[iwannadrive]

Simple question: Who has raised their racelands all the way up and taken photos or measured height?

Reason I'm asking: I live in Minnesota, land of ice and snow, and my miata is my winter car. Right now I'm at about 13" F/13.5" R hub-to-fender on stock suspension poop, and I could stand being about a half inch to *maybe* an inch lower for winter, but that's it. my favorite part of winter is snow drifting every time I hop in my miata, so I'm not going to just ruin that.

Sub-question: a possible alternative lies in a set of FM springs and a pair of front miata Koni Sports with unknown mileage, for $200 on my local AutoX forum. I was considering buying some new Koni rears to round out the set, for a ~$400-$450 function setup. thoughts?

pertinent info: I like my car to look good, but I'm not a stance kid. I try to make it out to a few autocrosses a year. I'm not super serious about it though... my miata rolls on 195/50-15 all-season hankooks. I think 12"-12.25" hub-to-fender would be nearly perfect. and it's my daily-driver for a 60-mile round trip commute during the school year, so ride has some priority.

pics for your clicks:

 

[slyskiller]

Yes, get Koni's and FM springs. Don't get Racelands. Period.

 

[Chrismx5]

^ This.

 

[mitchellrg]

I have raceland extreme kit. I wish the rebound was faster but for the price ... I cant complain ... plus the Racelands are 200% better than stock. Yes, if you have the money their are many kits that are vastly superior ($1000-$3000). So at $450 for the Racelands I am very happy.

 

[Tekel]

DO NOT! Get racelands if you will be driving in salt, snow etc. They will rust, seize and make you want to kick kittens when you try and remove them.

 

[iwannadrive]

DO NOT! Get racelands if you will be driving in salt, snow etc. They will rust, seize and make you want to kick kittens when you try and remove them.

... as will happen with any threaded coilover sleeves, if not coated with anti-sieze/marine grease.

still interested in how high these go!

I'm not too interested in if you think they will blow up and make me die, without backing it up with facts. I've heard that everywhere already, and I know what I am getting into. I don't mind that they come with oversteery spring rates - I want to run with an FM front sway bar, and no bar in the rear. and I drive with a sideways tendency. The quality and damping levels of the shocks, and the maximum height are my only real worries.

also. non-FM V-maxxes; Anyone have any knowledgeable insight on how they are, as non-modified by FM? Spring rates are the same as the FM versions, and I can't imagine FM changed the dampers, so the only thing I can think of that they changed would be the bumpstops. (Not knocking FM, as they're a great company. I just have a hard time justifying ~$220 more, if the only difference is bumpstops)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/V-maxx-Coil...Parts_Accessories&hash=item3f277a9ed1&vxp=mtr

edit: looks like it's closer to $120 more, since I already have the NB mounts.

 

[oh4one4]

They will go as long as the shock length is which i dont know off hand. i do know that i had mine set at stock ride height for quite a while and they were right about in the middle of their threads so... maybe and inch and a half higher than stock. (?) I dont know why you would want to do that but you can.

 

[iwannadrive]

They will go as long as the shock length is which i dont know off hand. i do know that i had mine set at stock ride height for quite a while and they were right about in the middle of their threads so... maybe and inch and a half higher than stock. (?) I dont know why you would want to do that but you can.

oh, interesting! thanks for the info. my thoughts were that they'd be topped out somewhere below stock ride height, but that's good to know!

I'm getting pretty interested in the v-maxxes now, though..

 

[ZOOMX5]

I have nothing to add, but this is a first for me...

 

[RJ_PAINT]

I have nothing to add, but this is a first for me...

My first miata(also first car) I used in the winter for 2 years. Hard top and some snow tires the car was awesome in the snow until you hit about 6+ inches.

Miata with snow tires= good times

 

[itzzspencer]

i've actually heard that racelands work well if you dont plan to slam on them. theyre midly better than stock so ive been told many times before. so maybe a decent price for replacement suspension.

 

[morr]

I have raceland extreme kit. I wish the rebound was faster but for the price ... I cant complain ... plus the Racelands are 200% better than stock. Yes, if you have the money their are many kits that are vastly superior ($1000-$3000). So at $450 for the Racelands I am very happy.

That's bullshit. The stock suspension on my NB and the stock suspension on my 1990 NA felt better than the Racelands. Anyone who says otherwise is in denial from the excitement of being able to lower their car.

On the NA I'm running KYB AGX's with Eibach springs and it feels a lot better than stock/Racelands. My car is my DD with the occasional spirited drive and this setup feels perfect for that. Here's how it sits with stock NB wheels on 205.50's.

 

[Louis]

this was with my race lands turned up towards the top but by no means topped out. It was a little taller than stock then I put 195/70/14 snow tires on it and big ass mud flaps and tore up some dirt roads lol. So to answer the question, they will go taller than stock so if your talking about being a little bit lower than stock, you will be fine. There's is a large range of height adjustment on them. FM also sells a 1/4" or 1/2" spacer if you wanted more "lift".

 

[mx5parling]

oh lawd!! &^ lol looks fun!

 

[Wonko_The_Sane]

 

[brianc555]

Can you get to 12" all around with RL? Without removing the helper spring?

It looks like RL and NNR have the same spring rates, but Rokkor is a bit stiffer. If adjustablility is the same for all 3, I would go with Rokkor for the extra stiffness.

 

[iRoadster]

Because my shitty suspension is "stiffer" it must be better than this other example of a **** coilover.:fp:

 

[eaeaerick]

My first miata(also first car) I used in the winter for 2 years. Hard top and some snow tires the car was awesome in the snow until you hit about 6+ inches.

Miata with snow tires= good times

^---Truth!! But now that I'm out of college and have a beater car and a house with a garage, I kick myself every day for driving my car through 5 winters in the dirty north. :cry2:

Now I get to work on a car with rusty, frozen bolts to correct my wrongs....:suicide:

 

[brianc555]

Because my shitty suspension is "stiffer" it must be better than this other example of a **** coilover.:fp:

If you are referring to my post, since he asked about Racelands I assumed that they were in his price range/budget. The other two coilovers I mentioned are about the same price. Rokkor has stiffer springs. If I was going to raise my car all the way up on one of these suspensions, I would rather have it stiff rather than bouncy. I am not advocating any of these suspensions just to be clear. I was merely offering him suggestions/options.

 

[oh4one4]

"Stiff" and "bouncy" are not opposites. Hell, the more stiff the springs are, the more likely it is to pogo on shocks are as under-damped as racelands are. If you're just going to lay the car on the ground, then sure. get the stiffer springs but i would save the money and just put collars on the blown stock stuff with obnoxiously stiff springs since youre going to be riding on bump-stops the whole time anyway.

And either way. none of this pertains to the topic at hand