Tein basic install...

[POS Racing]

I highly doubt mine will last a year. I probably could have gotten 8 months before I went bald on the GForce Sports.

So I'd guess 5 or so with autocrosses and street driving every day.

Since you seem to already have it figured out why did ya ask??

[CosmosMpower]

If you attend an autocross a month and daily drive my guess is about 10-12K miles. I put mine on mid July and daily drive them with about 5-6 autocrosses on them so far and they're probably only 30% used. jrj512 on the other hand put his on right after me and I'd say his are down to 25% left, he probably has close to 100 runs on his by now though.

I never spray the Azenis, I do let some air out after a few runs though.

[Titus]

And it's red.

Ah yes... color is key for a part that no one ever sees.

[Miatamoto]

Ah yes... color is key for a part that no one ever sees.

You see it everytime you open the hood. So if you open the hood and show people as much as Magma, then it's a very good investment!

[Titus]

Since you need tires as well, may I suggest some Kumho Reds?

[POS Racing]

Andy H. had a post on miata.net talking about the importance of the spacers and the previous owner of the POSIII had the spacers on the car.

YMMV

So it is written, so it shall be! (Copy & Paste from Miata.net)

Here's a brain dump on Miata clunks and broken sway bar mounts and such.

1) The M2 has sway bar locators on the stock bar. These keep it from moving laterally in the bushings. Also, the stock rubber frame mounts tend to keep it in place. But aftermarket bars have no locators and use urethane bushings. The bar will move side-to-side. Taken to an extreme it can allow one end to contact the frame, causing a clunk when it slides off and lets go. Solution: add a pair of hose clamps to the bar just inside the frame mounts. Placing them over a short piece of split garden hose will give the frame mount a bearing surface to act on. A brass collar is the professional way to get the same effect.

2) The big hollow RB front bars that are in vogue are much thicker than OE. As such, they provide less clearance to the upper control arm and can contact it if you use OE end links. Buy some adjustables or make your own (rod ends) to fix this. If the bar contacts the control arm, it will make noise and it will also apply tremendous stress to the frame mounts and likely rip them (causing more noise).

3) The opposite of #2 is having aftermarket end links that are too short or which do not have enough off-axis movement available. When replacing the links, there has to be enough length so the bar does not hold up the control arm at full droop (doing so will stress the frame mounts and...well you know the rest). Its best to remove the shock/spring, attach one end of the bar to the link and lower arm, and run the suspension up and down all the way to look for binding and travel.

4) The RB urethane bushing is too thick in the frame mounts. In most applications, it binds the bar when tightened. Applying lube will help for awhile, but its only a temporary fix. Noise is made as the binding lets go and regrabs. It will also make the car push like a pig. Excessive binding will stress the frame mounts which cause breakage and more noise... The easy fix is to sand/grind off a little bit of the flat part of the frame mount bushing that mounts up against the frame rail. try a little at a time until the bar moves freely when the whole assembly is tightened. DOn't do too much or the bar will lose effectiveness.

HTH,

--Andy

PS: BTW, all of this is from first-hand experience.

[Magma]

You see it everytime you open the hood. So if you open the hood and show people as much as Magma, then it's a very good investment!

How did I get pulled into this thread I just like to show off my shiny pipes

[CosmosMpower]

Hrmm, now that you mention it I do have a clunk every once in a while when I turn the wheel far either direction, might be time to crawl under there. I changed the setting to full stiff before the last SCCA event, hope everything is intact.

[jrj512]

Here is the usage from my current set. I will end up with about 2000 miles on them and will replace them in December or January.

New Tires 8/6/07 Falken Azenis RT615 195/60R14 133,939 miles
8/11/07 - BMW - Grayson - 9 runs
8/12/07 - ER - Pennington - 6 runs
8/18/07 - SCCA - La Grave Field - 4 runs
8/19/07 - SCCA - La Grave Field - 4 runs
9/1/07 - ER - Pennington - 0 runs (borrowed car)
9/8/07 - BMW - Mineral Wells - 10 runs
9/9/07 - BMW - Mineral Wells - 10 runs
9/15/07 - PCA TT - Mineral Wells - 13 runs
9/16/07 - SCCA - La Grave Field - 4 runs
9/30/07 - S2K - Mineral Wells - 11 runs
10/5/07 - Rotated tires - 135,104 miles
10/7/07 - SCCA - OKC - 8 runs
10/13/07 - BMW - TMS Bus Lot - 8 runs
10/14/07 - ER - Pennington - 6 runs
10/21/07 - SCCA - PMS Bus Lot - 10 runs
10/28/07 - TX A&M - A&M - 5 runs
11/3/07 - S2K - Mineral Wells - 8 runs
11/4/07 - S2K - Mineral Wells - 8 runs

[altiain]

Hey I won the dixie tour, oh wait that wasn't me.....

I also think the collars help keep everything in place, did you have the spacer collars on your bar?

Andy H. had a post on miata.net talking about the importance of the spacers and the previous owner of the POSIII had the spacers on the car.

YMMV

Yep. I made collars using the rubber bushings from the stock bar and 1.25" hose clamps. I also shimmed the u-shaped brackets to prevent the bar from binding in the bushings.

While I'm sure shock loading could rip those mounts out in a heartbeat, I'm convinced that the failures I've seen on local autocross cars were fatigue induced, given the higher "normal" load peaks seen on an R comp car with a bigger than stock front bar. Heck, one of the leftover pieces that I cut out of the car had evidence of beach marks at the point of failure, which is a classic sign of a fatigue failure.

[Black_devil_miata]

This may just be me, but I've been to autox events a few years ago and never really got into them. I mean to each his own right. I do however love to push my car to the limit on the street (in a somewhat safe manner ) and to do that and have more fun, I bought suspension for my car and various other aftermarket goodies (no fart cannon or carbon fiber BS). If he wants to buy the most expensive ohlins just to hit the twisties then sweet! Who cares if he doesnt autox's all the time or how good he is, its his money, let him spend it how he wants. Its true that you can have all the go fast parts in the world but be a horrible driver and lose to someone who is a badass driver with a totally stock setup...but again whoooo cares.

Also I'd save up and get the Flex's, I wish I had the money to get them. I'm still rocking KYB AGX's and ground controls.

[Darron65]

Darron65 has been on his for over a year, I think. Mine don't last too long because of the amount of racing I do.

I've got a set of 215's with a build code of 1105 (March 2005). They were mounted in early 2006 and have seen 4224 miles including 187 ax runs. I did not shave them; in hindsight maybe I should've. Tread depth is down to 2/32's right now. Which means I might not buy tires til 2008!