Racing Beat or Progress Sways

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tmac

Re: Racing Beat or Progress Sways

Post by tmac »

Thanks, appreciate all the input.

I agree that a precision alignment makes a big difference. I went with slight toe in front and back, -1.2 all around, and 5+ on the caster. It made the MX5 handle like I always thought a stock MX5 should.

The car no longer tends to follow seams and expansion joints (well, maybe a little bit on big ones) and I no longer have to correct when going over lane bumps. The car used to have quite a bit of understeer and would snap to oversteer, making things unpredictable. This is now much less pronounced and very predictable, the front still pushes a bit but the back end will break first and it is controllable.

The only thing it didn't fix is how "busy" the car gets when it hits bumps in corners, it actually got worse. I suspect that the reason the car is busy is that it is on the bump stops in the corners/curves, and that it has gotten worse because I now drive faster in the corners, thanks to the alignment. I am actually hoping that this is one thing stiffer bars will help with ... but keep in mind my shocks, etc., have over 60K miles on them so that might have something to do with it as well!
tmac

Re: Racing Beat or Progress Sways

Post by tmac »

Gary,

The quality of the Progress bars is the main reason I am having a hard time deciding. I may not need the extra stiffness, but they sure are nice!
GaryO935
Posts: 10
Joined: Sat Feb 16, 2013 5:39 pm

Re: Racing Beat or Progress Sways

Post by GaryO935 »

I was advised that RB would be a better choice for street, but thought I might later regret not going with the better bars (Progress) Whatever you get it will be a vast improvement over the "coathanger wire" that Mazda uses!
tmac

Re: Racing Beat or Progress Sways

Post by tmac »

Got a set of RB sway bars for my birthday and installed them last Sunday, the car now handles like a go cart :D Flat and stuck to the road. Amazing difference, can't wait to take it up in the hills. I didn't realize how much body roll there was with the stock bars. And just for the record, I really don't notice a difference in ride quality. Can't imagine what the handling will be like when I get to the springs and shocks.

Installation was fairly easy, took about two hours to do the front and back. We put the car up on jack stands, removed the wheels, dropped the plastic from the bottom front and followed the RB instructions. It took a bit to get the front bar in position, especially getting the first end (right side) over the tie rod. I used teflon tape on the bushings instead of grease. Used the middle hole on the front bar and the end (softest) hole on the back.

Thanks everyone for your insight and recommendations!
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