Emilio just posted this up yesterday on the SuperMiata facebook page. Pretty cool setup for the guys wanting to do suspension on a budget. This could make the Bilstein budget coilover obsolete. Looks like a more budget friendly shock body with custom valving and NB hats, pretty cool at his target price point. These will probably be very popular. He posted up saying they were testing 450/300 rates right now.

Emilio
These are prototype SuperMiata Tecna coilovers. We are developing these pretty much from scratch. Still in R&D phase right now. We hope to have these shipping by early 2014. These non-damping adjustable, low pressure gas, twin tube dampers feature powdercoated springs, anodized cnc aluminum collars and stainless steel bodies (not chrome). The goal is to provide the best ride quality possible for a lowered Miata possible for under $750 complete as pictured with factory NB mounts, ready to bolt in. Minimum ride height will just about allow control arms to run out of stroke for maximum rough road bottoming resistance. As a nice side effect of the extreme bump travel available and damping control, they will handle far better than any OTS OEM replacement shock. These are not race shocks or anything like Xidas. The prototype we're testing now have been track tested for durabilty and basic handling balance with excellent results. Good ride over big hits. We're still tweaking NVH over small bumps and coarse pavement

 

In for re-badged racelands.

 

FM seems to be having success with selling cheap vmaxx coilovers with miata specific valving. I dont know the Tecna brand, but they are targeting the same price point and there's nothing wrong with a little more competiton in that segment, especially when the product is backed by a reputable miata supplier.

 

I feel like everytime I visit FM's website the prices have gone up on just about everything. Either that I could be getting more broke. In for more competition.

FM's "sport" vmaxx are $915, and the classic are $715... that seems higher than last I looked.

Edit: Ah I see $615 for NB, maybe that's what I remember. Gonna be hard to compete with them at that price point.

 

Yep, agreed:

FM can't keep their vmaxx on the shelves they sell so well.
Other companies like raceland and megan can't keep stock of their crappy coilovers either cause they sell so well.

Why not right?

If this is a "vmaxx alternative" for similar cash I think he's gonna be successful with these.

 

Corrected to allow for normal 949R delays vs initial expectations.



Supplier and Miata racer. Hopefully that carries the weight it should with suspension shoppers. I definitely would have looked hard at, and probably purchased, these if they were available when I picked up the Tein Basics in part because I was looking for a complete, bolt-in budget option without damping adjustment.

 

HA!

Unfortunately, it's funny cuz it's true

 

Is that $750 including the helpers/dual? that's a pretty fuggin good deal considering secondary springs are easily $150-$200 for a complete set (including the seat/spacer thingy).

 

If the valving is right and the quality is good enough to last 4 years/50,000 street miles, that's a very intriguing product.

 

Simple goal with the tecna is the best possible ride quality for modestly lowered street Miatas at an affordable price point. Because we designed them to have maximum possible bump travel and controlled damping on rough roads, they end up handling well enough for the occasional autocross or track day. To be clear though, track performance is not the primary goal with the tecna. They are not "race" shocks. Just as the Xidas being focused for competition use bestows them with surprisingly good ride quality on the street with big spring rates, the tecna being focused on ride quality pays dividends in sport driving even with much softer spring rates.

The basic damper config is set, supply chain ready, BOM suppliers and inventory ready. Valving over high speed and high amplitude displacements is nearly spot on. We're now fine tuning the valving to improve the ride over small amplitude, low velocity inputs. Once that's finalized, we hit the green button. We could green light it now and have dampers here by new years but I want to squeeze that last bit of plush from the coilover before I pull the trigger. Pretty confident we can have these here by the end of Q1/14.

I expected comments like this because they are similarly colored.
The tecna is a not a rebadged anything, designed and engineered from scratch in partnership with Hanchey Vehicle Technologies in Plano, TX.
Ricelands have chromed bodies, the tecna have stainless steel bodies BTW.


The brand is SuperMiata. The model of this particular coilover is tecna.

 

These sound like something that would have fit the bill perfectly for me. The Tokico Illumina and FM spring combo is fine, but I would have rather had the ability to adjust ride height rather than damping. I just didn't trust the build quality of the vmaxx. These look like they are going to be very high quality units with great valving.

Inb4 test mule offers begin to flood 949's office.

 

Will these ride better than XIDAs?

 

An honest question:

Why would someone want these (with adjustable ride height and fixed damping), versus something like FM springs with adjustable Tokicos and fixed perches, or Ground Controls and Bilsteins?

I may be looking to replace my 10 year old FM/AGX setup next summer.

 

Ha! Serious? Of course they won't, otherwise no one would buy them...


Granted my experience with high quality suspension is fairly limited, but I've been seriously impressed with the budget NB Bilstein/ebay sleeve/name brand 6" springs setup on two cars so far. Very streetable, and very reassuring over bumps.

How might these compare? Seems similar and a really good price, especially with the helper springs.

 

I'm pretty sure you answered your own question.
Do you want dampening adjustment or height adjustment?
Pick your poison. The FM1 setup rides REALLY good IMO. If these are similar/same for $750 I think they'll be absolutely great.

 

Yeah. Serious.

I have XIDAs. Got them because they were supposed to ride the best.

If Emilio says XIDAs ride well as a side effect, and these are designed from ground up to ride well, he has my attention.

 

With the same soft spring rates, maybe.

Tokicos ride like crap
KYB AGX's ride even worse
OTS Bilsteins are actually pretty good but still won't ride as well as tecnas.

The problem with OTS Bilsteins is the damping compromise. They almost ride awesome and almost work on the track but do neither extremely well. I have been recommending OTS Bilsteins to friend for their dailys for years. With the tecna, our aim is to optimize for ride quality above all else. Our experience has shown that even optimized for ride, they will handle light autocross and track duty just fine. The tecna will be eons better for autocross and track than anything based on Tokicos, Koni yellow or ST, or KYB's. To be fair, 100k mile OEM Showas handle better than KYB AGX's.

We have not made a final decision on warranty but it will be two years at minimum, possibly five.

 

Shocks and springs should be matched to work together. What's the point in having the #5 setting on the tokico shocks when all that does is jack down the suspension because it's too tight for the springs. A perfectly valved shock to match specific spring rates makes for a real nice ride.

 

I don't think it's a silly question if these ride better than XIDAs. They obviously won't offer near the performance, but if they're ride-focused then they should have the ability to beat something that's performance-focused.

Glad to see this option. Sounds perfect for how I would be using a Miata... If I had a Miata...

Edit to add: Sounds awesome Emilio. There should be lots of demand for these, and I expect them to be better than the competition by quite a large margin based on your experience and other products.

 

Googled "tecna"

Seeing the image results, I think you picked the perfect name for Miataturbo.



It's not a pony but nobody's perfect