This thread is a work in progress, to try and gather all the Mazdaspeed3 MS3 shock/spring/coilover/swaybar info that is scattered all over the net into one place.
I have been wading through all this stuff and there was so much info I couldn't remember it all, sometimes I cant even find where I saw the information initially.
I needed a place to collect, store, and organize all the info, this is the place.
It is kind of a suspension decision guide for me, I just thought I would make it public, so others can use it too.
I am by no means a suspension expert, I am just gathering information from manufacturers and users and putting it in one place.
Right now it doesn't contain everything and is not as organized as I would like it.
I will be adding stuff over the weeks as I come across it, hope you will help too, by posting your setups driving impressions compared to stock.
I hope that eventually this thread will become a place where someone can come and find specs and user driving impressions both good and bad of all the suspension options that will fit the Mazdaspeed3.
Feel free to post any info you find while browsing or your own comments on your particular setup, include as much info as you can, specs, drop, spring rates, and especially driving impressions if you have them or find them.
I will copy and paste in the appropriate place, to keep it organized and prevent anyone from having to wade through the whole thread to find what they want.
The order is:
Coilovers A-K
Coilovers L-Z
Shocks/Struts/Dampers
Springs
Swaybars
Matched Sets
Mix and Match
General Coilover comments:
smokinAMD:
I think coilovers are a little out of the question for me, having had vehicles with them in the past, I found myself never really taking advantage of the one thing coilovers offer over springs, and that is the fact they are complete adjustably. I always found myself dropping the car to a suitable level, and never really changing it after that for track days or anything. Coilovers are also stupid expensive, and you have more things to concern yourself with, such as if they break, valves go out, or the seals inside them start to leak. You can't just get a new one locally and be on your way the same day, no, you have to send the coilover out to the manufacturer and have it rebuilt. That part kind of sucks, also sucks that you have to take both sides of the car back to stock if you intend to drive it while its getting fixed. With springs, the only thing you really have to worry about is a strut going out, and if that were to happen, it really isn't a big deal, you can still drive it around until you get a new strut which is cheap. Also saves time as you only have to tear apart one side of the car, not both.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
AUTOEXE
http://www.autoexe.co.jp/english/functional/functional%20detail.html#suspension%20top
AutoExe Sports Tunable Suspension Kit
A full length height adjustable suspension kit that puts sports performance first with features like a hard setting mono tube damper and linear rate race spring, and an aluminum upper mount with enhanced bush*. Without interfering with cooling performance, the newly developed thin φ40 piston reduces friction surface, which decreases friction during damper operation. This has the effect of facilitating uniform handling while simultaneously restricting discomfort. The damping force is adjustable in 12 levels. Overhaul is possible.
Rates: 560F/224R (lb/in)
Height: ?
Price (MSRP): $2,450
Adjustable: Height, Dampening (?)
Comments found:
AutoEXE coilovers use the stupidest spring rates I've ever seen. The car will have excessive understeer.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BC COILOVERS
http://www.bcracing-na.com/products/mazda.html
Spring rates:
Front: 180.62.008
Rear 180.62.004
Not sure what these rate numbers mean, they are straight from the manufacturer but have no units and dont make sense to me, if you know let me know.
MazdaSteve3:
I just ordered a set of BC coilovers. Drove another MS3 with them and it is so much better. I could still feel a trace of the gremlin trying to come out, but it is mostly restrained.
The BCs only have one adjustment knob that adjusts both rebound and compression simultaneously. They do come with hard spherical upper mounts, however, which is good in a hardcore kind of way. They are a universal shock cartridge arrangement, which is less than ideal, but from what I could tell, seems to work well enough.
Sunnyv8le
I noticed that the rear shocks start to get extremely tight and harder to adjust after passing 1 7/8" distance from the end of the threads; therefore, this is the maximum distance that these shocks can be at for a safe, non-bouncy ride. When you go past this distance, I believe it puts too much pressure on the shocks and creates little room for shock travel.
I FINISHED the car and it works perfectly well now. NO BOUNCINESS!!!!!!!!!!
So here are the major things I discovered after working on the suspension myself for the BC coilovers on the MS3.
1. The front suspension seems to be fine at any adjusted distance (possbily even to the lowest setting).
2. The rear shocks must be at 1 7/8" distance from the lowest end of the threads to bottom of the lower locking nut for safe shock travel/dampening and to prevent bounciness.
3. The rear springs can be adjusted all the way, and if the ride is not low enough, you can safely remove the rear spring perches.
Wastegate13:
I only 900 miles on the stock suspension but there isn't a big difference between these and stock that I see. They are stiffer but the ride is not objectionable at all. I also found that the rear mount is nowhere near as bothersome as most people make it out to be.
defylogik:
Everyone scoffed at me when i told people in quite a few posts to stay away from these coilovers. They have no suspension travel due to their one size fits all strut style
now that you have them installed, take a tape measure and measure the center of your front wheel to the fender lip. next put the same corner up on a jack stand, then place your jack under your tire or susp. arm and start jacking untill it you cant anymore or the car starts to lift. Re-measure the distance. i bet you will be pretty dissapointed with the suspension travel on your new 1100 shocks.
car looks good the way it is sitting though, but i am very against this coilover manufacter, and if you do the above you will find out why.
on the three cars i have seen these coilovers installed on, one being my mini, they have notoriously small suspension travel when sitting at ride height. my mini had less than .5" of suspension travel with these struts, and on other cars i have seen on average 1" travel stroke. hence why these type of coilovers are usually matched up with insane spring rates. basically you are riding the bump stops a lot. your perceived faster "flat" cornering do to this bump stop riding.
these are the same coilovers as many different resellers. i.e. megan racing, bc, ksport, etc. they are all the same one size fits all dampner with different hardware tubes that screw in to the bottoms. oh they all have different branding stickers too
just one mans opinion, but from experience i wouldnt touch these again with a 30 foot pole.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bilstein B14 PSS coilovers available Europe only?
Specs:
Part No. F4-VE3-C120-H0
The B14 is not adjustable for compression/rebound, if you need that Bilsteins B16 PSS offers full adjustability for damping but costs quite a bit more.
User comments:
kawiralph:
The drop should be in the range of 1.2 - 1.6 inches
WOW, it seems to be even better than I dared to hope. The ride is more comfortable but very much more controlled than the OEM setup Once more it seems to pay off investing in sophisticated components. It's so much better balanced than the OEM setup that I hardly can believe it. I also noticed that the clunking noises so often heard with the OEM shocks are gone. At the moment the ride height is still a bit on the high side but I will drop it a bit more there is still about 1 cm left. As I already posted the Bilsteins are the wrong setup if you are looking for maximum drop.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CUSCO Comp-S (made for regular MZ3 but fit)
Cusco Compact-S Coilover
Rates: 392F/224R (lb/in)
Height: -5mm to -40mm (?)
Price (MSRP): $1,186 (Converted from JPY)
Adjustable: Height
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HKS Hipermax III Sport Suspension
Just announced in Japan:
http://www.jdmtuningnews.com/articles/71608a.htm
HKS has announced its front / rear full coilover HKS Hipermax III Sport Suspension For the Mazdaspeed Axela (Mazdaspeed 3) (BK3P / L3-VDT). The product number is 80155-AZ004 and it retails for 249,900 yen ($2500?) including tax. The kit is a highend streetsports option total length adjustable type with 30 dampening settings, designed for use with a high grip radial tire. The upper mound on both front and rear is a pillowball type and the front springs are monoblock design.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
H&R COILOVER
Engineered for street and occasional track use, H&R Coil-Overs feature a fully-threaded shock body (not an imitation sleeve-over) that allows you to precisely dial in height adjustment to achieve optimum weight transfer, or simply get the aggressive look you've been looking for. Featuring H&R's exclusive dynamic damper technology, each shock is engineered to work in harmony with a progressive-rate spring, together creating a finely-tuned suspension system.
Rates: Not Published
Height: -30.4mm to -63.5mm (Front) and -19.1mm to -50.8mm (Rear)
Front Lowering: 1.2" - 2.5"
Rear Lowering: .75" - 2.0"
Price (MSRP): $1,380
Adjustable: Height
Comments found:
H&R coilover kit does not have damper adjustment but it is cheaper than the Mazdaspeed coilovers.
Radar_This:
They even ride better than stock set up...and comfort hasn't changed...Even the wife agrees...She's even saying its better than stock, as a passenger (she said pregnant women, DON'T WORRY)...I took it on a lil drive afterwards...WOW...I dropped it 1.2 inm the front and 1" in the back...And torque steer is a lot less now as well...So nice!...For anyone that is looking for a set up for their Speed I highly recommend these...AMAZING STUFF!...I'm speechless...
i had h&r and eibach springs in...both sucked...with the stock struts...
went with h&r coils...wow what an amazing improvement...and not jarring feeling, comfy ride...shocked on that...so comfy our 9 year old fell a sleep in the back seat on a short drive to the mall...
and my wifes words are the seller...
"you should of done coils from the start"
Stretch:
H&R is a good example because they use quality Bilstein parts, but in the sample I tried, they were overdamped and thus unnecessarily rough and slow. Perhaps H&R does this intentionally because being overdamped feels fast even though it is slow;
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
JIC MAGIC A2's & A1's
Rates:
Height:
Price:
Adjustable:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
K Sports coilovers
Specs: to come
Comments:
Hexedit:
Avoid ksports like the plague. The shocks lasted about 10k miles and the entire system rusted to shit after 2 years.
numbnuts22715:
Fuck Ksports.
I had them on my Integra, and all 4 shocks blew in a few months.
I tried to return it, but at the time the whole website was pretty much in japanese or some other asian language.
I also met a guy the other day who had them on his mazdaspeed protege, and they all blew too.
NOT a good decision.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
KW COILOVERS
http://www.kw-suspension.com/en/30_Products/20_KW_Coilovers/index.php
Specs:
Lowering 0.8-2.0 inches
Spring rates:
Front: 400
Rear: Progressive
Comments:
Stretch:
So, while I don't have a specific recommendation at the moment, I will say to be careful with your choices! While I haven't evaluated them all, my guess is premium coilovers like KW are currently the only great solution.
I have been wading through all this stuff and there was so much info I couldn't remember it all, sometimes I cant even find where I saw the information initially.
I needed a place to collect, store, and organize all the info, this is the place.
It is kind of a suspension decision guide for me, I just thought I would make it public, so others can use it too.
I am by no means a suspension expert, I am just gathering information from manufacturers and users and putting it in one place.
Right now it doesn't contain everything and is not as organized as I would like it.
I will be adding stuff over the weeks as I come across it, hope you will help too, by posting your setups driving impressions compared to stock.
I hope that eventually this thread will become a place where someone can come and find specs and user driving impressions both good and bad of all the suspension options that will fit the Mazdaspeed3.
Feel free to post any info you find while browsing or your own comments on your particular setup, include as much info as you can, specs, drop, spring rates, and especially driving impressions if you have them or find them.
I will copy and paste in the appropriate place, to keep it organized and prevent anyone from having to wade through the whole thread to find what they want.
The order is:
Coilovers A-K
Coilovers L-Z
Shocks/Struts/Dampers
Springs
Swaybars
Matched Sets
Mix and Match
COILOVERS A-K
General Coilover comments:
smokinAMD:
I think coilovers are a little out of the question for me, having had vehicles with them in the past, I found myself never really taking advantage of the one thing coilovers offer over springs, and that is the fact they are complete adjustably. I always found myself dropping the car to a suitable level, and never really changing it after that for track days or anything. Coilovers are also stupid expensive, and you have more things to concern yourself with, such as if they break, valves go out, or the seals inside them start to leak. You can't just get a new one locally and be on your way the same day, no, you have to send the coilover out to the manufacturer and have it rebuilt. That part kind of sucks, also sucks that you have to take both sides of the car back to stock if you intend to drive it while its getting fixed. With springs, the only thing you really have to worry about is a strut going out, and if that were to happen, it really isn't a big deal, you can still drive it around until you get a new strut which is cheap. Also saves time as you only have to tear apart one side of the car, not both.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
AUTOEXE
http://www.autoexe.co.jp/english/functional/functional%20detail.html#suspension%20top
AutoExe Sports Tunable Suspension Kit
A full length height adjustable suspension kit that puts sports performance first with features like a hard setting mono tube damper and linear rate race spring, and an aluminum upper mount with enhanced bush*. Without interfering with cooling performance, the newly developed thin φ40 piston reduces friction surface, which decreases friction during damper operation. This has the effect of facilitating uniform handling while simultaneously restricting discomfort. The damping force is adjustable in 12 levels. Overhaul is possible.
Rates: 560F/224R (lb/in)
Height: ?
Price (MSRP): $2,450
Adjustable: Height, Dampening (?)
Comments found:
AutoEXE coilovers use the stupidest spring rates I've ever seen. The car will have excessive understeer.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BC COILOVERS
http://www.bcracing-na.com/products/mazda.html
Spring rates:
Front: 180.62.008
Rear 180.62.004
Not sure what these rate numbers mean, they are straight from the manufacturer but have no units and dont make sense to me, if you know let me know.
MazdaSteve3:
I just ordered a set of BC coilovers. Drove another MS3 with them and it is so much better. I could still feel a trace of the gremlin trying to come out, but it is mostly restrained.
The BCs only have one adjustment knob that adjusts both rebound and compression simultaneously. They do come with hard spherical upper mounts, however, which is good in a hardcore kind of way. They are a universal shock cartridge arrangement, which is less than ideal, but from what I could tell, seems to work well enough.
Sunnyv8le
I noticed that the rear shocks start to get extremely tight and harder to adjust after passing 1 7/8" distance from the end of the threads; therefore, this is the maximum distance that these shocks can be at for a safe, non-bouncy ride. When you go past this distance, I believe it puts too much pressure on the shocks and creates little room for shock travel.
I FINISHED the car and it works perfectly well now. NO BOUNCINESS!!!!!!!!!!
So here are the major things I discovered after working on the suspension myself for the BC coilovers on the MS3.
1. The front suspension seems to be fine at any adjusted distance (possbily even to the lowest setting).
2. The rear shocks must be at 1 7/8" distance from the lowest end of the threads to bottom of the lower locking nut for safe shock travel/dampening and to prevent bounciness.
3. The rear springs can be adjusted all the way, and if the ride is not low enough, you can safely remove the rear spring perches.
Wastegate13:
I only 900 miles on the stock suspension but there isn't a big difference between these and stock that I see. They are stiffer but the ride is not objectionable at all. I also found that the rear mount is nowhere near as bothersome as most people make it out to be.
defylogik:
Everyone scoffed at me when i told people in quite a few posts to stay away from these coilovers. They have no suspension travel due to their one size fits all strut style
now that you have them installed, take a tape measure and measure the center of your front wheel to the fender lip. next put the same corner up on a jack stand, then place your jack under your tire or susp. arm and start jacking untill it you cant anymore or the car starts to lift. Re-measure the distance. i bet you will be pretty dissapointed with the suspension travel on your new 1100 shocks.
car looks good the way it is sitting though, but i am very against this coilover manufacter, and if you do the above you will find out why.
on the three cars i have seen these coilovers installed on, one being my mini, they have notoriously small suspension travel when sitting at ride height. my mini had less than .5" of suspension travel with these struts, and on other cars i have seen on average 1" travel stroke. hence why these type of coilovers are usually matched up with insane spring rates. basically you are riding the bump stops a lot. your perceived faster "flat" cornering do to this bump stop riding.
these are the same coilovers as many different resellers. i.e. megan racing, bc, ksport, etc. they are all the same one size fits all dampner with different hardware tubes that screw in to the bottoms. oh they all have different branding stickers too
just one mans opinion, but from experience i wouldnt touch these again with a 30 foot pole.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bilstein B14 PSS coilovers available Europe only?
Specs:
Part No. F4-VE3-C120-H0
The B14 is not adjustable for compression/rebound, if you need that Bilsteins B16 PSS offers full adjustability for damping but costs quite a bit more.
User comments:
kawiralph:
The drop should be in the range of 1.2 - 1.6 inches
WOW, it seems to be even better than I dared to hope. The ride is more comfortable but very much more controlled than the OEM setup Once more it seems to pay off investing in sophisticated components. It's so much better balanced than the OEM setup that I hardly can believe it. I also noticed that the clunking noises so often heard with the OEM shocks are gone. At the moment the ride height is still a bit on the high side but I will drop it a bit more there is still about 1 cm left. As I already posted the Bilsteins are the wrong setup if you are looking for maximum drop.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CUSCO Comp-S (made for regular MZ3 but fit)
Cusco Compact-S Coilover
Rates: 392F/224R (lb/in)
Height: -5mm to -40mm (?)
Price (MSRP): $1,186 (Converted from JPY)
Adjustable: Height
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HKS Hipermax III Sport Suspension
Just announced in Japan:
http://www.jdmtuningnews.com/articles/71608a.htm
HKS has announced its front / rear full coilover HKS Hipermax III Sport Suspension For the Mazdaspeed Axela (Mazdaspeed 3) (BK3P / L3-VDT). The product number is 80155-AZ004 and it retails for 249,900 yen ($2500?) including tax. The kit is a highend streetsports option total length adjustable type with 30 dampening settings, designed for use with a high grip radial tire. The upper mound on both front and rear is a pillowball type and the front springs are monoblock design.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
H&R COILOVER
Engineered for street and occasional track use, H&R Coil-Overs feature a fully-threaded shock body (not an imitation sleeve-over) that allows you to precisely dial in height adjustment to achieve optimum weight transfer, or simply get the aggressive look you've been looking for. Featuring H&R's exclusive dynamic damper technology, each shock is engineered to work in harmony with a progressive-rate spring, together creating a finely-tuned suspension system.
Rates: Not Published
Height: -30.4mm to -63.5mm (Front) and -19.1mm to -50.8mm (Rear)
Front Lowering: 1.2" - 2.5"
Rear Lowering: .75" - 2.0"
Price (MSRP): $1,380
Adjustable: Height
Comments found:
H&R coilover kit does not have damper adjustment but it is cheaper than the Mazdaspeed coilovers.
Radar_This:
They even ride better than stock set up...and comfort hasn't changed...Even the wife agrees...She's even saying its better than stock, as a passenger (she said pregnant women, DON'T WORRY)...I took it on a lil drive afterwards...WOW...I dropped it 1.2 inm the front and 1" in the back...And torque steer is a lot less now as well...So nice!...For anyone that is looking for a set up for their Speed I highly recommend these...AMAZING STUFF!...I'm speechless...
i had h&r and eibach springs in...both sucked...with the stock struts...
went with h&r coils...wow what an amazing improvement...and not jarring feeling, comfy ride...shocked on that...so comfy our 9 year old fell a sleep in the back seat on a short drive to the mall...
and my wifes words are the seller...
"you should of done coils from the start"
Stretch:
H&R is a good example because they use quality Bilstein parts, but in the sample I tried, they were overdamped and thus unnecessarily rough and slow. Perhaps H&R does this intentionally because being overdamped feels fast even though it is slow;
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
JIC MAGIC A2's & A1's
Rates:
Height:
Price:
Adjustable:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
K Sports coilovers
Specs: to come
Comments:
Hexedit:
Avoid ksports like the plague. The shocks lasted about 10k miles and the entire system rusted to shit after 2 years.
numbnuts22715:
Fuck Ksports.
I had them on my Integra, and all 4 shocks blew in a few months.
I tried to return it, but at the time the whole website was pretty much in japanese or some other asian language.
I also met a guy the other day who had them on his mazdaspeed protege, and they all blew too.
NOT a good decision.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
KW COILOVERS
http://www.kw-suspension.com/en/30_Products/20_KW_Coilovers/index.php
Specs:
Lowering 0.8-2.0 inches
Spring rates:
Front: 400
Rear: Progressive
Comments:
Stretch:
So, while I don't have a specific recommendation at the moment, I will say to be careful with your choices! While I haven't evaluated them all, my guess is premium coilovers like KW are currently the only great solution.