Going for a new look ....
Discussion
Dragster 
suspension is now back to standard untill i have a decent ammount of floding stuff to replace it all , might get a set of lowering springs though it they will work with the standard dampers , but i dont want to go as low as it was, wasnt very good on the lanes and kept grounding out
You cant really see the difference
Freelander mode ....
suspension is now back to standard untill i have a decent ammount of floding stuff to replace it all , might get a set of lowering springs though it they will work with the standard dampers , but i dont want to go as low as it was, wasnt very good on the lanes and kept grounding out
You cant really see the difference
Freelander mode ....
Edited by DennisTheMenace on Saturday 19th July 20:59
Is it really that bad, Denny?
I'm thinking of getting some KYB AGX Shocks and FM springs for mine, but the car's natural habitat round here are bumpy country lanes.
I've had a go of fruitcake's lowered car and throught it was pretty good (
), but admittedly, that was on reasonably smooth roads.
I'm thinking of getting some KYB AGX Shocks and FM springs for mine, but the car's natural habitat round here are bumpy country lanes.
I've had a go of fruitcake's lowered car and throught it was pretty good (
), but admittedly, that was on reasonably smooth roads.I'm not a big fan of lowering springs. Fitting them to stock shocks is always going to be a compromise and will probably make the handling worse.
I'd always recommend fitting shocks & springs as a matched set. The AGX/FM combination is a great setup for road & track - the main reason I swapped them for P5 PD is to gain adjustable ride-height and to lift the car up a bit but I did have the old FM springs which were much too low, they're much better now.
I'd always recommend fitting shocks & springs as a matched set. The AGX/FM combination is a great setup for road & track - the main reason I swapped them for P5 PD is to gain adjustable ride-height and to lift the car up a bit but I did have the old FM springs which were much too low, they're much better now.
Combover said:
Are they worth the money then Lazza?
Depends what you want and why you want them!On the track they are superb as were the AGX/FM combo. On the road they don't quite give me the confidence I had with the AGX/FM but bear in mind that I'm still playing with the ride height and the alignment needs to be re-done - I'll get Tony to corner-weight it at the same time at WiM. I think this will probably address the confidence problem.
The ride is much better than the old set-up though. I no longer get nasty cracking sounds from the chassis when I hit bumps and it seems to be able to cope with mid-corner bumps better too.
When they were first fitted the ride height was set about 5mm higher than the AGX/FM setup (with the old FM springs - F305/R310) but it was scraping everywhere, especially the mud-flaps on the ground on corner bumps as there is more suspension travel. Also, as it was so low, the roll-centre was too low which was preventing the shocks from controlling the roll. Now that I've got rid of the FM ARBs and got the ride-height up to F320/R325 it's much better with a better ride and more control in the corners.
So if you just want track suspension then AGX/FM combo is fine but you'll also want to budget for FM ARBs. P5 PD is more expensive but you don't need uprated ARBs and is a better setup for the road while still being great on the track.
Combover said:
I'd probably be looking at KYB AGX / FM setup. Are the FM ARBs a necessity?
Not a necessity but they certainly help and are a perfect match for the AGX/FM setup.They allow you to set the shocks to a softer setting which improves the handling. Without them you will need to put the shocks on the stiffest settings on the track which will be enough to shake your teeth out of your jaw.
Munter said:
...the FM/AGX will be "easier" to setup?
Not sure what you mean there. They both have a single adjustment. The AGX shocks have a big adjuster which is pretty stiff and has 4 settings on Mk2, 8 on Mk1 whereas PD has a small adjuster which is easy to turn and has 14 settings. With Mk2 AGX you would usually use "2" on the road and "3" on track (higher=stiffer) and with PD I use F7R9 on road and F8R10 on track but most use F7R8 on road and F8R9 on track.MX-5 Lazza said:
Munter said:
...the FM/AGX will be "easier" to setup?
Not sure what you mean there. They both have a single adjustment. The AGX shocks have a big adjuster which is pretty stiff and has 4 settings on Mk2, 8 on Mk1 whereas PD has a small adjuster which is easy to turn and has 14 settings. With Mk2 AGX you would usually use "2" on the road and "3" on track (higher=stiffer) and with PD I use F7R9 on road and F8R10 on track but most use F7R8 on road and F8R9 on track.Ride height is adjustable on PD but that's easy. Just get the height set right when it's fitted. There is no reason to adjust it after that. It also allows the car to be corner-weighted to make sure it's using all 4 tyres equally 
DennisTheMenace said:
Got to say the ride over the aftermarket clobber is very smooth , but it does feel like an old jacked up 1980's mg , got to loose some height but not at the expense of comfort , any ideas ????
Most of the quality after-market suspension setups should be capable of a good ride. What did you have before and what didn't you like about it?Edited by MX-5 Lazza on Monday 21st July 08:48
MX-5 Lazza said:
Ride height is adjustable on PD but that's easy. Just get the height set right when it's fitted. There is no reason to adjust it after that. It also allows the car to be corner-weighted to make sure it's using all 4 tyres equally
Now you see when I said easy I was thinking remove old, fit new, set to damper number required, have cup of tea.Gassing Station | Mazda MX5/Roadster/Miata | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff