Buying a set of Maxpeedingrod coilovers for my project Miata. Not looking for hardcore track performance, just want a little more lowering and these are 75 dollars secondhand.
How boned am I? Can I enjoy these without a membership to my local chiropractor?
Some people enjoy going to the chiropractor...
I thought the lowest they could go was higher than stock ride height.
ExcessKuma said:How boned am I? Can I enjoy these without a membership to my local chiropractor?
Sure, if the roads by you are super-smooth, or you enjoy the car strictly by looking at it 
In reply to ExcessKuma :
https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/verdict-on-maxpeedingrods/196144/page1/
I was on an MGB site a while ago and a race engine builder has been using their rods for quite some time now with good results. There was lots of good feedback about their quality. Not sure if they talked about other parts. I will try to find the thread.
Edit: that was easy.
https://www.mgexp.com/forum/mgb-and-gt-forum.1/maxpeedingrods-connecting-rod-review.4028677/
Pete. (l33t FS) said:I thought the lowest they could go was higher than stock ride height.
In the rear, that's right. Bad geometry, no lowering possible. They can go waaay beyond suspension limits in the front but still give up a lot of overall travel.
They're not worth the effort to install them, even if they're free. I still resent the time I spent on them.
I don't know how well their connecting rods work in a suspension application, but they can't be any worse.
In reply to Keith Tanner :
Cool, I actually just read your whole post on them. I'll just have to find another budget brand of coilovers then. Maybe some racelands or something simple.
Just out of curiosity, what on the maxpeedingrods prevents it from going lower then stock? I'm looking at like BC Racing and Raceland coilovers, and those are able to get much lower in the rear then stock.
Is there some reason why lowering springs with stock-style shocks isn't "as good" as coilovers in this application?
Keith Tanner said:I don't know how well their connecting rods work in a suspension application, but they can't be any worse.
*snort*
In reply to pres589 (djronnebaum) :
Because while the Miata at the current moment is just doing daily duty, I wouldn't mind possibly autocrossing in the future so would be nice to have a setup for that as well.
Plus I can't get mad JDM street cred on lowering springs :p
In reply to ExcessKuma :
If you want something that autocrosses well, ride height is not the primary goal. I'd start with "what's working well?" and "what do you want it to do differently?" Might be able to help there.
ExcessKuma said:Just out of curiosity, what on the maxpeedingrods prevents it from going lower then stock? I'm looking at like BC Racing and Raceland coilovers, and those are able to get much lower in the rear then stock.
Incorrect dimensions. You run out of adjustment before they get short enough.
Keith Tanner said:In reply to ExcessKuma :
If you want something that autocrosses well, ride height is not the primary goal. I'd start with "what's working well?" and "what do you want it to do differently?" Might be able to help there.
What's working well? I mean about dang near everything, only has like 33k miles.
What do I want it to do differently? Well the current shocks are definitely not supportive, as taking corners quick can lead to the front bumper scraping the floor.
The primary use of the Miata is just to get from A to B, look nice, and take to car meets. Speed stuff is handled by my Q45. Down the line if I do autocross, I wouldn't mind raising the car and dialing suspension in. I was looking at the Yonaka coilovers
So you like the handling balance. What do you mean by the front bumper scraping? What's your wheel/tire setup?
In reply to Keith Tanner :
Whenever I take a turn at probably more then 35mph, I hear the front corner of the bumper hit the floor.
current tire setup is 195/70/14 because it was 30 for all 4 wheels with good tires.
You're not hearing the front bumper scrape anything. You're hearing your tires hit the inside of the wheel well because they're 2" larger in diameter than stock. That's not a shock problem and lowering the car will only make it worse. You can fix it by limiting your suspension travel, but that has other effects like worse handling and a poor ride. Better would be to sell the tires and buy new ones in a good size. That will also lower the car as a bonus, because the right diameter tires will bring the whole car down by 1".
If you know the width and offset of the wheels, that would help diagnose if they're causing any problems as well.
If the car is as low mileage as you say, tires will be a much better investment than any cheap coilovers.
Keith Tanner said:You're not hearing the front bumper scrape anything. You're hearing your tires hit the inside of the wheel well because they're 2" larger in diameter than stock. That's not a shock problem and lowering the car will only make it worse. You can fix it by limiting your suspension travel, but that has other effects like worse handling and a poor ride. Better would be to sell the tires and buy new ones in a good size. That will also lower the car as a bonus, because the right diameter tires will bring the whole car down by 1".
If you know the width and offset of the wheels, that would help diagnose if they're causing any problems as well.
If the car is as low mileage as you say, tires will be a much better investment than any cheap coilovers.
Weird, it sounded exactly like plastic scraping so I figure it was the front bumper. If anything I'll go check the bumper when I get off work to verify if there's any damages. The rims themselves are just standard issue 14x6 steelies.
I'll need to figure out a good set of tires then, I bought 14 inch wheels because I have tires to swap over, oh well
Look straight up above the tire in the wheel well. There's a plastic liner that's the first thing to scrape on the tire.
Pete. (l33t FS) said:Keith Tanner said:I don't know how well their connecting rods work in a suspension application, but they can't be any worse.
*snort*
Great. Now you guys have me trying to figure out how to test that.
The cheapest set of good coilovers you're going to be able to get is the Flyin' Miata VMaxx. Had on an NA years ago that was street driven and saw the track.
Much more than $75, but if you don't want to ruin the car, they are your best bet.
In reply to Keith Tanner :
Sorry I didn't reply earlier. So the corners of the bumper did feel rough around the edges. Not saying the liner isn't being touched but it's probably not the only thing
Get someone to shoot video. I really, seriously, don't believe you're dragging the bumper on corners unless your car is bent. It's not even the lowest point on the side of the car.
The only way you're dragging that bumper is if it's closer to the ground than usual and you've done something to allow the suspension to move even further than normal. Your car is exactly the opposite, that front bumper is 1" higher than normal AND your tires are acting as a bumpstop more than 1" before you would usually bottom out. So you've probablty got 2.5" more air under that bumper at full compression than a stock Miata. I've had Miatas in some pretty dynamic situations and the only time I've made contact with the nose at speed was hitting a dirt road cut at speed on a car with high travel suspension and a front air dam to test how it would handle this exact situation. Even then, that required a straight on hit and it never dragged while cornering.
More likely it was damaged in parking. Deal with the tire size problem first, it's the biggest thing. Literally :)
I can guarantee that with tall skinny tires, you are not getting enough body lean for any part of the body to touch the ground. Even with no bumpstops at all.
What 175/70-14 tires and hitting the bump stop looks like.
Not to speak for Evan, but I think this was the event where he found the remains of the bump stops on the control arms and stuff, so this is more travel than one normally gets with an NA.
195/70-14 is massively larger than the stock 185/60-14. Those would be so tall I am surprised that they fit in the front at all.
Beyond that.... even if you were grinding the bumper on the ground, I do not see how making the car lower would help. Especially given that lowering a car will increase body roll except for some very specific instances, which is why you have to jack up the roll stiffness when you do make a car lower, out of proportion to the amount of suspension travel that is lost.
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