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I think there is no denying that the handling of the CX3 is probably not Mazda's greatest achievement. After having my partner complain about the "bouncy and floaty" feel of the car, and regularly "feeling like the car is airborne" over big bumps on the Freeway, I figured the issue needs to be addressed. The problem is that from the factory the car is under-sprung and the valving, in particular Low-speed Rebound dampening (which controls BIG impacts) is just way too fast.
Now coming from a track-car background, (I have an FC RX7 circuit car), suspension tuning is not foreign to me, to fix the inherent issue you would need a different spring and damper combo. Unfortunately here in Australia there is not much available for these cars, the only other option was potentially a set of Eibach springs, but this wouldn't fix the dampening issue. So even though I was a bit hesitant, coilovers were the only option. I was able to source a set through RHDjapan, and they were on sale at the time so I was able to pick them up for a bargain price of AUD$1300 shipped to my door. They retail here for AUD$2700.
I can happily say that the it was money well spent, and suspension feel is now comparable to something like a standard Subaru WRX, and the car is very predictable and stable on the road. The benefit being that with adjustments you could make it softer or harder as you like, as well as adjusting the ride height, adjustable from (-20mm, to -90mm). I settled for a modest 30mm drop.
Installation was very easy with the coilovers being a direct swap for the factory suspension including all brackets for hoses and abs lines in exact same positions. The only "modification" was to trim a tiny bit of rubber off the factory rear spring insulating rubber, which would require a new one if you ever wanted to fit the old springs back in.
I would definitely recommend these if anyone is after a great suspension upgrade for these cars. Happy to say that my wife loves it too.
Now coming from a track-car background, (I have an FC RX7 circuit car), suspension tuning is not foreign to me, to fix the inherent issue you would need a different spring and damper combo. Unfortunately here in Australia there is not much available for these cars, the only other option was potentially a set of Eibach springs, but this wouldn't fix the dampening issue. So even though I was a bit hesitant, coilovers were the only option. I was able to source a set through RHDjapan, and they were on sale at the time so I was able to pick them up for a bargain price of AUD$1300 shipped to my door. They retail here for AUD$2700.
I can happily say that the it was money well spent, and suspension feel is now comparable to something like a standard Subaru WRX, and the car is very predictable and stable on the road. The benefit being that with adjustments you could make it softer or harder as you like, as well as adjusting the ride height, adjustable from (-20mm, to -90mm). I settled for a modest 30mm drop.
Installation was very easy with the coilovers being a direct swap for the factory suspension including all brackets for hoses and abs lines in exact same positions. The only "modification" was to trim a tiny bit of rubber off the factory rear spring insulating rubber, which would require a new one if you ever wanted to fit the old springs back in.
I would definitely recommend these if anyone is after a great suspension upgrade for these cars. Happy to say that my wife loves it too.
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