Suspension Advice for Track/AutoX

[patrickclay]

I have a 1990 Miata with all stock suspension, Front sway bar (Racing beat, I think the tubular one) and an unknown rear sway.

The suspension appears to be stock.
I went to 15x7 Chaparral wheels (huge improvement) with 205/50/R15 Bridgestone RE-71Rs (also huge improvement). I went to Gran turismo East for an excellent alignment (HUGE improvement).

I am now considering upgrading to something for track days and AutoX. The 'interwebs' says 'Buy the Xidas and be done with it' but money is tight. So that is not really an option.

* Does not have to be cushy at all I do not DD the Miata often
* Track Days are super fun - want to do more, but again, limited $$
* AutoX is almost as fun and only $35, so that is maybe more important

Do I need to freshen up the other suspension bits too, bushings and such?
Will I feel an improvement for less than $1k?
Bilstein HDs with FM Springs or something?
Should I wait and do it once or get something budget and upgrade later?

Advice is appreciated.

[nickt93]

Hi Patrick - welcome! Yes, the XIDAs are nice. I upgraded to them last year. But I didn't get any faster at the track than when I was running the $700 Tein Flex Zs. I highly recommend those for a great budget setup. The FM VMaxx is also worth a look. Rick02R puts down really fast laps in his Exocet on VMaxx.

How many miles are on your car? Have you inspected the bushings? A 1990 is almost 30 years old at this point, and rubber doesn't last forever. I like the Energy Suspension kit, but there are some downsides to poly bushings. There is a lot of information out there already about rubber vs poly vs other options - I won't try to recap it all here.

Good luck!

[patrickclay]

I have not inspected the bushings, but I assume they should be replaced. Car has 99k miles.

[wingman703]

I'm on Teins and love 'em. But they are also the first set of coilovers I've ever bought so I don't have much to compare them to.
Whatever you get, make sure they have at least three separate adjustably controls- Ride height, spring preload, and dampening.

Also your going to need a new alignment from GTE once you get your coilover of choice installed- they can also help you with setting proper ride height/rake.

[mamock116]

Some chassis bracing will help some as well. The 90 doesn't have the front lower control arm brace or the rear chassis brace that the later NA's come with from the factory.

[amaff]

If your focus is AutoX, be careful about adding bracing. Some of that will knock you to a higher category.

In my opinion, the best bang for buck is a set of Koni Yellows with threaded sleeves and fairly stiff springs (700/450 or something like that for street tires), and the big Racing Beat hollow front sway bar. Easily under $1k, and you'll DEFINITELY notice a difference. Don't waste time & money messing around with lowering springs if ride quality isn't super important. The spring rates on those are often WAY lower than what you'd want. Disconnect the rear swaybar for Autox, probably reconnect it based on how the car's balanced at track days.

Xidas are going to be better, for sure, but 3-4x the price for fractional improvements at that point. It's a classic 80/20 situation. You can get 80% of the improvement for 20-ish% investment. But the other 20% improvement will need way more investment.

FWIW: I run revalved Konis (to deal with higher spring rates) on my car.


Are you the same Patrick who let me co-drive your car a few events ago?

[kung fu jesus]

What's your budget?

[91LudeSiT]

I have the xidas because I got a good deal, but Mike from track minded performance ran some of the fastest lap times in an NA miata at AMP on Megan racing coilovers.

It's the man, not the machine. That being said I recommend looking at the options from MeisterR as they seem to be reasonably priced and work very well. I may very well end up with a set on my ND at some point.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

[patrickclay]

Andrew - Yes, same Patrick.

[amaff]

Andrew - Yes, same Patrick.

Ah! Cool. The "clay" threw me :lol:
If you want to grab a bunch of hardware and put it together after the season's over, we can spend a weekend in the workshop getting it assembled, scaled and aligned.

[patrickclay]

Ah! Cool. The "clay" threw me :lol:
If you want to grab a bunch of hardware and put it together after the season's over, we can spend a weekend in the workshop getting it assembled, scaled and aligned.

I use the "Clay" to hide from co workers and such :) - Sounds like a good plan.

[patrickclay]

What's your budget?

If you ask me in front of my wife I would say $500... but I really should stay below $1000

[kung fu jesus]

Ok. Just from my experience, yes you would notice fresh bushings in the arms. With that budget, I would likely recommend springs and shocks. It won't be popular, but I'm not sure I would trust used coilovers at that price ($500), and I think it gives you a more consitent platform to learn from. With some of the posts above, you can see the times aren't really getting better for the advanced drivers with X or Y suspension. Shocks and spring will be great for continuing to grow with the car as a driver until you are sure you have plateaued. Just my $.02, take it for what it's worth.

[amaff]

I use the "Clay" to hide from co workers and such :)

:lol: I like it.

If you're at the event next weekend, come by and we can jack the car up and let you take a gander under her skirts.

[Shwing]

heres another vote for the tein flex, love mine