Tuning and improving.....Whats next and where to get it???
Discussion
After 18 months of NC ownership i have now decided to tune, modify and improve rather then replace the car. I did think long and hard about replacing it but kept arriving back at the BMW Z4. As good as the Z4 might be i prefer the Mazda so im sticking with it.
Anyway the car started life as a standard 2.0se. Over the past few months i have gradually been improving it. First i added the fog lights from the sport cars, next up was the adjustable intermittent wiper stalk from the RX8. Recently i have added the 17" multispoke sport wheels along the the clear side repeaters.
Along with the O.E based visual changes i also wanted to increase the performance a little. So far i have added a cat back Scorpion S/S exhaust with secondary cat delete and a K&N Apollo closed air induction kit.
Braking is taken care of the a full set of new O.E discs and EBC Redstuff pads, this set up appears to work very well.
Handling wise the car is currently running the standard Bilstein spring/damper combination. However i have just bought a set of Eibach lowering springs and hope to get them fitted very soon.
So although i am happy with how the car is slowly being improved i now want to move on to the next stage performance wise. What would be your recommendations and who would you recommend to carry out the work? Please bear in mind that i live down in Devon, Southwest England so would be looking for companies as close to me as possible.
Anyway the car started life as a standard 2.0se. Over the past few months i have gradually been improving it. First i added the fog lights from the sport cars, next up was the adjustable intermittent wiper stalk from the RX8. Recently i have added the 17" multispoke sport wheels along the the clear side repeaters.
Along with the O.E based visual changes i also wanted to increase the performance a little. So far i have added a cat back Scorpion S/S exhaust with secondary cat delete and a K&N Apollo closed air induction kit.
Braking is taken care of the a full set of new O.E discs and EBC Redstuff pads, this set up appears to work very well.
Handling wise the car is currently running the standard Bilstein spring/damper combination. However i have just bought a set of Eibach lowering springs and hope to get them fitted very soon.
So although i am happy with how the car is slowly being improved i now want to move on to the next stage performance wise. What would be your recommendations and who would you recommend to carry out the work? Please bear in mind that i live down in Devon, Southwest England so would be looking for companies as close to me as possible.
I've just gone for a set of MeisterR ZETA-S's.
The stock stuff ain't bad but I don't like the way the car pitches and dives under hard braking and accelerating. Sure it's predictable. But it's just that little bit too much.
Plus tbh I want to reduce the gap between the arches and the wheels. I know this sounds mad, but the car just sits too high??!!
Not going to go too low/hard though. Mines a road car. Never likely to see see a track, but been up to Scotland already, euro-hoon planned next year.
The stock stuff ain't bad but I don't like the way the car pitches and dives under hard braking and accelerating. Sure it's predictable. But it's just that little bit too much.
Plus tbh I want to reduce the gap between the arches and the wheels. I know this sounds mad, but the car just sits too high??!!
Not going to go too low/hard though. Mines a road car. Never likely to see see a track, but been up to Scotland already, euro-hoon planned next year.
Mine is solely a road car,not looking for anything hardcore. The Eibachs will do the job perfectly for me, the main intention is to reduce the arch gap. The main purpose of this thread was to gauge opinion of what should be next on the tuning front and the recommended places to get any work done.
dragonheart said:
Mine is solely a road car,not looking for anything hardcore. The Eibachs will do the job perfectly for me, the main intention is to reduce the arch gap. The main purpose of this thread was to gauge opinion of what should be next on the tuning front and the recommended places to get any work done.
You asked for an opinion 
Seriously though the MeisterR's will be comfier than what you have with Eibachs.
I'm not sure if there's much else unless you want a bit more power or want to improve the handling moreso.
Get a good aligment done as/when the Eibachs are fitted. I'd recomend FCM in Bristol as they did a very good job with my car.
Seeing as you don't want anything hardcore I would also have suggested Coilovers, good ones will usually by themselves improve things as much as needed for the road. I have Tein Street Flex on mine (around £800). Roll is improved, it holds the road better and the front end is much more direct; they are stiff but the ride quality is excellent, better than my V60.
I am limited with having to have an auto, so I wanted to get the best handling out of it for the road but within reason for cost (as tempting as Ohlins DFVs over 2x the price were). I have the dampers slightly harder at the front partly because the rear was too stiff to ride over harsh humps smoothly before, and I'm not sure at this stage if it will even need an aftermarket strut brace or thicker ARBs. I do want to add an oem LSD as it doesn't have that 
Now you have them see how Eibach's go then consider after whether to change anything else, roll bars or one of the decent strut braces (plenty on any forum which are effective-ish for the NC) etc., there's all sorts of underbody bracing available but will be too hardcore.
The picture on my profile is at 40mm lower, I couldn't get onto my wheelchair easily so had it back in to be raised a bit and the alignment changed again while it was there. It wasn't a bad job for general fast road setup by any means, but not to my preference and too different to what alot of people seem to run on NC2s. I'll see if I can get take a fresh picture later, it's now about an inch lower than standard and looks much better.
Get a good aligment done as/when the Eibachs are fitted. I'd recomend FCM in Bristol as they did a very good job with my car.
Seeing as you don't want anything hardcore I would also have suggested Coilovers, good ones will usually by themselves improve things as much as needed for the road. I have Tein Street Flex on mine (around £800). Roll is improved, it holds the road better and the front end is much more direct; they are stiff but the ride quality is excellent, better than my V60.
I am limited with having to have an auto, so I wanted to get the best handling out of it for the road but within reason for cost (as tempting as Ohlins DFVs over 2x the price were
). I have the dampers slightly harder at the front partly because the rear was too stiff to ride over harsh humps smoothly before, and I'm not sure at this stage if it will even need an aftermarket strut brace or thicker ARBs. I do want to add an oem LSD as it doesn't have that Now you have them see how Eibach's go then consider after whether to change anything else, roll bars or one of the decent strut braces (plenty on any forum which are effective-ish for the NC) etc., there's all sorts of underbody bracing available but will be too hardcore.
clarki said:
Plus tbh I want to reduce the gap between the arches and the wheels. I know this sounds mad, but the car just sits too high??!
Yep, it's not as bad as the Mk3 NC but still a bit 4x4. The picture on my profile is at 40mm lower, I couldn't get onto my wheelchair easily so had it back in to be raised a bit and the alignment changed again while it was there. It wasn't a bad job for general fast road setup by any means, but not to my preference and too different to what alot of people seem to run on NC2s. I'll see if I can get take a fresh picture later, it's now about an inch lower than standard and looks much better.
Edited by mizx on Monday 17th November 13:47
dragonheart said:
Liking that mizx. That is the look I'm aafter,sits just right. I will get the Eibachs fitted and an alignment. Then I would like to look into performance, maybe a remap?
It sits even better now I'll take some better pics later if it's dry. The ground was uneven in that picture and the right rear tyre was a fingers width from the arch. With new ride height and alignment they fit perfectly under the arches, it doesn't even need an arch roll with 235/40 tyres on a 9" wheel.
Adding manifold and remap would get to about 180bhp I believe.
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