stay under an inch of movement, I can move it up and down safley. I put it back down, so now it's about 3" in the front and 2" in the back.

[starflare21]

Originally posted by Tanginamo425
For me I'm lookin for somethin alittle stiffer than the Racing Beat springs. I'm plannin to do some autocross in the near future. I don't plan on buying any parts till after winter. Still, I'm trying to stick with JDM parts.

the S-Tech's probably won't be for you then. they're a little softer then Racing Beat version. figure in what class and the regulations regarding that class of auto-x first before you start the buying. if you're planning to get Tein then go with the full coil-over suspension if possible. the spring rate is considerably stiffer and you can buy harder or softer springs if you like. the strut is also adjustable, hard or soft.

like apexistud i'm biased to a particular brand but this is to tein (full coilover setup mind you) mainly because i have them and i still do not trust JIC's product line, despite claims of fixing certain things that were known to fail in their products in the past.

[APEXistud]

Originally posted by starflare21
......I still do not trust JIC's product line, despite claims of fixing certain things that were known to fail in their products in the past.

I've heard of the rumors product issues with the JIC's. But, no one's ever been able to say what type of problems that they've experienced. If there were any serious issues with the JIC coilovers. I definately would have found out about the them through Rishie. That is unless he didn't want to tell me. The only complaint that I've heard is about the instructions.

[starflare21]

Originally posted by APEXistud


I've heard of the rumors product issues with the JIC's. But, no one's ever been able to say what type of problems that they've experienced. If there were any serious issues with the JIC coilovers. I definately would have found out about the them through Rishie. That is unless he didn't want to tell me. The only complaint that I've heard is about the instructions.

well, what i can tell you so far from several cases is that

1. their struts were notorious to blow out fairly easily.

2. customer service sucks when needing to replace or rebuild parts. are the JIC's even rebuildable and/or revalveable like several other suspension manufacturers?

3. the overall coilover looks great but there are certain flaws that get overlooked at first glance just because it looks good right out of the box. you don't realize these things until they actually happen. take for instance the camber plate. the center bolt is pressed in on the Tein and Cusco brands where as the JIC's are threaded screw type. this screw type method leads to the possiblity of either breaking or stripping a bolt/thread and leads to movement, possibly even untwisting of the bolt as it moves around. a perfect example is if you ever needed to install/remove the suspension or say a strut bar. frequent on and off will eventually take toll on it if not careful. the pressed in method is easier to replace if it ever breaks and just makes more sense if you're paying top dollar. compare a cusco/tein brand camber plate to the JIC and there shouldn't be any doubt which one is crafted better. true, Tein doesn't make camber plates for the protege but i'm currently researching several things that i'm hoping may broaden the selection of camber plates for the protege on the market.

4. the adjustment of the strut dampening on the JIC unit vs. the Tein unit would be significant. the Tein unit you could set at the lowest setting and work your way steadily till you dial in the suspension with each one click, to fine tune it down to a good small increment. each one click wasn't too drastic of hardness/softness thus the ability to fine tune easier. the JIC's for each one click increment made too much of a drastic change in hardness/softness from one setting to the next click and is a little bit more challenging to fine tune.


I guess if you didn't intend to use any of these full coilover setups for racing and just for show it might be fine but if so then what's the point???

don't get me wrong, i'm not trying to flame JIC to hell on their products i would merely just say do the homework on these kinda things to make people's purchases of these expensive pieces worthwhile. it's too bad Cusco didn't make a lot of products for the protege. Cusco pieces are made to fit like a glove. :D

[importMP3]

Hey, Bigg Tim,

Im at the same settings with my Ground Controls, and I'm having a problem with wear on the inside of my tires. You dont have any problems? I was thinking that I needed to get a camber kit, but maybe I just need to go get it realigned and see.

[AnthonyO3]

I am planning on getting the JIC's pretty soon. But I dont autocross or anything like that. I have the Ground Control coilovers right now but I hate the ride. With the JIC's I have the comfort of a better than stock ride with the choice of height adjustibility that is the only reason I want to get them. How low can you go with the JIC's?

[starflare21]

Originally posted by importMP3
Hey, Bigg Tim,

Im at the same settings with my Ground Controls, and I'm having a problem with wear on the inside of my tires. You dont have any problems? I was thinking that I needed to get a camber kit, but maybe I just need to go get it realigned and see.

best bet is to get it aligned. how low did you drop it? if it's cambering more then -1.5 degrees then it's a possibility but more then likely it's your toe settings that may be off.

[Bigg Tim]

importMP3, no I haven't had any issues. I get mine aligned about every 6 months or so and rotate and check pressue in the tires very often. My last set of tires were more bald on the inside, but I was spinning them a lot towards the end to hurry up the wear so I could get new tires. I'll keep an eye on these to see if they start to wear on the inside. The camber plates wouldn't hurt, they would probably make it be able to get a more acurate alignment. I have a friend do it and he takes his time and put's it right in the middle of the ranges. Most other shops won't do this.

[importMP3]

Do you know of a good place where I can get these camber plates? Just to be safe, I really dont want to screw up another set of tires.

[Bigg Tim]

Ground Control offers one for $299, here's the link http://www.ground-control.com/index.html I assume it means for all protege's from 1990 up. Give em a call and ask.

[SSQ B.O.V]

thinking of loweing soon.not pos what route to go

[Allen]

Tein S. Tech springs are WORTH the purchase for an upgrade to ANY Protege.....

Tein S. Tech springs not suitable for autocrossing? Why would you say that? It is no less than the MP3 OEM springs. I autocross and I can tell these S. Tech springs make an improvement over the OEM springs.

Tein S. Tech springs may be softer than the OEM springs, but they give you less body roll when you stop, turn and launch. All three combine to be important factors for autocross.

Granted, the S. Tech's do not feel outrageously stiffer on the turns compared to the OEM springs, but none the less it DOES have LESS body roll than the OEM springs.

You take that spring which cost around $200 or so, give or take. Compare it to the JIC coilover price ... what, $1200 - $1800 easily??

Come on now, be real.... that's like comparing a Civic Si against a NSX. You just can't compare the two.

For the cost, the Tein S. Tech is WORTH the purchase....if you want lower, go with Spools Springs... I don't know the spring rate, but Spools Springs are lower than Tein S. Tech....

If you have the cash and want the BEST, then of course go for the JIC by all means.... but I have to stress that the S. Tech springs are definitely worth the upgrade to your Protege for the price.

[Tanginamo425]

I did a little more research and well i came to this conclusion.... I'm planning to get the S-Tech springs for now. After I get the rest of the parts i'm saving up for, I'll switch them to some TEIN coilovers. I won't get them till maybe a long time from now... Either way, after looking at the drop from the S-Tech springs, I started to like it...

[dibblejr]

I got the Eibachs Pro, they are even, had for almost 2 years now, not a problem. Rides better than stock, takes corners without bouncing through them.

[APEXistud]

Originally posted by starflare21


well, what i can tell you so far from several cases is that

1. their struts were notorious to blow out fairly easily.

2. customer service sucks when needing to replace or rebuild parts. are the JIC's even rebuildable and/or revalveable like several other suspension manufacturers?

3. the overall coilover looks great but there are certain flaws that get overlooked at first glance just because it looks good right out of the box. you don't realize these things until they actually happen. take for instance the camber plate. the center bolt is pressed in on the Tein and Cusco brands where as the JIC's are threaded screw type. this screw type method leads to the possiblity of either breaking or stripping a bolt/thread and leads to movement, possibly even untwisting of the bolt as it moves around. a perfect example is if you ever needed to install/remove the suspension or say a strut bar. frequent on and off will eventually take toll on it if not careful. the pressed in method is easier to replace if it ever breaks and just makes more sense if you're paying top dollar. compare a cusco/tein brand camber plate to the JIC and there shouldn't be any doubt which one is crafted better. true, Tein doesn't make camber plates for the protege but i'm currently researching several things that i'm hoping may broaden the selection of camber plates for the protege on the market.

4. the adjustment of the strut dampening on the JIC unit vs. the Tein unit would be significant. the Tein unit you could set at the lowest setting and work your way steadily till you dial in the suspension with each one click, to fine tune it down to a good small increment. each one click wasn't too drastic of hardness/softness thus the ability to fine tune easier. the JIC's for each one click increment made too much of a drastic change in hardness/softness from one setting to the next click and is a little bit more challenging to fine tune.


I guess if you didn't intend to use any of these full coilover setups for racing and just for show it might be fine but if so then what's the point???

don't get me wrong, i'm not trying to flame JIC to hell on their products i would merely just say do the homework on these kinda things to make people's purchases of these expensive pieces worthwhile. it's too bad Cusco didn't make a lot of products for the protege. Cusco pieces are made to fit like a glove. :D

I'll definately forward these issues to Rishie and give a couple of other vendors who sell JIC a call and see if those example you gave are an isolated case or wide spread. Thank you for clearing up the speculation for me. I was getting tired of hearing a few member talk about the problem, but never actually saying what they ran into.

[goku]

Sometimes this does happen when japan makes 500 sets for the BJFP coilovers there will be a few of those 500 that will be bad or defective, it's just human error. All 500 can not always be perfect. All companies have this same problem, I don't care who they are!

You must all let me know if something happens to your parts. If you don't, how will we know when something like in this post happens. Please tell us, don't just say JIC sucks because something happens. Don't keep quiet and stay mad at us let us know.

I am sorry you got bad customer service and I don't know who you talked too, but I am the new sales guy here and I'll be taking over from now on.

Our coilovers are all rebuildable and or you can just buy some new dampers.

Not only do our suspension, exhaust, and chassis parts look good, but they are one of the best out on the market.

Let me know if somethink is wrong.

I will always try to take care of our customers.

Kris
JIC

Originally posted by starflare21


well, what i can tell you so far from several cases is that

1. their struts were notorious to blow out fairly easily.

2. customer service sucks when needing to replace or rebuild parts. are the JIC's even rebuildable and/or revalveable like several other suspension manufacturers?

3. the overall coilover looks great but there are certain flaws that get overlooked at first glance just because it looks good right out of the box. you don't realize these things until they actually happen. take for instance the camber plate. the center bolt is pressed in on the Tein and Cusco brands where as the JIC's are threaded screw type. this screw type method leads to the possiblity of either breaking or stripping a bolt/thread and leads to movement, possibly even untwisting of the bolt as it moves around. a perfect example is if you ever needed to install/remove the suspension or say a strut bar. frequent on and off will eventually take toll on it if not careful. the pressed in method is easier to replace if it ever breaks and just makes more sense if you're paying top dollar. compare a cusco/tein brand camber plate to the JIC and there shouldn't be any doubt which one is crafted better. true, Tein doesn't make camber plates for the protege but i'm currently researching several things that i'm hoping may broaden the selection of camber plates for the protege on the market.

4. the adjustment of the strut dampening on the JIC unit vs. the Tein unit would be significant. the Tein unit you could set at the lowest setting and work your way steadily till you dial in the suspension with each one click, to fine tune it down to a good small increment. each one click wasn't too drastic of hardness/softness thus the ability to fine tune easier. the JIC's for each one click increment made too much of a drastic change in hardness/softness from one setting to the next click and is a little bit more challenging to fine tune.


I guess if you didn't intend to use any of these full coilover setups for racing and just for show it might be fine but if so then what's the point???

don't get me wrong, i'm not trying to flame JIC to hell on their products i would merely just say do the homework on these kinda things to make people's purchases of these expensive pieces worthwhile. it's too bad Cusco didn't make a lot of products for the protege. Cusco pieces are made to fit like a glove. :D

[202MP3]

here is my car on coilovers

#202

mods:
injen intake
hyper white blubs
graphics
custom lower speed grill
m3 mirrors
carbon fiber exaust
B&M short shift
coilovers

[APEXistud]

Is it me, or is the rear of your car lower than the front?

[starflare21]

I didn't just say JIC sucks, otherwise it would've been a "one-liner" post not several paragraphs. I totally understand about mass production and several bad apples every now and then but this isn't just a BJFP related incident it's in other models as well and it's not just what mechanical flaws caused by the production machine, it's simply the design isn't as good as I would expect it to be for that amount of money as I have mentioned some in my previous post. this isn't something that you can blame on the machine.

Like i said, i'm not flaming on JIC i'm merely stating my own opinion that with a little research you can find something better for an equal or even lesser price. companies that have also proved themselves in the field with both racing championships and street drivers alike. as for best in the suspension market i'd still give the nod that Tein is king of the hill at the moment and what seems like no sign of giving it up soon. you can't beat the full assault they've done in the recent past in the states as well as japan to take the title away from GAB as being the most widely used suspension for japanese vehicles.


Originally posted by goku
Sometimes this does happen when japan makes 500 sets for the BJFP coilovers there will be a few of those 500 that will be bad or defective, it's just human error. All 500 can not always be perfect. All companies have this same problem, I don't care who they are!

You must all let me know if something happens to your parts. If you don't, how will we know when something like in this post happens. Please tell us, don't just say JIC sucks because something happens. Don't keep quiet and stay mad at us let us know.

I am sorry you got bad customer service and I don't know who you talked too, but I am the new sales guy here and I'll be taking over from now on.

Our coilovers are all rebuildable and or you can just buy some new dampers.

Not only do our suspension, exhaust, and chassis parts look good, but they are one of the best out on the market.

Let me know if somethink is wrong.

I will always try to take care of our customers.

Kris
JIC

[mp3boy1984]

I have ground controls and love them. Granite they are super stiff.....and i live in michigan where the roads suck balls.....but i can cope, in the picture the car might be a little dirty, but i was in the upper peninsula during the winter when those pics were taken

[gjmoreo]

I can vouch for SPOOL SPRINGS ... 2'' drop all around. Nice ride no clunks or clanks, no prob with premature tire wear and nice stance.

[starflare21]

Originally posted by mp3boy1984
I have ground controls and love them. Granite they are super stiff.....and i live in michigan where the roads suck balls.....but i can cope, in the picture the car might be a little dirty, but i was in the upper peninsula during the winter when those pics were taken

now that's a real nice lowered stance. i was planning to lower it around that height. can't really stand when the tire is tucked TOO much under the fender (no offense to the guys that like to slam em hard). :D

[SSQ B.O.V]

thats sucks