Hello all (if you want to read just the review start at the second paragraph)! My name is Sean and I am new to the forum. I have owned a Mazda Protege5 for over a year now, and I was impressed with it when I test drove it and it continues to impress me, except for the lack of power. Anything I ever googled to maintain the P5 9/10 times has led me to Mazdas 24/7. So I became a member. This is not my first Mazda, before this I had owned two NA miatas and loved them, but got tired of the size. I cant help but modify my cars its just an expensive habit. My motorsports experience consists of SCCA autocross, 3-4 years 125cc karting, and track days. My favorite part of a track is always the twisties. So my first mod to any car is always the suspension. Ive used coilovers in one of my miatas, springs and shocks in the other miata and they both had very similar handling. Obviously the coilovers won over springs and shocks, 10% better performance, and you couldnt beat the adjustability in ride height and shock dampening. So back to the P5 I bought Megan Racing lowering springs, and a used progressive 22mm rear sway bar. My review of the suspension is below.
Suspension:
- Megan Lowerings springs Front: 5kg Rear: 4.1kg ($140)
- 22mm Progressive rear sway bar ($110)
- Moog heavy duty sway bar end links ($50)
- Monroe OEM replacement shock 20k miles (If it aint broke dont fix it/especially if your broke)
COST= $300
Why I chose Megan Racing? Because they were the highest spring rate lowering spring I could find for the P5 doubling maybe more the stock spring rate. They are also a linear spring meaning it has a constant spring rate, this is just a personal preference. Granted I know very little about the company other than the drifters love to use their stuff (cheap). However they are just springs its not like they are going to disintegrate on me as I am going around a corner.
Stock Handling Review
The car off the rip is a great handling car very responsive and forgiving at the same time. However the car is a wagon so it is very top heavy naturally it has a fair bit of body roll. The weight of the car doesnt help either. I noticed when taking a downhill corner at speed the body roll and weight of the car would compress the front outside corner suspension induce understeer and push to the outside of the corner. With a front wheel drive car understeer is the go to reaction, its just the nature of the beast. Something else I noticed is when taking a corner the rear end felt as if it took a while to come around. What I mean by this is its almost like watching a big pickup truck make a 90 degree turn at a drive thru. The truck has to pull 80% past the apex before they turn so they dont hit the curb, because the wheel base is so long. These are the two main issues I planned to combat with my suspension upgrades.
Megan Racing Lowering Springs and Progressive RSB Handling Review
After a few hours and some busted knuckles the new springs and RSB were in the car. I installed the springs first to feel the difference in just changing the springs. To me in suspension tuning this is a very important method so you know what made a difference where. To me its a progression thing not an immediate result thing. The springs as promised lowered the car all the way around about 2 I have not had any rub or bump stop issues either. They improved the responsiveness and handling. Taking it back to my downhill test corner the springs helped improve the understeering tendency allowing me to push the car harder through the corner. I could feel the body roll was still there building up pressure on the front outside corner. The stiffer spring rate up front also improved the turn in of the car so thats an added bonus. Lets talk practicality though I doubled my spring rates shouldnt that make the car ride more rough?! Paired with the Monroe shock I was worried it would give me a bouncy ride and the imperfections in the road would rattle out my fillings. In all actuality though I probably noticed a 10-15% increase in ride discomfort to me thats pretty much none at all, and I have a compressed disc in my back. In the great scheme of spring rates 5kg/4kg is not really stiff. I use to run 9kg/7kg in my miata. Overall they improved the handling of the car and the springs surprisingly paired nicely with my stock shocks. The RSB took barely any time at all to install the hardest part is dealing with the bad stock end links. Because of the struggle I had removing them I opted to upgrade to moog heavy duty end links that went on like butter. The Progressive sway bar looks like it is double the size of the stock wimpy sway bar. Immediately after installing the RSB and putting it to the test I knew this was probably one of the best upgrades bang for your buck for the P5. Accompanied with the springs taking the P5 back to my downhill test corner the RSB had dramatically reduced body roll and all the force that was on the outside front corner of the suspension had been reduced by 75%. The RSB also helped out the P5s initial turn in and if thrown in roughly provided a fun but manageable slip angle. Going back to what I was saying about it taking a while for the rear end to come around the RSB neutralized that feeling. I think maybe even at one point I thought I was back in my miata.lol There is something I didnt mention before, but I didnt really notice until after I made my upgrades that is long high speed corners on the stock suspension were inconsistent. With the upgrades the suspension would set as it should and it didnt really wiggle or feel unsettled. I attribute this to the increase in spring rates and decrease in body roll due to the RSB. Overall I feel the upgrades were necessary to combat some of the weaknesses from the P5s stock setup. I think $300 for these results is a killer deal and I would easily payed more had I known the outcome.
Suspension:
- Megan Lowerings springs Front: 5kg Rear: 4.1kg ($140)
- 22mm Progressive rear sway bar ($110)
- Moog heavy duty sway bar end links ($50)
- Monroe OEM replacement shock 20k miles (If it aint broke dont fix it/especially if your broke)
COST= $300
Why I chose Megan Racing? Because they were the highest spring rate lowering spring I could find for the P5 doubling maybe more the stock spring rate. They are also a linear spring meaning it has a constant spring rate, this is just a personal preference. Granted I know very little about the company other than the drifters love to use their stuff (cheap). However they are just springs its not like they are going to disintegrate on me as I am going around a corner.
Stock Handling Review
The car off the rip is a great handling car very responsive and forgiving at the same time. However the car is a wagon so it is very top heavy naturally it has a fair bit of body roll. The weight of the car doesnt help either. I noticed when taking a downhill corner at speed the body roll and weight of the car would compress the front outside corner suspension induce understeer and push to the outside of the corner. With a front wheel drive car understeer is the go to reaction, its just the nature of the beast. Something else I noticed is when taking a corner the rear end felt as if it took a while to come around. What I mean by this is its almost like watching a big pickup truck make a 90 degree turn at a drive thru. The truck has to pull 80% past the apex before they turn so they dont hit the curb, because the wheel base is so long. These are the two main issues I planned to combat with my suspension upgrades.
Megan Racing Lowering Springs and Progressive RSB Handling Review
After a few hours and some busted knuckles the new springs and RSB were in the car. I installed the springs first to feel the difference in just changing the springs. To me in suspension tuning this is a very important method so you know what made a difference where. To me its a progression thing not an immediate result thing. The springs as promised lowered the car all the way around about 2 I have not had any rub or bump stop issues either. They improved the responsiveness and handling. Taking it back to my downhill test corner the springs helped improve the understeering tendency allowing me to push the car harder through the corner. I could feel the body roll was still there building up pressure on the front outside corner. The stiffer spring rate up front also improved the turn in of the car so thats an added bonus. Lets talk practicality though I doubled my spring rates shouldnt that make the car ride more rough?! Paired with the Monroe shock I was worried it would give me a bouncy ride and the imperfections in the road would rattle out my fillings. In all actuality though I probably noticed a 10-15% increase in ride discomfort to me thats pretty much none at all, and I have a compressed disc in my back. In the great scheme of spring rates 5kg/4kg is not really stiff. I use to run 9kg/7kg in my miata. Overall they improved the handling of the car and the springs surprisingly paired nicely with my stock shocks. The RSB took barely any time at all to install the hardest part is dealing with the bad stock end links. Because of the struggle I had removing them I opted to upgrade to moog heavy duty end links that went on like butter. The Progressive sway bar looks like it is double the size of the stock wimpy sway bar. Immediately after installing the RSB and putting it to the test I knew this was probably one of the best upgrades bang for your buck for the P5. Accompanied with the springs taking the P5 back to my downhill test corner the RSB had dramatically reduced body roll and all the force that was on the outside front corner of the suspension had been reduced by 75%. The RSB also helped out the P5s initial turn in and if thrown in roughly provided a fun but manageable slip angle. Going back to what I was saying about it taking a while for the rear end to come around the RSB neutralized that feeling. I think maybe even at one point I thought I was back in my miata.lol There is something I didnt mention before, but I didnt really notice until after I made my upgrades that is long high speed corners on the stock suspension were inconsistent. With the upgrades the suspension would set as it should and it didnt really wiggle or feel unsettled. I attribute this to the increase in spring rates and decrease in body roll due to the RSB. Overall I feel the upgrades were necessary to combat some of the weaknesses from the P5s stock setup. I think $300 for these results is a killer deal and I would easily payed more had I known the outcome.
