anyone else nervous about the car?

[FMOS Racing]

The only thing I've seen so far that makes me nervous is that driver's side mount since I drag race the car a lot. That's a cheap fix, though.

I've seen people here get all bent out of shape about the strangest things, even speculation caused by lack of understanding and rumor. Honestly, this site is the worst for it that I've encountered anywhere.

 

[Alexsered]

I just don't get it, why are people so nervous when they KNOW they are modding thier car and are drag racing, and autocrossing the cars. When you are doing those things, I don't care what car you have, it just wont last as long. Drive the car for what it was made for. Light modding and spirited driving or else expect to be changing internals and fuel pumps and crap like that. Commen sense people.

 

[mckraut]

28k miles and I only had the cowl rattle, which I fixed myself.

 

[Moultese]

I'm not nervous. I have a warranty


But seriously though, it does concern me a bit that people seem to be lightly modifying their car, or push it to it's limits and s*** starts breaking. It's like we're driving the new GT-R or something.

 

[AutoXRacer]

(hand) You Autox race all the time you can't expect your suspension to be like new. I have almost 50,000miles and my suspension is perfect.. Not to mention I have had no issues with my car its perfect..

Are you sure? Because people with 15K are complaining about bottoming out. I think you are just used to it and don't realize the state of you suspension.

Multiple vendors have dissected the dampers and have stated they are the worst OEM dampers they have seen!! Maybe you got an odd ball.

 

[AutoXRacer]

I just don't get it, why are people so nervous when they KNOW they are modding thier car and are drag racing, and autocrossing the cars. When you are doing those things, I don't care what car you have, it just wont last as long. Drive the car for what it was made for. Light modding and spirited driving or else expect to be changing internals and fuel pumps and crap like that. Commen sense people.

Wrong!!! I modified my 99 Miata which I bought with 27K miles... I raced it for 6 years consecutively between 2-4 times a month, drove it everyday to school and work, and took roads trips all the time...I traded her in with +203K miles and not one failure while I owned her...not one!!!

So you tell me...

 

[Alexsered]

Are you sure? Because people with 15K are complaining about bottoming out. I think you are just used to it and don't realize the state of you suspension.

Multiple vendors have dissected the dampers and have stated they are the worst OEM dampers they have seen!! Maybe you got an odd ball.

off subject AutoXRacer, but what would you say needs aftermarket work done to the suspension? I feel the bottoming out, and just wondering what parts you recommend?

 

[Alexsered]

Wrong!!! I modified my 99 Miata which I bought with 27K miles... I raced it for 6 years consecutively between 2-4 times a month, drove it everyday to school and work, and took roads trips all the time...I traded her in with +203K miles and not one failure while I owned her...not one!!!

So you tell me...

Miata's are rock solid though, and modifieing is one thing, but modifieing and driving it on autocross, or track days and stuff like that, a car will not last as long. You have to expect that when you are racing, that stuff will blow, or stuff will break in the car, you don't go racing and expect the car to be perfectly fine the next day as if you didn't take the car through the hardest driving it will ever see.

 

[AutoXRacer]

off subject AutoXRacer, but what would you say needs aftermarket work done to the suspension? I feel the bottoming out, and just wondering what parts you recommend?

I'm actually currently looking myself... Definitely the utter most thing that needs to go is the dampers/shock/struts. You could live with the springs, but they are a little too soft; especially the rear ones.

There have been a few that have upgraded to the Koni FSD for stock replacements and for autocross/track with performance springs the Koni Sports (Yellows). I don't know of any other company making struts/shocks specifically for our cars.

If you wanted to go with coilovers, there are a lot more choices; BCs, Mazdaspeed, HKS, Tien, etc...

Seems like Mazdaspeeds are the favorites, but BCs are very close behind being much cheaper in price.

Does that help?

I want the Koni Sports (yellows), but I don't want the stock springs... So I am stuck; the Eibach Pros are the only ones I'd consider right now, but they are also too soft in the rear...much better than stock though. CP-E is designing a spring to be matched with the Koni Sports for our cars... I might wait for those...if not, I'm might settle on the BC coilovers. It will be about the same price either way.

 

[AutoXRacer]

Miata's are rock solid though, and modifieing is one thing, but modifieing and driving it on autocross, or track days and stuff like that, a car will not last as long. You have to expect that when you are racing, that stuff will blow, or stuff will break in the car, you don't go racing and expect the car to be perfectly fine the next day as if you didn't take the car through the hardest driving it will ever see.

I do... Autocrossing will not stress out your vehicle; the tires will take a beating and the brakes will slightly wear a little more. But thats it.

A bone stock car should handle autocross just fine and live to its expected max life. Tracking is slightly more abusive though and its totally at a different level than autocrossing.

Autocrossing with the exception of tires is perfectly safe and will not induce premature wear on anything other than tires, suspension, and brakes. Remember, average speed in autocross is like 40 mph...

 

[Moultese]

I do... Autocrossing will not stress out your vehicle; the tires will take a beating and the brakes will slightly wear a little more. But thats it.

A bone stock car should handle autocross just fine and live to its expected max life. Tracking is slightly more abusive though and its totally at a different level than autocrossing.

Autocrossing with the exception of tires is perfectly safe and will not induce premature wear on anything other than tires, suspension, and brakes. Remember, average speed in autocross is like 40 mph...[/QUOTE]

Depends on what kind of car you drive (rlaugh)

But yeah, I autocrossed and daily drove my Focus for 5 years and never had to replace anything earlier than I should have.

 

[Alexsered]

I do... Autocrossing will not stress out your vehicle; the tires will take a beating and the brakes will slightly wear a little more. But thats it.

A bone stock car should handle autocross just fine and live to its expected max life. Tracking is slightly more abusive though and its totally at a different level than autocrossing.

Autocrossing with the exception of tires is perfectly safe and will not induce premature wear on anything other than tires, suspension, and brakes. Remember, average speed in autocross is like 40 mph...

Mazda used to do a cool autocross event around the country where you could come and autocross thier new cars for free (thats where I drove the speed6 for the first time) but they stopped doing that and from talking to reps was because the cars just did not last, even when I was there, cars were breaking down. Most of the people there were pretty experience autocross racers, so I don't think these cars could handle that much pounding, it might be just 40mph, but I would assume most people stay in the higher revs to be able to stay in the powerband.



I'm not sure what to do with the suspension either. An entire aftermarket kit is pretty pricey, and since I don't track the speed3, I don't think I would invest that much into it. The suspension on this car is probably what I know the least about the Mazdaspeed3. But I know I want to do something.

 

[DaleNixon]

I think 2 autocross days a month is much less abusive than the constant autocrossing Mazda was putting their cars through. Also, yea, look at Cobb's MS3... they've dyno'd it 1000 times. It's seen ridiculous amounts of track days. And they cannot kill it!

 

[AutoXRacer]

I think 2 autocross days a month is much less abusive than the constant autocrossing Mazda was putting their cars through. Also, yea, look at Cobb's MS3... they've dyno'd it 1000 times. It's seen ridiculous amounts of track days. And they cannot kill it!

I'm starting to see a light at the end of the MS3 tunnel... (lol2)
We need more posts like these... (2thumbs)

 

[ElGaspo]

slightly off-topic...i received the latest issue of "Winding Road" - an online car enthusiast magazine. this month the editors featured "The Dynamic Dozen - 12 cars we loved this year." Guess which car made the list? Just more proof that ppl who do this for a living agree our lil scooter is a great buy/value/ride. count me among the ppl who aren't nervous at all about the MS3, as long as it's not modded to beat the band.

I'm not a computer xpert like most of you guys are, so i hope this linkee workee...it's on pp 142-143. everybody have a wunderfull wkend! (yippy)(drunk)(cheers)(2thumbs)(headbang)

http://wrmag.nextautos.com/issue/41

 

[DaleNixon]

I'm starting to see a light at the end of the MS3 tunnel... (lol2)
We need more posts like these... (2thumbs)

In Cobb's own words:

Ultimately, we ended up with two 1st place finishes. We won the Street class by roughly 11 seconds, and the Modified class by nearly 2 seconds. In doing so, we continued the MS3s torture of being completely beat on over and over. Not only has this poor car done over 1000 dyno pulls (yes, 1000not 100 or 10), but it has been relentless Time Attacked, track driven, and daily driven since we purchased it nearly 2 years ago. This car is simplyamazing. Not only that (excuse what some may view as a marketing pitch), I dont know anyone else thats pushed this platform and their products to this extent. Believe me, its far less expensive to publish an engineering document than it is to push a car like this constantly but our products (and car) have held up perfectly and weve learned things you just cant experience in a controlled environment. This event was the FIRST TIME weve every had to actually work on it! Why? A power steering line to the rack worked itself loose. Nothing extraordinary.

 

[Alexsered]

In Cobb's own words:

I'm not a fan of COBB, but the speed3 is stronger than people give it credit here.

 

[F430TECH]

Mazda used to do a cool autocross event around the country where you could come and autocross thier new cars for free (thats where I drove the speed6 for the first time) but they stopped doing that and from talking to reps was because the cars just did not last, even when I was there, cars were breaking down. Most of the people there were pretty experience autocross racers, so I don't think these cars could handle that much pounding, it might be just 40mph, but I would assume most people stay in the higher revs to be able to stay in the powerband.



I'm not sure what to do with the suspension either. An entire aftermarket kit is pretty pricey, and since I don't track the speed3, I don't think I would invest that much into it. The suspension on this car is probably what I know the least about the Mazdaspeed3. But I know I want to do something.

I set the fastest time for the weekend at the Houston Event (burnout)

My girl at the time was only a couple of tenths behind me...

 

[Bravnik]

I'm trading mine in next summer, but not because I'm scared of it but because I have been wanting a new Camero SS from the first day I saw the pre-production model

 

[AutoXRacer]

slightly off-topic...i received the latest issue of "Winding Road" - an online car enthusiast magazine. this month the editors featured "The Dynamic Dozen - 12 cars we loved this year." Guess which car made the list? Just more proof that ppl who do this for a living agree our lil scooter is a great buy/value/ride. count me among the ppl who aren't nervous at all about the MS3, as long as it's not modded to beat the band.

I'm not a computer xpert like most of you guys are, so i hope this linkee workee...it's on pp 142-143. everybody have a wunderfull wkend! (yippy)(drunk)(cheers)(2thumbs)(headbang)

http://wrmag.nextautos.com/issue/41

How do you go about getting subscribed? I like the mag!!!