The New KING of Long Travel Miata Shocks!
Massive 136mm front stroke and 181mm rear stroke, more than all other setups.
This custom combo incorporates our new ND Koni Race height-adjustable threaded body shocks and a special dual-rate spring developed specifically for this package and made for us by Progress Technology. The result is a shorter shock body extra long travel coilover that boasts premium quality from some of the best names in suspension, with an unbeatable price tag.
This kit is all about MAXIMUM performance to dollar ratio with way above average ride quality for these spring rates, particularly when you hit a pothole or other road issue that uses the extra travel. Massive 136mm front stroke and 181mm rear stroke is more than any other coilover we have seen for this platform and it means you can absorb bigger potholes and dips without hitting the bumpstops.
We focused the costs and R&D where it all matters, and avoided anything unnecessary in order to create the new best bargain among coilover options for cars bridging the gap between fun canyon carver and occasional autocross or track fun.
To that end, we chose to design this combo to use the factory top hats, which saves the cost of manufacturing four new hats. The reason most coilovers need their own hats is that standard 2.5 inch diameter race springs used on most coilovers don't seat properly on a stock hat. Rather than go with off-the-shelf springs we decided to custom design unique springs made to work with ND top hats. Retaining stock top hats also keeps the factory rubber donut mounting of those hats which cuts a lot of noise and vibration as compared with other brands using spherical bearing top hats.
Thus, instead of a universal linear 2.5 inch diameter spring, these custom springs were developed with the appropriate size at the top to fit into the factory hats. That means no extra adapters needed and the spring tapers down to a smaller diameter at the bottom to fit the adjustable perch on the special threaded body KONI Race shock. Furthermore, this custom spring incorporates two spring rates with a progressive transition, effectively having a higher primary spring rate and a lower helper spring rate all built in one spring (more on this below in the spring section). This simplification of the spring stack gets you the value of a high end coilover with dual spring setup, all incorporated into a single spring for easy assembly with less parts, and a lower price tag. AND we found in testing that this special dual-rate spring actually gives better ride quality than even a super high quality dual spring setup from Swift of similar spring rates. That's due to the special dual rate spring having a smooth progressive transition between the two portions of the spring, in stark contrast to a classic two-spring race setup where there's a sudden change in rate between the helper and main spring.
ack in the day our friends at KONI did a motorsports Koni Race valving setup for the NC for GrandAm Racing. They sent us a set of those in fixed length with that valving for testing and we LOVED IT. We loved it because it rode amazing and yet it handled race sharp. But we wanted even more - we wanted it in a height adjustable shock body in addition to the magic damping and the adjustable damping feature of the first test set sent to us. From that was born the NC Koni Race, and those rewrote what was thought possible for a 'budget' level coilover option. Building on that success, we wanted the same amazing ride and performance for the ND, and so Koni went to work with us on an ND version with all the same experience and expertise. The result here is a ride height adjustable and rebound adjustable Koni Race shock for the ND with long travel. Massive 136mm front stroke and 181mm rear stroke is more than any other coilover we have seen for this platform. Think of it as a massively upgraded version of the popular Koni Sport shocks, adding superior damping control and fine height adjustment and extra travel. These are exclusive to Goodwin Racing.
The shock bodies feature a beautiful "chrome" finish that has undergone rigorous 1000-hour salt spray testing for exceptional corrosion protection.
These shocks come with Koni racing bumpstops included in the boxes which were selected for this kit after extensive testing in our own Miata. Shock rebound adjustment is done just like Koni Sport shocks via a knob at the top of the shock.
Developed specifically for this kit, these dual-rate springs are a two-in-one wonder that operates like a traditional (and more complex) multi-spring stack found on dedicated race coilovers.
You'll often see high-end coilovers with multiple springs per shock; a main spring and a helper spring. This is particularly necessary for coilovers with higher spring rates so that as you move the lower spring perch to adjust ride height you aren't trying to compress the strong main spring further and further. The "helper" spring is a lighter secondary spring that is relatively easy to compress. The usual helper spring maintains pressure on the lower perch as you move the lower perch up or down on the shock while presenting minimal resistance to you as you make adjustments. The helper spring also helps with traction over bumps through a corner on the unloaded side of the car.
We rolled the helper and main spring into one spring by working with Progress Technology to develop a special spring that has both a main rate portion and a lower helper rate portion. Having this all incorporated in one spring eliminates the complexity of needing adapters and bearings between multiple springs. Some coilovers need up to 7 individual parts to make up one spring stack on a shock! Here you have just one spring and no potential noise sources that traditional multi-spring stacks can suffer.
STREET: Front 390 lb/in, Rear 225 lb/in (7k/4k)