Suspension upgrades for 1.6l '99
 

I've got a 99 Protoge SE
4x100 lugs on the wheels (it's the 1.6l, automatic too, ugh)

I'm stuck with this car for the next few years, and am getting a little tired of the vanillaness of it. Very disconnected feeling when driving. Very little feedback, and the limits, as low as they are, tend towards an obnoxious level of front end plow.

I'm looking for at least a little feedback through the wheel, and not necessarily higher absolute limits. I'm not out to race anyone, just enjoy carving some corners at a reasonable speed.

With different lug pattern, I'm worried that there might be major suspension differences which would make, say, installing a larger rear swaybar a major hassle.

The rear swaybar end links are worn and need to be replaced, so I was thinking of doing that first, but it might not be realistic without doing a lot of suspension work to keep things nice and balanced.

My desired course of action (ideally) would be the following:

1) New wheels/tires. Anyone know what offset wheels I should be looking for? Anything reasonably priced in a 15" size? Are any other car's stock rims (even steels) close enough in offset to do a simple and cheap swap?

2) Bring the car to ES suspension specs. I've heard that the ES handles quite nicely. Springs, shocks and swaybars would be the three things necessary, *assuming* I can do that swap retaining the four bolt hubs I have now.

3) Suffer through things until I can afford to trade in for a P5, mp3, miata or something *FUN*. :)

Anyone else out there done any decent suspension tuning for the 1.6l current gen Protege? Anyone doing any SOLO driving or anything like that got some good advice?

Thanks in advance!

-Greg

1) The bolt pattern is 4x100mm and the offset is 45mm. This is basically the same wheel bolt pattern and offset that you'll find on almost any 4-lug FWD compact built in the last 15 years by Mazda, Nissan, Honda, VW, Nissan, or Toyota. Wheel choices are so ridiculously abundant that it's impossible to narrow them down here. :) About the only 4x100mm wheels that won't work are wheels intended for a BMW 2002 or 320i.

However, Mazdas tend to have vibration problems if the wheels aren't hubcentric. Make sure that any wheel you buy is either a stock Mazda wheel or has hub rings available for it.

Also, IMHO most of your handling problems are probably due to the tires. What kind of tires does the car have on it? Unfortunately, many people who own economy cars buy the cheapest, crappiest tires available. :rolleyes:

2) Your SE's suspension is the same as the ES. All North American Proteges have the same suspension except the MP3 and MSP; the P5 has a front strut brace, but that's just frosting. :) Also, 4-lug vs. 5-lug doesn't make any difference on our cars parts-wise except for the brakes, hubs and wheels, and what kind of rear brakes the car has (4-lug = drum, 5-lug = disk).

3) Your car probably WILL be fun with decent tires. :bt:

BTW the answers to most of this are in the FAQ, but I'll humor you because your a n00b. :) Run a search next time, and welcome to the forum! :D

All 3rd gen suspension parts are interchangeable. ES, MSP, whatever.

I have eibach pro kit (1.5F, 1.8R), cork sport strut bar ( a lot thicker than the OEM bar), and I'm running on Kuhmo Ecstas 205/40 R17 Z rated tires.

Compared to stock, these mods made a fairly large improvement and I'm satisfied with them.
My next suspension mod will most likely MazdaSpeed struts (NOT from the MSP). Then I'll will probably get front and rear sway bars and switch to coilovers.

If your looking for 15' wheels, I think the Miata wheels fit.

Pros: I can take turns like a mopho:D I LOVE going on long ramps and windy streets so much. I leave ANY and EVERYTHING that is tailgating me.

Cons: ride is a lot stiffer. Bigger rims + lowered ride = bumpsation:( I feel every bump. I don't really mind it, I just wouldn't want my passengers uncomfortable. As for me, the lower the better, so I'm planning on getting coilovers soon.

I put one of these:
http://www.knology.net/~negatize/ima...547%20copy.jpg

some wider+low profile tires, wheels, and a MP3 strut tower bar on my 99LX and it made a huge difference in handling. I have to agree, the small tires are what make the car feel 'mushy'.

I'm going to upgrade to the MP3 struts/springs soon, just need to collect enough money to make it happen.

I totally agree with all of those expert gentlemen
Why I didn't do those?
no cash + saving up for graduate school = sucks!!....Can't have fun!

But, I will but a front strut bar, that is a cheap and easy mod to do!

good luck with your conversion, and your best consultants on the suspesion mods are Negatize and Redrims.
They have the same model as our cars, and they worked on their cars good!