Value/performance in suspension

[Mick]

Seeing as how the P5 comes with a pretty weak engine, and its hard to get any good power out of it without spending thousands, ill stick with the handling upgrades for a while.

Ive already got good rubber on the ground, so now im ready to make some additions to the suspension so i get the most out my rubber. What should I start with?

Swaybars? What kind? How stiff? How much am i gonna spend? SHould I get adjustable endlinks? Im not looking to compete, i just want a fun car.

Springs? (same questions as above)

Struts?

You get the idea. Im pretty clueless, and im open to lots of options and sugestions if you can give them.

If it makes any difference, I have stock rims, and I dont plan on changing them. Function before form

 

[Mick]

Strutbars..... Now, If its recomended, i'll replace the front one with a better one, but installing a rear strutbar worries me.... I bought the car for its trunk space and utility capability. A part of me thinks "its just a little bar, it wont get in the way THAT much" But then on the other hand i dont want to be stuck regreting the instalation when i have my mountain bike crap to throw in the rear. Are they difficult to remove if i decide to get them? I mean, if its easy enough, i could just take them off before a road trip.

Also, ride quality isnt a HUGE issue. Im young, my joints have a long time to go till they start hurting from rattling around in a stiff car

 

[altspace]

Seeing as the the P5 is a fun car stock, why do anything really. If you are not going to take the car to a track, then why spend the money on a whole new suspension upgrade? For me, I knew my car was not going to ever be fast, and I never planned to drive it on a track. So, I personally went for looks and enjoyment of simple mods. Think more of what you are actually going to do with the car and then proceed. Tons of info here. Most of all... Enjoy!

 

[Nomad]

If you haven't gotten springs yet you should do so. Sways will make a big difference in handling the twisties but with stock springs they won't be as effective... so much weight up high with soft springs.
So start with springs and struts. If you cannot afford good struts with the springs then look for springs that are a bit less aggressive to keep your struts happy.
If you can do bothe then it'll be that much better.
Then get the rear sway.
With stiffer springs and preferrably adjustable struts all around your body roll will be more under control in tight turns. The rear sway will help that little bit more that you may want. It'll help with body roll some and will help the rear rotate around in the tight stuff.

Paramount to all this is learning to drive better. You'd be surprised at what a good driver can do with a stock car compared to a poor driver in a modded one.

Don't bother with strutbars till you are bored and want to throw money around. The car has a front brace stock and like you said, what's the point of having a hatch if you can't use it for what you want?

Oh yeah, don't go looking for the "lowest" springs you can find. The "slammed" look is for looks only and to me says "I don't know how to drive or make a car handle but it looks tight yo".
Lower is often overrated.

 

[ProtoType5]

Definitely start with new springs and struts....I took a while to decide on springs and came to find that Espilirs are the best and most affordable option. They ride 1.4" lower all around and spring rates are about 30% higher, so the ride is not bouncy or jarring at all...Even on the stock struts they make a difference in ride and appearance...

I'd stick with springs then struts then sways....if handling is your only concern....For power I'd go header, high-flow cat midpipe, then cat-back, then CAI/SRI.....

BTW...The stock front strut brace is nearly the best you can have on the ride...

 

[urbanbiker]

If you are looking for a good handling setup, I will have my tokico illumina adjustables with sprint springs for sale.

With just that on my car, the handling is amazing. I surprise quite a few friends and even more guys in expensive sports cars. These cars are great with a little tweaking.

I have the stock front strut bar and I just installed a rear strut bar. The rear bar made the car feel more of whole, I can feel the rear end more.

With the setup I have you can run stock endlinks no problem. I would start with struts and springs and see if you need more out of the car. Most drivers wouldn't


Matt

 

[Mike R]

Springs,struts, then eventually the swaybars. Slamming the car is not neccessary for improved handling. H-techs or some Racing beat/MP3 springs improve the handling without much of a drop. Tokico's are the least expensive and best bet for struts. The illuminas are nice, but not needed. The HP's work fine. Just those should make for a fun drive. For HP, best bang for the buck is a header and VTCS removal/light porting of the intake.

 

[Mick]

Cool, those are the exact answers I was looking for. And like I said before, function before form. Im not looking to "slam" the car, but if improving the handling also means better looks, well thats pretty cool too.

PS- yea, the car does handle very well stock. And yea, I might not be using every part to it full potential by not using it on the track. But for alot of us, just messing around and tinkering around with our cars is fun in itself.

 

[Tom03es]

Mazda spent alot of time and money tuning the suspensions for the MP3 and MSP. My ES has all the MSP suspension parts except for the front sway bar and I love the way it handles now. It handled good before, but now it is fantastic. My car has been autox'd once but it mainly serves as a daily driver. Plus if you cruise ebay, you can pick up most of the parts pretty cheap- there's 3 MSP strut/spring combos so you'd only need to buy the parts for one corner, and there's a rear sway bar there too.

 

[Mick]

Mazda spent alot of time and money tuning the suspensions for the MP3 and MSP. My ES has all the MSP suspension parts except for the front sway bar and I love the way it handles now. It handled good before, but now it is fantastic. My car has been autox'd once but it mainly serves as a daily driver. Plus if you cruise ebay, you can pick up most of the parts pretty cheap- there's 3 MSP strut/spring combos so you'd only need to buy the parts for one corner, and there's a rear sway bar there too.

Yea, sounds great, but where the hell am i gonna find parts for 1 corner? The manufacture? That'll most likely cost an arm and a leg.