Raising a lowered suspension?

jsilva

jsilva

Greenie N00B Member
I bought my MS6 with a very low suspension. I think the front is lower than the rear. I know next to nothing about these things. It would be awesome if I could raise the front up about 1”.

Where do I even start? Any advice would be appreciated.
 
I’m not sure if they’re coilovers, but I don’t think so. I’ll have a look today and report back.

If they’re not coilovers, how would I determine what springs to get?
 
Find out what they are. Look up the drop of the spring and find ones that don't drop it as much.

Get a set of coilovers and put em at max height.
 
Just so you can see, this is the height of the front. The rear has 1-1.5” more clearance in the wheel well.

ECBA7A87-4082-4B2F-91E3-198594F110DF.jpeg

Low is good but this is too low for me. Plus, the resonated test pipe I got is a bit bigger than the cat so I’m concerned I’m going to be hitting anything that is taller than 2” on the road :)

I didn’t get a chance to examine the struts today but definitely tomorrow.
 
Duh… :) I don’t see any threads which is why I was thinking they aren’t coilovers, but I’m far from knowledgeable on the issue.

Passenger:

738DC97B-1237-4BE1-A2BE-920EB83FE53C.jpeg

Driver:

26570C43-42C2-4C17-88DB-383AEFC073D0.jpeg
 
I’m assuming those are OEM shocks with lower springs. Where is a good source for springs where I can specify a ride height? I’d like it lower than OEM but not as low as they are.
 
The ride could be that low cause the worn out struts aren't holding pressure as much as they used to. Stock struts aren't really made to withstand a drop in suspension height.

The picture is at a bad angle but are any of the coils of the spring touching each other as if they are bound?
 
L337TurboZ said:
The ride could be that low cause the worn out struts aren't holding pressure as much as they used to. Stock struts aren't really made to withstand a drop in suspension height.

The picture is at a bad angle but are any of the coils of the spring touching each other as if they are bound?
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I’ll be taking the wheels off tomorrow (I’m investigating a thump/clunk while steering) so I’ll have a better look and get some photos.

I think the ride feels nice, aggressive but not uncomfortable. It’s just impractically low.
 
I had a look with my endoscope thingy and it doesn’t look like any of the coils are touching each other. The only possibility would be the very top one, but the angle was so harsh that I’m not sure. Though I don’t think anything was touching.

I’m looking around for someone parting out OEM struts. We’ll see what I turn up. I can’t justify new fancy ones :) Maybe some replacement springs though.
 
Cold Lotion said:
Many people freak out about this, but... cut OEM springs ride well, handle well, and look great.
Click to expand...

Are you thinking that’s what may have been done to mine?

Is it unreasonable to think about getting other springs which would be a bit higher and use them with the existing struts?
 
If it rides fine but is too low just getnew springs. When the speed 6 was new the general consensus was that the stock suspension was great and the spring rate was good but it was too high. A lot of guys cut one coil off of the stock springs with no I'll effects. Looks like yours has had more than one coil cut off
 
Easter Bunny said:
If it rides fine but is too low just getnew springs. When the speed 6 was new the general consensus was that the stock suspension was great and the spring rate was good but it was too high. A lot of guys cut one coil off of the stock springs with no I'll effects. Looks like yours has had more than one coil cut off
Click to expand...

Ok thanks :) I was considering the Corksport because I have some points to use, but if anyone has recommendations I’d certainly be interested.
 
Those coils seem really compressed, I wonder if those are stock springs that have just sagged to the point of near failure. They look a little too thick for stock though. The shocks are definitely stock and probably need to be replaced at this point.

Pretty much the springs I'd look at are either the stock springs if you like to sit up high or Corksports if you want it to be a little low but not too low. A lot of people hate the height of the stock springs but the roads are crap here and I like being able to hit less than perfect roads at speed. My car came with H&R springs and I was scraping everywhere.

My advice would be to get the springs of your desired height, anything lower than Corksport is too low for this car IMO, and go ahead and get new shocks/struts and front mounts while you're at it. Bilstein shocks are great on this car and aren't that expensive. The Mazda OEM ones are pretty reasonable at the dealer as well. Stay away from cheap shocks, they are usually made for the other lighter 6 models and a poor choice for a Mazdaspeed. Also look in the back to see if your rear bump stops have been cut, if they took too much off you should probably get some more. They aren't that expensive.
 
GohanX said:
Those coils seem really compressed, I wonder if those are stock springs that have just sagged to the point of near failure. They look a little too thick for stock though. The shocks are definitely stock and probably need to be replaced at this point.

Pretty much the springs I'd look at are either the stock springs if you like to sit up high or Corksports if you want it to be a little low but not too low. A lot of people hate the height of the stock springs but the roads are crap here and I like being able to hit less than perfect roads at speed. My car came with H&R springs and I was scraping everywhere.

My advice would be to get the springs of your desired height, anything lower than Corksport is too low for this car IMO, and go ahead and get new shocks/struts and front mounts while you're at it. Bilstein shocks are great on this car and aren't that expensive. The Mazda OEM ones are pretty reasonable at the dealer as well. Stay away from cheap shocks, they are usually made for the other lighter 6 models and a poor choice for a Mazdaspeed. Also look in the back to see if your rear bump stops have been cut, if they took too much off you should probably get some more. They aren't that expensive.
Click to expand...

Thanks! At this point I’d like to try and not get shocks if I don’t have to… I just bought a new DMF and the less I spend on this car the better :)

I wouldn’t know if the bump stops have been cut. Once I’m able to address this height issue then I’ll know more the condition everything is in.
 
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