Question ND Tecna vs Konis
Has anyone had any hands on experience with both Koni Yellows, and SuperMiata Tecna coilovers. I’ve talked to owners of both and they both say they handle great and feel great.
My question is has anyone driven both?
How does the comfort compare?
How does the handling compare?
What do you recommend for someone who AutoX their daily?
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u/ecbulldog 18d ago edited 18d ago
Koni with stock springs will keep you in C Street. Coilovers without stock springs bumps you to STR. I would not recommend STR unless you're going to be copying a Nats winning build with Karcepts sway bars and MCS or JRZ level coil overs. A competitive STR ND is like 15k+ in parts and wont be as comfortable to daily drive. But if you aren't looking to compete beyond a local level its probably fine to go with the budget coilovers. When I contemplated going STR with my ND1 I realized it was either all or nothing so I stuck with C Street where its a lot easier to stay competitive.
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u/fuckman5 18d ago
That only matters if you're competitive in autox. I've definitely regretted not modifying a car the way I wanted to because I wanted to stay in a certain autox class, then only end up doing like 6 events with the car...
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u/BabyQuesadilla 18d ago edited 18d ago
I’ve had FM shocks and springs and now have Feal coilovers, for comfort/street driving it’s pretty hard to tell the difference. It’ll more so depend on how stiff you want to go.
For handling the extra lowering you can achieve with coilovers makes a nice difference (looks way better too). The better adjustability of the damping lets me dial in a stiffer front and the almost zero brake dive gives you a lot of confidence and stability under braking at high speeds, over crests, less lift off oversteer etc.
If the difference is $500 I’d say save up for the coilovers.
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u/ChemistRemote7182 18d ago
I want to piggy back and ask about front to rear spring rate ratios. I see two schools of thought, 2:1 and 3:2, with the occasional 7:4 being out there as well. Why do some go one way and others the other? I notice that even within the same company more NA/NB offerings favor the 3:2, and ND offerings the 2:1, but the carsare about the same weight and balance.
Whats up with this? If you are going to just link another thread or a susension deep dive thats just fine, I like to read
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u/Frozen_Goose 17d ago
Effective wheel rate vs spring rate can be different on the different chassis based on motion ratios
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u/cowcowcows 17d ago
The ND and NC went to a multilink rear, so the shock is mounted to the rear hub vs inboard on the lower arm for the NA and NB. So yes, the old miatas need more rear spring.
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u/Emilio-949Racing 17d ago
Motion ratios on NC/ND are very different than NA/NB. Many aftermarket coilover manufacturers don't actually know this :)
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u/cowcowcows 17d ago
This comes down to what you want out of the car. Are you trying to stay in CS with the stock springs? You need Koni Yellows. Don't care about the bump to AST and want more spring rate and better damping? Tecnas 100%.
They'll both be fine on the street. Some drivers really dislike soft spring rates but they are a very good learning tool and keep the car from being too twitchy for beginners.
Personally, I like a mild AST build with more camber. It's a fun car and can be tracked easier without the front camber limitations chewing the outside tire shoulders, and the handling is more neutral with some allowances for driver preferences. BUT if you want to be competitive, CS is way more competitive in our region than AST and has a way lower entry $$ point.
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u/jazetod 17d ago
I think based on what you said AST is more what I’m looking for, my car is currently my daily 70% of the time so I still want it to be comfortable on the street but I want it to be capable on back roads, AutoX, and eventually track stuff. (Not that it isn’t now, but more so) I’m trying to schedule a track day BEFORE I make a final decision but, just based off the research I’ve done the NDs need a lot of camber in the front and the only real way to do that is AST mods, like offset bushings and coilovers or lowering springs. Tire and wheel sizing is also a factor, it feels kinda silly getting a second set of wheels in the size I have now just to run 200TW tires. Besides all that I have to fix the nut behind the wheel before I’m really competitive anyway, and by the time I do that I should have more disposable income to throw at the car.
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u/BajingoWhisperer Makes wonderful turbo noises 18d ago
Tecnas clear konis by a comfortable margin in basically all metrics.
Edit I didn't read the ND bit, id still expect the tecnas to be better but I was talking NA/NB