Installing my Goldlines and Illuminas this weekend. w00t!
- Thread starter MrDiggler
- Start date
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- MP5T / 944
Jaysanooch said:
Totally Awesome.. You made my day..Glad it helped.
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- MP5T / 944
MrDiggler said:
It goes crazy in a straight line..
Awesome in a corner.
Here's the stance after the install. Me likes!
That said, I'm still trying to get used to the steering and the ride. Undulations aren't too bad, but sharp pavement transitions of only 1" or so are brutal. They just repaved a road cut down from my neighborhood entrance, and both times I crossed it today it was like a kidney punch. My wife is going to hate me. I backed the struts down to 1 tonight and will report the difference tomorrow.
I haven't had much opportunity to test the handling because the weather has sucked here, but I think it's going to corner very flat and very hard. I can only imagine how much better it will get when I put my Eagle F1 GS-D3's on.
That said, I'm still trying to get used to the steering and the ride. Undulations aren't too bad, but sharp pavement transitions of only 1" or so are brutal. They just repaved a road cut down from my neighborhood entrance, and both times I crossed it today it was like a kidney punch. My wife is going to hate me. I backed the struts down to 1 tonight and will report the difference tomorrow.
I haven't had much opportunity to test the handling because the weather has sucked here, but I think it's going to corner very flat and very hard. I can only imagine how much better it will get when I put my Eagle F1 GS-D3's on.
Attachments
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- 13 MX-5
MrDiggler said:
Wow, your drop looks way better then mine! I like it!
looks great! Keep working on dialing them in and keep us posted. With your new stance, you'll need some new ramps 
... see here: http://www.msprotege.com/forum/showpost.php?p=2815436&postcount=7052
Oh, and get ready for 3-wheeling on a daily basis.
... see here: http://www.msprotege.com/forum/showpost.php?p=2815436&postcount=7052Oh, and get ready for 3-wheeling on a daily basis.
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- 13 MX-5
I've got the stock Tokico's that came with the car with Goldlines. Just curious, are your bumpstops shorter then the stock ones?
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- MSP 1145
looks fantastic DIgg. very nice.MrDiggler said:
jmv said:
The drop would be very similar, but about an inch higher in the rear than what you see here. Check out my pics early in this thread- The front spring perches are the same b/w the two struts, but the perch on the rear Illumina is almost an inch lower than the HP. I don't know if I'd want the rear sitting any higher than it is. What's odd is that the rear is hardly any lower than when I had the stock struts/springs. Mine always sat lower in the rear than everyone elses stock setup that I saw, and it makes me wonder if the previous owner didn't trim the rear springs. I wish someone had a pic of their stock rear spring so I could compare.
New bump stops don't come with the Illuminas, you have to swap your stock ones over. According to Goldline, the stock bump stops should be trimmed 1" in the front and .75" in the rear when using their Protege springs, and that wouldn't change when using Illuminas.MSP21 said:
As mentioned earlier in the thread, I discovered my front stops were already trimmed way down and my rears were missing. I had to order new rear stops before I could finish my strut/spring swap as I was not about to run the Illuminas without bump stops.
An update - It did ride some better with the Illuminas on "1", but it's still bit stiffer than I'd like. The car lifts a wheel over uneven surfaces a bit easier than before, too. It's looking more like I won't be keeping this combination. I think I gave up as much as I gained with this swap. I'm going to shoot an email to Tokico to get some more info on the Illumina vs. the HP to see how well they would with stock springs. My plan right now is to cut the stock front springs just enough to drop me about 1". I'd leave the rears alone if using the Illuminas because mine sat low in the rear anyway and the Illumina perch is about 1" lower.
I'm just not sold on stiffer springs for this car, especially with the big sway bars and the AutoX bracket. With as much everyday driving as I do, the ride quality compromises and iffy improvement in handling aren't enough to justify the killer stance.
I'm just not sold on stiffer springs for this car, especially with the big sway bars and the AutoX bracket. With as much everyday driving as I do, the ride quality compromises and iffy improvement in handling aren't enough to justify the killer stance.
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MrDiggler said:
I'm pretty sure that the Goldlines are not much if any stiffer than the stock RBs. Most of the increased stiffness is from the struts. I think the rear Goldline springs are softer at rest and upto a certain compression point than the stock RBs and the rear Illuminas are undersprung at that point which causes a bouncy ride.
CustomMSP said:
I'm not experiencing a bouncy ride at all, just stiffer and it's harsh over transitions and surfaces that trigger high speed movement of the suspension, which very well could indicate the struts. I also think some of this could be due to having less suspension travel.
Something else I didn't mention b/c I just confirmed it on the way home; It seems to take more steering angle to get a good response out of the front tires than before. No more whipping around corners with a flick of the wheel. It takes more than a flick now. At a certain steering angle the tires seem to settle and bite very well, but not as well before that point... almost a bit floaty. I don't know enough about suspensions and alignment to know what would be causing this. I just hate that I put out all this money and effort for something I'm not pleased with. One of these days I'm going to learn that just because several people (likely younger than myself) post that "this setup rocks" or "it drives better than stock" doesn't mean that they're sweating the same details I am. I was expecting at least a significant improvement in overall handling, and didn't get it. The AXR bracket was a rewarding addition, and I should have stopped there.
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jimmybrite
Member
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- Mazda Protege 2002 LX
hows ur camber??? maybe thats it
