After a 3 month wait....

[whodilly]

Hey guys, just installed my D2 coilovers after a long 3 month wait for them.
What\'s this box?
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y86/whodilly/Photo-0131.jpg

Why it\'s a set of coilovers for my baby!
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y86/whodilly/Photo-0133.jpg

Before. sry winter rims
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y86/whodilly/fe8d644e.jpg

After
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y86/whodilly/drop0004_1.jpg

Adjustment knobs
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y86/whodilly/Photo-0144.jpg

More impressions later, haven\'t taken it for a \"drive\" yet!
But it\'s definitely STIFF so far

[///M]

lookin\' good!

I have a question...does it go any lower than that? :p if so - I DEMAND PICS! :D

[whodilly]

As a matter of fact it does! You wanna come over and drop it for me ;) its a PITA!

[///M]

What does it involve? I wouldn\'t mind doing so if it\'s within my ability. ;)

Speaking of which - how hard is it to install an intake? Mine\'s coming soon. :hoho

[whodilly]

It\'s a PITA if you haven\'t done it before. but knowing what i do now it shouldn\'t take more than an hour. If you want I could give you a hand.

[///M]

Mine\'s not the Injen though - I went with the K&N. Better filter, and wanted to get something different.

I\'ll let you know when it arrives.

[Whos ur dadd]

whodilly:

nice! so the knobs are for stiffness or height or both?

[Whos ur dadd]

total $$$ to your door?

[billyfo]

and where did you get it install??

[SABIO]

Very Nice .. Glad those Snows are off ;)

Oh yeah, coilovers :) Very nice indeed. Now ya just need a nice set of rims.....

[gizmo]

Hey, congrats! They finally sent you the right kit this time - can\'t wait to see it slammed!!!

[MazdaTree]

Originally posted by autoexe


Mine\'s not the Injen though - I went with the K&N. Better filter, and wanted to get something different.

I\'ll let you know when it arrives.

hey autoexe i heard that all filters are made by K & N but like aem puts there name on it not too sure tho

and

WHOOODILLLLY that looks hot

[///M]

Originally posted by gizmo


Hey, congrats! They finally sent you the right kit this time - can\'t wait to see it slammed!!!

yup...we love our cars low ;)

[whodilly]

Thanks guys. I was pimpin my car today! I think i spent at least half of the day just looking at her! All I gotta say is the car handles like it\'s on rails! Unfortunately it also follows every contour of the frickin\' road. On one stretch of the 401 I was flyin up and down like the guy in the Acura TSX commercial. The ride is stiff. The setting right now is 3 full turns from soft in the front and 4 in the back. I\'m gonna adjust it again later with a softer setting. The front adjustment is easy but for the rears you gotta take out the trunk liner. Also to adjust the height is a pain, and I probably wont be able to do it after this winter cause the parts will seize. It\'s okay i\'m happy with the ride height, it\'s just right. Man potholes are now my worst enemy:(

I got them installed a some guys garage that my buddy reccomended. I couldn\'t wait until next week had to get them put in ASAP! Will go fro alignment early next week.

To my door about $1300 cnd (damn UPS: customs and brokerage $130) plus $250 install + alignment $80-100. Shit I spent alot of money!!!! but oh does it put a smile on my face:D

[///M]

Originally posted by whodilly

Also to adjust the height is a pain, and I probably wont be able to do it after this winter cause the parts will seize.

That\'s the problem with coilovers here. A friend of mine had a set on his old 330i and he was unable to lower them after winter - they totally seized up.

I was this close to buying Tein Basic before deciding on a shocks/springs setup that wouldn\'t have any problems with seizing, and saved a little money in the process.

But yah...coilovers are sweet!

[whodilly]

man it would\'ve been so much cheaper if I just got shocks and springs... Not even sure why I went the coilover route? I like the dampener adjustabillity but honestly I don\'t know when i\'ll really benifit from it possibly auto x or \"illegal\" street racing!. But I\'m still glad I have it.

Hey autoexe, i just noticed your sig and it looks like your car has a carbon fiber hood. I dunno but I think that would be prety bad ass!!!

[FLIPDADY]

No he\'s got the stock hood. It\'s just his extremely talented photographic skills that create the carbon fiber look.:p

[SwooshICE]

where did you get it installed at?

[whodilly]

Originally posted by SwooshICE


where did you get it installed at?

I got it installed at this guy\'s house who does car repairs in his driveway in the Bayview/Sheppard area. He\'s got all the tools including air tools. He charges $70/hr so it took about 3.5 hours to install and adjust the height. Good guy, his name is Matthew and during the install he explained to me what he was doing and what exactly was going on. I think I was the first Mazda3 that he worked on so it took a little bit longer but I wasn\'t a big deal cause at least I could see exactly what he was doing. Plus as a bonus he put anti seize on most of the bolts as well as on the rims (cause the damn guys who put them back on didn\'t put any!!!). You don\'t hear of that very often! Plus he races his Sentra and has done coilover work before so I trust him with it.

As for driving experience, these things are amazing! I thought the 3 handled pretty well before but now it\'s like night and day! On hard corners there is minimal body roll and on sweepers (ie. Hwy on ramps) the car just sticks to the ground and follows the curve. Plus I just realized that to adjust the dampning in the rear is snap. You can reach the adjustment knobs from the compartment with the car jack on the left and through that removable piece on the right. With that said driving on the crappy pot hole marked Toronto streets is now bearable as I can just put it on a softer setting.

Even with the crappy stock tires the car handles pretty good and that wheel hop on quick acceleration is gone. The car is just planted.

This is definitely an upgrade that I\'m glad I did. The car is now even more fun to drive if you can believe it. I thought that the dampning adjustment was useless but now I realize that it\'s neccessary. Especially if you want the car to still be streetable.

[TheProfessor]

Originally posted by MazdaTree


hey autoexe i heard that all filters are made by K & N but like aem puts there name on it not too sure tho

This used to be the case a while ago however now there are a number of cheap knock-off intakes on the market, so don\'t assume that the filter you get with a no-name intake is a genuine K&N cause it likely isn\'t.

[wtom]

Originally posted by whodilly

Even with the crappy stock tires the car handles pretty good and that wheel hop on quick acceleration is gone. The car is just planted.


Did you say wheel hop is gone???????? heheheheh shiet ... lower or LSD ... lower or LSD ... :D j/k!

Very nice, whodilly! So now you gotta put a smile on your gf\'s face too eh to balance everything. :)

BTW where did you order it from? :D

[whodilly]

Originally posted by wtom



So now you gotta put a smile on your gf\'s face too eh to balance everything. :)

BTW where did you order it from? :D

i always put a smile on the gf\'s face:D

I ordered it from CVR but they said that they were going to drop D2 because they were not shipping their products in a timely manner and giving alot of BS.

[MazdaTree]

Originally posted by PSIVIC



Originally posted by MazdaTree


hey autoexe i heard that all filters are made by K & N but like aem puts there name on it not too sure tho

This used to be the case a while ago however now there are a number of cheap knock-off intakes on the market, so don\'t assume that the filter you get with a no-name intake is a genuine K&N cause it likely isn\'t.

does aem come with a K&N?

[TheProfessor]

I\'m not sure to be honest. I remember reading that AEM bought out DC Sports, and DC used to make their own filters to compete with K&N, so yeah, I have no clue:p

It might say on their website, or you could e-mail them and ask.

[whodilly]

Oh man, the other day I had my car loaded with people, 5 incuding myself and I was parking in my friend\'s underground parking. There are a few speed bumps and when I went over one of them I heard a horrible sound. Basically scraped something in the middle of my car but not sure what. I didn\'t realize that my car was so low when it was loaded with people. :(

Oh well, I guess it is now only a 2 seater! a good excuse not to drive people around. Thinking of raising it up a little but then I\'ll be compromising \'my\' enjoyment cause the car drives beautifully with just me!

[TheProfessor]

You likely just scraped part of the exhaust system. I wouldn\'t bother raising it, I\'m sure you\'re not in that situation too often (five people in your car going over speed bumps).

[whodilly]

^^that is true. I will keep the setup as is. Pointless to change things just because of \"what ifs.\" But now I\'m thinking if I put a sub in the trunk it will compromise my setup as well... guess you can\'t have everything!

[rallyboy]

Hey Whodilly,

I couldn\'t help but notice your winter rims, better than most of the black discs I see. Where are they from if you don\'t mind me asking?

Rallyboy

[whodilly]

I got them @ ... damn forgot the name of the place, it\'s by steeles and woodbine. Same price as the regular black steelies, and heavy as shiet too!

Personally I like the black ones cause I think they would look better on my car... if you can believe that steelies look good :p

[Junior]

Originally posted by MazdaTree
Originally posted by PSIVIC
Originally posted by MazdaTree hey autoexe i heard that all filters are made by K & N but like aem puts there name on it not too sure tho This used to be the case a while ago however now there are a number of cheap knock-off intakes on the market, so don\'t assume that the filter you get with a no-name intake is a genuine K&N cause it likely isn\'t. does aem come with a K&N?

yup

[car_demon]

OMFG! Spank me silly that looks friggin sweet. And yes! it is fashionable to hold up traffic with your hazzards on; go slow ,open up your car doors to check clearance, and go crooked over speedbumps, railway crossings and steep driveways.

If you don\'t know..,now you know!

[BangHatch]

WHODILLY!!!!

glad it worked out for you in the end!!!! I\'m pretty sure you remember me.. haha im the guy with the mazda6... the D2\'s were shipped to YOU instead!!! :D

what spring rates are available for the mazda3?

[wtom]

Originally posted by BangHatch

what spring rates are available for the mazda3?

You mean for all springs available in the market? Check out this thread (http://www.torontomazda3.com/forum/read.php?TID=1597).

[BangHatch]

sorry... i didnt mean that...

spring rates meaning how \"stiff\" they are.... since they\'re D2 coilovers that whodilly was able to get, they are \"racing only\" applications... im wondering on how stiff they come for your car :)

ie. my spring rates are 13kg/mm front, and 9kg/mm rear...

[whodilly]

Hey man what\'s up! Haha I see ur with the \'6\' crew! Yeah I finally got the damn things... they\'re pretty good but to tell you the truth I don\'t know the spring rates... I should really know this if I\'m serious. Took it out on a track day and it felt pretty good. Stuck to the ground!

One thing is I can get some serious rubbing in the front on big dips... there\'s not enough travel in the wheel well cause the cars low. I think I need siffer springs?

[BangHatch]

hmmm if im not mistaken.. i *think* your spring rates are 9kg/mm front and 7kg/mm rear...

rubbing in the front? your tires are scrapes on the fenders? that\'s odd.... wait.. are you rubbing or are you bottoming out on the shocks?

i understand that you have the pillowball mounts included for the fronts.. you can prevent rubbing by putting more negative camber in the front...

if you\'re bottoming out on the other hand, you lowered the car by adjusting the spring perch INSTEAD of the shock body....

[whodilly]

Sorry you\'re right, I\'m bottoming out. Not sure if adjusting the perch on the shock body will help as the coilover shocks are pretty short as is... just not enough room in the fender to accomodate the suspension travel. Will take another look.

To adjust the camber is a pain as you have to remove the whole shock to access the screws that adjust the plate. The adjustment is also very limited with only 1 setting either way from neutral.
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y86/whodilly/top.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y86/whodilly/Photo-0144.jpg

Hey are those your wheels in your avatar pic?

[BangHatch]

yikes... that\'s not good.. you should NEVER be bottoming out.. especially on coilovers...

ok.. im not sure how to explain this without pictures.. but.... here goes..

your fronts *should* have the adjustable spring perch where you have those 2 rings that lock each other.. you shouldnt be adjusting that to lower your height... by doing so, you\'re reducing the amount of stroke that the shocks will have since you\'re \"loading\" the shocks already even before they acutally compress... is that how you lowered your car?

what you should be adjusting is the lower shock body instead.. that way, you still retain the right amount of stroke but lowering the entire centre of gravity... your D2\'s i understand come with a threaded body right? where the entire bottom part can be turned and adjusted and locked with a single ring right?

hope this helps :(


EDIT: nope those arent my wheels (yet lol)... i have Racing Hart CP035\'s :)

[whodilly]

Ahh i got ya! Shit that is not going to be fun changing. Thanks for the info i will get it looked at asap.

[whodilly]

Hey Banghatch, so this weekend I adjusted my suspension and lowered the car by adjusting the shock body. Wow does it make a difference! The ride is not as harsh as there is now more suspension travel thanks to the unloading of the helper spring. I only adjusted the 2 parts less than 0.5\" and it makes a big difference.

Also adjusting the coilovers weren\'t a prob after 4 months so let\'s hope they hold up for the winter.
Thanks again for the advice.
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y86/whodilly/suspension2.jpg