How low is too low? (Miata content)

Once the coilovers go in the Miata next week, I've been thinking: how low is too low for practical DD usage? I'm planning on running 4" for street use and 3.5" for autoX/track days. I dont want to drop to far where it can cause stress on anything. I'm gonna be upgrading my endlinks soon to have a 100% adjustable setup. I dont want to drop to far also because it's just completely impractical for a street car to sit at racecar height (looks cool though!) and not be able to take the slightest speed bump or speed table without having to face the consequences. What would you guys suggest?

not sure on the Miata.. I have my bmw lowered so that the lower control arms are level to the pavement

When I get the adjustable end links here soon, if I go too low, they'll want to bind up. I want to sit low, but not having my butt scrape the ground or have the car doing the same.

Going too low can alter the alignment enough that the car will handle worse than at stock height.

I'm thinking that 4" would be good. If I can run 3.5" for street that would be cool. I'll be running NB shock hats, Bilstein HD shocks, 450 front & 350 rear NEUSPEED springs and MSM bump stops, so I'll be running a pretty firm set up. I've seen Miatas slammed to the ground and I honestly hate it. No sense to it in my opinion, but that's my own. I'm setting it up for track days and pretty mych gonna be running damn near a Spec Miata setup. 3.5" or 4"?

What does 4" mean? Where are you measuring?

^I'm thinking the pinch weld or framerail.

I'm measuring at the bottom most point, yes. The point on the frame where the jack meets. 3.5" or 4" from there. Which sounds best?

The factory ride height for a Miata is in the 5" range, correct? 5.5" if I remember correctly seeing that a while back somewhere on the internet. Sensibility and performance is what I'm looking to get. Best of both worlds as much as possible. There is that compromise, but I'm looking for the best possible setting.

Most references to ride-height on Miata's, including the FSM, measure from the center of the hub to the lip of the wheel-arch.

Exactly. Measuring from the wheel hub to the fender lip takes tire size (or pressure) out of the equation. There's also no such thing as "factory ride height", stock Miatas varied by something like 3" from the factory over the years. Even the factory service manual gives a 2" range for the 1990 models, if memory serves.

With those spring rates, I'd typically run about 12" in the front and 12.5" in the rear. For street use, bring it up half an inch. If you go much lower, you won't have enough rate to keep you off the bumpstops.

Awesome explaination on the details of how #'s like 12.5, 12 and such come into play grafmiata and Keith! Now I know what exactly to measure when setting it her up in the next week or 2.

For daily driver usage, I drive around to the places I visit most often, favoring anyplace that has the biggest speed bumps (both natural and manmade). Once something starts scraping the bumps, I go back up on the ride height about 1/4" or 1/2" until the scraping stops. That's how I determine how low I can go.

I don't wanna take the risk of laying frame so ro speak. The places I drive to most don't have any major bumps so I'm not too concerned with that aspect. I wanna be about 2/3 ground clearance from where I am now with the worn out factory suspension.

4" is really asking for it. If you live in a nice modern-ish area without enormous speedbumps you can get away with 5". If you have to deal with huge speedbumps or driveway transitions I wouldn't go below 6"

And don't forget lowering a car typically makes the suspension geometry worse, the lower you go the worse it will get.

I kind of like my miata riding high and dirty.

GameboyRMH wrote: 4" is really asking for it. If you live in a nice modern-ish area without enormous speedbumps you can get away with 5". If you have to deal with huge speedbumps or driveway transitions I wouldn't go below 6" And don't forget lowering a car typically makes the suspension geometry worse, the lower you go the worse it will get.

Less of a problem with a double wishbone car, if lowering within reason.

mad_machine wrote: not sure on the Miata.. I have my bmw lowered so that the lower control arms are level to the pavement

You're going to make me go take a picture of my ti now, aren't you?

IDK how low mine is, but it can't go over speed bumps.....

Basically, on the miata.....it probably doesn't need to be very low. I'd also keep the same height and setup between daily and autox.....otherwise you'll get tired of having to change stuff every time

GameboyRMH wrote: 4" is really asking for it. If you live in a nice modern-ish area without enormous speedbumps you can get away with 5". If you have to deal with huge speedbumps or driveway transitions I wouldn't go below 6" And don't forget lowering a car typically makes the suspension geometry worse, the lower you go the worse it will get.

The effects of lowering a Miata are pretty well known. They work really well at the ride heights I mentioned.

I'm looking to go with the figures that Keith mentioned. I want to go lower, but not too low to have the ride height affecting the suspension geometry. I have seen pics of Miatas being slammed and that's just not my taste and it's highly impractical. If I do decide to run with 2 settings, I'll make sure I mark where the settings are going to be by painting the sleeves above the setting for street and below the setting of autoX and track days. Better there than in the middle where it would be rubbed off by adjusting the height. That's if I decide to go with 2 settings...I'm most likely going to go with the 1 setting of 12.5" front with 13" rear. I'm pretty secure in using Keith's figures that he stated above because well... he's Keith. I really dont want to be constantly running on the bumpstops as well.

The next question is this: I plan on getting some adjustable endlinks soon and any of you guys got any tips on setting those up?

miataman86 wrote: The next question is this: I plan on getting some adjustable endlinks soon and any of you guys got any tips on setting those up?

My understanding is that you want the "arms" of the swaybar to be parallel to the ground when the car is sitting at standard ride height (or possibly pointed "down" slightly, so that they're parallel when the suspension is loaded up). If you're gonna do this with a Miata that's lowered, you need endlinks shorter than stock, which most of the ones on the market aren't.

I use the 949 ones: 949 end links They have installation/setup instructions in a PDF there.

Hell yeah. I like the sound of the R&D that is put into those. Not too bad a price (before shipping and applicable taxes...ugh) for them. When R&D s put into a product, it attracts me for sure. I'm looking to get the control arms pointed down slightly, yes. I want to get the absolute most out of the Eibach sway bars I have.

I was looking into a set of 4 that are $125 that a buddy of mine sent to me, but those SuperMiata links sound really good. I want to avoid binding of any sort anywhere in the suspension, namely the sway bars.