[JoeMini]

For those looking to move to coilover and want only Taiwan /Japan or Us made product

Read this Where are coilovers made? Our ultimate guide!

Another option for coilovers for BM and BP from MW racing a division of Neo Motorsort

MW-1W Single Adjustable Coilover System | MW Racing Dampers

MW-1W Single Adjustable CoiloverFEATURES:1) Dual Digressive-Linear Shock Piston for comparable adjustment. 2) 30 position damper adjustment (adjustable compression, adjustable tension)3) Spherical Bearing Mounts4) Spring Pre-Load adjustableDigressive-Linear shocks valving is the next big advance...

www.mwracingdampers.com

 

[brbk]

i see them available for the BL
and springs for BM
Where are these BP from?

https://www.mazda3revolution.com/threads/spoon-rigid-collars-install.249244/unread

The links are here for the rigid collars.

 

[louis110]

i see them available for the BL
and springs for BM
Where are these BP from?

You can find them if you go on the RSR Japan website. I won them from Yahoo Japan Auctions.

For those looking to move to coilover and want only Taiwan /Japan or Us made product

Read this Where are coilovers made? Our ultimate guide!

Another option for coilovers for BM and BP from MW racing a division of Neo Motorsort

MW-1W Single Adjustable Coilover System | MW Racing Dampers

MW-1W Single Adjustable CoiloverFEATURES:1) Dual Digressive-Linear Shock Piston for comparable adjustment. 2) 30 position damper adjustment (adjustable compression, adjustable tension)3) Spherical Bearing Mounts4) Spring Pre-Load adjustableDigressive-Linear shocks valving is the next big advance...

www.mwracingdampers.com

Half that list is "pending" and doesn't appear to have been updated in 6 years lol. Never heard of Neo or MW, but good to hear there are options out there.

 

[brbk]

For those looking to move to coilover and want only Taiwan /Japan or Us made product

Read this Where are coilovers made? Our ultimate guide!

Another option for coilovers for BM and BP from MW racing a division of Neo Motorsort

MW-1W Single Adjustable Coilover System | MW Racing Dampers

MW-1W Single Adjustable CoiloverFEATURES:1) Dual Digressive-Linear Shock Piston for comparable adjustment. 2) 30 position damper adjustment (adjustable compression, adjustable tension)3) Spherical Bearing Mounts4) Spring Pre-Load adjustableDigressive-Linear shocks valving is the next big advance...

www.mwracingdampers.com

Be careful with the cheaper coilovers like BC.

They don't mention this but generally the cheaper coilovers need to serviced more frequently.

Usually need to be revalved when it falls out of spec.

With the adjustable versions, you can compensate a little which will give you some headroom and longer intervals but they all need to be serviced or replaced at some point just like regular shocks and springs.

 

[Holgram]

Yeah I found the RSR coilovers on their website. The company's products are reviewed very highly.

The question I have are are they thicker than the OEM struts. I have no clearance at all with my 8.5" +45 Wheels and 235 tires with the OEM struts. I already rub very very rarely during some special cases and some extreme cornering. And have less than 2mm clearance during normal driving conditions.

Also I notice the RSR coilovers are for the 2.0L but it shouldn't make much difference right?

I also like the spring constants 6K in the front and 5K in the back. Your rear sway bar and member brace is going to come handy with this one. Did you see the Ultra Race torsion beam stiffener by the way. It's another stiffness addition still. And the AutoExe motion control beams are excellent. All of them are compatible with each other.

CS coilover spring rates are 5K front and 7K rear.
AutoExe coilover spring rates are, for their street coilovers 3.2K front and 4.7K rear, for their club sports coilovers 10k front and 7k rear

I probably will go the RSR route if its not at all thicker than the OEM or thinner. The BCs are thinner than OEM.

 

[louis110]

Yeah I found the RSR coilovers on their website. The company's products are reviewed very highly.

The question I have are are they thicker than the OEM struts. I have no clearance at all with my 8.5" +45 Wheels and 235 tires with the OEM struts. I already rub very very rarely during some special cases and some extreme cornering. And have less than 2mm clearance during normal driving conditions.

Also I notice the RSR coilovers are for the 2.0L but it shouldn't make much difference right?

I also like the spring constants 6K in the front and 5K in the back. Your rear sway bar and member brace is going to come handy with this one. Did you see the Ultra Race torsion beam stiffener by the way. It's another stiffness addition still. And the AutoExe motion control beams are excellent. All of them are compatible with each other.

CS coilover spring rates are 5K front and 7K rear.
AutoExe coilover spring rates are, for their street coilovers 3.2K front and 4.7K rear, for their club sports coilovers 10k front and 7k rear

I probably will go the RSR route if its not at all thicker than the OEM or thinner. The BCs are thinner than OEM.

I would suspect most aftermarket shock bodies are thicker than the OEM struts, but hard to say without them in front of me to measure. Your clearance issue is most likely due to your high offset. I'm running 8.5" +38, 225 tires and no issues (I'm pretty confident that I'd be OK on 235's as well).

In my research, all coilovers available for the 3 don't discern over FWD or AWD. I'm a bit worried that I'll get heavier understeer with RSR's front bias spring rate setup, so you're very right that the sway bar/braces will help. Nevertheless I think the rates are in that sweet spot where It'll be a great street setup with a ride that isn't too harsh.

I saw your write-ups on the UR parts and the AutoExe MCBs. The MCBs have been on my Wishlist for quite some time. The UR stuff I'm a bit more skeptical on since they don't provide very good descriptions of their parts nor instructions.

 

[Holgram]

If you saw my write up about the rear frame brace by UR, you know you have to drill a bit into the frame rails and then, it's a simple install.

 

[JoeMini]

Out of an abundance of caution, I used a transmission jack to take up the weight of the subframe. Really this wasn't necessary if you're just backing out the 6 bolts by about 1/2"- 3/4".
View attachment 292275

After lowering the subframe, remove each bolt one by one to insert the collars. Remember, the orientation is very important and the instructions are pretty clear on that. I also labeled the collars before installation so make sure I had them in the right spot as the dimensions ARE different. Use copious amounts of the supplied copper grease to cover all the collars and threads on the bolts.

View attachment 292281 View attachment 292280


Showing the F-2 bolt as an example. Upon removal, you can clearly see the enormous space around the bolt where it gets inserted into the frame of the car. The collars take up that gap, realign the subframe, and create tighter tolerances for the bolts.
View attachment 292272

Looking up at a collar wedged in between the frame and the subframe.
View attachment 292271

Collars in (top and bottom) and bolt ready to be tightened back up. Make sure to leave to leave the bolts backed off until you're ready to torque them down.
View attachment 292273

Once the collars are installed on all 6 locations, go around and tighten the bolts equally to ensure that the subframe is torqued back up straight and with equal load across it. Torque specs from the manual.

View attachment 292278

The rears were shit simple. Remove the rear wheels and pull back the liner to reveal the torsion beam bolt. Use a jack to take up the weight of the hub assembly, remove the bolt, add the collar, tighten it all back up.

View attachment 292274 View attachment 292276

Rear torque specs.
View attachment 292279



Driving Impressions:

I believe I'm the first person outside of Japan to order these for the 4th gen Mazda 3, and I know of only one other person who bought these based off my recommendation and he did a partial installation today.

So the moment everyone has been waiting for: how does it feel?

Impressive. Most impressive. I don't know what kind of voodoo magic is happening here, but the difference from these little things is VERY noticeable:

1. The car feels more supple/compliant over uneven road surfaces without sacrificing handling. Almost "luxurious" in feeling, the car feels way more put together. After the installation, even with no alignment, the car drove great.

2. Previously when in mid-corner and hitting a bump, the car became very unsettled as is the nature of the rear torsion beam. The collars have improved the car's stability in this regard and feels more planted when recovering back to the neutral position.

3. The weight of the steering wheel is a tad heavier and improves upon that on-center vagueness in the steering.

4. There was no increase in NVH! I was most worried about this aspect due to the fact that I also have the CS RMM installed. I have mentioned previously that the CS RMM added a bunch of new NVH to the car. Surprisingly my ECU tune smoothed that out a lot, but adding these collars has almost completely eliminated the NVH from the CS RMM. There is still that harmonic vibration at 1000-1100 RPM under part throttle, but in all other regions the car has really mellowed out.

Overall, this is a huge bang for the buck mod!

I agree these are a good bang for the $$

Keep in mind
My opinion is if your intention is to add mods like
Upper and lower, front , rear bracing (from megan or UR)
(including stiffer rear and passenger motor mounts - these add more vibration but
overall increase traction by reducing engine twisting when accelerating)
these strut / braces will change the chassis stiffness way more and increase
road feel way more....

And then if you add Coilovers and adjust camber it becomes another level.

 

[louis110]

Goodies from the motherland. I'd love to drop a FnF quote here and say they were overnight parts from Japan, but it took about a month to show up haha.

• RSR coils + adjustable end links
• metal pedal covers
• AutoExe brake reinforcement bracket
• metal badges

The coils and endlinks are second hand but they're in really great shape. Plus for the price I won them for, I'd be an idiot to pass up on that deal. Rubber uppers with what I can assume is a spherical bushing, tons of adjustment (I think I counted 40 clicks on the knob??). I was really surprised to see how small the springs were when I took them out of the box. I honestly thought I got the order wrong and they were for another car, because I don't even remember my CS springs being that small. I had to compare them against the OEM springs sitting on my shelf. The top and bottom of the springs that meet the perch are more or less the same size, which should suggest correct fitment. Hopefully no surprises at install. At the end of the day high quality JDM parts that didn't break the bank.

Some metal badges just for fun. Will probably stick these on the front fenders.

And bit the bullet and bought the AutoExe brake pedal brace. Not sure what to expect from these, but since I was buying other parts from Japan, why the hell not? Saved on shipping.

 

[brbk]

Sweet.

Can't wait to hear what the brake pedal support does

 

[Holgram]

Sweet.

Can't wait to hear what the brake pedal support does

Me too, I’m on the fence about getting it myself.

 

[louis110]

Since the first week of January when I popped by the shop, they said that the car would be ready in another week. In that time I haven't received any updates or ETA. Called them 3 weeks ago and they said they were waiting on a bracket to re-install the rear bumper. We're now at 3 months since the car went in for repair, with no ETA. I stopped by the shop again to see wtf.

Shop was closed by the time I got there but the car was out back collecting dirt. Repair looked to be OK for the most part, but the rear passenger door that they repainted already had a good ding in it. Great.

Here's to better days. Some snaps I captured on 35mm film last summer.

 

[brbk]

A question regarding the motul fluid.

The mazda sg1 fluid for the rear diff and transfer case is 75w-85.

Is there a reason why you decided to with 75w-90 instead of the 75w-85?

 

[louis110]

A question regarding the motul fluid.

The mazda sg1 fluid for the rear diff and transfer case is 75w-85.

Is there a reason why you decided to with 75w-90 instead of the 75w-85?

Honestly, I had no other reason other than some of the other guys on the FB page and the DRTuned Discord were recommending it. Since it's a small diff that can't take a lot of punishment, I figured going with a 90 weight made sense. Plus I thought I was hearing some slight diff whine, so typically you'd go with a higher viscosity to remedy that.

 

[brbk]

Any update on the brake support?

I'm itching it to get it myself.

Btw, did you buy the brake light switch? I think you need to replace that when installing the part. They are designed to only work once installed, once you remove the brake light switch, it won't work again.

 

[louis110]

Any update on the brake support?

I'm itching it to get it myself.

Btw, did you buy the brake light switch? I think you need to replace that when installing the part. They are designed to only work once installed, once you remove the brake light switch, it won't work again.

Negative, my car is still at the body shop... 🤬

I did not realize that about the brake light switch! All the AutoExe instructions were in Japanese so I assumed it was just telling you to transfer the switch over, not get an entirely new one! Saved my ass man, thanks!

 

[louis110]

Another day, another excuse from the body shop. I was finally able to get a hold of my assigned insurance agent today, who informed me that the body shop is now waiting for a piece to fix the exhaust 🤯🤯 she wasn't even told about the delayed rear valance and heard it first from me. A total clown show at this point. 4 months later and they're still waiting on parts...

All I can do is keep buying parts I guess. I ordered the newly released CX-30 hardware set from ZSpec Design. You can choose between titanium or stainless steel, both in an array of colours. I opted for the stainless steel with neo chrome accessories. Everything was packaged very nicely, but surprisingly the battery tie down, ECU, and strut tower hardware all came in regular old ass silver stainless steel. Not sure why these were even part of the kit tbh.

 

[Holgram]

Another mod, I'll be copying right off of you. Thank you for the work sir. I really appreciate it.

 

[louis110]

Another mod, I'll be copying right off of you. Thank you for the work sir. I really appreciate it.

My pleasure! I take pride in discovering new mods and being the first to adopt them. Sharing those experiences with the community is part of the fun

 

[brbk]

And I'll be copying the both of you.

Thanks for the write ups guys.

I'm still waiting for the weather to get warmer to do the collars, been crazy busy lately so I missed my window when it was 60 degrees a few days this week.