Bagged, RS'd....... Mazda?

[Evil Panda]

Yes! I approve.

[Alex@BagRiders]

Nice!! Looks great! How do you like the ride with the AirREX setup so far? Do you have aftermarket control arms?

[Aitch]

Thanks guys!

What is the bolt pattern on the wheels? did you need to re-drill or get bolt adapters??

These were 5x114.3 so no adapters needed for me.

Nice!! Looks great! How do you like the ride with the AirREX setup so far? Do you have aftermarket control arms?

I only used the stock control arms, the drop was enough for me. However I was never happy with the ride of the AirREX struts, mostly in the rear. I'm not sure if it was the sleeve-style bags in the rear, the damping, or not getting the rear shock length right, or a combination of these three.

I found I needed relatively high pressures for a reasonable ride height - the car didn't start lifting off the ground until 50-ish PSI in the rear and went up very quickly. So I think the effective rear spring rates changed VERY quickly over bumps. Wonder if double-bellow bags would have been better (this was my first and only air ride setup).

The damping was either way too soft (car would just constantly jiggle up and down while driving, very underdamped) or be very stiff from setting 4/12 to 12/12. I wasn't too impressed with the ability to fine-tune this.

Lastly I think the rear shock bodies might have needed to be lengthened a bit which might have limited the travel of the wheel by 1/2-1"or so. I realize that this might have solved some of my issues too but given the issues I identified above, I never got around to adjusting it before I decided to move on. My car is also my family hauler and my kid was a newborn at the point I took the air ride off (late 2012). With the bumpy ride annoying him and also my wife, there wasn't time to dick around so I just went back to a tested springs and shocks combo.

I still regret that though, given how many people have air this year and I have daycare bills preventing me from buying another setup haha.

[Dome]

Looking good man, nice and clean

[Basketcase]

STTTTTEEEEEVVVVVEEEE its Scott that had the yellow MSP!

Car looks amazing! I cant believe you had so many complaints about the AirRex... I had it on my M3 and now my 135i and havent been in a bagged car that rides as well and handles like my two have.

[Lukey]

impressive!!

[Aitch]

STTTTTEEEEEVVVVVEEEE its Scott that had the yellow MSP!

Car looks amazing! I cant believe you had so many complaints about the AirRex... I had it on my M3 and now my 135i and havent been in a bagged car that rides as well and handles like my two have.

Yo Scott! Nice to run into you again (virtually haha). I've seen a lot of good reviews on AirREX, and I always said if you wanted an air system that rode like a good racy coilover, they seemed to be the way to go. I also suspect that if I'd had more free time to tinker with the rear I might have been more satisfied, but like I said it just wasn't in the cards so I'll never know. The system is on another local car now (Josh/Hyperion on TM3) who seems pretty happy with it so who knows.

[kozeehezheya]

I think it needs more of an aggressive wheel

[MonsterMazda]

Always loved your car man! I remember seeing it on Mazdafitment and instantly falling in love!

I was wondering if you happen to remember where you got that spoiler from actually. I'm looking to change the look of my rear some more and feel like that spoiler would be a nice touch!

[Aitch]

Thanks! The spoiler came via NextMod here in Canada. It's a replica Garage Vary (GV) item. I think there may be a seller on eBay too.