Xida Shocks

Installation

I bought a set of AST Xida shocks from DaWorstPlaya on Miata.net.  We worked out a deal quickly.  Money sent and he had them on their way that day.  Thanks DaWorstPlaya.

The shocks have about 1000 miles on them and have hardly been used.  I was excited to be able to purchase them and not have to wait for months to get them.  I have heard great things about the Xidas and now I get to try a set.

They arrived last week before Thanksgiving and Saturday after Thanksgiving I installed them.  

I had to remove the MSM Bilsteins I recently installed, but I am OK with that.  The Bilsteins were much better than the worn out shocks that were on the car originally and I will keep them and may try them on the Sunburst Yellow Miata.  But since I am upgrading the supercharger on the 00 SE to an M62, I wanted the Xidas.  

The install went very well.  I started with the rear which only took me about an hour including lifting the car on the Max Jax.

I did not change any of the settings the previous owner had set them to.  I figured they would be very close to the height I needed since he had already run them.  

The fronts took a little longer since we stopped to go pick up some Chaparral wheels for the Sunburst in the middle of the swap.  

The front install went just as well.  The ball joints popped out easily since they had been out recently for the Bilstein install.  The Xidas fit in easily in comparison.

Once back on the ground we had to use the floor jack to allow the lift arms to swing out of the way.  The car is definitely lower.  

This is how it looks.  

I have not yet checked pinch weld height, but a quick measurement from the hubs to the fender revealed 12" in the rear and about 11-3/4" in the front.  Not very scientific, but good enough for now.

Matt was over and we went out for a ride.  He was concerned I would not like the ride.  The springs are 700/400.  However, I really like these shocks.  

They are not harsh at all but firm.  The car no longer rocks side to side on turns or front to back on acceleration or braking. They feel softer than the MSM Bilsteins on bumps but the car does not bounce.  I have not even checked what setting they are on.  We will test that next weekend.

All said, I like these shocks.  I hope they will help my limited driving skills appear to be better than they really are!

Update 10/28/2017

Matt needed the Xidas for his SSM Miata.  So, we moved them to his car.

I removed the Xidas at the end of July from my 00 SE and installed some modified MSM shocks instead.  I took the OEM MSM springs off the MSM Bilstein shocks and installed some OEM Miata springs on the Bilsteins.  

This is the result

They ride well on the 00 SE and are firm on the road.  I also put the same setup on my 00 EVO.  It needed new shocks too.

Matt's Miata is now properly shocked and ready for his planned installation of Delrin bushings.  More on that later.