Is this a good price for these?
http://www.partsgeek.com/mmparts/shocks/mazda/rx8.html

How much better are they than the Stock shocks on a GT? Will the pair well with a set of Mazdaspeed springs?

 

Good lord, those are cheap. I got mine for $500-600 shipped b/c they were on sale. But it sounds too good to be true.

 

it would be like $400 for a set. They seem to about $20 dollars cheaper per shock than most other vendors I see.

Here is another with similar prices

http://www.allshocks.com/bilstein/ht...year='2003'

 

So are Bilstein's better than Koni's?

 

The Konis are adjustable. The Bilsteins are not. The Konis have a pretty stiff jounce and adjustable rebound but the rears have to be taken off the car to adjust. I hear the Bilsteins are more comfy on the jounce.

Most of the Bstock Autox guys run the Konis. But the bilstein's are pretty new to the market. If I had to guess I'd say the Konis are probably better on track than the Bilsteins but the B's are more comfy around town and on the street. Either one will be a good upgrade you won't be dissappointed with though. So unless you are primarly in to tracking the car I would go with the Bilsteins...IMHO.

 

yea I won't be primarily tracking the car but I will be doing autoX and just casual track days in the future. Nothing overly competitive.

 

I love the Bilsteins
Very firm ride without losing the comfort of daily driving.
As stated both are good choice over the OEMs

 

Think I'll see about picking them up then. I certainly don't think I need the adjustability and I keep reading the MS springs are no good to pair with the OEM shocks as they won't last long. $400 dollar + 7 dollar shipping seems like a steal.

 

Yay for this thread, I never knew bilsteins were priced so well.

 

one thing I don't get is, the site I first listed has multiple different ones. Al say heavy duty then some say sport or Without Self-Levelling. WTF is the difference? I was thinking the sport ones but I'm curious now.

 

You may just want to look up the part number here and match it with what's on that site

http://www.bilsteinus.com/305bilstei...ationguide.pdf

 

If you are thinking about autox, these are not legal for B Stock. They are a drop in shock but all dimensions have to be identical to be legal for stock and I think that the lower spring perch is a little bit lower than the OE shocks, thus not legal. For stock class autox the Konis are the tried and true winner. Myself, I am looking to sell my Konis to get the Bilsteins and have them revalved for STX class.

Also, the website is listing the Normal and Sport suspension variants of the RX8, all manual trans model RX8's have the Sport suspension, the auto trans models have the normal suspension.

 

Seems like based on the Bilstein guide, there is only the Heavy Duty version for the RX-8. Beyond that is the coilovers.

 

the group I am going to autoX with doesn't have classes so I am ok there.

I just want something thats better than what I have just not super stiff and will work well with the MS springs.

I didn't know about the difference between the MTs and ATs in terms of the shocks, does the trim matter there?

 

As long as you know if you have the sports suspension or not, that's where the difference lies I believe.

 

how do I know?

 

*edit* To quote another thread:

https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-wheels-tires-brakes-suspension-55/brake-faq-167264/

Beyond that, I don't imagine there's another suspension difference between any models.

 

Seeing that the OP is talking about matching these shocks with some Mazdaspeed springs, I didn't get that he was trying to run in B-stock.

I wasn't aware of the difference in perch height on the standard OE replacement Bilstein HD shocks, but if this is truly the case, then it's definitely a good word of caution to anyone considering this upgrade for stock class.

 

I think the trim may matter, further down in that brake thread, someone corrects the op about ATs with GT trims having the same larger calipers.

again, I'm running autoX with a group that has no classes so I am not worried about the SCCA (correct?) class requirements.

 

Do you mean this quote?

https://www.rx8club.com/showpost.php...2&postcount=16

Or are you referring to another one?

The one I linked most likely refers to how the base AT trim has the 11" rotors in front. Any AT with the sport or higher trim (GT has the sport trim at least, I believe) will have the 12.7" rotor in front.

I believe the difference that could occur is that the base AT model with the 11" rotors was able to fit the 16" rims, while the higher trim AT and all MT models with the 12.7" rotor can only fit the 18". This may have a difference in suspension heights.

 

hey I have a question, are these bilstein shocks the same that come with the shinka rx8?

 

I didn't realize the Shinka came with Bilsteins -- I thought it was only the '08 RX-8 40th anniversary and the '09+ RX-8 R3 model???

Either way, from what I undertsood, the standard Bilstein HD's were a direct replacement for the stock shocks on the '04-'08 RX-8's, and the OE Mazda Bilsteins found on the 40th Anniversary and R3 models were not the same (used a different perch height and were not rebuildable).

 

when you say direct replacement you mean they are the same as the OEM ones?

 

Might be the 05 Shinkas, which were a separate breed like the 40th anniversaries and the R3, and not the 06 Shinkas, which were just a trim.

I think the term "direct replacement" means that it fits exactly the same as the OE shocks. It does not refer to the shock absorption and other attributes of the shocks.

 

i believe Shinka shocks are a slightly crappier version, as they would be a bitch to rebuild. The bilsteins are probably hands down the easiest customizable shocks on the market.