Nope. MSP rear springs are shorter than other springs. They're designed to work with the MSP rear struts, whose spring perches are mounted, correspondingly, a little higher than on HPs.

Yes on both.

If you're hot on the MSP setup but don't want the associated problems, the best thing to do is to get Racing Beat springs and Tokico HPs.

behold the wonders of communication and the internet. thanks for the advice, my shopping & budgeting just got a bit more complicated:tear:

On the bright side, $460 for MSP struts + whatever you'd pay for MSP springs is probably about the same as $320 for HPs + $180 for RB springs, right? :)

I'm VERY glad that someone knew this before I started my setup (Thank Josh!).
Since finding this out, I have sold my MSP springs that I had planned (didn't even install them, haha).

Now I'm planning Tokico's Setup Set, trying to get a nice aggresive setup, and I already have both front and rear swaybars.
On shopping list:
New endlinks (Hardrace)
MSP Bumpstops
Bushings (since I dont think the MSP bars fit in the ES bushings, front or rear, right?)

Anything else I should be shopping for while I'm thinking about this? I only want to make one order to onlinemazdaparts.

You'll need the brackets to go with those sway bar bushings. At least I did..

Maybe I'll just get the AXR - since I have to buy something either way.

new brackets + bushings = ~20CAD

... AXR clunk fix = 200CAD

it's worth it for no clunk though, definitely.

That AXR is a pricey one, haha.
Time will tell on that one, I still need to worry about endlinks first.

Are you in on the hardrace group buy on toprotege?

I'd either go for those (no clue how durable or reliable they are...) or just stock MSP endlinks.

i.e. 99-00 front endlinks (for the rear) and the same front endlinks as all 01+ Proteges.

just remembered the hardrace links have no application for 99-00 sedans and therefore MSPs yet.

I'm still waiting on the hardrace ones on ToPro. Can't beat that price, and it'll be nice to try something new.
If they end up being the same as MSP ones, at that price it's a steal. If they end up being like stock, well, at least they were cheap to try.

I'm loving my HPs and Espelirs :)

I had thought the HPs were the same as the MSP struts too, I guess I should toss my MSP springs now.

I liked the drop the MSP springs gave with the stock struts, although the back was lower than the front. The Espelir drop is perfect for me, and just to clarrify an earlier post: Espelirs are Linear in the front and Progressive in the rear.