Suspension question

I've got a completely stock '97 Miata (except for having upgraded the
14" steel wheels to lighter 15" Kosei wheels) that I'm thinking of
making a little more fun.

I'm pretty much just a daily driver, stuck with driving in city
traffic. I occasionally get a chance to escape to some hilly roads,
but that's not all that common. I do my best to take each corner as
quickly as I can (safely) and when doing so, I get a fair amount of
lean, with a lot of bounce back when I straighten up.

I'm curious as to what would reduce the lean. Is that shocks, springs,
or sway bars (or some magical combination of all three)? For making a
daily driving into a more fun ride (don't need turbo or super charger),
would you go for a shock or sway bar upgrade? I don't think I want to
lower the car any, so I wouldn't think the springs need any replacing.

Thanks.

Mark wrote:
> I've got a completely stock '97 Miata (except for having upgraded the
> 14" steel wheels to lighter 15" Kosei wheels) that I'm thinking of
> making a little more fun.
>
> I'm pretty much just a daily driver, stuck with driving in city
> traffic. I occasionally get a chance to escape to some hilly roads,
> but that's not all that common. I do my best to take each corner as
> quickly as I can (safely) and when doing so, I get a fair amount of
> lean, with a lot of bounce back when I straighten up.
>
> I'm curious as to what would reduce the lean. Is that shocks, springs,
> or sway bars (or some magical combination of all three)? For making a
> daily driving into a more fun ride (don't need turbo or super charger),
> would you go for a shock or sway bar upgrade? I don't think I want to
> lower the car any, so I wouldn't think the springs need any replacing.
>
> Thanks.

The sways bars will reduce the lean, but your shocks are also probably
shot after 10 years.

Lanny is back and he is the suspension guru, imo, so I am going to defer
this one to him.
I have been following his miata suspension advice for over 6 years with
excellent results. :-)

Pat

Pat's nailed it, the sway bar upgrades are amazing on these cars! I've just
spent an hour or so on miata.net (product review section) of every mfr's
swaybars. I'm planning this upgrade soon on my 99 and it is still the
greatest upgrade I've ever done (back when I did it on my 92), you will not
be disappointed.

How many miles on those shocks, Lanny's going to tell you they were pretty
much dead at 40k and he's probably right. I've had good experiences with KYB
AGX shocks, you might give them try.

By the way, the installation is very easy on the sway bars which is a nice
plus.

good luck,
Chris
99bbb

"pws" > wrote in message
...
> Mark wrote:
>> I've got a completely stock '97 Miata (except for having upgraded the
>> 14" steel wheels to lighter 15" Kosei wheels) that I'm thinking of
>> making a little more fun.
>>
>> I'm pretty much just a daily driver, stuck with driving in city
>> traffic. I occasionally get a chance to escape to some hilly roads,
>> but that's not all that common. I do my best to take each corner as
>> quickly as I can (safely) and when doing so, I get a fair amount of
>> lean, with a lot of bounce back when I straighten up.
>>
>> I'm curious as to what would reduce the lean. Is that shocks, springs,
>> or sway bars (or some magical combination of all three)? For making a
>> daily driving into a more fun ride (don't need turbo or super charger),
>> would you go for a shock or sway bar upgrade? I don't think I want to
>> lower the car any, so I wouldn't think the springs need any replacing.
>>
>> Thanks.
>
> The sways bars will reduce the lean, but your shocks are also probably
> shot after 10 years.
>
> Lanny is back and he is the suspension guru, imo, so I am going to defer
> this one to him.
> I have been following his miata suspension advice for over 6 years with
> excellent results. :-)
>
> Pat
>

The car has 57000 miles on it, and I bought it at 17k, so I assume that
all pieces are original. So if shocks don't really go that far with
good performance, then perhaps it's time for an upgrade. If you were
going to do shocks OR sway bars as a first upgrade, which one would you
do first?


Chris D'Agnolo wrote:
> Pat's nailed it, the sway bar upgrades are amazing on these cars! I've just
> spent an hour or so on miata.net (product review section) of every mfr's
> swaybars. I'm planning this upgrade soon on my 99 and it is still the
> greatest upgrade I've ever done (back when I did it on my 92), you will not
> be disappointed.
>
> How many miles on those shocks, Lanny's going to tell you they were pretty
> much dead at 40k and he's probably right. I've had good experiences with KYB
> AGX shocks, you might give them try.
>
> By the way, the installation is very easy on the sway bars which is a nice
> plus.
>
> good luck,
> Chris
> 99bbb
>
> "pws" > wrote in message
> ...
> > Mark wrote:
> >> I've got a completely stock '97 Miata (except for having upgraded the
> >> 14" steel wheels to lighter 15" Kosei wheels) that I'm thinking of
> >> making a little more fun.
> >>
> >> I'm pretty much just a daily driver, stuck with driving in city
> >> traffic. I occasionally get a chance to escape to some hilly roads,
> >> but that's not all that common. I do my best to take each corner as
> >> quickly as I can (safely) and when doing so, I get a fair amount of
> >> lean, with a lot of bounce back when I straighten up.
> >>
> >> I'm curious as to what would reduce the lean. Is that shocks, springs,
> >> or sway bars (or some magical combination of all three)? For making a
> >> daily driving into a more fun ride (don't need turbo or super charger),
> >> would you go for a shock or sway bar upgrade? I don't think I want to
> >> lower the car any, so I wouldn't think the springs need any replacing.
> >>
> >> Thanks.
> >
> > The sways bars will reduce the lean, but your shocks are also probably
> > shot after 10 years.
> >
> > Lanny is back and he is the suspension guru, imo, so I am going to defer
> > this one to him.
> > I have been following his miata suspension advice for over 6 years with
> > excellent results. :-)
> >
> > Pat
> >

In article .com>,
"Mark" > wrote:

> If you were going to do shocks OR sway bars as a first upgrade, which
> one would you do first?

The car NEEDS new shocks, so do them first, followed by a good
alignment. The swaybar upgrade is well worthwhile--it will transform the
car--but it can wait if you can't afford to do everything at one time.

I like Koni shocks with stock Miata springs. The KYB AGX works nearly as
well for a bit less money, though it won't last as long. Both are
adjustable, so you can compensate for wear to some extent.

--
Lanny Chambers
'94C, St. Louis
http://www.hummingbirds.net/alignment.html

Lanny Chambers wrote:

> The car NEEDS new shocks, so do them first, followed by a good
> alignment. The swaybar upgrade is well worthwhile--it will transform the
> car--but it can wait if you can't afford to do everything at one time.
>
> I like Koni shocks with stock Miata springs. The KYB AGX works nearly as
> well for a bit less money, though it won't last as long. Both are
> adjustable, so you can compensate for wear to some extent.

It should be mentioned that the shock tower mount holes need to be
drilled to a larger diameter to accept the Konis.
After that, you stay with Konis, replace the shock tower mounts, or
figure out a shim system.

That said, I have finally decided to let these go instead of possibly
re-using them.
Everything is assembled with the stock springs in place and
approximately 45K miles from installation to removal. The springs and
shock mounts have 75K miles.
No compressing springs, no drilling holes, just drop 'em in and keep
your other shock mounts in case you ever go with something else. The
boots were also replaced 45K miles ago.

http://img.inkfrog.com/pix/pat/konishocks.jpg

I'll send the auction link when I get them listed to anyone interested.
Feel free to reply to this e-mail.

Pat

Pat, you're a shameless hussie! Highjacking a thread and hawking your
wares!

What next?

;-)
Chris
99BBB

"pws" > wrote in message
...
> Lanny Chambers wrote:
>
>> The car NEEDS new shocks, so do them first, followed by a good alignment.
>> The swaybar upgrade is well worthwhile--it will transform the car--but it
>> can wait if you can't afford to do everything at one time.
>>
>> I like Koni shocks with stock Miata springs. The KYB AGX works nearly as
>> well for a bit less money, though it won't last as long. Both are
>> adjustable, so you can compensate for wear to some extent.
>
> It should be mentioned that the shock tower mount holes need to be drilled
> to a larger diameter to accept the Konis.
> After that, you stay with Konis, replace the shock tower mounts, or figure
> out a shim system.
>
> That said, I have finally decided to let these go instead of possibly
> re-using them.
> Everything is assembled with the stock springs in place and approximately
> 45K miles from installation to removal. The springs and shock mounts have
> 75K miles.
> No compressing springs, no drilling holes, just drop 'em in and keep your
> other shock mounts in case you ever go with something else. The boots were
> also replaced 45K miles ago.
>
> http://img.inkfrog.com/pix/pat/konishocks.jpg
>
> I'll send the auction link when I get them listed to anyone interested.
> Feel free to reply to this e-mail.
>
> Pat
>

I'm not sure where Lanny's 'they won't last as long as the Koni's' comes
from, I've heard on many occasions that thy will basically last the life of
the car on a miata (same for the Konis). Lanny, have you heard of someone
wearing out a set of KYB's or are you maybe referring to failures?

Thanks,
Chris
BBB

"pws" > wrote in message
...
> Lanny Chambers wrote:
>
>> The car NEEDS new shocks, so do them first, followed by a good alignment.
>> The swaybar upgrade is well worthwhile--it will transform the car--but it
>> can wait if you can't afford to do everything at one time.
>>
>> I like Koni shocks with stock Miata springs. The KYB AGX works nearly as
>> well for a bit less money, though it won't last as long. Both are
>> adjustable, so you can compensate for wear to some extent.
>
> It should be mentioned that the shock tower mount holes need to be drilled
> to a larger diameter to accept the Konis.
> After that, you stay with Konis, replace the shock tower mounts, or figure
> out a shim system.
>
> That said, I have finally decided to let these go instead of possibly
> re-using them.
> Everything is assembled with the stock springs in place and approximately
> 45K miles from installation to removal. The springs and shock mounts have
> 75K miles.
> No compressing springs, no drilling holes, just drop 'em in and keep your
> other shock mounts in case you ever go with something else. The boots were
> also replaced 45K miles ago.
>
> http://img.inkfrog.com/pix/pat/konishocks.jpg
>
> I'll send the auction link when I get them listed to anyone interested.
> Feel free to reply to this e-mail.
>
> Pat
>

Chris D'Agnolo wrote:
> Pat, you're a shameless hussie! Highjacking a thread and hawking your
> wares!

I sold my pride along with my soul on Ebay, so you are correct, there is
no shame.

> What next?

Come on, you are talking about a guy that would sell medical waste on
there if I could, there is no telling.
My best one so far, imho, was a dried and cured bull scrotum sack that
had been made into a pouch. The lady said she was going to put potpourri
in it. :-) (seriously, and it got $23.00)

Pat

Chris D'Agnolo wrote:
> I'm not sure where Lanny's 'they won't last as long as the Koni's' comes
> from, I've heard on many occasions that thy will basically last the life of
> the car on a miata (same for the Konis). Lanny, have you heard of someone
> wearing out a set of KYB's or are you maybe referring to failures?
>
> Thanks,
> Chris
> BBB


They wear out almost immediately, which is why my used Konis are a much
better deal. ;-)

I have not heard of premature failure of the KYB's myself. I have the FM
coilover setup with KYB's on my current miata and decided to stay with
that rather than swap them out for the Konis.
(which are for sale, BTW) :-)

Pat