Greetings forum. Recently i have noticed that my ge8 base model will start to feel squirmy and unstable approaching 80mph. I know this is a crazy gripe but dammit i paid for the whole speedometer, i want to use the whole speedometer. All kidding aside, i plan on eventually upgrading wheels and tires, front and rear sway bars and doing coilovers. I want to know from dudes with actual experience which of these 3 i should do first to increase my stability on the interstate if i gotta get around somebody at 80+ mph. Thx in advance.

 

Welcome to the club. You say you recently noticed; have you had the car for a while and it suddenly started doing this? I hope nothing is broken.

Otherwise, it's a pretty common complaint. Especially with the base models. If you're still on the stock 175s I would recommend going wider. I made the move from 175 to 195 on my base and it really helped. That, and a good alignment.

Last week I put on a Progress rear sway bar and that really helped, too.

After tires and a RSB I would probably recommend replacing worn suspension rubber like top mounts, bushings and ball joints.

Hope that helps.

 

I haven't said anything in a while ~ this seems like an alright opportunity to change that.
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You still riding on stock tires? And well, how much tread is left roughly, how long have they been on there, what kind?
Standard tires in stock sizing, if that's what you've got, is economy oriented all-seasons.
I agree with your desire to use the whole speedo! To that end, upsize your wheels and tires! 15, 16, or 17" for the wheels, 6.5-8" width. 195-205mm treadblock rubbers.
Try to keep 'em light-weight though. as light as the wallet will allow, otherwise that extra grip + weight can be a bit of a drag.

​​​​​​Haven't tried the RSB but heard wonderful things.
Did try spacering my rear wheels out 10mm to match the front. Looked nice but really neutralized steering, which would have been cool if drifting was the goal. A little too easy to do. Much like with stock base model tires in the rain.

 

Progress RSB is a really nice addition to the car, at least on the Sport model.

 

@Frenzal My base doesn't even have a stock roll bar in the back came without one! I bet it'd be tremendous

 

Same. The difference is worth it.

 

Swaybars, at least on older Hondas, are mandatory!

 

My 2011 with 120,000 miles cruises with no problems. I have standard size tires, but they’re fairly new. Also, they are balanced, and my alignment is good.

 

Wheels and tires first.. they will give you the traction you need to have stability. If you run sway bars and the best suspension it will not do a thing for stability if you do not have the proper traction on the ground to handle it.. if you run stiff suspension with narrow tires such as the 185's you can possibly break traction and lose control.

The factory 185-55/r16 sport wheel and tire combo is best for fuel economy and not designed for high speed stability. You will want something with a wider foot print such as 205's or 195's and a offset to your liking that is lower than factory.

 

thank you for the the input. i think im gonna do wheels and tires first like you suggest. just today i found some 16x6.5 wheels from a second gen miata. i have been wanting to do miata wheels so i think im gonna have them bored out and put some 205/55/16s on there and see how that works. also gonna do a rsb because thats fairly cheap and easy compared to the other mods

 

Mine is stock. And drives fine at 80-85 mph.

 

IMO you need to find what's broken/worn/out of spec and repair it. You do not need "more traction" than the original spec to drive straight and level in the dry. Find the problem and fix it instead of throwing on aftermarket parts which forums lead you to believe you gotta have.

First thing to check - proper tire inflation (EDIT: set to the Honda-recommended pressures on the yellow placard on the driver's door jamb, NOT the maximum inflation pressure on the tire sidewall), matched set of four tires - same brand, same model, same speed rating, same size, same approximate tread depth - no weird tire wear, wheels well balanced so that they're not trying to hop off the road surface at speed.
Next - alignment and bent suspension components.
Next - worn out bushings or ball joints allowing play or movement from driving forces.
Next - broken spring or severely worn out shocks/dampers causing you to bound/oscillate down the road (compressing and decompressing the suspension changes the alignment, if you're porpoising down the road or one corner of the car has the wheel hopping off the road you're going to have issues).

If you don't know how to DIY, take it somewhere for inspection. Generally shops doing alignments do a cursory suspension and bushing check as part of the "pre-alignment inspection" to see if anything obvious is broken.
Consider having an observant friend follow you at these speeds and see if they can see anything out of the ordinary (bounding, porpoising, one wheel hopping off the ground, tracking "sideways" down the road)

 

Please post pics!

 

If the offset of the Miata wheels is similar to the stock 16" sport wheels you might want to consider 205/50/16 instead. I get rubbing on 205/55/16, and a 50 profile is closer to stock anyway.