Well, I'm finally getting around to posting about this stuff. A few weeks ago I installed Tokico D-specs w/H-techs, and overall I'm really happy with this setup.

I can't say much more about the D-specs than what has already been mentioned around here. I haven't tracked the car with them (yet), but playing around with the settings is a lot of fun while just driving around town. I drove to the OBX (350 miles) with front and rear set to 4 turns from full hard. This produced a comfortable ride similar to stock, but with better turn-in and what seemed like less body roll. Five turns and more made the car feel a lot like my parent's Toyota Avalon: actually softer than the stock RX-8 suspension and a more ambiguous feel. While in Rodanthe, I cranked it down to full hard for a trip up to Nags Head and the difference was incredible. Steering response seemed much improved, although the car felt jittery at highway speeds on less-than-perfect roads. Speaking of which, the chassis moves with every imperfection in the road when it's set at full hard. In general, there is less understeer on these shocks too, especially if I soften just the front shocks(obviously).

As for the adjusments, if you're considering the D-specs (or just the ability to adjust the rear easily in general), I highly recommend getting the adjustment extensions. They're kinda tricky to install because the have to be fed up through the trunk area, and through holes in the chassis that are barely in the right spot. I had a friend helping, which made things much easier. We tied a string to the cables to help feed them through. I finished them up by drilling a couple holes in the trunk liner to give me easier access to them. The cables are just barely long enough, but it works! Looks nice too. And it's very cool that you can adjust front and rear in less than 5 minutes. Check out the rear adjuster pic attached below.

The H-techs with the D-specs seem to lower the car about the same as Koni yellows with H-techs. It's pretty-well documented that the car will sit a little lower with the H-techs, when they're paired with Koni's (and D-specs), and I found it to be true with mine. The front was lowered a little more than an inch, and the rear maybe a little less than an inch. The result is a pretty even wheel gap on the front and rear, and a perfect drop for my taste.

Even if the Koni shocks are a little better in terms of quality and performance (according to some), I'd never know the difference. Also, the D-specs have a lifetime warranty (like Koni) that helped sell me. The determining factor though was the ability to adjust the rear shocks without taking them off the car or drilling more holes in the chassis to access the shocks. I'm still experimenting with them, and I hope to get the car to the track to really test them. If anyone has questions about their performance or the install, I'll do my best to answer. Here are a couple pics of the car sitting on the H-techs and D-specs, as well as the adjuster in the trunk.

 

I have the D-Specs with the S-Techs. I really like them. Have you played much with the settings? I have mine set as 3 turns from hardest setting. It's a tad harsh over some roads but I like a stiffer ride in general.

 

I thought D-specs were high pressure and sat higher than Konis? (sat higher == similar to stock shocks in height, where Konis are lower)

Car looks great! I have the Konis and I definitely miss lack of easy rear adjustability!

 

Mine are set the same, but I have stock springs. I've forgotten to soften the settings a few times after events and 1 or 2 turns off full is too harsh for around town IMO. For the track, I ran 1 3/4 turns from full on the front and 1 turn on the rear. It was a very neutral set up that way. I'll try the same at autocross tomorrow.

 

^ Interesting. I will have to try a firmer setting in the rear vs front...

 

That is my understanding as well. That is one reason I didn't get the Koni's.

 

Actually, I've been driving around the last couple days on the hardest setting. It's no where near as harsh as my MX-3 was with MS shocks, so I guess I'm used to it. But you have the S-techs on, which have the higher spring rate. I guess the ride would feel harsher with these than on the H-techs?


Thanks! I wasn't sure how the high-pressure D-specs would look on H-techs, but I've seen pics of cars with D-specs and other springs, like Eibachs... and the drop on those cars appeared to be pretty substantial. Here's a before and after comparison of mine. The drop was slightly more than the inch that Tein claims for H-tech. Notice the different tires, too, haha. New ones are Goodyear F1 A/S. Love these tires!

 

Maybe or perhaps the roads in your area are better than mine Main thing is that we can adjust front and back easily. I also have adjustable sways -- it's fun messy around with the different settings to see how they impact handling and ride.

It's funny, before I bought the car, I didn't know or care about dropping the height of the car. Now, I think it's essential to the car looking right Your car looks great.

 

D-specs are twintubes like the Konis. Whether they run at a higher pressure or not I'm unsure, but they're certainly much lower than the stock or Mazdaspeed monotube Tokicos or aftermarket Bilstein HDs.

 

Thanks for the info!

Does anyone know where I can find an illustration, video or some kind of article that shows the inner workings of these adjustable shocks? I'm curious about what's going on inside the shock when I'm making adjustments.

 

good to know, thank you!

 

Hank,

Your car looks great. That's a good combo for looks, performance, etc...Looking back on it, I wish I had went that route instead of Eibachs and Bilsteins. Oh, my wonderful wife got that dent in front of my back tire fixed...

 

Hahaa, glad to hear she got that fixed. And thanks for the compliment! I see the rear is a little lower on your car than the front. This is one reason I went with Tein: to even out that gap, front to rear. Is there any particular reason you wish you went a different direction?

 

I had question on the install.. Did you do it yourself? If so is there anything special I need other then basic handtools. (socket set, wrenches, etc). Or maybe someone knows a link to a howto page?

 

there are a few how to's... i know you can search the DIY forum. You will definitely need a spring compressor and if you don't feel confident just fork the money over to someone to do it right. Dont' forget to preload!

 

https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...ighlight=shock

Read the entire thread as there are a couple ways to do the install that don't involve removing the ball joints. And don't ignore the warnings either.

 

Yeah, I used Jeff's DIY (above) and the one here: https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...hlight=springs . Jeff gives very clear instructions and has great pics, but he removed the ball joints, which I didn't want to do. The other DIY walks you through a slightly different method - although the pics in that thread are dead.