A client of ours had just picked up this really nice 2020 Mazda Miata MX5 Club - complete with upgraded V2 Bilstein shocks, Recaro seats, and an LSD out back. These are very nice cars and perform well right from the factory but he wanted more.....So he researched upgrades that would compliment the factory suspension, and he decided on a full set of Progress Technology Springs and Swaybars. He then he contacted us to get these parts installed, so we got to work!
First up we got his MX5 on our lift and removed the factory front spring and shock assemblies. This Miata comes with very nice Bilstein shocks from the factory as part of the "Club" package, so there was no need to replace these. We used our spring compressor to remove the factory hats and springs, and installed the new Progress Technology springs in place. We used new shorter bumpstops to allow a little bit more travel on the Bilsteins before bottoming out. The PT springs lower the car just a bit, which uses up some of the factory travel and the shorter bumpstops will allow a bit more travel over the longer factory stops - thus giving us back what we lost - Ideal!
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| Old spring off, new PT spring on. |
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| Bilstein all assembled with the new PT spring. |
With the new Progress Technology springs and shorter bumpstops in place, we moved on to installing the front swaybar. The MX5 is a small car, and in order to cram all of the components into this tiny chassis Mazda had to get creative. Unfortunately...this means if you want to remove the front swaybar, you need to disassemble quite a few things. We needed to remove the upper air-box, battery and a few other plastics pieces to gain access from the top. From the bottom we needed to undo the lower protective plastics, belly-pan, and unbolt the lower suspension arms. We then needed to unbolt the steering rack and move it out of the way, once that was done we needed to cut off the factory swaybar bushings - which are actually glued into place. At that point we had just enough room to wiggle the factory bar out of it's home - whew!
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| It's a tight fit! |
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| Steering Rack needs to be unbolted and moved. |
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| Removing parts for Swaybar access. |
The new Progress Technology front swaybar is even bigger, so with some patience and ingenuity we snaked it into place with new swaybar bushings. Progress Technology provides new longer endlinks for the front swaybar, so we got those installed and adjusted. We then buttoned everything back up, got the newly installed Progress Technology springs and factory Bilstein shocks back into place, and got the front of the car rebuilt and all back to normal. Once last check to be sure everything was tight and moving properly, and then we moved onto the rear.
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| Stock swaybars and links. |
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| New Progress Technology swaybars, much thicker and adjsutable! |
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| New front Swaybar in place with adjustable endlinks! |
Thankfully the rear swaybar is not as much of an effort to replace as the front. We got the new Progress Technology rear swaybar into place with the beefier bushing-to-chassis mounts. Once that was done we installed the rear Progress Technology springs and shorter bumpstops onto the rear Bilsteins. A lot easier than the front was!
New rear sway in place with HD mounts.
All buttoned up, the car was back on the ground and we tested it to be sure there were no issues. The car feels even more planted now with the upgraded Progress Technology suspension! It also looks a little more aggressive with a slightly lower stance, a win-in upgrade. A very nice addition to the already solid MX5 Club!
Circuit Motorsports is a Performance Automotive shop located in the North Orlando, Florida area. We specialize in performance upgrades such as suspension, power modifications, brakes, tuning, forced induction, and engine builds. Our 11,000 sq./ft. modern facility is clean and well organized and allows us to provide proper time and attention to detail for our clients vehicles. Contact us today for a consultation on how we can make your vehicle perform better!
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