New Suspension for Miata

I finally got around to working on the suspension on the Miata. Back in June I bought the VMaxx Classic coilover kit from Flyin' Miata, and in September I actually installed it. I won't go into the specifics of how I did it because there are hundreds of write-ups all over the net about it. Since both my lower ball joints and outer tie rod ends were completely shot, I replaced them as part of this, too.

Here you can see just how bad the tie rod ends were with almost 180,000 miles on them. Top is old, bottom is new. I sourced new ones from supermiata.com. The lower ball joints were just as bad. I bought new Proforged ones ones from Rockauto.com. Sorry I didn't get a good photo of those.

Here are the front VMaxx units. Very nicely built and Flyin Miata supplies the needed parts to convert the NA to the better NB style top mounts. These don't come assembled so there is a little extra work to put these together and torque the top mount bolts down, which can be a bit tricky but is not too bad.

Here's a rear assembly alongside the old Tein unit that was on the car. These were installed in 2004, so they were getting pretty long in the tooth. You can see the Tein uses a much shorter spring and has the old NA top mount. I do think the VMaxx design with the NB mounts is much better. I think the VMaxx would be fine without the tender spring, but there it is and maybe it has some small benefit.

Here's a front unit installed and you can see that while I was in there I decided to replace the brake rotors and freshen up the calipers with a coat of paint. I used some caliper paint from POR-15. The rotors are from Centric and have the center hat already painted black. I did this at all four corners and also took the opportunity to lube all the caliper slider pins. I put the same pads back in as they had plenty of meat left. I wish they weren't green.

Just to show where the ride height ended up. The FM instructions say to start with the fronts at 9 inches from the lower mount bushing centerline to the bottom of the spring perch, and 5 inches in the rear. That put me pretty close to stock height, and not as low as I wanted to be, so I moved the spring perches down about .75 inches and it's pretty good. I could go a lot lower but don't want to.

Driving impressions: I've put a few dozen miles on the car since this was done and I'm very happy with it. The ride on the VMaxx Classics is supple and just firm enough to know it's a sports car. Sawing at the wheel doesn't upset it at all and with the new ball joints there is a lot less clonking going on. Bumps don't upset the car nearly as much. The brakes feel better and the car just feels finished. For the first time in 3 years, this feels like a car I can put my wife in and we can go somewhere without feeling self-conscious.

E46 M3 Suspension Refresh

At 136000 miles, my M3's suspension was tired. Beyond tired. The ride of the M3 should be taut, well controlled, and confidence-inspiring. Mine was loose, uncontrolled, and decidedly un-inspiring. I have a new commute for work starting soon, so I decided to get some work done. I'd really like to go through the whole suspension and replace all the bushings but the most pressing issue was the shocks and struts. The OEM suspension on the E46 M3 consists of non-adjustable shocks (rear) and struts (front) made by Sachs. They are very high quality and well suited to the M3 in street form. For my upgrade, though, I decided to go with Koni Sport adjustable shocks and struts. They're very affordable (cheaper than the Sachs) and have been the go-to adjustable shock in sporty-car circles for decades. I have no desire to lower this car, and don't see myself tracking or autocrossing it any time soon. I will be taking it for many spirited drives in the mountains, since the legendary roads of the East Tennessee and Western North Carolina mountains are just a few miles away. So, I figured the Koni's and stock springs offer the best combination of sporting character and affordability. I ordered them from ECS Tuning on a 20% off sale and got them within a couple days.

I also ordered new top strut mounts and reinforcement plates. The plates are an OEM BMW part that is meant to prevent deformation of the strut towers. Mine were showing no signs of any issues so I guess I didn't need them but I suppose they can't hurt.

Getting the strut out is pretty straightforward. You disconnect the swaybar link, remove the bottom clamp bolt and wiggle the strut out of the spindle. Mine were quite stuck and I had to use a drift and a rubber mallet to strike the top of the hub and work the bottom of the strut out. Then you remove the three top mount nuts and the whole strut will fall out. The original strut, once out, is disassembled using spring compressors so the springs and a couple washers can be reused.

Assembling the strut with the Koni shock requires a little ingenuity. The top of the shaft is 11mm hex, which you have to hold in order to keep the shaft from spinning while you tighten the top nut. You can see how I solved the issue with a 1/4" extension and a spark plug socket with flats that allow the use of a wrench.

Once the strut is assembled, getting it back in is quite tricky. It's a Chinese puzzle and nothing I write here will help you.

The rear shocks are easy to get out and easy to assemble. The Koni rear shocks have a 5mm hex socket on the head which you can hold with just an allen wrench while you tighten the top nut with an open wrench. I had to reuse the bump stops because I neglected to order new ones. They look bad but seem to be serviceable. I used new top mounts and also bought the ECS rear shock mount reinforcement plates.

Installation is super simple. One bolt on the spindle and two nuts in the trunk.

The top mount with the reinforcement plate. There was no apparent issue so I probably didn't need the plates, but they're cheap.

I tested the old shocks by compressing them by hand. They were very easy to compress and the rears would barely re-extend at all. The fronts were a little better but not much. The new shocks are set at full soft in the front and one turn up from full soft in the rear. This brings me to the one major drawback of the Koni sports. The rears can only be adjusted for rebound by removing them from the car! You have to compress them completely and then turn the shock body in relation to the shaft. The fronts have a knob on the top for the adjustment, so no big deal to make changes to fine-tune the ride, but if you are an autocrosser or track star and think you may want to make frequent adjustments you might want to look for another solution.

Miata Front Shock Upper Mounts are Done

Here's how to recognize when your upper shock mounts are shot. This one is from my 1994 Miata with 175,000 miles.

The old mount is on the left and a brand new one on the right. If the center part of your mounts are popped up like this one, it's time for new ones. Both front mounts on my car were like this. The result was a rattly, loose front suspension that made my car feel like a piece of junk. The cost of replacements were under $100 for both from Flyin' Miata. I was planning to replace the entire suspension when I realized the only problem was these mounts.

The Tein Basic coilovers I installed in 2004 still have some life in them.