I don't think there are coilovers out there that are softer, and especially not ones with significantly more travel. I'm not gonna say "you're driving the wrong car" because I know how it is to want to keep a car despite the wrong circumstances... but it's a stiffer, darty car by nature. It's something you'd have to put up with if you want to keep it.

 

Weird thing is I think the car feels soft on normal roads or medium rides good

 

One option for this is to go to a slightly taller aspect ratio tire for F and R.

The taller sidewall would increase the ride height, dampen the dartiness, and give a bit more cushion to the ride.
Now, you will have a hard limit, due to tire rub, but I have not seen any data on what sizes will work.

 

I run 205/65's in the Rear, and 205/55's in the front..

I'm and old fart, so I like the look of actual sidewall on my Roadster.. And the Tires I'm using were giving me 80K Miles on the rear set, and 100K miles on the front set..

Cap

 

Try some meatier tires first. Past that, hard to say what you can do.

 

To increase the ride height, just put a one-inch spacer between the strut mounts and the strut tower. You'll have to lengthen the studs - easy, pound them out, and replace them with longer studs. To soften the rate, in the rear, add spacers between the rear cross-member and the frame. This has the effect of increasing the roll couple, for a softer ride. In the front, it will be tougher to achieve this result, because you can't just drop the lower control arms. But with a little bit of ingenuity, who knows what you might achieve. Just don't raise it so high it tips over. Ha ha. Ha ha ha ha ha.

Ps. Oh yeah and delete the roll bars. Fer frickin shua.

 

How old are your shock?

 

I have no idea had the car 6months previous owners may have changed them at some point, it doesn't bounce around and car returns quickly when you do the push test, I believe they are all good

 

I live in Texas and use a 2001 Spyder as my daily driver on a 120 mile round trip to work and back. My commute is 100% rural highway so I wanted a more comfortable drive and better fuel efficiency. After some research, I “upgraded” to 195/55-15 on the front and 225/50-15 on the back.

This setup makes the car slightly taller in the front and a little more so in the rear with a similar ratio to the later 185/55-15; 215/45-16 setup for 2003 forward, but with a little more “cushion” and height. I’m definitely pleased with the ride quality for bumpy roads and the beefier look of the tires, but of course it is a little “sloppier” when cornering.

Using one of the tire size compare websites for calculating similar-to-stock ratios between front & rear when upgrading wheel and/or diameter is very helpful, especially if you want to maintain a staggered setup.

Good luck!

 

Buy a new car if you want lush smooth ride, the MR2 isn't it. You can stiffen up the ride by adding poly bushings and a better damper/shock.

 

Yeah but I had an r32 skyline on coil overs that was stiffer and it wasn't as nervous as this car, Im thinking theres something wrong now...?

 

These cars are pretty skiddish over rough road. I think that's natural.

 

The OEM spare weights 24 lbs, you have more than doubled that. My spyder has a firmer ride than OEM and it can bounce around a bit over a washboard road but other than that it sticks very well, close to stock tire sizes. I would be suspicious of the shocks and then have a look the the alignment.

 

One thing to consider is the stock struts seems to have a fair amount of compression damping, so some bumps seem harsh. Aftermarket struts will be the same. You could go to Koni inserts which have less compression damping and the rebound is adjustable. Koni's will improve the ride with stock springs and will be more controlled. There are no softer springs available, so that may be the only real option for a better ride on rough roads

If the car seems to "dart" around a bit, part of that is the general nature of the car, but may also be alignment as they as very sensitive to alignment. If the front toe is off, the car can get very darty. Also, stick with stock tire pressures with stock sized tires. Just as the front is very sensitive to alignment, front tire pressures can make a big difference.

 

maybe spacers? some offroaders do budget lifts by shimming/spacing the springs and shocks with 1"+ blocks.
This would be between the top of the springs and the chassis, and between the shock top hats chassis.