Intro and questions 08 MS3

2

2013TH

Greenie N00B Member
Hi there. I'm making my first post here. I hope long posts are acceptable. New owner...old mazdaspeed 3 2008 The car was already lowered when I bought it. And the suspension is horrendous. Any little bump in the road causes a loud crack echoing throughout the whole vehicle. Ok by crack i just mean "loud bang" and yes I know it's just the clapped lowered suspension. And slight bouncyness in the front. The lowering is pretty extreme imho, although the wheels are not canted or anything ridiculous like that. Regardless I am not a fan of this suspension. The roads around here are not groomed race condition. I'm not rich, and i'm not going to put $2000 racing suspension on it. But I would love to get it back to oem spec. Not oem parts (obviously), just oem spec (maybe MAYBE a half inch low) Regardless I have a few questions.

1 Are the $280 ebay coil over suspension kits REALLY that bad for normal driving? does anyone have actual honest experience with these less expensive kits?

2 I assume with any suspension that's fully adjustable.... the differences in spec (weight/ride height) between the speed and the regular 3 dont matter. Because if I can adjust ride height and spring load and all that. Right?

3 swaybar link length? I know some are adjustable but most are not. And the speed vs the normal 3 are different lengths ot seems. Do the links have to be a an exact specific length dependent on ride hight? Or will the common speed length work fine even with a little lowering 1/2 inch or so.

4 if I went for $1000 suspension. What can I expect to pay for professional installation labor.

Again sorry for the long post and thanks for any help!
 
hello and welcome to MSO

are you sure it's just the shocks / springs? not bushings as well ?

you get what you pay for with suspension, I think we had one guy try an eBay kit ride was surprisingly okay but they didn't last in fairness he bought them as a short term fix until he could get better ones one.

speed vs non speed parts absolutely matters, the valving, spring rates, potentially mounting points are all different. you're not going to be Able to put many regular 3 parts on the speed as a general rule of thumb.

White line makes and adjustable end link and it's the only one I'd recommend, yes depending on ride height this matters as done the rear camber arms which are not adjustable from factory. 1/2" lower you should be fine with OEM length end links. truly OEM or end links or white line seems to be best for the speeds.

I have no idea what shop rates are Phoenix, call around and ask yourself? Id expect to see 4hrs + alignment, could be less.

we may have some locals in the area that can help you there @Enki who do you have around the Phoenix area?
 
Bilstein b14 kit for coilovers will run you about $1200. I wouldn't spend less than that on suspension as @Awafrican said even if they ride ok the cheaper options arent going to last. It seem like the cheaper options are also aimed at people that want to be as low as possible as cheap as possible
 
bikstean b14 would be a great option, now I did try Monroe's on my rear shocks with OEM springs and they were fine, perhaps a bit softer than OE I was never convinced replacing them got it back to normal but it was fine for DD duty
 
true who knows what pos the PO put in there, I'd want a kit that comes with springs.

OP are you sure there's other bushings causing issues too?
 
Phoenix is Drama territory, not sure there are many up there that aren't Facebook whores.

Anywho:

1. Your post is not long (this isn't Twitter). Trust me, you're fine there.

2. The weight difference DOES matter, as that will shittify your ride quality pretty quick. The Speed is heavier, so any springs for the regular 3 are probably going to be a bit on the weak side. Might be why it's crunching now, actually, esp if the prior nubbin that owned the car cut them.

3. This does matter, as you want the sway to be level with the road when it's sitting parked for best geometric results. I found some links that worked well for the front, as the Whiteline ones were way too long with my 1" drop. I forget the brand, though.

Actually, found it. I'm using Scale endlinks up front:
https://mazdaspeeds.org/index.php?threads/disi-mzresponse.457/#post-4309

4. Honestly if you have the proper tools, you can do this yourself; it's not actually too terribly difficult, surprisingly enough. IIRC I did control arms and coilovers in a weekend with my pops. Hour wise, it will cost you unless the shop has done your exact setup before... You also gotta keep wheel/tire clearances in mind; right now, my tires are about 1/8" or 10mm away from the coils with my current offset.
 
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