Best Coilovers Aussie roads and some track for NB8B

routten · Postby **routten** » Mon Dec 28, 2015 8:36 am

Yes this is a topic that has been done to death, however it has really just confused me.
I am planning putting coilovers on my NB8B and use the car as my daily drive (so I want it to handle aussie roads) and occasional club track days.
I plan on running 15x8 with AD08Rs. I plan to lower the car a little which coilovers should achieve.
It seems the positive comments on coilovers are colored by whatever each person has bought or what the supplier sells.
What I am considering are:
BC Racing ER or RA (assume these would be better options for road and track than the V1s. Also good they are Aussie and local to me)
Tein Z Flex (mixed views from good to cheap. Good they are made in Japan)
Bilstein PSS9 (quality brand)

I have also seen mixed comments on sway bars from, you dont need them to yes get adjustable whitelines.

So I am keen to know from an experienced member an impartial (if such a thing exists) recommendation.

Thanks in advance for sharing your knowledge with a novice.

cookie · Postby **cookie** » Mon Dec 28, 2015 9:09 am

Bc's in my experience have been excellent. Tien street series (base model) which my dad has on his are comfortable but the dampening doesn't match the spring rates of his particular setup.

No experience from pss9 except that everyone raves about them. Whether they're worth the premium over bc's not sure

I've just picked up a set of mca reds. Also heard mixed reviews but local support and ability to pull them down and adjust valving only an hour from my house is what sold me.

Stay clear of yellowspeed on mx5. Valving is not great.

Apu · Postby **Apu** » Mon Dec 28, 2015 9:19 am

Yellowspeed kind of have a love hate market opinion, and same with BC thought it appears BC have a larger market share.

That said, Google BC vs Yellowspeed - you should be able to find a comment from the previous Yellowspeed / BC distributor. You'll see that it is 6 and half a dozen, but they viewed Yellowspeed marginally better / favourably.

Trackphotos · Postby **Trackphotos** » Mon Dec 28, 2015 9:44 am

Consider something from MCA. Blues are $1550, Reds are about $2550, and Golds are... not worth looking into if you want your car to remain worth more than your suspension lol. I've been very happy with my Blues. Using 11/7kg springs, it's a good compromise for a car that's used on both road and track. If I were doing it again I'd go a little firmer, but only because I'm more interested in track capability than road comfort. That said, if you set the shocks properly it's no more violent than oem suspension on the road, but sits significantly flatter through corners, doesn't dive anywhere near as much under brakes etc with the springs I'm using. I would happily recommend anything MCA to anybody.

Nevyn72 · Postby **Nevyn72** » Mon Dec 28, 2015 9:55 am

Trackphotos wrote:Consider something from MCA. Blues are $1550, Reds are about $2550

Don't forget they now also have the 'X' series that fall feature/price wise between the Blues and Reds...... :wink:

BTW: to the OP, BC aren't Australian made but the MCAs are. :mrgreen:

zossy1 · Postby **zossy1** » Mon Dec 28, 2015 11:16 am

What's your budget?

If money is no object, I'd suggest Ohlins or Xidas with a modest spring rate in the 8kg/6kg range.

The best value offering is the BC BR (though I've never dríven the MCA Blue so can't compare).

I have no time for Yellowspeeds.

Magpie · Postby **Magpie** » Mon Dec 28, 2015 11:32 am

What is your budget (repeat question)?

Do you plan to corner weight and set them up properly, that is correct length?

What condition are the rest of the suspension components? Not much point on new shocks if the bushes are worn/binding, control arm(s) bent or alignment bolt(s) stretched.

What size sway bars are you running/plan to run?

Suspension is not just shocks and tires it is holistic. Get the bushes/tie rod ends/ball joints/control arms inspected and at least to OEM condition. Follow this with an alignment (949 web site has a good starting setup for street/track) and then decide on shocks that match what you want/need.

I run BC's however the handling was completely transformed after the bushes/lower Control arms were replaced (with eccentric bushes) and grease nipples fitted plus modified tie rods and an aggressive alignment.

I'll be swapping to MCA's in 2016 once I decide on spring rates. This strategy was discussed a length with MCA at world time attack as was sway bar sizes and BC's.

MattR · Postby **MattR** » Mon Dec 28, 2015 2:04 pm

For what you want, an all rounder set up to have some fun in, here's my 2 cents worth.

First up, for what you are doing, you can get away with the base models of a reasonable quality coil over, if you are inclined to go that way. Don't need to spend money on features you don't need. You definitely don't need external reservoirs for your dampers, nor will you need eleventy adjustment stops for compression and rebound. A good set up will see you not need to make adjustment, and also remember, for a car like yours, the adjustments available in a high end damper, you will not notice any difference on the track to your times as you won't be consistent if you are just starting out to make use of the adjustments available to you.

My last race car, once the set up was done, there was no adjustments made to damping, other than refurbish the valving in the dampers every few years, and the spring rates were left alone, ride height non-adjustable, and wheel alignment basically fixed and checked every few meetings. Car was never corner weighted, but it went alright for me....

As magpie said, check everything else first. No point in putting on new springs and dampers if the bushes are flogged out, things bent etc. Get the rest of the car checked and if rubber bushes are shot, look at replacing them with suitable replacements, i.e. a mixture of rubber and urathane depending on location. MX5's need compliance in the suspension to work properly.

My old NA6 used rubber bushes, BC V1 series coilovers and it handled quite well and rode well also for the same use you have, road with some track work. For the track it was everything turned up to hard, well the fronts to full hard and the rears to one stop off full hard for the dampers. For the street, it was back to 12 from soft for the front and 10 from soft for the rear for a nice compliant ride.

You maybe better off with just getting some good dampers, Koni or Bilsteins and the valving modified to suit a suitable set of springs. Again, relatively softly sprung with well set up dampers is what you are after. Also depends on your location and what good suspension shops are near you and also how far are you prepared to travel to get the results you are after.

Don't be sucked in that more expensive is better, get what will suit you best. As I said before find a good specialist suspension shop and listen to what they recommend.

If in Brisbane, I would recommend Option One, the owner Paul is an old school rally guy, he set up my NA6, and will be doing the suspension in my new race car an S14 with fully adjustable everything in terms of steering and control arms as well as the multi link bum, plus some custom coilovers that are being built for me.

When you get the new suspension, get a good wheel alignment, again listen to what the suspension shop says, and take on board what is recommended. Again, Option One set up my car, I have no idea what the alignment settings were, didn't ask as the car would go back to them for any alignment work, I just told Paul what the car would do and he set it up to suit. It went very well as most who know me and have watched my car go round would agree. For what you are doing corner weighting is overkill and to do it properly a very expensive and time consuming exercise that won't provide you with any real world benefit.

routten · Postby **routten** » Mon Dec 28, 2015 2:14 pm

Thanks for all the recommendations.
OEM components are in good condition. Have only done 65,000 kms on the road, not track. Everything seems tight. I have considered replacing the bushes, however they seem fine right now. They will be checked again at the same time the coilovers go in.
Yes I will be getting it fully/professionally aligned. I live in Sydney (south) and was reading on a number of forums that the guys at Spinning wheel are good.
At the moment the sway bars are OEM. I am considering if upgraded adjustable sway bars are also needed.
Budget for shocks etc approx $2500.
From all the posts it looks like the MCA X-C series is possibly the way to go. According to the website they provide excellent comfort and good handling for the track.

Dan · Postby **Dan** » Mon Dec 28, 2015 3:15 pm

I recently got myself a set of MCA Reds to replace some BC V1's and am very happy with them, the support MCA provided when I had a problem was second to none as well which made me very happy buying from a local company.

The reasons I'd recommend MCA's to someone like yourself is that they typically suggest no sway bars which saves you some $, they give you recommended settings for the dampers and the shocks come preset at the ride height they recommend so it should take most of the guesswork out of the initial setup so you can concentrate on driving and not asking yourself is X/Y not right and possibly going in the wrong direction with the setup which I think is the mistake a lot of drivers make when they start out as they 'feel' things which are the result of driving style rather than the cars setup and end up chasing their tail.

IMO corner weighting is uneccisary when you are starting out but a good alignment is critical and Stu from Spinning wheel who you are already thinking of using could suggest alignment settings to you based on your preferences and intended use for the car.

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sailaholic · Postby **sailaholic** » Mon Dec 28, 2015 8:19 pm

I got MCA reds. I've back to backed them with ohlins and found the ride better. The range of movement is also better then ohlins.

Going again I would get MCA X series (purple) as my Reds were a standard config and not custom valved (MCA thought standard config would suit my combination of dirt, road and track)

I had aftermarket sways with koni and eibach springs. Post MCA I removed the sways and found ride comfort to be significantly better.

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Trackphotos · Postby **Trackphotos** » Mon Dec 28, 2015 8:24 pm

+1 for oem sway bars. I had the coilovers in first and added the bars later, 24 and 16mm adjustables. Ruined it, took them back out and the car felt more settled, and lap times improved too.

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chops · Postby **chops** » Tue Dec 29, 2015 8:47 am

I have a modified SE and ran Yellowspeeds with 11/10 springs and 24 and 16 bars and found it quite hard work especially if you are running the OEM Torsen diff centre

I now run custom valved MCA Reds with 11/7 springs and went back to the OEM 14mm rear bar and the car is both faster and much more predictable to drive particularly on corner entry. We also have an NA with Blues on it which is only a road car and they work well and are excellent value. I also have a set of Reds tucked away for a 2 litre ND in the new year!

big ticket item for me is the ability to pick up the phone and talk to the guys who make them about what you want and listen to what they have to say, there is a dollar figure in that for me

MattR · Postby **MattR** » Tue Dec 29, 2015 10:21 am

Don't worry about about replacing/upgrading sway bars, they are fine tuning tool for suspension. not the first port of call to make changes.

Get the car handling right with springs and dampers first. And then, and it's a big then, once you have learned the car and finding you can't go any faster around the track, if that is your goal, then maybe, and only maybe, would I worry about sway bar changes.