Coilovers Experience for a Street Driven RX8

Editor’s note: We pick out RX8 owner CaymanRotary’s experience on MaXpeedingRods RX8 coilovers. He spent almost 1 year kept updating how they are performing. From first impressions, then 100 miles update, 400 miles update, 1000 miles update……no bragging words. This will help other RX8 owners out if they are considering installing these coilovers on their cars. 

Rebuild Purpose

CaymanRotary knows these are made for the street and he is not taking his RX8 out on the track. His car just needs something good enough for daily driving and to give the car a low look, so that’s what made MaXpeedingRods so attractive to him.

One Year Using Experience

First impressions. coilovers are on and they made a huge difference. The ride is overall stiffer (even with adjustable ones) but safer (less body roll). The spring rates are 10 front and 5 rear. The rear feels softer than the front. The car handles so much better and this is even before my wheel alignment appointment tomorrow. Overall, I’m quite impressed but this is just day 1. I’m hopeful these will last at least a couple of years then I will feel like it was worth the pain in installing them. But so far, first impressions, pretty astounded how good they make the car feel.

100 miles update. So far, so good. No unusual noises, the RX8 still handles like it’s a brand new car. The ride is still stiff but I’m expecting them to soften as it’s driven. Still blown away considering I spent less for this setup, it rides far better than my newer RX8 with its stock suspension. However, the other RX8 I have is an automatic that I got for my mom to drive so I won’t be putting this suspension on that car. Instead, I will be buying a suspension setup using stock springs for more ride comfort. My 6-speed manual though, these are perfect!

300 miles update. The roads here are good until you go onto the side roads. Lots of bumps but the suspension seems to be coping. I am noticing some noises the coilovers are making but they are pretty muted and don’t appear to affect their performance at all. Can still turn the wheel lock to lock with no noise. 300 miles in and still going strong.

400 miles update. Had coilover checked, front ones needed extra grease. These ones do just on the front pillow ball. Just using bearing grease so they are more free to move and to prevent binding. Rears, no issue. I’m a little worried that grease seems to be necessary for the first month to ensure it wears in. Other than that, no bearing failures or anything, coilovers working amazing well.

1000 Miles update. After a few adjustments, noise has been mostly to completely eliminated. I have to say, still very impressed. Might even go so far as to say its a good product especially for the price. You are saving like 80% vs a good set of shocks. If you daily like I do and want to drop your car and have stiffer suspension, these seem like a great option.

One year update. My car is on the lift due to the need to replace my clutch. Seem to be holding up just fine. Just a bit of surface rust on them and nothing else.

Real experience. Something is expensive doesn’t mean it’s valued. I like stiff and low. These MaXpeedingRods RX8 coilovers are working quite well for the time being for my daily driving purposes. I could run these no problem for another year or longer if I wanted to. I called it’s valued.

OEM Suspensions vs Aftermarket Suspensions

MaXpeedingRods users know that the coilovers will for sure lower the car quite a lot, the same for the RX8 owners. Especially when they compare the lengths are too shorter than stock, a thing that worries them is that is it normal that they are way shorter than the originals?

Actually, the length of the shock is irrelevant, it just means it won’t droop as much with wheels in the air. The picture above is misleading, the stock shock has that black section that rises above the mounting points, but doesn’t contribute to mounting height at all. Coilovers won’t lower the car much if you set their height appropriately.

MaXpeedingRods provide RX8 owners with two performance functions: height adjustable and damper adjustable. CaymanRotary’s height is close to the highest setting and it’s pretty lower than stock but he can clear speed bumps with ease. CaymanRotary’s friend also installed these on his RX8 and he has mudguards front and back and no issues. Just make sure you do a wheel alignment after installation.