Looking to lower suspension on my M3.

[Paradigm]

Hey guys. I was recently referred by a buddy of mine who\'s a car enthuasiast, and told me there\'s a website dedicated to Mazda 3\'s in Toronto. Just my luck!

I do live in Toronto but I\'m a Uni student in London.

I currently own a Mazda 3 \'06 Sedan. Everything is stock. :)

I\'m looking to do a few modifications to my car, but I\'m very uneducated about the cost of the procedures, how certain mods affect performance, and where to get it done.


Basically, I\'m looking for better handling with my car as well as a more enjoyable ride. I was told to \"lower the suspension\" on my car to prevent myself from understeering. I drive back and forth on the 401 a lot going an easy 140-160km/h consistantly. I notice the car has a tendancy to not have good handling on the roads which is kind of creepy now.

I\'m also looking to give a few aesthetical boosts to the car. Not sure what can be done. I\'d like to change perhaps the door handles, the antennae(perhaps?), and add in some lights.


Any sort of advice is highly appreciated. I\'m still browsing around here learning more. When do you guys have meetings usually?

Thanks again.

[jdanielsg]

I am no expert by any means, but I was told that if you stiffen your suspension or lower etc it means a harder ride and there is no two ways about it, its soft and lousy, neutral or hard and better handling.

[mEtH]

Welcome to the board, there is a meet on March 25th up near Dave & Busters, check the TM3 Meets section for more info.

Inregard to suspension, the Tein suspension is fairly soft, so you will have some better handling and not much change in ride quality. The other option is Eibach pro-kits. In terms of our car handling on the highway, I have touble relating to what you are saying, I mean you are going straight...What exactly is not handling good, because the car in its stock state is quite decent compared to a lot of cars out there.

Do make good use of the Search function and the Catagorized forum sections, they should get you the info you need. There is also a listing of suspension options in the suspension section, do check that out.

[SABIO]

Lowering your car will make you *Feel the road more, not actually give you better handling, maybe a little. But the best bang for the buck in regards to handling is a thicker Rear Sway Bar.
That will improve the steering feel and how it corners...Straight and tight!!

[ds2chan]

Originally posted by Paradigm
I\'m also looking to give a few aesthetical boosts to the car. Not sure what can be done. I\'d like to change perhaps the door handles, the antennae(perhaps?), and add in some lights.



welcome to the boards..

you can get a stubby antenna.. Mazda of Toronto use to sell these but not anymore (as I recall).. so you\'ll have to go and buy one online or on ebay.. one person said he got his from Carcessory (http://www.carccessory.com/). u can also get a shark fin antenna.. there was a groub buy going on but I\'m not sure if that\'s still going on..
group buy for shark fin antenna (http://torontomazda3.com/forum/read.php?TID=5143)

as for the door handles.. you can get chrome door handles.. they\'re shaped like ur door handles and stick right overtop ur originals.. they\'re held on by double sided tape.. you can buy those on ebay (where everybody here bought theirs).. but some ppl here bought them as part as a group buy as to lower the shipping cost..

[Fuel90]

I would argue that switching out springs does improve handling.

I put H&R springs on my car last summer and the improvement was great! The car has much less body roll when cornering and less rocking back or forwards when accelerating or braking.

As for ride quality I don\'t find it much different than stock, I would by no means classify it a \'bumpy\' ride now. It just feels a little more stiff.