Improve suspension WITHOUT lowering

I

ipmcc

Member
I am interested in improving the performance of my 2008.5 MS3 suspension specifically WITHOUT lowering the car at all. I find that in my day to day life, the car is already very low and barely clears certain things that are just a fact of life for me (garage entrance at work, hump in the middle of dirt road that I have to drive on regularly).

My main interest is to reduce body roll when cornering, and front/back lurch/lean on acceleration and braking. I also wouldn't mind a stiffer ride in general (higher spring rate, I assume). I've done a lot of looking around, but pretty much every kit out there seems to imply lowering the car.

Currently, everything on the car is bone stock.

Am I just out of luck?

Thanks!
 
I am with you, brotha. I also do not want to drop my Speed. But I got these, and holy ****, much better handling.

http://protegegarage.com/1217-product-1217.html

Hotchkis front and rear sway bars. I have them in my 08, and the rear was ok on its own, but the front, although it takes work, made a huge difference. Corners like it is on rails. I love them.

Mazdaspeed springs only lower 1/2", but increase the spring rate. If my struts were not shot to hell, I would grab them myself. Looking at the Koni suspension in the next 6 months or so.
 
Suspension bits w/o lowering

I went with COBB front and rear sway bars, Koni FSDs struts/dampers along with Fat Cat jounce bumpers, aka bump stops.

It handles very well on my occasional Nor Cal Bay Area road course track days and is very firm yet compliant as a daily driver around town and freeway cruising.
 
ipmcc said:
I am interested in improving the performance of my 2008.5 MS3 suspension specifically WITHOUT lowering the car at all. I find that in my day to day life, the car is already very low and barely clears certain things that are just a fact of life for me (garage entrance at work, hump in the middle of dirt road that I have to drive on regularly).

My main interest is to reduce body roll when cornering, and front/back lurch/lean on acceleration and braking. I also wouldn't mind a stiffer ride in general (higher spring rate, I assume). I've done a lot of looking around, but pretty much every kit out there seems to imply lowering the car.

Currently, everything on the car is bone stock.

Am I just out of luck?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

any of the good coilovers can be set for stock ride hieght, firm up the RSB and that should make you happy
 
I looked into this also because I don't want to lower my car due to where I live.

From what I understand the stock springs are rated pretty high and you can keep them on. (keep the same ride height)

The setup that I have decided to go with is as follows:
1. Front and Rear Sway Bars (what ever brand you prefer)
2. Koni sports (can adjust them to your liking)
3.Engine Mounts (especially the rear)

4.Wider tires (18x8 is what most people go with)

BigDaddyMs3 gave me some useful info when I was researching this also, so he could probably help you out with any other questions.

Here is a link to my thread if you want to look over it, might see something useful.
http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?t=123774531
 
meicalnissyen said:
any of the good coilovers can be set for stock ride hieght, firm up the RSB and that should make you happy
Click to expand...

Oh, I was not aware of this. I thought highest setting on coilovers would still be lower than stock. I have BC coilovers, obviously not installed yet. I'd be able to raise them to stock height?
 
No need for stiffer springs. A good set of struts such as Koni sports or bilsteins will provide much better suspension control and flatter cornering. I like the Koni sports because you can fine tune the balance of car and soften/stiffen the ride if desired.
 
Koni Sports vs FSDs

boosthead said:
No need for stiffer springs. A good set of struts such as Koni sports or bilsteins will provide much better suspension control and flatter cornering. I like the Koni sports because you can fine tune the balance of car and soften/stiffen the ride if desired.
Click to expand...

I remember the thread on this forum from Lee, (aka leadfoot), who works for Koni and purchased an 08 MS3 as a project car.

He said the Koni Sports work better with (lowering/performance springs) and provide a slightly harsher ride. The FSDs work better with the OEM springs on our MS3s and provide a more compliant ride.

I've not checked the Koni website but he was planning on having revised part numbers on both Sports and FSDs for our MS3 platform.

Just adding my 2 cents.
 
Yes. The revised part numbers for the Speed3 are actually those for the Mazda5, which offer about 20% greater rebound than the part numbers for the Mazda3.
 
Either the new Koni Sports or Bilstein HD or SP's on stock springs with a new rear sway bar. Done.

I'm partial to Bilsteins because I think they're a better damper than Koni (cost a bit more too - and I'm a firm believe of the concept of getting what you pay for). Not that Koni's are bad, I just prefer the Bilsteins because I didn't feel I needed adjustability.
 
flyingm2008 said:
I am with you, brotha. I also do not want to drop my Speed. But I got these, and holy ****, much better handling.

http://protegegarage.com/1217-product-1217.html

Hotchkis front and rear sway bars. I have them in my 08, and the rear was ok on its own, but the front, although it takes work, made a huge difference. Corners like it is on rails. I love them.

Mazdaspeed springs only lower 1/2", but increase the spring rate. If my struts were not shot to hell, I would grab them myself. Looking at the Koni suspension in the next 6 months or so.
Click to expand...

+1 for the best-bang-for-the-buck first mod. Hotchkis sways.... Best $350 you will spend. Also decreases "bump-steer" and takes some harshness out of the suspension due to their better bushings.
 
BigDaddyMS3 said:
I remember the thread on this forum from Lee, (aka leadfoot), who works for Koni and purchased an 08 MS3 as a project car.

He said the Koni Sports work better with (lowering/performance springs) and provide a slightly harsher ride. The FSDs work better with the OEM springs on our MS3s and provide a more compliant ride.

I've not checked the Koni website but he was planning on having revised part numbers on both Sports and FSDs for our MS3 platform.

Just adding my 2 cents.
Click to expand...

I do not work for Koni (wish I did) In that particular post, I was just posting some info I found from Koni on the other forum.
 
The best bang for the buck would be just adding aftermarket rear sway bar. The front is arguably more trouble installing than it's worth. Swaybars can however mask a problems with the dampers though. Kinda like adding aftermarket lowered springs to crappy OE shocks, so the key is to replace the dampers.
 
Best bang for buck is getting rid of the crappy square Bridgestones. They totally aren't for this type of car. I put Hankook Ventus K110 Evos on there and yay, better ride, better grip, no tramlining, majorly reduced torque and bump steer, plus the lower tire weight moves the stock shocks closer to the amount of unsprung weight they can handle.
 
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