Eric F

Chris, I might have to look at them again to be certain, but I don't remember them looking that much different. I had the AWR rear bar on before I swapped to the Racing Beat bars, so I didn't really compare them directly. The main difference is the brackets and how the mount. The stock '00 crossmember has a stud in it for the top bracket mount, while the bottom uses a bolt. The MP3 crossmember uses bolts only, and the bracket looked to be shaped differently and may be a different size also. I think the stock bracket would work with the MP3 bar with the right bushing. I can take a look at this stuff again this weekend if you want to know something specific.

jstand6

I would be VERY careful with swapping out Gen3.5 (2001+) with Gen3 (1999-2000) suspension pieces.

The suspension mounts were reinforced in the update. This is NOT due to the extra weight of the vehicle. Mazda found that the suspension mounting points were allowing too much flex. In order to better the ride/handling characteristics while reducing body roll and maintaining quick lateral transition, that flex had to be removed to provide exact fine-tuning of the suspension.

In the process, Mazda also lowered the front roll center and raised the rear roll center for better handling characteristics (rolls force weight transition to front wheels to help neutralize understeer).

Without the geometry changes and reinforced suspension mounts, the Gen3.5 stiffened suspension could very easily cause a Gen3 car to become too bouncy thus reducing handling control during suspension compression/rebound in turns on less-that-ideal roads.

It may not, but aftermarket products specifically designed for the Gen3 cars would be much better. Larger wheels and lower-profile tires plus a strut tower brace would do wonders to a Gen3 LX. The main reason an ES model can out-handle a DX or LX model is due mainly to the ES's wider wheels and lower-profile tires.

-Jerry