Megan Racing springs report update

[Davicho]

Can those of you that are running Megan Racing springs on their MZ5s please provide some feedback.

1. How long have you had them (time-wise)
2. How many miles on them
3. Ride quality compared to OEM
4. Does it sag or seem to low when fully loaded with 6 passengers
5. Any other info you can provide, recommend them?

Thanks in advanced guys. Trying to decide if I want to go the MR route or dish out more for H&Rs or just leave it as is and upgrade shocks.

 

[Davicho]

*BUMP*
59 views and not one response. Maybe I posted on the wrong weekend everyone is out enjoying their Labor Day break.

 

[phunky.buddha]

How many people have actually bought/installed them? Never saw any discussion thread on the Megans before at all.

 

[Rally Man]

Yeah the only ones I've seen talked about are the H&R's.

 

[Silentnoise713]

Check with the Mz3 guys? While not 100%, it can give you a rough idea.

 

[Rally Man]

Wait, are the Megan springs ment for our cars? If not won't the rear sag because of the extra weight of our cars?

 

[Davicho]

MR has a Mazda5 specific spring. All other forums I've read seem to agree on two things. 1. They're a good spring 2. They are pretty stiff so the ride quality is not the best. Therefore I think that if I decide to go this route I'll probably have to dish out the extra dough for the H&Rs.

 

[phunky.buddha]

MR has a Mazda5 specific spring. All other forums I've read seem to agree on two things. 1. They're a good spring 2. They are pretty stiff so the ride quality is not the best. Therefore I think that if I decide to go this route I'll probably have to dish out the extra dough for the H&Rs.

But the spring on its own doesn't determine your ride quality- it's how well your shocks can control the motion of the car along with the spring.

 

[Rally Man]

^^^ True.

 

[Secondtyme]

I want to say that the complaining about the Megans I have heard was because of ride quality "stiffness" and "bouncy" being the most used words. One important thing to consider though; it seems a lot of the complainers were pairing the springs with STOCK dampers in an effort to save money. The MR springs I think suffer from this more than other brands because they are a little bit cheaper. FWIW I paired H&R springs with KYB AGX struts on my Jetta and absolutely loved the results, just wish we could get the AGX for the 5....

 

[njaremka]

megan springs with koni yellows would be a nice set-up for the mazda5

 

[Davicho]

Well if I went forward with this mod whether I did the MR springs or H&Rs I was planning on using OEM front struts and the newly released mono tube gas charged KYB Gas-A-Just shocks for the rear. Thoughts???

 

[MarkVII88]

Are we talking about MR lowering springs or just stiffer more performance-oriented springs that keep the stock ride height? I might be willing to try new springs but I'm not looking to lower the car. I like the stock ride height.

 

[Davicho]

Are we talking about MR lowering springs or just stiffer more performance-oriented springs that keep the stock ride height? I might be willing to try new springs but I'm not looking to lower the car. I like the stock ride height.

Either MR or H&R lowering springs

 

[Secondtyme]

The life of your stock struts will likely be shorter when paired with lowering springs of any type. They should work, the question is for how long, and what sort of ride quality will you get. I would save up a little more money and get the Koni Yellows for the front. You will be glad in the long run because you won't have to take your front suspension apart twice (once to put on lowering springs, and again to replace the dead stock struts) I went the lowering springs/stock strut route on my Honda and ended up going to coilovers about a year later because my front struts died. That car taught me a lot about how NOT to do things LOL

 

[njaremka]

i wouldn't use the stock dampers for anything but stock springs, and even that's not ideal. KYB's would probably be fine with H&R's, but those springs really aren't much stiffer than stock. megan's are supposed to be quite stiffer, and would really require a better damper.

 

[phunky.buddha]

Yeah.... always change out the shocks on ANY car when you install lowering springs. Your shock stroke is going to be shorter, so it has to be capable of doing the same amount of work (more actually) within LESS range than your stock shocks. One of the biggest mistakes people make on ANY car is changing their springs out to lowering springs and then putting everything back together with stock shocks. The ride gets crappy, and the springs get blamed, but everyone on even the cheapest coilovers says their stuff is fine since they have dampers matching their new higher rate springs- so again, the springs get blamed.

KYB GR-2 or Gas-A-Just shocks are only valved to give about a 15% gain in damping from stock (don't have this written down, was told by a KYB rep waaaaay back, probably wrong now), so they're not really going to help with the lowering spring. The KYBs are meant to be stock replacement shocks with a "little more control" on the stock springs given by the slightly stiffer damping. No matter what springs you get, even if they're just lowering springs, you need to match the shocks to them or the ride will be crappy.

 

[Davicho]

Yeah.... always change out the shocks on ANY car when you install lowering springs. Your shock stroke is going to be shorter, so it has to be capable of doing the same amount of work (more actually) within LESS range than your stock shocks. One of the biggest mistakes people make on ANY car is changing their springs out to lowering springs and then putting everything back together with stock shocks. The ride gets crappy, and the springs get blamed, but everyone on even the cheapest coilovers says their stuff is fine since they have dampers matching their new higher rate springs- so again, the springs get blamed.

KYB GR-2 or Gas-A-Just shocks are only valved to give about a 15% gain in damping from stock (don't have this written down, was told by a KYB rep waaaaay back, probably wrong now), so they're not really going to help with the lowering spring. The KYBs are meant to be stock replacement shocks with a "little more control" on the stock springs given by the slightly stiffer damping. No matter what springs you get, even if they're just lowering springs, you need to match the shocks to them or the ride will be crappy.

Thank you phunky, njaremka and everyone else that chimed in. I think that I will keep my MZ5 stock and just upgrade to KYBs when the time comes. I was actually on the fence about this mod because I actually do use all 6 seats pretty regularly so I was hesitant to lower it since it actually rides pretty low already.

 

[njaremka]

keep the stock springs, upgrade the struts, and add some heavier sway bars =>

 

[Davicho]

keep the stock springs, upgrade the struts, and add some heavier sway bars =>

I will keep the stock springs, I will upgrade the rear to the KYB Gas-A-Just shocks, the fronts will have to wait until they go out, I already upgraded to the rear MS3 sway bar.