Coilovers

bainbridge

bainbridge

bainbridge

Soldato
Joined
9 Dec 2009
Posts
5,399
Location
Bristol
Hi motors people

My mk3 mx5 sport tech is sitting on the original Bilstein sport dampers and springs, things are getting a bit saggy and it's actually cheaper to fir coilovers than replace them like for like.

What goes up on top of the damper?

I recently replaced the dampers on my partners Astra and I also replaced the top mounts with a new top mount kit. Do coilovers have top mounts?

I contacted Gaz, a coilover manufacturer and they said no additional parts are needed.

Please can someone educate me?
 
They do. It'll depend on what coilovers you get but I think most decent brands will come complete ready to fit these days (Miester R, BC racing etc). A lot of the old cheaper NA MX-5 kits didn't come with top mounts so you had to use the OEM ones (and you might as well replace them while you're there anyway).
 
I specialise in suspension development and can say you will have to spend a LOT of money to beat Bilsteins. Most of the popular alternatives are utter junk inside, you really need to be looking at the likes of Koni or perhaps KW. Moving up in price a bit there's JRZ and Quantum, then you get into the professional stuff like Ohlins and the cost rises exponentially.

IMHO the likes of Tein, HKS, BC et cetera are total junk, poor bushings, poor chrome on the undersized piston rods, dreadful valving of the most basic type and appaling quality control. Getting spares form most is a joke, if they are even available at all. I'd just stick another set of Bilstein Sports on it. If you want custom valving in Bilsteins I can do it...
 
My Evo had HKS coilovers when I bought it and they were truly awful.

I have Meister R GT1 on both Impreza and Evo and they feel fine - to me anyway. They have a similar relief valve to the Ohlins DFV.
 
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yeah i'd think twice about lower end coilovers, i've had Ohlins on my Honda DC5 and they were good until they needed a rebuild and i've had BC coilovers on my Subaru, the BC's were ok actually and made it more stable on track but you did pay for it on the road and was a down grade in lots of ways over the stock stuff.

We had a mk3 MX5 and i thought the damping was really lovely with the stock Bilsteins so i'd replace like for like if it was me.
 
tsinc80697 said:
I fit MeisterR coilovers to my MX5 MK3 last year, they come with the top mount. You don't need anything else other than what comes in the coilover box :)
Click to expand...

Does the top mount have a spherical bearing?

I've heard that if on a daily, the bearing can quickly wear leading to rattling.
 
bainbridge said:
Thanks for your responses, it's made me stop and think.

Any thoughts on Gaz coilovers, folks?
Click to expand...

I am afraid again, they wll be nothing like as good as the Bilsteins. You can easily change most spherical bearings in top mounts for better ones, you need something linered with the likes of Teflon and about the best are NMB ones. On a road car all a none rubber bushed top mount will do is add unnecessary noise, vibration and harshness. Bilstein seem to have got their supply issues back under control, I just took a delivery of some that have been on back order for nearly two years ;)

I forgot to add Nitron dampers to my list of good, but still within the realms of sane cost for road car dampers, that are actually made here in the UK.
 
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