I'm planning on putting some Progress springs on my Max along with 4th G Koni yellows in rear and 3rd G Koni reds in front.

I know that MorpheusZero had some trouble with this exact setup, and I think it was probably because the Reds were too short for the Progress springs. I'm going to put a shim/spacer in the bottom of the stock strut housing to make the Reds exactly the right length for the Progress springs (i.e. minimize spring preloading while maintaining maximum travel...)

What would be the perfect length? The Progress springs claim that they lower the front by 1.7". Should the modified front struts be 1.7" shorter than the stock ones?

Is this worth the effort, or should I just shorten some yellows and go with that?

 

Personally, given my experiences, I'd go with the yellows. Then again, you probably already knew that.

The problem with the reds isn't just the body length, it's the total length. You can put a 1" spacer in there but you will still have 2.5" less extension travel overall (and like 1.75" less than a shortened yellow). 2.5" is a WORLD of difference.

If you're going to drive carefully and take it easy over crests, etc, then it would probably work for you. But unfortunately this is still a compromised setup.

 

MZ, Are you running shortened Yellows in a daily driver? How's it holding up?

 

Have you ever thought about LIMITING strut travel like the drag racing (Aaron92, Jime...) guys do? Maybe a cable that runs from the lower spring perch on the strut to the top or body? Seems like you could make your maximum extension whatever you want it to be.

 

Right now I'm running a stock NA Miata as a daily driver. My transmission blew shortly after I got the yellows on the Max. I'm dying to go back to the max as it was actually funner than the miata since it doesn't have stock worn-out suspension.

As far as the yellows go, I haven't topped them out, stock or shortened. I've only shortened one so far though and I wasn't running it for very long.

 

That's an interesting idea, also reminds me of a "strap" used to compress the front suspension of a superbike to increase wheelie resistance down the track.

I have not thought of that, but honestly, I'd much rather something that could just take the extra extension travel instead of just putting a band-aid on the problem.

 

That band-aid could have saved j00.

 

Nevar dwell in the past!

 

I'm just saying.