SHOCK??justify $$$ replacement

[Martin Harms]

I went through this excercise a year ago...
Car had done 160 000 km +, "bounce-the-corner-of-the-car" test seemed reasonable,
mechanic said: No, you don't need new shocks!.

Yet :

At that milage they are well overdue.
As you drive the car, and as the shocks deteriorate, you compensate in driving
style - and do not notice.
MX5s handle really well anyhow...

I had adjustable Konis on a GT6 Mk1, really suitable for racing. On Aucklands
roads they rattled my teeth loose. (The shocking state of Auckland's road surfaces
is the reason Aucklanders drive off roaders in town!)
Konis are EXPENSIVE. And I don't race.

I ended up buying KYB shocks from mailorder house in Tauranga (?) Cost: 1/4 of
Konis. Result: A completeley new driving feeling. You only realise how worn out
shocks are if you drive on new ones. I got a speeding ticket out here on the
Awhitu peninsula the very next day. Corners that were "on the limit" at 100 km/h
before, all of a sudden were "like on rails" at unmentionable speeds...

My advice for fellow NA 90 owners: Get the braces from Ross ( front and rear
bottom, and "behind the seat cross bar"), a set of new tyres (I have my second set
of Dunlop 901 (?)) And new shocks, KYB or equivalent is sufficient.
And the car handles better than when it was new.

I am having fun.

Martin

ghead@vero.co.nz wrote:

[...]

[SLYDIT]

I may be corrected here but koni and KYB are the only
adjustables you can get for the MX-5. The KYBs are
similarly priced as the konis but dont have ride
height adjustment.The konis allow you to lower the car
without having to buy springs as the spring perches
are adjustable also. If you like your shocks soft then
you simply set them to soft and as they wear you can
stiffen them up to bring them back to your liking. The
shocks will probably outlast the car at that sort of
use.
I'll find out what sort of a deal i can work out. But
remember i dont want to do the deal until the new year
as i dont have the funds yet. I dont want to miss out on my own group buy!!
Glenn "SLYDIT"

[Badcat]

hi all.
i'm on my second mx5 and second set of konis.
i've had this one for 5 years and could never go back.
they (along with a good alignment) totally change the car.
one word of warning - be careful how low you go with the adjustable
spring seat (ride height).
the lower chassis rails are not as robust as you may think.
my car was too low for too long - they got crushed repeatedly on curbs
- judder bars etc and eventually they BOTH had to be REPLACED.
it was an extremely expensive business - but now i have chassis rails
with more than 4 times the original torsional rigidity.
of course if you run the ride height at sensible levels - you'll never
have the problem - but mine looked soooooo good really low.
benefit from my mistake - don't go too low.
and remember - good struts are only part of the package - the car needs
to be set up by someone that KNOWS MX5S...
i use paul at the pits/pneumatico - in beach road auckland - he's very
clever and can do tyres alignments etc too
if anyone wants to come have a drive of mine with konis after a few
years - email me.

vroom vroom!

Ken
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