Normal or Hard suspension
 

I was at the Mazda dealer yesterday and thought I'd inquire into the cost of new oem springs for my '94 LX. Well, the price was ridiculous of course, but the lady asked me if I had the normal or hard suspension. I asked how I could tell, she said the vin#. I didn't have the car with me though. She printed out the Mazda part numbers and pics of the struts/springs for me. Later, I looked at the vin# breakdown on the Pro FAQ here and couldn't see any coding for this. I see discussion about the normal, sport, hard suspension for the BJ chassis, but not the BG. Anyone ever heard of this?

whats the diff? better preformance for the LX?

I've never seen the "hard" suspension sticker, but there are 6 separate springs listed for just the '90 Protege, and the difference in stiffness between the softest and the firmest is about 24%. I imagine that there are separate springs for each of the 6 models (SE, LX, 4wd, stick or auto), but no idea which is which.

i would imagine the auto springs would be on the stiff side, seeing that the auto tranny is heavier, and probably the stiffest going to the AWD with the added drivetrain weight....but just a guess.

there was no 90 DX?

Props to Jesse for the FYI on the sticker! Sure enough, the white "Vehicle Information" sticker on the front passenger door-jamb says Hard Suspension. When I went to Mazda today to pick up my valve cover gasket, the counter girl was slightly taken aback when I told her I had a hard one! :p

lol. a hard one eh? :P