I have 05' 6MT
I am wanting to start my modding with suspension. I want it to be as much a sleeper look as possible for a while. Until it is just unavoidable
It is currently stock.

I am thinking about this.
JIC FOUR Point Type II Shock Tower Brace
Has anyone used this brace?
I am also planning on rear brace, brakes, coilovers, under bracing, diff support, endlinks.
Then some lighter.bigger wheels and stickier rubber.
Powertrain wise. Until it is paid off Im not doing much. Light flywheel when clutch needs done. Maybe exhaust. and intake ( but we all know that is more for our listening pleasure than anything else).

Thought about Ohlins shocks, I saw them on good-win racing website. That is all I ever used on my bikes but dont know if its worth the extra premium for the 8.

Any thoughts on my pans or other sugestions?

 

Sways!

 

Sway Bars will make your suspension alot stiffer than the strut bars. But the strut bars don't exactly hurt it so there good to have as well.

 

-aggreed sways will make a big difference,,,
-Mysql has the 4pt JIC strut...
-all of those wil make it really stiff
my suspension mods-
Tien Type Flex w/ EDFC(the only thing that makes DD manageable)
MS fr and rear struts
RB fr and rear sways
AP fr and rear sway endlinks
AutoExe undercar bracing
BeatRush tranny brace(for track days only-it sends alot of vibration and noise into the cabin, not recomended for DD)
-Ive had all of this for about 3 years and for DD its alittle overkill but handles like a freakin dream,,, also tires are an important part of this equation as well...

 

Yes I forgot to put sways on list. They will be going on before coilovers.
Noise I dont mind. I prefer music of sounds of driving and nice cars to whats on radio anyway!

Vibration from differential support... how bad? will it make it so I cant see out my mirrors bad?

What order do you think I should do them in to get best bang for my buck at each stage? Cant afford all at once...

 

get the mazdaspeed shocks and springs (they are cheap ) . Then drive it around like that for a while and see if you think you need more .
I didn't & i track my car .
You can waste a lot of money on stuff that does very little other than drain your wallet .

 

I dont have the diff brace, I have the tranny brace, and yes a **** load of noise, I usually drvie around without the radio because I love noise too(my Pettit SC) but put it this way,,, After the first time I put it on and adjusted the hieght correctly I drove around and it actually sounded like my car was broken and was falling apart. In reality it was put together more than ever, tying the powertrain into your frame is going to bring all the vibration from your engine, tranny and diff into noise. and Its alotttttt!!! Turned right around after about 10 mins of driving got it back up on the lift and took it right off... Since then I only take and put it on during track days...

 

get good tires.

 

Hey I'm married so I have to justify the $$ to the little lady.
So since current tires are about 80% tread still.... that will wait until the current rubber "wears" out .
I'm going to do brakes first, as my rears are very low and one of the fronts is slightly warped... figure might as well get some slotted rotors and nice pads. Already have it budgeted for end of the month.

 

I don't know your driving background, but FWIW, make yourself your best handling upgrade. Then the upgrade the car.

Braces, diff. brace, underbracing, endlinks, etc. are all icing on the cake (and some of those are even questionable in their overall effectiveness).

Brakes- a good performance pad and good, fresh fluid- you're done.

Koni dampers and an aftermarket spring go a long way in improvement over stock without breaking the bank.

Sway bar (f/r) upgrade is a worthy cost as well.

A good tire alone will surpass many of the above modifications in overall effectiveness.

 

There's an order of priorities to all these mods. This is my opinion of the proper order, make of it what you will.
1. Driver. Do a track day with instruction, not only will you learn something about driving you will learn something about your car from people who actually do rather than spout over the net (which includes me). Buy a book on performance driving and read it.
2. Out of spec alignment. Best bang for the buck, hands down.
3. Wheels and tires. Biggest single improvement. The extra traction of wider wheels and tires will also point out your cars weak point in suspension.
4. 4 and 5 are a toss up, some says dampeners (shocks) I lean towards bigger sway bars, adjustable are a plus. They will help you tune the balance of the car.
5. Dampeners (shocks), not to be confused with a coilover which includes a new spring and a shock. Koni makes a good one which is adjustable.
6. Springs. Try to keep them as soft as possible while keeping the car off the bump stops and the ground. If you get a spring that lowers the car you have to by definition get a stiffer spring. Too stiff and your handling will suffer not improve.
7. Frame bracing. I'm putting this in here only because you want them. I think frame braces are pretty much a waste of time on the RX8 which has a really wicked stiff frame in OEM form relative to most cars. Unless you are racing competitively on road courses I don't think you need them, mostly placebo in my mind but then I have never used one.

 

I did the intro to racing school at Skip Barber. I also had an additional half day one on one with an instructor there while we filmed a segment about them....
I really want to go back and take their High Performance driving course.
I am bigger than when I took the intro class and the car was kinda tight then... so prefer to go with courses desgined around street cars.
I really want to go to a autox practice session so I can experiment with the 8 and get a feel for what it can and cant do. I dont care if its a timed event etc. Would prefer not actually as I want to feel the car out and not be concerned with time.