Neutral Handling
 

I have a 2k2 ES and I was wondering how to reduce understeer and get the neutral handling characteristics that everyone talks about.

Anyone have any suggestions of what it would take to achieve this with a Protege, and more importantly how much it will cost?

The easiest and cheapest thing to do is to fit a larger rear sway bar. Playing with tire pressures can have an affect, but you really can't do too much on the street.

After that, bigger rear bar and bigger front bar to go with it, and springs (most aftermarket sets of springs don't do much for reducing understeer much). Aftermarket (adjustable) shocks can work well to tune handling.

My car has all of the above. On the street, I turn things down so it understeers slightly, but for autocross, I try to tune all of the understeer out, but that means that oversteer is always there waiting to rear its ugly head (tail?).

You will always have some understeer under certain conditions with a FWD car. You can almost always induce oversteer with the right conditions also. Your best bet is to increase the overall handling limitations of your car, so you don't run into them. A good place to start would be with the suspension parts from the MP3 or upcoming MazdaSpeed 3, since those are the best handling versions of our cars to begin with. The sway bars will probably make the biggest difference to your confidense as a driver by reducing body roll. Do a search on this forum to find all kinds of specific information about installing these pieces.

Anyone have estimates of about how much a new suspension setup like the ones mentioned would cost?

Check this website for parts and prices. http://www.mazdastuff.com/directory.cfm?CategoryID=196
I believe they give a discount for Internet orders also. Other options would be MazdaSpeed (Tokico) adjustable shocks instead of the MP3 shocks. About $684 for the set of 4 from Mazda Motorsports. http://www.mazdamotorsports.com
Also, Racing Beats sells slightly stiffer, shorter springs than the MP3 springs for $195 for the set of four. http://www.racingbeat.com
Search, and yea shall find. All this information and more is available on this forum.

ok,guys...a related question....what would be an acceptable amount of lowering without replacing the stock struts...to be honest,I would like stiffer springs without blowing out my stock struts by getting lowered springs,since I really cant afford another $600 for new struts right now....

For me, about .75" to 1" is the most for the front if you want to maintain a decent ride and good handling. Any more will put you on the bump stops too often without springs that are too stiff for the application. The thing that wears out stock struts quicker is the additional stiffness of the springs. Struts work to slow the movement of the springs, the stiffer the spring, the harder the struts work, so any lowering spring will wear the stock struts faster.