Yellow Speed Racing coilovers

[david_syd_au]

reflex,

FWIW, I measured the vertical distance from the wheel centre to the guard on my NC with stock original suspension, and got the following values:

Front left=380mm right=370mm
Back left=365mm right=360mm

So, the right is lower than the left, I assume due to the springs being compressed more due to the effect of a driver being present more often than a passenger, and the back is lower than the front, giving the car a slight, but noticeable nose-up attitude.

I have spoken to Ajay at MX5 Mania, and he reports that the latest revision of the YSR coilovers for the NC offers substantially more height adjustment for the rears. Unfortunately, that doesn't help you, unless the changed parts could be retrofitted?

Anyway, I have ordered a set, and hopefully will have them fitted and an alignment done in time for the MX-5 club run to Cambewarra Estate on 26th June, so I can give them a good workout and report back here :-).

David

I am keenly interesting in the street YSR coilovers for my NC.

Does anyone with such a setup have comments about how the ride compares to the stock suspension?

I want to go lower, with better damping, especially in the rear, but can't afford for the ride to be too harsh when out driving with her-indoors.

Hi David, i've had my YSR's in for only a few days. I set the dampening adjusters to the factory reco for daily street driving and feel that ride quality on Sydneys freeways and ruralish back roads its great, however on the princes hwy through tempe, parra road etc, the sharp bumps / pot holes / road repairs do crash through a bit. My wife describes the car as "too bouncy" but shes only in it 20% of the time.
As for you wanting to go lower in the rear, i can tell you that at full drop, I have a hub centre bore to guard measurement of 350mm which is only about 20mm lower than stock, and I am very dissapointed in this. The fronts are set to 340mm HC to G and have alot of adjustment remaining up or down, so for the rears to be full down at 350mm i'm not sure you'll be happy.
Having said that, a 20mm drop argueably keeps the ride height legal (obviously i'd need to bring the fronts up, which i'll do if the rears don't settle any lower).

For reference I have a 2006 PRHT with whiteline sways. I removed tein S-tech springs on stock shocks to upgrade to the YSR, and the Tein ride height in the rear was great (331mm HC to G) but the front was about 345 HC to G which left it looking like it was dragging its bum, now it looks like a top fueler!

i had said that I was willing to test run these as the price was so good, and depending on how the rears settle in, I might just consider going to the highly recommended Eibach Prokit springs on Tokico HTS shocks as I don;t know if I could justify spending another $1500 or more on Tein superstreet coilovers.

Thats my 2 cents, I know there is another forum member who recently had the YSR installed so he may have a different opinion.

[reflex]

I have spoken to Ajay at MX5 Mania, and he reports that the latest revision of the YSR coilovers for the NC offers substantially more height adjustment for the rears. Unfortunately, that doesn't help you, unless the changed parts could be retrofitted?

When did you speak to Ajay? it would have been nice for him to have advised me of this "revision" providing he knew it was coming before I ordered. He mentioned when I spoke to him (May 4th) that they had installed a set of NC YSR's to a customer car the week prior to me enquiring with him, so I would have thought at that time they would have identified the lack of rear adjustment. He also advised me that the price was increasing on the 14th of May, so that 'could' indicate that a 'revision' was in the works?? of course this is speculation, and he may not have known about a revision prior to my order, so I can't rattle the cage too much I guess.

Further to this, the rears have not settled any further than the 348 HC to G, so I am turfing them out and going back to stock shocks, and installing Eibach Pros. So if anyone is interested in a set of coilovers, that ride really well, appear to be built well, are 33 point bump adjustable, but do not offer a drop of any further than 20mm in the rear, let me know.

Having said that, sure I could fiddle with the spring pre-load to get more drop out of the rear, but the install instructions says NO, and my gut says NO, as it will wreck the ride quality I suspect.

Sorry, i'm venting.

[david_syd_au]

I have spoken to Ajay at MX5 Mania, and he reports that the latest revision of the YSR coilovers for the NC offers substantially more height adjustment for the rears. Unfortunately, that doesn't help you, unless the changed parts could be retrofitted?

When did you speak to Ajay? it would have been nice for him to have advised me of this "revision" providing he knew it was coming before I ordered. He mentioned when I spoke to him (May 4th) that they had installed a set of NC YSR's to a customer car the week prior to me enquiring with him, so I would have thought at that time they would have identified the lack of rear adjustment. He also advised me that the price was increasing on the 14th of May, so that 'could' indicate that a 'revision' was in the works?? of course this is speculation, and he may not have known about a revision prior to my order, so I can't rattle the cage too much I guess.

Further to this, the rears have not settled any further than the 348 HC to G, so I am turfing them out and going back to stock shocks, and installing Eibach Pros. So if anyone is interested in a set of coilovers, that ride really well, appear to be built well, are 33 point bump adjustable, but do not offer a drop of any further than 20mm in the rear, let me know.

Having said that, sure I could fiddle with the spring pre-load to get more drop out of the rear, but the install instructions says NO, and my gut says NO, as it will wreck the ride quality I suspect.

Sorry, i'm venting.

I spoke with Ajay 2 days ago, and he didn't state when the rear shocks were updated, but I got the impression it had been very recent, like the last 2 weeks, so it probably did not change until after your shocks were fitted.

BTW, venting is ok, isn't that one of the primary purposes of forums like this ? :-)

[Charlie Brown]

Reflex, there is another answer. You need to get a shorter spring for the rears.

If you want to drop the rear another 10mm you can establish the exact length of the new spring by how much you move the collar on the shock body to lower the car 10mm. It maybe that a 6 mm adjustment on the shock equates to a 10mm drop in the body. So a spring 10mm shorter than your old one will drop it past the 10mm drop required but then you just wind up the shock to the height you want.


Then head off to Lovells Springs with your old spring and your calculations (or look here: http://www.lovellsauto.com.au/ ) and get one with the same stiffness (5kg??) that’s 10mm shorter, you may need to go 20mm shorter and just wind it up some more. Otherwise if nothing is suitable they’ll wind one the length you need.

[reflex]

@ david_syd_au

Well thats good to know, thanks.

@ Charlie Brown

Interesting, thanks CB, I'll look into this.

[Bizi]

I saw these on the green MX5 on the hoist at Mania today.

What David said is that the manufacturer has ended up doing design updates that Mania suggests, so there are running revisions to each coilover. Hence the extra adjustability in the NA/NB for lower spring setting, now the extra 20mm or so on the NC models. Plus models for other cars e.g. 350Z.

Now those Yellowspeed 6 pot, AP-Racing style front brakes on the Evo Gold race car - anyone needing more race stopper power - there are apparently kits for many caliper sizes so it's just a matter of what wheel size you're running!

[PaulF]

Am I blind, or are these Yellowspeed brake kits not on the Mania website?

[Bauer]

http://www.yellowspeed.com.au

no detail on the brakes other than to contact for more info

[Apu]

I've seen the brake kits at Mania - they are BIG! You must need some serious braking power to use those. Apparently similar / same pads to the APs that are on Goldie. David's testing them out and may come up with brackets to allow fitment of bigger rotors at the back.

[project.r.racing]

anyone have the actual application and price list? the yellow speed website just has jumbled crap whenever you click for the info?

[Bizi]

I was surprised slightly that they were not yellow!


David showed them to me on Goldie and the fact he needed some small spacers to clear the race car 15s.

While YSR was offering to sell pads to suit, the fact that AP Racing pads are a direct fit is an interesting coincidence.

[Apu]

Best ask Mania directly for price. Don't think they've firmed up prices yet but from what David told me, it will be much more affordable than the AP kit.

[david_syd_au]

MX5 Mania installed a set of YSR coilovers in my 2006 NC on Monday, and this is a post of my initial impressions.

Only the street version of the YSR coilovers is available for the NC, which is fine for me, as my planned use is 99.9% street, some of which will be weekend cruises with my wife, some commuting, and some weekend fanging. I also hope to do the occasional track day, although that is currently under discussion at home :-)

With the default MX5 Mania settings, after 4 days settling, the distance from hub centre to guard has dropped by 30 mm to 340 mm at the front, and by 15 mm to 345 mm at the rear, with more adjustment available if required. I plan to let it settle for 2 weeks, before making any final adjustments, and then getting a wheel alignment.

Mania set the dampers to 12 at the front and 6 at the rear, in both cases, that is "clicks" from full soft, with the maximum being 32. This gave a firm and well controlled ride, with a little harshness, but overall, seemed like a good compromise for enthusiastic driving.
However, I was concerned that it may be too harsh for trips with my wife, so I experimented with setting all shocks to full soft. This gave a ride that is still firmer than stock, without any harshness, while still being well controlled, and so should be suitable for weekend cruises.

My driving impressions, which are of course very subjective, are that the car corners much flatter, has improved turn-in, and seems to have more grip, particularly in the wet yesterday.

Overall, I am happy with the outcome, and believe it was $1280ish well spent.

I will post again with my impressions in a few weeks, after the shocks have settled, a wheel alignment has been performed, and I have had more driving time.

[emx005]

Thanks for that David.

Glad you like them. I get mine next week sometime when the next shipment arrives.

[PaulF]

I was surprised slightly that they were not yellow!

Never fear!

And my initial comment that it wasn't on the Mania website is now invalid.