rotaryextreme

The APEX EXV is monotube design which is the one on the left. With the monotube design, a larger piston can be used and the shock oil does not deteriorate as fast. All the high end suspensions have mono-tube design.



Tein Flex is twin tube. Their high end ones like RA is monotube.



It comes with upper mount. I have to see if it's pillow ball when I receive my shipment. There won't be any camber adjustment on it for sure. You can adjust camber stock already. Tein flex does not come with adjustable camber plates for the 3rd gen, either.



Pictures will be posted once the shipment comes in.



Chuck

rotaryextreme

I don't think I will swap the springs out. I will leave that to the buyers to decide.



For people who want want 550 lb/in and 450 lb/in combo, you can also consider the Buddy Club suspension. I asked Buddy Club to build my own custom spec of 10 kg/mm front and 8 kg/mm rear. I have those in stock too. They are on monthly special for $1295. 15 way adjustable, pillow ball upper mount, adjustable lower bracket just like the APEX EXV.



Chuck

amp

howard.. what about the notion of adding a stiffer front swaybar to offset the similar front and rear spring rates..

CletusFD3S

If you cant adjust the camber and your not sure if its pillow ball, doesnt that make the teins better? it dosnt matter if the pistons bigger, just how fast the fluid moves. Get me some more info. im still leaning tward teins, but let me knwo how yours are and i might throw down

howracer

just a few follow ups...



as to adding more roll stiffness in front to offset an overly stiff rear vs front relationship: w a spring rate of 670 you have too much roll stiffness to start with. adding more in front would/could actually balance the car but the car would be so stiff that it would pound over bumps, the tires would chatter over the pavement and it would have virtually no feel before breaking loose.



if you want to get an idea of how your car would drive w 670 pound springs air your tires up to 75 psi and have at it. not pretty.



as to camber adjustment. i guess i don't understand the comments. there is no camber adjustment on any upper mounts for the FD. Mcphereson strut suspended cars do adjust camber by moving the upper attachment plate laterally.



the FD has double A arms and camber is adjusted my moving the lower A arm which is attached to the car by cams. it is the double A arm (racing design) that give the FD it's negative camber gain on bump. in other words as the outside wheel moves up into the wheel well on a turn and the body rolls the tire is pulled into additional negative camber so the most important wheel on the car in a turn stays properly negative. this is unlike any mcphereson strut car.



while i am on the subject of the upper attachment point of the coil-over shock and spring there is another point to make. the entire corner weight of the car sits on the upper spring. Mazda wisely added an approx 3/8 inch rubber insulator between the car and the spring. pillowball upper mounts remove all the insulation. result: lots of vibration, noise etc. in addition compliance is reduced. some compliance is a good thing as it soaks up micro bumps in the pavement and keeps the tire on the ground instead of the air. i do not run pillow ball upper mounts and think they slightly decrease roadholding as well as greatly increase vibration... remember then entire cornerweight is sitting on this junction. i run the OEM rubber gasket front and rear.



as to monotube versus twin tube... i own a shock dyno... it is a non issue performancewise unless you are in F1.



my purpose is not to knock any product and i do have a high regard for apexi products but the most significant factor in choosing coil overs is the spring rate. unless you are drifting the rate is too high and needs to be softer in the rear.



howard coleman

howracer

i checked out Rotary Extreme's broad suspension product line and note that they offer the Tein lineup...



take a good look at the Tein Flex product.. 560/450 rate which is very close to the optimum rate for aggressive street and track. 16 adj



also, Rotary Extreme sells Buddy coil overs. they rate at 558/447 which also sounds excellent.



finally, w the super price on the Apexi Exv setup i would certainly look into finding a way to swap out the springs for something resembling the above rates.



BTW, the FD needs two sets of bushings to be pitched in the trash barrel. one set is the large rubber bushing on the front of the lower (rear) longitudinal links. i run a nylon bushing w a steel insert but Chuck sells a really nice replacement with a high quality spherical bushing. all the braking and acceleration feed into this bushing and it needs serious help. since the cornerweight of the car does not sit on the bushing changing it will not up your NVH.



howard coleman

vosko

my old car i had gab coilovers pretty sure they were 8/6, turbovr6 now has them and they were VERY streetable, I LOVED THEM compared to my RB springs and tokico illumina's. the correct spring rate depends on the valving off the shocks also.........!

ccarlisi

Howard:



You just doubled the sum of information on suspension in the nopistons archive

rotaryextreme

You can't adjust the camber with the Tein suspension, either. Since the you can adjust camber stock, none of the aftermarket suspensions offers camber adjustment plate. They only offer those on the 2nd Gen RX-7, not 3rd Gen RX-7.



When I get the shipment in this Thursday, I will see if upper mount has pillow ball.



Chuck

rotaryextreme

Howard:



From my understanding, the monotube shocks cost more to manufacture than the twin tube ones. Most OEM shocks are twin tube design due to cheaper cost of manufacturing. If there is no difference, why do some companies offer the mono tube design? All HKS suspensions are monotube design. For Tein, their cheaper models such as Tein Flex uses the twin tube design but their high end models such as RA and RE have monotube design. Do you know why if there is no difference in performance?



Chuck