Customer Reviews
I've had this kit now for about 5 years. I went from all stock to this kit with Avanti Storm S1's 15x8+25, Conti Extremecontact sport tires. I'm not a racer but I previously won a local autox season championship, (not in a Miata) so I'm not a complete novice either. I LOVE how this transformed my car. Stock, they are fun with substantial body roll and predictable axis movement. Once I installed the aforementioned goods, the car became a dream car to me. The body-roll is all but nonexistent. The predictable nature is improved, from an already predictable platform! I don't compete anymore so I can't comment on track use but for the spirited weekend drives that I go on, this is stellar! I've had many friends and associates drive it and they all say it's one of the best handling cars they've ever driven. Granted, non of them own Miata's..but you get the point. I've put over 40,000 miles on this system since installation and so far no blown seals, damping is still pretty tight and the ride seems just as good as when I installed it.
I drive this every day to/from work and I was concerned about an increase in harshness etc... I think this setup is more forgiving than stock! My father has a 2001 SE with less than 60k miles on it and when he drives mine, he says it handles the bumps better than his! The only thing that I didn't consider perfect was the spherical bearings in the tophats. I had a clunk noise coming from them and found linear slop in them. I removed and replaced them but it seemed to return after a fairly short time. I've since removed the top hats but don't really notice much of a difference. I will revisit them when I run out of other projects to play with. :-)
If you're on the fence about this kit, jump to the "GET IT" side. You won't be sorry.
I have driven with this setup for about 10 years now and I love the setup. Definitely firms up the suspension and I added beefier sway bar attachments in the front. I have had no issues.
Car corners flatter, steering is much sharper, and car no longer feels "floaty" when going above 75 on the highways.
Ride quality is not harsh, but roads can be and this suspension kit definitely points out all the surface imperfections to a larger degree than stock. Stock setup, while really good, ultimately is more tuned towards comfort and is softer. Obviously.
Love the control this suspension provides both on the track and as a weekend driver. We spent two days on the Tail of the Dragon and the NA held up well and kept up with the 9 ND's through the corners too. Having the ability to stiffen the suspension when we needed it on the Dragon and then soften it for the 10 hour drive up and back from Tampa was perfect. Only regret was not buying them sooner.
I bought this for my 97 intended to be a track car. After around 10 track days at VIR, the circlips holding the spring perches to the shock popped out and the perch dropped to the A arm. I replaced them with safety wired retention rings, and it happened again. This is an inherently weak design, not up to track use.
Note from FM: A failure like that would only happen if there was coil bind. The Koni perch mounting is a design that's been proven on street and race Miatas for 30 years. RBR, please contact us.
Bought an NA6 Miata that was tail happy in low speed turns. Was looking for a more planted rear. It’s been two weeks since the install, and the Stage 2.5 FM Koni kit works great. (To be sure, I got new tires and an alignment, too; they are probably contributing to my satisfaction). But, for street driving, I’m very pleased with the FM Stage 2.5 kit. The low-speed fishtailing problem is 100% gone. Car is planted in the corners, and rides very comfortably otherwise, with no reduction in the playfulness and chuckability of a superb factory chassis. Too, the shop had to make no mods while installing the kit. (Set-up note: My front sways are on the soft (outer) setting. My rear sways are on the middle setting. The Konis are set at fully soft for the rebound, and at the highest perch height.)