Suspension
Techniques 25mm (1") 3-position adjustable front anti-roll
barOne reason I chose ST is that they lower the car the least among other brands. Miata with stock springs is already excellent in cornering which is why I chose springs with least lowering. It turns out the springs lowered the car by about 1.5" rear and just a bit more than 1.5" front. But I think other springs will turn out to lower even more.
If you want to install lowering springs yourself, here are some installation hints. To remove the front shock absorber assemblies from the car, do NOT remove ball joints on the steering knuckle. Instead, remove the ball-joint end of the lower suspension arm. This 2x1x4-inch (approx) cross-like piece of metal holding the lower knuckle ball-joint is tucked inside the end of the lower suspension arm. It is held by a bolt hidden underneath the lower shock mount and a bolt-and-nut that go from the front of the arm to the rear. Pull out the cross-like piece away from the lower arm. Press down on the lower suspension arm until the top of the shock slide out of the upper mounting hole. You may need a pry bar on the lower arm to make the clearance for the shock assembly. In my case, I loosened the inner mounting bolts of the lower arm since I needed wheel alignment afterwards anyway. The lower arm just swing down by itself. For a bonus, Terence loosened and re-tightened the suspension arms on his and eliminated a suspension squeaking noise in his '90 Red.
When I ordered the ST springs and anti-roll bars together, the bars were in back order. So I did not wait to install both springs and bars at the same time. Since I do my own installation, I don't mind to do them separately. Besides, it gave a chance for me to know what each modification contribute to performance.
The first thing I noticed when putting back the car on the ground was that I needed a set of wheels with more offset. The factory alloy wheels tucked well inside the fenders. For cornering, body roll was reduced by only a little, as was nose dive when braking. Ride quality difference was barely noticeable. It was possible to scratch the rear of the front subframe on a speed bump if I didn't drive extremely slow over it (I mean 5km/h slow). I was not quite impressed by the overall result. Even my carefully tuned springs in my Corolla GTS did a much better job and never have to scratch a speed bump at higher speed.
Next: Suspension
Techniques 25mm (1") 3-position adjustable front anti-roll
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