Has anybody thought about getting the urethane foam injected into their cross memeber of the front suspension like the Shinka owners are lucky enough to have. I wonder if this provides any real benefit. Interested to know if anybody is thinking about doing this.

 

I'm one of the lucky Shinka owners you're talking about. I swear the car take corners tight as a drum... no or very minimal flex in the chassis. I took a regular 8 for a test drive before and you could feel the difference, not a whole lot but enough to say it's worth it. I don't know how or where you can get it done though...

 

I wonder if the cross member can be taken off and replaced with a shinka part. That might be the smarter way to go. I have found places that sell the urethane foam, but they all say that it expands and I wouldn't know how much to use. Plus, I don't know if there is even a place in the cross member to pour the foam mix. I am wanting to get my car to handle to the best of its potential.

 

Invest in some sway bars. I had an 04 before, I put front and rear RB sways and it greatly improved my handling. The Shinka is definitely tigher than my 04 before the sways.

 

Just get some swaybars before someone hacks a shinka up

 

This could probably be done, but would take some research in order to get it right. Foam comes in many densities, which affects the final stiffness after the foam has expanded and cured. If you pick too light a foam it won't have any real affect (although it might make the car a little quieter over bumps) and if you pick too heavy of a foam it will add too much weight.

Also, you need to make sure the conditions are correct (cleanliness of the inside of the crossmember) to make sure the foam adheres properly.

Having said that, there are people in the Miata community who have foamed their frame rails and claim an improvement. To the best of my knowledge, nobody has had the foam seperate and rattle around. And yes, foam has been proven to enhance structural the stiffness of automotive chassis - I have seen SAE papers which document it.

It wouldn't surprise me at all if you could feel the difference in the Shinka. It's different than sway bars, though. Wether or not it actually improves cornering grip is another issue, but in my experience stiffer chassis respond better to stiffer suspensions.

 

I've driven both and I can't notice the difference whatsoever, you have been had by a clever marketing gimmick, this is Mazda NA's fault, they can be totally shameless at times