Mca Suspension X-series Race For R33 Gts-t Review

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

Harro,

(please note, this is not a sponsored review and I do not have any affiliation with MCA)

So I did a quick search on SAU but there really isn't any proper discussion and/or review with MCA coilovers or specifically X-Series coilovers. Without being able to locate any reviews on the X-Series coilovers, I took the plunge and went straight into them and purchased the X-Race coilovers.

MCA says the X-Series coilovers are valved more aggressively than the MCA Blues which are destined more so for the everyday street weekend warrior, stanced up hard parked vehicles that generally want comfort and adjustability. Neither of the previous is what my R33 GTS-t is destined for, it's a track slart and a track slart it will remain.

Best time my car has ever achieved at Wakefield Park by my friend has been 1m12.7s for myself 1m13.5s - this is the benchmark!

So taking the product advertisement (as above).. I went on and purchased a set of MCA X-Race in 10kg front and 7kg rear springs, knowing that any softer for the track would result in undesired body roll, weight shift, etc.

I know this goes against all the information with other suspension gurus but I've tried those setups and cannot get the optimum handling performance I wanted (Whiteline 24mm ARBs, Bilstein Shocks, Lower Springs, Adjustable castor rods, Adjustable rear camber, HICAS eliminator). At Wakefield, the car would roll too much, the front would dip too much on hard braking and ultimately flicked the car around like a rag doll. Coming out of corners, the car would shift all of it's weight to one side (and front when braking heavily) which ended up sideways. I knew I needed stiffer spring rates to combat this.

So, the coilovers came and I installed them the same weekend they were delivered, so far so good.. very good build quality (however the brackets to hold brake lines looked to be universal and made to fit these coilovers, not a big deal - however if you look at BC ones they look nicer but this has nothing to do with the performance of the coilovers). They also appeared to be preadjusted in terms of height and also damper. I just installed them as is which resulted in the car looking a little wonky, the rear was heaps higher than the front but that could have been caused by the new harden subframe bushes I put in which sit a little different to the OEM product. I dropped the rear by 15mm which resulted in a more optimum height.

At the same time, I purchased the extenders, shorten them and let them poke through the parcel tray for ease of adjustment. Nearly looks cool LOL

Moment of truth......

Comfort: With dampers set to 4 Front and 6 Rear, the bumps and oscillations are absorbed very well. No bouncy feeling and actually very streetable. I would dare say the comfort is nearly the same as my previously Bilstein setup, of course when you hit a pothole or reflector on the road it will be more harsh than the Bilstein setup but I try to avoid hitting those things in general.

Comparison: I will compare these to BC BR in the standard 8kg/6kg flavour (unknown damper settings) the MCA X-Series in 10kg/7kg actually is more comfortable on the street.. even I was surprised, I was ready to smash my spine to bits on the street but I am also amazed and pleased with the shock's ability to articulate different bumps and dips in the road like the Bilstein shock did.

Street Handling: Not much has changed really, but then again at street speeds I can't really tell the difference as I run full semi-slicks on a daily basis (Nitto NT01) and also I'm not going fast enough to really benefit from the the coilovers.

Track Handling: TBA - have not gone yet, but will update this thread once I hit up Wakefield Park again.. might do a Speed off the Streets session before EOY.

More to come!!

[PranK]

Nice!

Looking forward to track handling review.

Are they pricey?

[niZmO_Man]

Properly dampened, you can run higher spring rates, which MCA seem to do.

Not X-series, but blues (or whichever is the cheapest one) in my mate's Evo7 (10kg springs from memory) rode almost stock-like comfort wise.

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

MCA X-Series start at $1900 but I got mine at trade price hehe

[kila32]

I've got a set of refs ready to go into the 34 in the next few weeks, will wait and see how they are.

[75coupe]

These are sounding pretty cool, i didnt realise they had released for gtst yet

[hardsteppa]

whats a parcel shelf still doing in a track car

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

whats a parcel shelf still doing in a track car

a track car that is road registered because I don't have a tow car and space for a trailer where I live now

[hardsteppa]

yeah fairy-nuff, I just ditched mine and spraypainted the area black instead. Less crap I have to pull off to get to other stuff the better.

[Dale FZ1]

Johnny I'll be surprised if you aren't impressed with your purchase. The design engineering behind these shocks is punching well above the price point. I'm running MCA Red series with pretty good results. Track only. Setup/spec can vary but I'm thinking your rear spring rates are "up there".

Strongly suggest a call to MCA for ideas/recommendations on what's required to get the best out of your shocks. I have found their after sales service first class.

Keep us updated with your progress, but include more car detail. Wheel/tyre size and spec plus alignment. Bit of in-car when you go to Wakefield will tell heaps about how things are going.

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

Quick run down of the car:

Front

• Hardrace Front Castor Rods,
• Whiteline Steering rack bushes
• 24mm Whiteline ARB set at 2nd softest

Rear

• Hardrace Rear Camber arms set at -1.5 degrees
• Hardrace harden subframe bushes
• 24mm Whiteline ARB set at stiffest
• eBay Special HICAS Eliminator kit

Alignment

• Front Toe: 1.5mm toe out each side, total 3mm
• Front Camber: -2 degrees ish (will be more now because lowered car after alignment and no adjustment)
• Front Castor: 8.5 degrees
• Rear Toe: 1mm toe in each side, total 2mm
• Rear Camber: -1.5 degrees

Wheels/Tyres/Brakes:

• R33 GT-R 17x9 +30
• Nitto NT01 255/40/17 all round
• Project Mu HC800+ all round on stock calipers, stock rotors

[ahmadabbas]

wow it is great design

[Dan_J]

good review, i'm tempted to get the X-c for the daily
i wonder if the X-c are more comfy than shockworks coilovers.... hmmm who has MCA coilovers in vic ?

[Ke55pig]

Very interesting im looking for a more street friendly coilover to replace my isc that are bit to tough on the st

[Dale FZ1]

We are running a set of the "basic spec" MCA Blue in an Evo.

Street running was remarkably better ride control. On the track it was also better controlled and the car was faster.

If you spec-up, you should get incrementally better results.

[Dale FZ1]

Quick run down of the car:

Front

• Hardrace Front Castor Rods,
• Whiteline Steering rack bushes
• 24mm Whiteline ARB set at 2nd softest

Rear

• Hardrace Rear Camber arms set at -1.5 degrees
• Hardrace harden subframe bushes
• 24mm Whiteline ARB set at stiffest
• eBay Special HICAS Eliminator kit

Alignment

• Front Toe: 1.5mm toe out each side, total 3mm
• Front Camber: -2 degrees ish (will be more now because lowered car after alignment and no adjustment)
• Front Castor: 8.5 degrees
• Rear Toe: 1mm toe in each side, total 2mm
• Rear Camber: -1.5 degrees

Wheels/Tyres/Brakes:

• R33 GT-R 17x9 +30
• Nitto NT01 255/40/17 all round
• Project Mu HC800+ all round on stock calipers, stock rotors

Johnny it looks like you've got the right sort of combinations to make a good thing. Couple of questions and suggestions:

What ride height are you running? Long time ago Sydneykid posted up suggested ride height range that works ok with R chassis cars. It doesn't take too much of a drop from stock in the rear to start inducing bump steer and nasty taily tendencies because as the suspension compresses the rear tyres toe out.

Rear camber will only increase as the suspension compresses. Gives less contact patch and grip. Maybe look to stand the tyre up more square, target 0.5 - 0.75 neg.

Front camber if you're track only could be increased. Tyres flogging out on the outside edge (if that's happening for you?) might be a telltale to give it more.

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

I actually have the car a little lower than what SK recommends, purely for aesthetic reasons - however the control arms aren't pointing skywards and actually are parallel to the ground.

In terms of rear camber, even at -1.5degree I am getting outter edge wear and tear on the track. The rear tyres are more thrashed on the outer edges rather than the inner as most may think.

I am considering even going to -2 degrees

I don't have any issues with traction though, putting over 500nm & 320+ kW to the rears on the 255 NT01 tyres

[Trex]

Went for a drive in a forry with mca golds which is setup for rally. Thing was amazing! Soaked up speed humps and table tops like it was a flat road. Had a little bit of a top heavy feeling as you get with any wagon, but still felt very flat through the corners.

Had no idea suspension could be so extremely versatile.

I have mca blues and they a great job.

[75coupe]

Me want mca too!!!

[Walfers]

Tossing up mca blues or the x-c's, it's a daily but I want to get into some minor track work as well.

Josh recommended 8/3.5 wether I go for the blues or xc's but the rear sounds a bit soft? What do you guys think? (For a r32 gtst).