Opinions..

 

shifter is the most significant i hear

 

drove a friends afe shifter 8... not a fan of it. but some swears its a tool for faster driving. i think its more prone to gear grinds... but up to you.

suspension mods are more worth the $ imo.

 

Voted for shifter cause i have RP short shifter and daaaaaaamn excellent mod..I hated when i drove a friends 8..

 

Maybe I can break the bank a little and go for the AFE Short Shift AND the Mazdaspeed CAI Prob. the only combo I can break the bank for....

 

I'm a fan of the AFE STS, but I sold mine off the other day.

It works great, and it will decrease shift time because the distance between throws is greatly reduced. However the number of people needing the Kevlar cup on the bottom of the shifter replaced concerned me enough to sell it. If the cup breaks, it's likely going to fall into the transmission. So having seen several people say "AFE is great! They replaced the cup for free! And Mazda gave me a new transmission!" worries me. I no longer have a warranty, and can't afford even a small risk on this front.

If AFE made the cup out of something that couldn't break, I would buy another.

 

Your post alone makes me not want it anymore Words of wisdom from a forum vet.

What if I went with the Mazdaspeed Short Shift kit? I know the throws are "slightly" longer than AFE but if the kit is more durable... Anymore info is appreciated.

 

the AFE STS was designed based on the MS shifter. You'll get longer throws and pay more for it. Few people own them since the AFE is better and cheaper.

 

how about sway bars, something suspension related

 

what are you trying to do? If you want bling get the intake. If you want to change up ur daily driving experience get the shifter (its a fun mod but it won't speed anything up). If you want to improve ur overall ride get shocks/springs.

I don't know why u wouldn't consider sways. Those will be my first real performance mods sans brake pads. Probably the best na mod short of tires.

 

Spend that money on track days, and learn to drive the car first.

 

tein s-techs + install

 

Who here has actually had their cup fail? I've never heard of anyone having a problem with the AFE shifter unless they're just forcing it to grind into gear.


Edit: couldn't you just pull the cup off the stock shifter if you're worried? I never tried to remove it myself but it doesn't seem like an impossible thing to do.

 

So I'm still a bit confused Although I think I'm leaning more towards CAI/Suspension now.

I've already been having grinding problems recently with 3rd/4th gear (Stock Shifter).
I'm trying to get the dealership to fix the problem under my Extended Powertrain Warranty.

Also, I do not Auto-X. Just a every other daily driver, so I don't think I would be beating up on the AFE much...

 

Don't get the shifter before you fix the transmission.

Suspension will just give you a harder ride if you aren't going to be doing real performance driving. chances are that the car is faster then you are, even with a stock suspension.

SQL, I cant find a single post about a failed AFE shifter here. Source please?

 

I was going to scold you for being incompetent at searching the forum for information, but after doing some searching of my own, I found it is rather difficult since the keywords used also match people's sigs, so I ended up with a lot of nonsense that doesn't pertain to the topic.

There are threads like this:

https://www.rx8club.com/showpost.php...6&postcount=11
https://www.rx8club.com/showpost.php...6&postcount=14


I can tell you I've seen at least 3 threads about the cup breaking and falling into the transmission and the person also saying Mazda gave them a new transmission. I was not able to locate them using search. But if you read enough threads I'm sure you'll come across them. I have no reason to make this stuff up.

Here's a thread that doesn't quite go into that level of detail: https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-aftermarket-performance-modifications-23/rp-axial-flow-short-shifter-issues-129142/

But the OP had a recent FS thread (that he later deleted) that stated he was selling the AFE and it had a new cup. When I inquired, he said he got a new transmission but didn't go into detail if the two were related or not. Maybe he can chime in here.


Anyway, as I said, I like the AFE STS, I just don't want to risk using it when I have a brand new transmission myself. Given the number of STS's sold, I don't think the chance is huge, but any risk is too much for me. My STS had the Kevlar yellow cup, but there's been a few yellow ones break apart, so as far as I can tell, there is no "safe" solution. I don't know if the OEM cup is a direct replacement. Cup replacements are done by AFE, not by the end user.

 

I never understand why everyone does this. If you don't do auto-x or HPDE's, then why are you modifying the suspension? you probably have never seen the car at its best.

 

Intake